John Shumate
John is Founder, Chairman & CEO of Venture First, an alternative investment group that also provides venture-focused financial services, including 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 […]
Rob Penta
Rob Penta serves as the Vice Chairman and General Counsel of Venture First, a member of its Board of Directors, the Chief Legal Officer of Whiskey Capital Finance Co., and a managing General Partner of Whiskey Capital Finance Co. II. Prior to joining Venture First, Rob was a partner of Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs, LLP […]
Jack Hellige
Jack Hellige is the VP of Funds and Transactions at Venture First. 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 […]
Greg Guilford
Greg serves as CFO for Venture First and for several of its clients. He also serves as VP of Financial Services for the company. 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 […]
Christopher Marlin
Chris Marlin joined VF in April 2025. A veteran COO and CFO, Chris spent 15-years with Zappos, a subsidiary of Amazon. His leadership spanned multiple areas including FP&A, Supply Chain, and Merchandising, culminating with the transformation of Zappos & Amazon’s assortment strategy, organizational structure, and operations delivering both revenue and operating margin growth on revenue […]
Ben Lawrence
Ben is Vice President of Business Development at Venture First. After stints in Chicago and Los Angeles, Ben moved back to his hometown in Louisville, KY and became a Managing Partner at Louisville Geek in 2012, transforming the group into the region’s fastest growing IT support firm. Ben has focused the majority of his time at Louisville Geek in […]