Anthony Gantt (he/him) | CEO at At Ease Rentals
Anthony Gantt is a Distinguished Combat Veteran that helps government travelers find and book vacation rental properties during government travel, ensuring they’ll be reimbursed.
Anthony wasn’t reimbursed $1200 when he stayed in a home using a BNB site. So out of total anger and frustration he created a custom platform that reduces the stress of finding temporary housing for military families relocating. His longterm vision for At Ease is to be the 1-stop shop for finding compliant resources that encapsulate the entire moving process, introduction to individual vacation rental owners and property management companies that seek new channels of rental income, and help military families with an upcoming move and want to stay in a solution right for them in between PCSing.
Anthony is part of the MetaProp Accelerator by Columbia University, Q2 & Austin FC $100k Dream Starter Pitch Competition Winner, A PenFed Foundation Veteran Entrepreneur, Award Winner 2020 MassChallenge ATX, a DIVINC Alumni, and Bunker Labs ATX Ambassador and VIR Alumni.
Anthony's awards include: Bronze Star Medal with Valor, Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, two Navy Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, and a Combat Action Ribbon.
Shaydi DeJesus (she/her) | Austin Lead at Bunker Labs
Shaydi DeJesus is an underrepresented Emerging Manager, utilizing her non-traditional insights to open new conversations in the investment community. She is a 2020 PAAMCO Prisma/100 Women in Finance/CAIA Scholar (1 of 20 selected globally), former Military Spouse, Dept. of Defense Management Consultant and Governor Dolph Briscoe Jr. Scholar with special studies in wealth, asset building and economic development. Ms. DeJesus was part of the early team of NALCAB — National Association for Latino Community Asset Builders.
Since 2008, NALCAB has been a catalyst for more than $300 million in investment in minority communities. Federal intermediary work included collaborations with White House Initiatives, SBA, NAACP, LULAC, LISC, ACCION International, World Bank & various Federal Reserve Banks. She holds a Masters from McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin and a Dual Bachelors from UTSA.
Giancarlo Newsome| Director, Center for Defense Innovation at Capital Factory
Giancarlo is a proud beneficiary of the entrepreneurial partnerships of the post World War II Marshall Plan era his family was a part of. His upbringing among international entrepreneurs has underwritten all his civilian and military career success. He lives to ""pay forward"" the good of entrepreneurship he has experienced around the world.
Leveraging his entrepreneurial upbringing, early in his career, Giancarlo became salesman of the year for a major Fortune 500 aerospace company. He quickly grew into a variety of other executive leadership positions in corporate America conducting international business around the world. With some great entrepreneurial failures and successes of his own under his belt along the way, he now runs a small business helping others around the world realize their entrepreneurial and personal dreams.
Giancarlo is also a long time reserve member of the U.S. military. He began his career in Army Aviation as an enlisted helicopter crew chief. He later achieved his boyhood dream of becoming a US Army helicopter pilot. He presently serves in the US Army Reserves as an Innovation Officer for the 75th Innovation Command. There he serves as a Civil Affairs Trade & Commerce specialist engaging entrepreneurs and venture capitalists to help the Army Futures Command solve tomorrow's security, stability, and poverty challenges.
Giancarlo holds an MBA from the University of Dallas, and a Bachelor's Degree in Marketing from Texas A&M. He holds varying degrees of fluency, none like James Bond, in English, Italian, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. Giancarlo for fun enjoys being mesmerized by the majesty of nature/science, questions of faith, music composition, travelling, and loving on his wife, parents, family, and friends.
Dmitri Julius | Chief People Officer at ICON
Dmitri Julius is the Chief People Officer of ICON, the construction technologies company leading the way into the future of human shelter and homebuilding using 3D printing and other scientific and technological breakthroughs. In his role, Julius is building and cultivating an elite, adaptive and diverse team to support ICON’s mission and strategic vision.
Prior to joining ICON, Julius was the sales manager and store director for TreeHouse, the Home Upgrade Company, where he managed the retail store staff, led the sales teams and oversaw the sale and installation of sold projects. Prior to his work at TreeHouse, Julius served in the United States Marine Corps for eight years as an operations and logistics troop staff, non-commissioned officer.
Julius has a bachelor of science in biology and military science from St. Edward’s University and is currently completing his masters of education in sports management and a PhD in clinical psychology at Texas A&M University.
Julius resides in Austin, Texas and is a marathon runner, dog enthusiast and has a passion for international travel.
Anita C Roberts|Managing Partner of Silicon Hills Capital and Founding Partner of mvmt ventures
Anita is the Managing Partner at Silicon Hills Capital where she Invests in women & African American founders seeking pre-seed or seed level financing. Their mission is to bridge the gap to venture capital for women, with a focus on Black and Brown founders, building scalable, growth aggressive companies.
Anita served in the U.S. Army for 21 years where she retired as a Lieutenant Colonel.
Craig Cummings (he/him) |General Partner at Moonshots Capital
Craig is the Co-Founder and former Chief Operating Officer of RideScout, a mobile app that showed users how to get from point A to point B by providing real-time ground transportation information. RideScout was acquired by Daimler (Mercedes-Benz) in September 2014.
Before he became an entrepreneur, Craig spent 17 years in the Army, most of that time as an Intelligence Officer serving in support of the National Security Agency (NSA). Craig deployed to Afghanistan with the Joint Special Operations Command where he earned the Bronze Star. He also served as an Assistant Professor of Political Science in the Department of Social Sciences at West Point, NY. Craig received a B.S. in Political Science from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he was their first Truman Scholar, and he received a Ph.D. in Political Science (minor: Econometrics) from Columbia University.
In 2015, Craig was selected by HillVets as one of the 100 most influential and impactful veterans in the United States and, in 2016, Inc. Magazine named him as one of the Top 20 Military Veteran Entrepreneurs in the US. Craig is a member of the 2016 Class of Henry Crown Fellows with the Aspen Institute. Craig is married to Lawton Cummings, a Partner with Capital Factory. They have two children, Addison (17) and Cooper (15), and reside in Austin, TX.
Hayden Meredith (he/him) |Vice President at JPMorgan Chase
Hayden Meredith is a Commercial Banker on the technology and disruptive commerce banking team at JPMorgan Chase in Dallas, TX. Hayden focuses on serving the financial needs of technology clients at all life stages of business maturity- from pre-revenue to publicly traded corporations. His team specializes in unique debt offerings within non-traditional market verticals such as fintech, enterprise software, and B2B SaaS companies.
Nick Spiller (He/Him) | Venture Principal at Capital Factory
Nick is a Venture Principal at Capital Factory, fundraising coach and podcaster based in Austin, TX. Entrepreneurs, don't hesitate to reach out if you seek fundraising support.
For over a decade Nick has been building the startup community in Texas, especially Austin, through service at Capital Factory, UT Austin and Beta Business. He has continues to help establish Capital Factory's investor relations team which has facilitated over 5000 curated meetings between startup investors and our portfolio founders, helped raise 3 funds (1 traditional seed fund and 2 annual accelerator funds) and helped introduce 100+ institutional VC funds to the Texas ecosystem.
He volunteers his time with some of the most talented, entrepreneurial leaders at The University of Texas through service to Genesis which is an alumni-student joint venture that uses non-dilutive capital and our vast network to unlock potential in student entrepreneurs. As an undergrad, he co-founded UT Student Government's Longhorn Entrepreneurship Agency which is the largest entrepreneurial student organization at UT Austin. In recognition of his impact to campus life, he was invited into UT's oldest and most prestigious honor society called The Friar Society which includes four Texas governors, six U.S congressmen and over a dozen professional football players as members. After Favor Delivery raised their Series A, he contributed to their geographic expansion as a Market Launcher opening the service in the suburbs of Dallas as well as Charlotte, NC. Nick also helped Favor get their first Austin office for free at Longhorn Startup Camp. He's also facilitated ~10 entrepreneurship bootcamps for 3 Day Startup at UT Austin, Texas A&M as well as places as far as Bogota, Colombia.
Nick is married to Dr. Blair Spiller on May 26, 2019. Dr. Blair is a Chiropractor at Round Rock Health and Wellness where she owns and operates the chiropractic practice. Nick and Blair enjoy spending weekends cruising their boat around Lake Travis.
Meg Vrabel (she/her)| Chief Revenue Officer & SVP of Innovation at Capital Factory
Meg Vrabel is an executive Operations, Sales & Strategy Leader. With over 15 years of success leading teams in the healthcare, security, logistics and services industries, Meg is skilled in identifying strategies for innovation, revenue growth, and operational efficiencies.
An academy-educated and military-trained professional, Meg is currently leveraging her skill set to partner with Corporate Innovators and Tech Start Ups alike to solve business opportunities with Tech Innovation. Previous to this role, Meg led a midsize for-profit start up through rapid growth with the mission to maximize Military Spouse and Veteran employment. From 2017 to 2021, Meg led Roadside Operations for AAA. While leading over 30 senior leaders and 1,200 field employees, Meg boosted customer satisfaction levels to become the highest in Club history, saved the organization tens of millions of dollars through
innovation, and consistently implemented strategies to automate and achieve operational excellence.
Prior to AAA, Meg worked as Regional Vice President for Allied Universal Security Services. While there, Meg notably managed the merger of two former competitors each valued over $50MM. Through her ability to mobilize teams around a common vision, Meg facilitated a smooth transition to support her 2,500+ employees.
Meg served in the United States Army, both within the Adjutant General’s Corps and in Air Defense Artillery branch. As a Captain, she led a team of 8 Non-Commissioned Officers while forward deployed in Combat Operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. The team managed all administrative actions and events for a 603-Soldier Battalion.
As a servant leader, Meg is passionate about empowering teams, building trusting relationships with clients and partners, and supporting her employees’ growth and fulfillment.Meg’s professional background is complemented by an MBA from Saint Joseph’s University and a Bachelor of Science in Pre Law from the United States Military Academy at West Point. Meg is a third-generation Veteran and while at West Point, she was the team captain of the academy’s first-ever Women’s Basketball Team to qualify for the NCAA tournament. Meg resides in Austin, TX with her husband, a C-level executive in the Food/Agriculture industry, and their two daughters, Milena and Zoe.
Kedreon Cole (he/him) | Co-Founder and CEO of XR Sports Group
Ked is the Co-Founder and CEO of XR Sports Group, a future-of-media platform that delivers a launchpad for media properties to create web3 enabled fan engagement hubs. His company works with company's such as the Dallas Mavericks, Conference USA and Good Good Golf.
Ked has worked in technology and innovation for over 15 years, most recently he spent the previous 5 years at a Venture Studio in Frisco, TX as the VP of Gaming & Esports.
Ked is a native Texan and spent 8 years in the US Navy's Submarine community.
John Goodson (he/him) | CEO of Darkhive
John Goodson is a Special Operations veteran and the Founder of Darkhive, an autonomous robotics start-up focused on defense and public safety. He has worked as an Executive in the defense industry for the past 6 years on projects ranging from tactical wearables to enterprise data processing platforms. John grew up in Austin, Texas and is a graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas. He enlisted in the US Navy in 2006 where he served as a combat technician with the West coast SEAL Teams out of San Diego, California. John left the Navy in 2016 after 10 years of service at the rank of Chief Petty Officer (E-7).
Startup ShowcasE
Judges
Shaydi DeJesus I Austin Lead at Bunker Labs
Dr. James H. Dienst I Principal Healthcare Strategist at MITRE Corporation
Neal Wendt I Senior Analyst at ACME General Corporation
Dillion Sebasco I Associate at Baker Botts
