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Partners
The companies we invest in, together with our fund and strategy partners, will open the door for wealth creation, jobs and opportunities to mentor and evaluate the next generations in mostly underserved communities
Vision Architect, Managing Partner
Tyrone Davis raised in Silicon Valley, Mr. Davis has over 25 years of expertise working as a Master Brand Planner and Strategist working with top companies and individuals in music, sports, and new media, including the National Basketball Association and other A-List individuals. He is well-regarded as a marketplace and cultural innovator & futurist often making all kinds of predictions in the tech industry at the intersection of culture. Previously, he was an Adjunct Professor at Portland State University and worked with Kevin McGovern, the Founder of SoBe, and Quincy Jones on the Water Initiative. He has also worked with the Clinton Foundation to raise $3 million for projects in India. Mr. Davis was a performer and songwriter and shared the stage and toured the world with renowned recording artists MC Hammer, Kirk Franklin, Stevie Wonder, Will Smith and James Brown. He studied Sociology at San Jose State and Saint Xavier College.
Managing Partner
Jesse Gross started his career advising institutional investors on capital raises at UBS Investment Bank. He then helped launch the NY office of Flexpoint, a private equity fund managing over $1 billion AUM. Mr. Gross led transactions across multiple industries, including a REIT he helped grow from inception to IPO on the NYSE (active). Mr. Gross left finance to launch a hospitality+travel company, spending the next five years growing the company while living in AirBNBs across 6 continents. Simultaneously, he also helped to launch/invest in two Real Estate investment funds, which have both been fully deployed. Currently, Mr. Gross runs a consultancy helping PE-backed companies streamline workflows through automation, is the interim COO for a stealth venture-backed AI company, and serves on the investment committee for a small family office. When not working, you can usually find him playing fetch with his dog, golfing, and plotting how he will take over the world.
Managing Partner
Darrel Branch is founder and CEO of Branch Out Group, a marketing consulting firm applying traditional marketing principles to help build mid-sized companies and non-traditional brands such as entrepreneurs, entertainers and athletes. As a C-Suite level executive, Mr. Branch has served in senior leadership roles within multiple Fortune 500 Companies such as Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and Revlon and has created global marketing strategies for iconic brands such as Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite and NESTEA. He also has extensive experience securing strategic partnerships and in the foodservice, entertainment, and lodging sectors. Mr. Branch also serves on several philanthropic boards.
Executive Director, Social Impact
Jeanella Blair is one of the most solicited consultants and speakers in the nonprofit and civic/social engagement in the US. With over 20 years' experience in the nonprofit sector, using the principles of social justice philanthropy, Ms. Blair has created public private partnerships empowering rural communities breaking the chains of generational poverty. She has worked with corporations such as HP, Freddie Mac, Microsoft, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UnitedHealth, and others to develop strategies and facilitate sustainable models to positively impact underserved communities. In addition to supporting Fortune100 corporations, Jeanella consults with elected officials, state agencies, and some of the nation's most respected celebrities and their foundations creating scalable programs that are also replicable.
Board of Directors
General Jonathan Wharton has served the Nation for more than three decades and has extensive experience in leadership, technology, acquisition, and logistics. He is currently a public and private sector advisor to numerous industries, universities, and governments. His focus is on technology acceleration in support of national priorities and homeland security. General Wharton also serves as Senior Advisor at The Chertoff Group advising many U.S. Government Departments and Agencies. In his last military assignment, General Wharton served as Commanding General of the United States Army Research, Development and Engineering Command (RDECOM) at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. There he led 13,800 scientists, engineers, and support personnel at more than 100 global locations controlling 75% of the Army’s R&D budget. While there, he won and led 5 of the 7 President of the United States (POTUS) National Manufacturing Innovative Institutes, a program to stimulate the nation’s economy by rapid technology development and transfer. He also ran the Science, Technology, Engineering Mathematics (STEM), the Army’s Educational Outreach Programs (AEOP), HBCU, Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) and Technology Transfer (STTR) programs for the Army and had over 1,500 cooperative research and development agreements with universities and over 1,000 with industry.
Duane McKnight is Managing Partner, Marathon Foundation Partners and General Partner, The Marathon Fund, LP where he is primarily responsible for developing overall Fund strategy, operations, and administration, portfolio selection process, and facilitating investment partnerships. His investment career has been dedicated to supporting entrepreneurship, especially within underrepresented business communities, having received several minority business awards and served on the board of a number of successful diverse companies and organizations. Mr. McKnight is also the founding director of The Marathon Foundation (“TMF”), a 501(c) 3 non-profit organization that provides advanced entrepreneurial training to founders preparing to seek various levels of institutional capital.Mr. McKnight received his BBA in Accounting from Temple University and MBA in Finance from LaSalle University. He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).
Joanne Sawicki is a digital-health, media and circular economy entrepreneur with a passion to invest in and promote businesses that are profitable whilst “doing good.” An award-winning journalist, producer, and CEO, Ms. Sawicki founded Channel Health – Europe’s first health website and interactive television channel which floated on the London Stock Exchange. After selling her company, Ms. Sawicki became actively involved as a pioneer in impact investing and is actively involved in the leading Family Office networks in Europe, US, Asia and Australia. Ms. Sawicki is also deeply involved in a variety of philanthropic endeavors.
Adam Robinson is an American educator, freelance author, and a US Chess Federation life master. He is the co-founder of The Princeton Review. He currently works as a global macro advisor to the heads of some of the world's largest hedge funds through his company Robinson Global Strategies.Robinson co- authored Cracking the SAT with John Katzman, the only test preparation book ever to become a New York Times best seller. His other books include Cracking the LSAT, What Smart Students Know, and The RocketReview Revolution.
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