CORE Professionals
CORE's professionals have decades of successful experience as entrepreneurs, investment banking professionals, and technology executives. They have led successful entrepreneurial start-ups, worked as executives in large corporations, and managed substantial venture capital and investment banks and equity funds.
Joe F. Martinez - Founder & CEO
Mr. Martinez has held senior positions as Chief Executive Officer, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer of several publicly traded companies. He has served as a board member for both public and private companies and has an extensive background as an investment banker and venture capital partner. Mr. Martinez was the co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Centaur Partners, a Silicon Valley-based investment bank and was a Venture Partner with Osprey Ventures a Palo Alto based Venture Capital Firm. Prior to his move to Palo Alto, Mr. Martinez co-founded and served as the President and head of the investment banking division of a full service regional investment banking firm which he sold to a subsidiary of an online brokerage firm. Prior to the formation of the investment bank he started the technology investment banking group for the middle market division of Citigroup. The investment banking experience has provided Mr. Martinez with a global perspective on all aspects of capital formation, funding and investments having traveled and engaged clients in Asia, Latin America, and Europe. Before his investment banking career Mr. Martinez was an executive with Xerox, IBM, and a variety of high technology startup companies in the Silicon Valley in which he was instrumental in helping take public. Mr. Martinez comes from a military family and served honorably as a platoon leader in the US Army and is a graduate of the United States infantry school at Fort Benning, Georgia. He has degrees from Adams State and the University of Denver – in organizational behavior and business, MSW, MA, MBA.
Cathy Verlench, Partner
Ms. Verlench is a senior technology executive in the computer sector. She started her career in the computer industry with such notable companies as Tandon Computers, and ITT Information Systems. At the inception of the distributed computing revolution Ms. Verlench was one of the early employees at Compaq Computer Corporation and held numerous key sales and management positions. When Hewlett Packard acquired Compaq Ms. Verlench extended her management capabilities and became the Regional District Manager for HP. She left HP to head the Government and Commercial channels for high end super computer manufacturer Stratus Technologies. Stratus delivers a range of solutions that includes software-based high availability, fault-tolerant servers, availability consulting as well as assessment, and remote systems management services. Ms. Verlench provides Core with consulting services in the areas of distributed computing and high availability fault tolerant solutions. She has business and political science degrees from Stephens College in Missouri.
Richard Walker – Managing Director Australia Operations
Mr. Walker has worked at a senior level for several large multinational Corporations and has over twenty years experience in the management of the cash flows of these complex organizations. After completing his first degree in Accounting and Finance, he rose through the ranks of one of the largest Stock Brokerage Firms in the Asia Pacific Region where he was given the position of Assistant Treasurer managing the operations of the business. From there Mr. Walker moved to one of the world's largest banks where he was responsible for the trading of Government Bonds and other securities. After successfully building up this business, Mr. Walker moved to run the business enterprises of some of Australia's wealthiest families. As an entrepreneur he has been a Director of a number of private and publicly listed companies, and has a successful Corporate Advisory background having advised numerous companies on Strategy, Finance and Investor Relations managing the Pre and post IPO process of these public companies. Mr. Walker has a Bachelor of Pure & Applied Chemistry Degree and a Bachelor of Business in Finance along with Graduate degrees in Banking, Finance and Business Administration with distinction and a Masters in Law. In addition he is a graduate of the Institute of Company Directors and a Fellow of the Institute of Company Directors.
John F. Slitz Jr. – Managing Director Midwest Operations
Mr. Slitz was the Senior Vice President of Corporate Marketing for Novell reporting to the CEO. Prior to Novell Mr. Slitz was a top executive with IBM, and was the co-founder of Netwise, Inc. a software company purchased by Microsoft. Mr. Slitz holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the State University of New York, a Master's degree from the Graduate Faculty for the New School of Social Research, and an MBA from the Farleigh Dickenson University Executive Program. Currently Mr. Slitz is a turnaround expert in the technology sector.
Sasha Talebi - Managing Director - Private Equity
Mr. Talebi is the Founder and Managing Director of Capital Fusion Venture Management. Mr. Talebi has several years of hands-on experience in venture capital, investment management/advisory, and entrepreneurship. He has co-founded two venture-backed companies (both profitable), and held operational roles in the semiconductor, networking, and enterprise software industries. In addition, he served as director of a global private equity research firm. Mr. Talebi holds an MBA with honors from the Graduate School of Management at UC Irvine, a BS in astrophysics and a BS in mathematics, both from UC Irvine.
Thomas C. Muniz, Managing Director, Technology Operations & Logistics
Mr. Muniz is a senior-level, strategic consultant to Core Venture Partners (CVP) in the disciplines of operations management and product/service logistical fulfillment for Audio-Video, IT, CCTV, and Mobile digital data-media infrastructure. With a multifaceted and impressive 20+ year career in sales, marketing, and technical operations, Mr. Muniz has held successful upper management P&L positions in both the Great Lakes region and NY/NJ/CT tri-state area, with product technology giants Texas Instruments, GI/Motorola, Control Data, SONY, Pioneer, and ElectroSonic. More recently, over the past decade, Mr. Muniz has provided innovative business plan models, coupled with executive management directorial leadership, in start-up ventures within the burgeoning business space of Internet/New Media, all HQ based in Seattle. Currently, Mr. Muniz is working as Director of Digital Projects—in his final year of a three-year contract—retooling a mid-sized, Texas-based, data-structured cabling company with dramatic organic growth into a rollup M&A exit strategy.Mr. Muniz holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering (BSEE) from Michigan's Lawrence Institute of Technology and has served on various standards committees and governing bodies in New Media, Digital Signage, CAM Surveillance, and Wired/Wireless Data IP Connectivity. Mr. Muniz is presently telecommuting between his Irvine, CA and Houston, TX USA offices.
Andrew Chandler – Managing Director Northern California Operations
Mr. Chandler is a career investment banker formerly with ING Barings in Europe, where he was responsible for investment banking in the technology and consumer sectors. Prior to ING Barings, Mr. Chandler was a Deputy Manager with UAL Merchant Bank where he managed corporate finance activities, and was a Public Auditor with PricewaterhouseCoopers. He has an MBA in finance and operations from the University of Cape Town, is a Chartered Accountant, with international professional designation, and holds a B.Com (With Honors) in finance, accounting, and law, from Rhodes University.
Ning Chen – Managing Director China Operations
Mr. Chen is a senior executive with technology related companies in the United States and China such as Gateway, eMachines and Brightpoint. His proven track record coupled with a solid financial background has enabled him to helped American companies launch their products and brands into the China market helping them achieve remarkable market share and profitability. Following his financial role at Gateway, Mr. Chen was promoted to the position of General Manager for Gateway China. He successfully launched Gateway into the China market and was the key driver in the development of Gateway’s Greater China’s strategies and operations. He took the primary leadership role in all aspects of business development, product presentation, marketing, public relation efforts, and revenue generation. He was instrumental for providing, establishing, and cultivating key partnerships throughout China. He coordinated with all of Gateway’s corporate functional departments to establish cost controls, and expense over sight. Before he left Gateway, he successfully built Gateway’s distribution channel in 308 cities in China and made Gateway a famous brand in the China market. Mr. Chen currently lives in Beijing China with his wife and children, prior to his move to China he lived in Irvine California.
Jeff Geng – Vice President Beijing China
Mr. Geng is a professional engineer in industrial automation, system engineering and financial computer system design and programming. In addition he brings to Core five years of sales and marketing experience as a general manager and two years experience in corporate finance and private equity. At present, Jeff acts as the managing director for Core in the Greater China Area with a special focus on Beijing.
In the USA he worked at Lehman Brothers and was one of the early programmers at Bloomberg the leader in the delivery of financial information. Following this stint he returned home to China as the Director of Strategies and Business development for Neo Media Group - a Swiss based worldwide media advertising company headquartered in Switzerland focusing on setting up business operations and merger and acquisition opportunities.
Mr. Geng also had extensive work history in China, starting with the former Ministry of Chemical Industry under the State Council and followed by ABB China Ltd. before coming to the United States in the mid 90s to pursue his postgraduate studies. Jeff currently holds an advisory position for the Shanghai Media Group’s Magic Motion Studio and is the acting chief representative to China for the Nobel Prize Web, the official website of the Nobel Prize Foundation of Sweden. Mr. Geng has a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Tianjin University China and a master’s degree in Computer Science from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
Jennifer Owings - Senior Analyst
Ms. Owings is an advisor to Core in the area of telecommunications and project management. She has over 16 years in the telecommunications industry having worked for such companies as MCI Communications (World Com) and Nortel Networks where she worked in the areas of software development. She provides research and associate level support to Core in the areas of wireless networking and enterprise software.
David M. Kubit, Managing Director Southern California Operations
Mr. Kubit has 30+ years of experience in the acquisition and development of real estate. His experience started in 1976 with Lyon Associates, Sacramento, California. After spending three years there he began working with the Stanford Building Group, Palo Alto, California, and became Vice President, during which time he oversaw the development, syndication, and construction of multi-family California and Nevada.
Mr. Kubit also invested in emerging technology companies located at the University of Illinois (Urbana, Champaign). He served as CFO for Vosaic LLC from 1997-2000, including the disposition of intellectual property to public companies. The company invented and licensed the first patented internet streaming video and audio; and network traffic management for the Internet, for InterVu, Akamai, Nortel, and Forgent Networks. This was part of the technology developed during the Mosaic browser program, the first Internet browser(i.e. Netscape and Internet Explorer, Mozilla)
Cheryl Isen - Head of Public Relations
Ms. Isen is the President of Isen & Co. a strategic marketing and public relations firm. Ms. Isen is a skilled communications executive offering 20 years of diversified marketing, corporate communications and executive management experience; she offers a proven record in helping companies use strategic communications to build bottom line results. Key strengths include increasing corporate visibility and marketplace opportunities through innovative company branding, product positioning, media relations, investor-relations and integrated marketing communications programs. Ms. Isen has assembled a team of seasoned professionals that work in unison with her as needed to deliver proven marketing strategies for early stage start-ups to emerging-industry leaders.
Robert M. Esecson - Managing Director East Coast Operations
Mr. Esecson is the Senior Managing Director of The Esmarox Group, LLC. Mr. Esecson is a successful entrepreneur in his own right having built and sold several businesses. He has been an investment and merchant banker, as well as a corporate consultant to corporations for over 20 years. His specializes in Mergers and Acquisitions throughout North America in a variety of different industries. Mr. Esecson operates the East Coast Affiliate of Core Venture Partners. Mr. Esecson has a Bachelor’s Degree in management and Accounting from Bentley College and his Juris Doctorate from The New England School of Law.
Neil Reizman - Corporate Attorney
Mr. Reizman is a corporate attorney who has advised numerous clients on business formation, acquisitions, and public and private equity and debt placements. Mr. Reizman holds a BS and MBA from UCLA and a Law degree with honors from Bolt. Mr. Reizman was an analyst for Osprey Venture Partners, LLC and the corporate attorney for Centaur Partners.
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