Kailah is the Talent Strategist for Embarc Collective. Having spent over 25 years in retained executive search, she’s worked with global high-growth technology companies to support their executive recruiting and talent planning needs. Her passion is to identify and recruit the best talent needed to grow and scale successful businesses.

Kailah is on the Board of the Tampa Bay WaVE and Chair the Advisory Board of the Lowth Entrepreneurship Center at the University of Tampa. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from George Washington University. She has lived in New York City, London, Sydney, and St Petersburg, FL.

Dan is the Head of Community at VC Platform, a global network of venture capital operators. He previously spent six years as VP of Membership at Embarc Collective, where he oversaw the organization’s programming, coaching, and membership offering.

Dan is also an Ecosystem Curator at Build In SE, a collaborative network of startup founders, funders, and ecosystem supporters who build in the Southeast. Additionally, he’s an active member of Let’s Talk Ops, a community of top operational, cross-discipline talent fueling the venture capital industry.

He was first introduced to entrepreneurship as a member of two early-stage tech startups in Tampa. There, he saw the power of entrepreneurship as a tool to solve pressing problems in the world.

Dan studied business at the University of Tampa, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Entrepreneurship and Leadership Studies.

I have built a reputation as a leader of digital transformation from GenAI adoption to pioneering initiatives including the award-winning podcast series, “This Is Digital” (Spotify | Apple). A three-time Chief Marketing Officer, I have engineered one successful exit with the sale of data and analytics company, PayNet, to Equifax in 2019.

Most recently, I served as Partner and Chief Marketing Officer at West Monroe a technology consulting firm, where I led a team of over 40 marketers and my focus was brand building and demand generation which included the creation of a pursuit center of excellence which supported $43M of sales in 2023.

At Equifax, I received the 2022 CEO Global Circle of Excellence award, the company’s highest award. I also received a 2020 One Equifax Award, the 2020 President’s Award for my role on the COVID-19 response team and a 2019 One Equifax Award for M&A integration leadership with the PayNet acquisition.

As SVP of Marketing for Paynet, I helped lenders make better decisions and created greater access to capital for the Main Street economy which fuels the US economy. I served as a member of the management team, the operating team, and sponsor of the employee engagement committee. Rebranding the business from the ground up, I positioned PayNet for sale to Equifax in 2019.

In 2015, I joined Performance Trust Capital Partners as Chief Marketing Officer. Performance Trust is a thought leadership forward business which helps bank clients make smart decisions.

I grew up in professional services with line experience as well as sales and marketing leadership roles at PwC. As PwC’s Deals Marketing Leader, I was responsible for amplifying and integrating the messaging of a $1B practice.

Currently, I sit on the corporate board for keepwith. keepwith powers networking with an app that integrates with CRM systems. I also served on the HelloHealth board for three years. HelloHealth focused on wellness as a leadership strategy for women.

I received my MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business with concentrations in Strategy, Marketing, and Entrepreneurship and obtained my BA in International Studies from Miami University (OH). I completed the Women’s Director Development Program at the Kellogg School of Management, and am a certified storytelling facilitator. I taught social media marketing at Miami University in the spring of 2019 and have been quoted in numerous publications such as Forbes and the American Marketing Association Magazine.

The insights I bring to coaching conversations include: a commercial and customer-oriented perspective, digital savvy, cross-functional expertise, and a keen focus on market dynamics and competitive differentiation.

Like you, I’m also an entrepreneur – currently building Thrive25, a health & longevity startup designed to empower and inspire all of us to live our best life without health getting in the way. I also serve on the Board of Directors at Bambino – the #1 babysitting app on the AppStore.

Before moving to Tampa in 2019, I was in Los Angeles working as President/COO at SnackNation – we raised over $30M of venture capital funding and grew from a team of 10 employees to over 180 – selling into 6,000 corporate customers.

Before that, I had a SaaS startup that we sold in 2014 and worked on the investment side at Rustic Canyon Partners, which at the time was one of the largest VCs in LA with $800M under management.

I went to Northwestern University for undergrad (Economics & Political Science) and then learned to surf while getting my MBA from UCLA Anderson School of Management.

If I can find any free time, I’m always trying to get outside with my wife, Laura, and kids Olivia (6) and Drew (3).

David is a seasoned lawyer, experienced tech executive, and trusted business advisor with over 25 years of experience in the boardroom – and in the trenches.

Currently serving as the Chief Legal Officer of Pacaso, a groundbreaking tech unicorn, David has played a pivotal role in the company’s rapid ascent by designing, implementing, and overseeing novel and effective legal, regulatory, and financial strategies.

Prior to joining Pacaso, David founded, built, and chaired one of the Midwest’s most prominent tech and venture capital legal practices. Over his career, he has advised startups, founders, and investors on more than 1,000 financings across a wide range of industries. His deep expertise in deal structuring and financial strategy has made him a trusted partner to entrepreneurs and executives navigating the challenges of scaling a business.

In addition to his professional practice, he is a passionate educator and mentor. He teaches multiple courses on “Startups” and “Venture Capital” at the University of Michigan Law School. For over a decade, he also provided both structured instruction and informal mentorship to entrepreneurs at the Harvard Innovation Labs and through Techstars, where he is an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with its San Francisco program, helping founders refine their strategies for growth and success.

David is the author of “Seed Deals: How to Grow from Startup to Venture Capital,” a practical guide designed for founders, law students, and new lawyers seeking to understand capitalization and fundraising.

Through his executive, advisory, teaching, and writing roles, David continues to shape the entrepreneurial ecosystem with insights, leadership, and unwavering commitment to innovation – and to those who innovate.

Throughout her 25+ year career, Holly has built a reputation as a master human centered design and leadership facilitator, trainer, and strategist having led workshops and sprints in more than 20 countries. She is the former Global Design Thinking Leader at Procter & Gamble. Having spent 6 years in an engineering role before moving to the commercial side of the business, Holly’s approach combines her unique blend of commercial and technical experience to serve clients as the founder and CEO of Ampersand Innovation, LLC; a human centered leadership, innovation and strategy consultancy.

Holly’s facilitation mastery earned her the 2024 Best Professional Development Workshop award from Cincinnati Magazine. She’s a certified IDEO Experience Point and Psychological Safety practitioner/ facilitator. She is a 2019-25 Entrepreneur in Residence at Miami University, a trainer/consultant for the Xavier University Leadership Center, and the former faculty chairperson of the Rutgers University Design Thinking Exec Ed program from 2017-2020. Holly has guest lectured at the Harvard Business School, Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business, and more.

In January 2018, she was named one of Michael Bloomberg’s Design Thinking Coaches for the Bloomberg Philanthropies USA Mayor’s Challenge project, which resulted in the city of South Bend, Indiana being awarded a $1 million prize for the progress made during their partnership. In addition, she has contributed to several books including Tom Wujec’s The Future of Making, David Dunne’s Design Thinking at Work, and Thomas Lockwood’s Innovation by Design. Holly is also a globally sought after conference keynote speaker and career/life coach. Holly has a BA in Chemistry and MBA from Thomas More University. She lives in Cincinnati, OH with her husband and four children.

Learn more about me here!

Jason is an entrepreneur, startup advisor, and investor with over 20 years of experience in early-stage startups; and has been a Tampa Bay resident since 2018.

Jason is currently running a startup, Resistbot, which he founded in 2017, with over ten million users today; with another startup in development. Before moving to Tampa, he spent a decade building products in Silicon Valley. He was the founding designer of Mint in 2007 (acquired by Intuit in 2009) and the first-ever Designer-in-Residence at a venture capital firm.

Later, Jason raised over $2.25 million for civic startup Votizen (acquired by Causes), served as VP of Design at Brigade, and designed investment products at AngelList. Between his two stints at Bessemer, being a founding mentor at 500 Startups, and individually, he has advised at least a hundred consumer Internet startups on everything related to the customer experience: from brand positioning to the user interface. Jason has been a coach at Embarc Collective since 2022.

Kate is thrilled to bring her 20+ years of experience in marketing and brand strategy to the Embarc Collective community! She has built her career with global organizations, including Facebook, Walmart, Boeing, and IBM, and has worked with 100+ early- and growth-stage startups. She combines her strategy development skills with her marketing acumen to help teams clarify their business objectives and align their marketing activities accordingly – while always keeping their customers’ and employees’ well-being top-of-mind.

In her last “big corporate” role, Kate was the Head of Marketing Strategy and Operations at Instagram, based in San Francisco. After doing some freelance consulting work with startups and small ethical brands, she returned to her graduate school alma mater, The George Washington University (GW) in DC, to serve as the Director of Student Entrepreneurship. She loved her role in higher ed, as it let her expand her work with early-stage founders – a constituency she is truly passionate about.

Now Kate is happily back in Tampa, leading Marketing and Communications for Certus Core, an Embarc member company. Certus Core is a data engineering and AI startup that is transforming how organizations move from data overload to confident decisions. Their current focus is on government and military customers, so Kate is back to her B2B/B2G roots these days!

Kate holds a BA in Public Policy from Duke University and an MBA from GW.

Kathy is the Founder of Kamel PR, a PR consulting firm for early-stage technology startups, venture capital investors, and founders who are making this world a better place than it started.

Before founding Kamel PR, Kathy worked at Weber Shandwick, a global marketing communications company and before that, she was the Account Director at BAM Communications, a bi-coastal boutique communications firm – always focusing on tech startups and venture capitalists.

Today, Kamel PR provides a 1:1 approach for a go-to-market press and marketing strategy, servicing only 5-7 clients at a time. Kathy has supported hundreds of early-stage B2BC companies and has helped announce $1B+ in funding announcements. She sits on Embarc Collective’s Young Professional Board (2023) and received her Masters at Fordham University.

Rob Miller is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and operator whose career spans regulated gaming, aviation, and emerging technology. He has co-founded and led multiple ventures, including Sierra Design Group, Amelco USA, Gaming Capital Group, Prairie State Gaming, and Commonwealth Gaming, achieving several successful exits, including one that reached a unicorn valuation. Most recently, Rob co-founded Cosmo’s Car Wash, a fast-growing chain of express car washes currently under construction.

Today, Rob operates Miller Companies, a family office and investment platform that backs early-stage companies and leads hands-on product development, particularly in AI. He actively advises AI startups, helping teams build real-world implementations such as customer service RAG (retrieval-augmented generation) systems and AI-powered consulting agents—with a focus on practical utility and long-term scalability.

In parallel to his work as a founder and investor, Rob spent several years as a faculty member at Miami University of Ohio, where he mentored dozens of student-led startups and early-stage founders. He is a veteran of the U.S. Army, where he served as a cavalry officer, and holds advanced degrees from Columbia University (MBA) and the University of California, Berkeley (M.S. in Technology Management).

I currently head technology & product for Resilience Lab, a mental health startup.

I am a digital health veteran with experience either founding or joining & scaling early-stage startups and leading to exits.

I was co-founding CTO of Yaro, a mobile-first health & fintech platform, and led it through its acquisition by Virgin Pulse in 2020.

I was an early employee of R1 RCM, a publicly traded healthcare revenue cycle management company.

I led the team in building end-to-end SaaS solutions that processed and managed over $30B in annual patient revenue for some of the largest hospital systems in the country. Build & lead the engineering team to multiple globally distributed scrum teams totaling over 150 engineers.

I was a member company of Embarc with Yaro, and since 2020, I’ve been coaching and helping other startups at Embarc in product & technology.

I have driven strategic partnerships and GTM at two early-stage startups through to IPO and M&A.

I led channel sales and partnerships at Hopin before being acquired by RingCentral, where I now am the RVP, Video (Meetings, Webinars, Events).

Before joining RingCentral, I served as Director of Global Digital Channel Sales & Partnerships at Freeman, leading partnership sales strategy, success & marketing, as well as a team of Sales Managers, BDRs/SDRs, and TSCs generating $20M+ ARR.

Before that, I was the Director of Sales at World Travel, Inc., leading the meeting services sales and reselling of a SaaS partners’ software, and in a multitude of enterprise sales roles from new business to global account management at Cvent. I quickly became Cvent’s Top Performer each year (managing $10M TCV).

I spend my free time with my dog, family, and friends. I’m passionate about fitness, wellness, travel, and experiences.

I was the founding CEO of Embarc Collective (built this place from scratch from 2018-2024!) and work with startups we support as a Strategy Coach, with a focus on founder/CEO leadership development.

Outside of Embarc Collective, I am the COO of SpotMyPhotos.

I earned my Bachelor of Arts in sociology from the University of Chicago, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

After building my career in the corporate world for more than a decade, I found myself unfulfilled. I found meaning and purpose after working with a coach in 2012, and the rest is history.

I am a certified executive coach and organizational development leader, helping my clients find increased clarity, performance, and overall fulfillment.

I also partner with organizations looking to create and sustain powerful cultures and high-performing teams.

In addition to running my own practice, I run a leadership development program at Rutgers University Division of Continuing Studies, am a group coaching certification program instructor with Group Coaching HQ, and am a Group Coach at Medley.

I’ve climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, chatted with Penguins in Ushuaia, and swam in the North Sea. I enjoy cycling, hiking, and spending time with family and friends.

In my career, I have worked on the marketing teams of Publix, Lockheed Martin, and Disney, as well as supporting over 200 Tampa Bay businesses as a marketing contractor. I was also a member of Embarc Collective’s founding team and recently served as the Director of Marketing for Series B virtual reality startup Immertec, helping them scale their marketing team and building out their commercialization plan to support Customer Success and Sales teams. I recently served as an Account Director at BAM — a communications agency that supports VC-backed startups.

Since then, I’ve founded 1701 North and serve as a Fractional CMO for growth startups. I am passionate about coaching startups on leading measurable marketing strategies and approaches to scale their businesses.