Brendan White Brendan is a computer scientist and mechanical engineer by trade, and a passionate supporter of startup ecosystems everywhere. He believes a well supported ecosystem creates more successful entrepreneurs and ultimately gives people more control over their working lives. Brendan currently has a strategy and growth role at professional services firm PwC with a global remit to support emerging companies, entrepreneurs and small businesses. He is also co-founder of Future Assembly, an exciting technology and startup festival in Melbourne, Australia and would like to see the investor summit at Future Assembly 2016 have a more input from international startups and investors.

Petra Kolesavora Petra works as an Associate at Credo Ventures, which is a venture capital company focused on early stage investments in Central and Eastern Europe. Prior to joining Credo Ventures, Petra worked as lawyer managing private equity investments. She completed the Global Law program at the University of Haifa, gained her Doctor of Jurisprudence degree (JUDr.) from the University of Matej Bel and LL.M. degree in International Business Law and Intellectual Property from the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Currently, she is a Ph.D. candidate at the Charles University in Prague and focuses on patents as investment instruments. In addition to her legal roles at Credo Ventures, she is also responsible for sourcing, executing, and managing venture capital investments broadly focused on unique technologies in the CEE region.

Kurt Brungart Kurt Brungardt is currently the Managing Partner at Swifte, a private equity firm that he founded in 2015. Swift invests equity capital in small and medium sized businesses with revenues of $500k - $100mm. Swift’s fundamental mandate is to help portfolio company owners, board, and management teams accelerate growth, increase profitability and create new value for both owners and employees. Prior to his role at Swifte, Kurt served as Chief Information Officer and Managing Director for more than 14 years at MSD Capital, L.P., the New York-based private investment firm managing Michael Dell and his family’s fortune. During his more than 14 years at MSD Capital, Kurt worked with both investment and operations teams to enable MSD Capital’s growth to $15 billion in assets under management, while designing and implementing the business process and systems needed by MSD to manage, mine and share its proprietary research. Prior to MSD Capital, Mr. Brungardt spent 12 years in business operations and project roles at Digital Power Networks and General Dynamics Electric Boat Division. Mr. Brungardt co-founded the Hedge Fund Technology Group (HFTG), and currently serves as President of the New York chapter of the Society for Information Management. Kurt is also a mentor for Columbia University's Executive Master of Science in Technology Management Program. Mr. Brungardt holds an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Minnesota, Institute of Technology and is a member of the Aji Network’s Business Professionals program.

David Beatty David is an entrepreneur and Angel investor. David is founder and managing partner of Gaingels LLC, a seed stage investment syndicate investing in companies with LGBT founders. Founded in late 2014, Gaingels members have invested over $3mm in 9 portfolio companies. David is also founder of Digital Irish Angels and a member of Golden Seeds. Born in Ireland, David started his career as a headhunter in London before being transferred to the USA in 1990 by IMI computing. David is Chairman of Empire Messaging, Inc., a company he started in 1993 and ran until 2004, which provides Enterprise Messaging solutions to corporate clients.  David has co-founded 3 other tech enabled companies with successful exits. David is a very active supporter of, and mentor to the early stage ecosystem in NY and is a frequent speaker and panelist on the topics of early stage fundraising and seed investing.