TCA Inland Empire
- Mike Napoli, President
Recent events this year have included:
- April 26th: UC Riverside Business Meets Science workshop
- June 20th: Loma Linda University Technology showcase
Executive Board
Executive Board
Members
Jay is a seasoned C-level executive with experience in technology, energy, finance, and healthcare. He currently holds the position of CEO of Murrieta Genomics, a genomic sequencing laboratory and business incubator. He is also CEO of Redtail Capital, a strategic management consultancy and investing group working with early-stage companies in the Southern California region. He is a board member at Burble, Inc. Jay is also the executive director of InSoCal CONNECT, a nonprofit organization formed to support entrepreneurship in inland southern California. He is a member of Tech Coast Angels, SoCal Bio and OCTANE.
Jay served for seven years as a senior consultant for TriTech SBDC, one of only seven technology SBDCs in the USA, where he was awarded the SBA’s Small Business Champion Award in 2016. He has also served as Entrepreneur in Residence at the University of California Riverside. Jay served on the Governor of California’s Entrepreneurship Task Force for two years.
As a founding executive of energy startup Commonwealth Energy in 1997, Jay helped to define the business plan, obtain initial funding, and launch a nationwide expansion that resulted in the company becoming the largest unregulated supplier of natural gas and electricity in the country, with fourth year revenues exceeding $300 million.
For the past several years, Jay has worked closely with the City of Murrieta to develop the Murrieta Innovation Center, a life science focused center that offers space and resources to early-stage life science companies.
Jay has held securities licenses 79, 6, 63 and 3. He has also held licenses in Real Estate and Life and Health Insurance. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Colorado with a double major in Economics and English Literature.
Member since xxx
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaygoth/
Surya has been an active member, investor, and leader within Tech Coast Angels since 2009. Currently leading IT within TCA, he’s previously served as network president, and continues to mentor entrepreneurs as part of the Small Business Development Center, TechStars, and other incubator & accelerator programs. Surya has extensive fundraising and venture startup experiences from his tech ventures. Surya developed and launched one of (if not the) first mobile applications and wireless mobile internet services for smart devices in 1996. He then created educational games for Nintendo starting in 2005. He’s also led strategic business development within Blackberry, Samsung, and DTS (Xperi). Surya is currently CEO of GXB Interactive Corporation (gxbventures.com) where he is especially interested in family-oriented services and promoting online collaboration and real-world life-long learning. He also has extensive experience with international business, primarily within Russia and Argentina. Personally, Surya still enjoys maximizing time with his family while tinkering with Robotics (Arduino, Raspberry Pi), Photography, and creating things in his extensive workshop when not traveling.
Member Since 2009
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/suryajayaweera/)
Amongst the many joys in Mark’s life is transforming businesses for greater growth and profitability. He is passionate about assisting organizations in creating or enhancing business models that result in a sustainable competitive advantage. Mark is an unconventional strategizer that guides entrepreneurs to reimagine everything. Mark doesn’t just think outside the box, for him, there is no box. His competencies encompass Capital Acquisition, Commercialization, Business and Sales Development, Leadership, Strategic Market Planning, and Team Building. He has served on several boards over the years and currently is an active board member for a biotech startup. As President of the Mark Mitchell Group, an independent consulting firm, he guides a dynamic team of senior executives to deliver hands-on mentoring that provides tools to transform and stay relevant in our evolving and changing world. This includes all aspects of B2B and B2C strategies from start-up to industry-wide projects that include both national and international clientele. Mark’s recent success includes managing an organization that raised over $550 million in capital and created/retained over 3700 jobs over ten years. Additionally, he created ‘Funding the BIG Idea’ conferences that brought together Angel Investors and Entrepreneurs that were seeking equity capital for their venture.
Member Since 2019
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/markmitchell45/
Molly has had a career spanning academia and industry in biotechnology/genomics/infectious disease areas. She currently has multiple roles as a Faculty Advisor/Adjunct Professor (UCLA Anderson, USC Marshall) and as a consultant to startup companies, through the Small Business Development Center at UC Irvine, and as an SBIR Consultant for Beall Applied Innovation at UC Irvine. Schmid served in senior executive roles in biotechnology companies at ieCrowd (Riverside CA), Affinium Pharmaceuticals (Toronto ON), Genencor International (Palo Alto CA), and Microcide Pharmaceuticals (Mountain View CA). In these companies, she was part of executive teams that raised over $100MM in funding through venture capital, corporate partnerships, public markets, and US and Canadian federal research grants. Molly is a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering. She received her B.S. degree in Biology from University at Albany-SUNY, and her Ph.D. degree in Biology from University of Utah. In addition to science and entrepreneurship, she is involved the dog sports community, and has competed with her dog Kola in agility at the AKC master’s level, and in nosework at the NACSW elite level. Her new dog Sky-bo is still a young nutcase, but is being trained in tracking and trailing in addition to agility and nosework.
Member Since 2007
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/mollybschmid
Mike Napoli has been actively mentoring and investing in early-stage companies since the mid 1990’s. In 2000 he joined the Tech Coast Angels, the largest angel investor network in the U.S. He currently is the President of the Tech Coast Angels Inland Empire Network and serves on the Tech Coast Angels Board of Governors. His past work history was focused on advising large institutional investors and money managers on a variety of issues including: Asset allocation, asset class structure, portfolio construction, risk management, hedge funds and other alternative investments. In 2008 Mike founded Performing Arts LIVE, a community service that provides performing arts organizations a platform to promote their activities.
Chairman Emeritus, President TCA-Inland Empire, Member Since 2000
Marty Kaufman is Founder and President of Accent Computer Solutions, Inc., a Southern California-based innovator in IT thinking. He got his start in the world of Big Data as Manager of Information Systems for General Dynamics. He earned his B.S. degree in Computer Information Systems from California Polytechnic University, Pomona in 1985 and started Accent Computer Solutions as a consulting firm in 1987. He has spent his entire career researching and implementing Information Technology strategies and processes to help his clients reduce the cost and risk of IT. He is also a private pilot, a two-time IRONMAN, Motocross Racer, and Avid Angel Investor.
Member Since 2009
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mjkaufman/