Speaker

AJ Plotkin (MBA 2004)

Independent Investor & Venture Capitalist

Adam J. Plotkin is an independent investor and venture capitalist. From 2014 to 2023, Adam was a Partner at ff Venture Capital, a seed stage-firm with 90+ active portfolio companies based in New York City and Warsaw. Informed by his previous background, Adam is particularly interested in structured, complex capital solutions. At ff, Adam was a director of more than 15 companies including Rhino, Sure Insurance, Omaze, CardFlight, Burro, PlusOne, Civic Eagle, and StoryFit.

Prior to ffVC, Adam joined the founding team of a startup insurance company. Previously, Adam was a hedge fund investor at an opportunistic, broad-mandate hedge fund focused on macro trends, and at a distressed debt fund. Adam started his career at Goldman Sachs in Leveraged Finance. He is a Trustee of the Pingry School in Basking Ridge, NJ.

Adam holds a M.B.A. degree from the Harvard Business School. He also holds Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Applied Sciences, and Bachelor of Science in Economics degrees from the University of Pennsylvania.

Speaker

Deborah Farrington (MBA 1976)

Co-Founder & Managing Partner, StarVest Ventures

Deborah is co-founder and managing partner of New York City-based StarVest Partners, founded in
1998 to invest in technology-enabled business services. StarVest is one of the largest women
majority owned venture capital firms. Its focus has been on software-as-a-service, digital marketing,
and data & analytics.

Notable investments include NetSuite (NYSE: N), which StarVest invested in
when it had minimal revenues, and which was sold to ORCL for $9.2 billion in 2016 when it had $1
billion in revenues; she was lead director and chair of the Compensation Committee from the time in
went public in 2007 until its sale. Other investments include the first internet insurance company, the
first digital ad agency, and HR and financial infrastructure, SaaS solutions and leading marketing
technology companies. On behalf of StarVest, she currently serves on the boards of Planful, Xignite,
and Snag Holdings, Inc.

In addition, she is a director of NCR (NYSE: NCR) where she chairs the Compensation & Human
Resources Committee; Ceridian HCM Holding (NYSE: CDAY) where she chairs the Nominating &
Governance Committee; and Cumulus Media where she is a member of the Audit Committee.
Earlier in her career she was president and CEO of Victory Ventures, a multi strategy investment
firm headquartered in New York City, a managing director of Asian Oceanic Group in New York and
Hong Kong, and an investment banker and division director of Merrill Lynch in New York, Hong
Kong and Tokyo. She began her career after college and prior to HBS as a credit analyst at the
Chase Manhattan Bank.

She has been named multiple times to the Forbes Midas List of Top 100 Venture Capitalists and in
2018 received the Foreign Policy Association Medal for Achievement in Financial Services. She
received an MBA from the Harvard Business School, where she has served on the Visiting
Committee, as a Vice-President of the Alumni Association, endowed a Fellowship for Women
Entrepreneurs and is a chair of the HBS Club of New York. She is a graduate of Smith College,
where she was a Trustee for eight years and chaired its Investment Committee, responsible for its
endowment. She currently serves as a member of the board of Trustees of the American Friends of
the Victoria & Albert Museum in London and a board member of the Asolo Repertory Theatre in
Sarasota, FL.

Speaker

Jason E. Klein (MBA 1986)

OnGrid Ventures

Jason E. Klein is an experienced media CEO and builder of digital and traditional businesses who has led two successful turnarounds. He is founder and CEO of On Grid Ventures, an investment and advisory firm with a portfolio of 20+ early stage companies. Mr. Klein is co-President of the HBS Angels Alumni Association. Mr. Klein was previously CEO of Newspaper National Network LP; and CEO of Times Mirror Magazines/Time4 Media, publisher of Golf Magazine, Field & Stream, and Popular Science. Mr. Klein is one of Alleywatch’s “25 Angels Investors in NY You Need to Know,” a member of New York Angels, and mentor at several NYC-area incubators.

David Arcara (MBA 1990)

Laconia Capital Group

David Arcara is Co-Founder and General Partner of Laconia Capital Group, a NYC based seed-fund investing in B2B software solutions. A 5x founder, David has deep experience with all aspects of business operations, governance, and the path of taking a company from idea to exit. A lifelong New Yorker, David attended the University of Colorado Boulder and Harvard Business School.

Moderator

Ana Kertesz (MBA 2002)

N.Y. / Northeast U.S. aNVC '23 Team Lead

Ana Kertesz has 25 years of combined experience as an investor, executive, entrepreneur and board member with a successful track record in business launch & growth, funding, mergers & acquisitions, private equity & venture capital, partnerships, cross border transactions, content & community and building high performance teams, in her tenure at Goldman Sachs, biotechnology company Amyris, family office Peninsula, and her startup HOWto.LIVEit. A strong diversity and ESG advocate, Ana has close experience in a multitude of industries, including beauty, wellness, food, biotechnology, education, ed tech, media, retail and clean energy. Ana is fluent in English, Spanish, Portuguese and French and holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. Ana lives in the greater NY area with her family.