With over 25 years of progressive accounting experience, Greg brings a wealth of knowledge about complex accounting situations, cash flow management, business process improvement and analysis to the table. He has worked with a variety of companies ranging from start-ups to billion dollar multinationals, in both the public and private sectors. Greg utilitzes his accounting […]
Departments: Leadership
Daniela Yoder
Daniela is very active in the Greater Cincinnati startup scene as an investor, an investment committee member in Connetic Ventures, and a GP in the Cherub Fund. Nationally, she is an active LP in Next Wave Impact Fund which invests in high growth, positive impact companies with diverse founding teams. Yoder also presently holds the […]
Kim Spalding
Kim has over 20 years of finance and operations experience in start-ups and early stage companies. Kim started out in public accounting in the Entrepreneurial Services Group of Ernst & Young, which fueled her interest in early stage, high-growth companies. The first company that Kim joined out of public accounting was The Cobb Group, which […]
Jack Hellige
Jack Hellige is the VP of CFO Services and Analytics. Jack started his career in sell-side equity research at Hilliard Lyons (now Baird) in Louisville prior to joining Venture First as a Financial Analyst in 2019. He spent over 2 years in the trenches supporting the CFO services and transactions groups working with dozens of growth-minded […]
Mark Crane
Mark Crane serves as Venture First’s full-time VP of Investor Relations. He is an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award winner and has 25+ years’ experience as a Leader or Advisor for fast-growth companies in technology, healthcare, and manufacturing. Mark’s work has connected him to 200+ high net worth individuals, family offices, and […]
Madison Ewing
Rob Penta
Rob serves as the General Counsel of Venture First, a member of its Board of Directors, the Chief Legal Officer of Whiskey Capital Finance Co., and the Chief Executive Officer of NetBallistics LLC. Prior to joining Venture First, Rob was a member of Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP for 13 years where many of his […]
John Shumate
John is Founder & CEO of Venture First, a venture-focused financial services group providing deal structuring, M&A and capital raise advice, fractional CFO services, and an array of equity and derivative valuation. He is General Partner in Whiskey Capital Finance Co., a debt fund lending to the craft American whiskey market; Strike Ventures, a tech- […]