Daniel J. Hennessy

Advisor

Daniel J. Hennessy is one of our advisors and is the Founder and the Managing Member of Hennessy Capital Group LLC, an alternative investment firm founded in 2013 that focuses on investing in sustainable and real estate technology sectors. He also currently serves as senior advisor to VII. Since January 2021, Mr. Hennessy has served as Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Hennessy Capital Investment Corp. VI, which in September 2021 closed its initial public offering of $300 million. From December 2020 to December 2022, he served as Senior Advisor to PTIC. From October 2020 to December 2022, Mr. Hennessy served as Chairperson and CEO of Hennessy Capital Investment Corp. V., or Hennessy V (NASDAQ: HCIC), which in January 2021 closed its initial public offering of $345 million. From March 2019 to December 2020, Mr. Hennessy served as Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. IV, or Hennessy IV (NASDAQ: HCAC), which in December 2020 closed its initial business combination with Canoo Holdings Ltd. From August 2018 to August 2022, Mr. Hennessy served as a director of SIRVA Worldwide Relocation & Moving. From January 2017 to October 2018, Mr. Hennessy served as Chairperson of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. III, or Hennessy III, which merged with NRC Group Holdings, LLC, a global provider of comprehensive environmental, compliance and waste management services, now known as US Ecology, Inc. (NASDAQ: ECOL) and served as a director of US Ecology, Inc. from January 2018 to October 2019. From April 2015 to February 2017, Mr. Hennessy served as Chairperson and Chief Executive Officer of Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp. II, or Hennessy II, which merged with Daseke in February 2017 and is now known as Daseke, Inc. (NASDAQ: DSKE) and since February 2017, has served as Daseke, Inc.’s Vice Chairperson. From September 2013 to February 2015, Mr. Hennessy served as Chairperson of the Board and Chief Executive Officer of Hennessy Capital Acquisition Corp., or Hennessy I, which merged with School Bus Holdings Inc. in February 2015 and is now known as Blue Bird Corporation (NASDAQ: BLBD), and from 2015 to 2019, he as a director of Blue Bird Corporation, formerly known as School Bus Holdings Inc. From 1988 to 2016, Mr. Hennessy served as a Partner at Code Hennessy & Simmons LLC (n/k/a CHS Capital or “CHS”), a middle-market private equity investment firm he co-founded in 1988. Prior to forming CHS, Mr. Hennessy was employed by Citicorp from 1984 to 1988 as head of the Midwest Region for Citicorp Mezzanine Investments and Vice President and Team Leader with Citicorp Leveraged Capital Group. He began his career in 1981 in the oil and gas lending group at Continental Illinois National Bank (now Bank of America) where he was a Banking Officer. Mr. Hennessy holds a B.A. degree, magna cum laude, from Boston College and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business. Mr. Hennessy is the father of Thomas D. Hennessy, a director.

Betty Liu

Advisor

Betty W. Liu, one of our advisors, is the Chairperson, President, and Chief Executive Officer for D and Z Media Acquisition Corp. Ms. Liu is a highly accomplished entrepreneur, journalist, producer, and corporate executive with more than 25 years of professional experience working domestically and internationally. Her extensive background in financial journalism and professional education content, and later as a senior executive at Intercontinental Exchange (ICE), has provided Ms. Liu connectivity and access to C-suite executives and directors across a variety of industries and geographies, domestically and internationally, particularly in Asia. Ms. Liu most recently served as the Executive Vice Chairperson of the NYSE Group and Chief Experience Officer for NYSE’s parent company, ICE. She was also a member of the NYSE Group board of directors from 2018 to 2020. Ms. Liu oversaw the NYSE’s digital marketing operations, including customer-centric messaging, branding, digital events, and other core growth initiatives that were linear to the company’s long-term strategy. In this capacity, Ms. Liu directly managed the development of the Investor Access series, and monthly C-suite engagement events, which collectively brought together more than 1,600 senior executives of some of the largest publicly listed companies, including senior executives within the media and ed-tech sectors. In addition to her role in marketing and strategy, through her role at the NYSE, Ms. Liu was actively involved in more than 25 initial public offerings, including some of the largest listings in recent history for companies such as Uber (NYSE: U), Pinterest (NYSE: PINS), and Tencent Music (NYSE: TME). Because of her background and connectivity, Ms. Liu was closely consulted and heavily involved in the planning process for several media and technology businesses as they evaluated considerations regarding becoming a public company. Prior to ICE, Ms. Liu served as the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Radiate, an online, subscription-based ed-tech company focused on leadership, business, and personal development strategies for millennial managers and executives. As the Founder, Ms. Liu led day-to-day operations of the business and scaled the platform from concept to more than 20,000 monthly active professional subscribers in less than 2 years. Ms. Liu led the company through multiple rounds of venture-backed capital raises from notable venture capital investors, such as RSE Ventures and University Ventures. Radiate was acquired by ICE in 2018.

From 2007 to 2018, Ms. Liu was an award-winning business journalist, serving as a leading anchor and editor-at-large for Bloomberg Television in New York City. Ms. Liu hosted “In the Loop” and developed several franchises including “Titans at the Table,” which focused on leaders in finance, markets, entertainment, and business. Ms. Liu was the sole anchor since In the Loop’s inception in 2009. Before joining Bloomberg, Ms. Liu was an anchor for CNBC Asia based in Hong Kong, serving as part of the leadership group which helped build CNBC Asia into a market-leading news network within the region. Prior to 2007, Ms. Liu was the Atlanta Bureau Chief for the Financial Times, served as the Taiwan Bureau Chief for Dow Jones Newswires, and separately was their Hong Kong-based regional correspondent. In 1997, she received a Dow Jones Newswires Award for her coverage of the Asian financial crisis. Ms. Liu earned a B.A. from the University of Pennsylvania.

Scott F. Meadow

Advisor

Scott F. Meadow, one of our advisors, is a Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business teaching over 10,000 students in Entrepreneurship, Innovation, Private Equity and Venture Capital. Mr. Meadow has over 30 years of experience as a general partner with four venture capital and private equity firms. Since 2005, Mr. Meadow has been an associate partner of The Edgewater Funds, a private equity partnership with Lazard Frères, specialized in middle market growth capital investments and with over $1.0 billion in capital under management. From 1995 to 2003, Mr. Meadow was a general partner for Sprout Group, the venture affiliate of Donaldson, Lufkin, & Jenrette (DLJ), which has raised nearly $3.0 billion in committed capital from leading institutional investors. From 1992 to 1995, Mr. Meadow was a general partner for Frontenac Company, Chicago-based private equity firm that raises capital from investors with long investment horizons. Since its inception, the firm has managed over 200+ family business transitions. From 1983 to 1992, Mr. Meadow served as a partner and a general partner for William Blair & Company, a full line investment banking partnership.

Edward Shenderovich

Advisor

Edward Shenderovich, one of our advisors, is the Founder and Managing Director of Essential Capital, an early-stage investment company which counts urban transformation as one of its focus areas and the Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Synonym, a bioproduction infrastructure company. Prior to Essential Capital and Synonym, he founded and was the Managing Partner of Kite Ventures, a venture capital firm specializing in marketplace and transactional network investments, including Darberry (acquired by Groupon), Fyber, Delivery Hero, Plated and Tradeshift. Prior to Kite Ventures, he was a founding executive and the Head of Strategic Development at SUP, a Moscow-based Internet company. He is the co-founder and former Chairperson of Knotel, a NYC-based flexible workplace company, now a division of Newmark (NASDAQ: NMRK). He is also a former board member of Merchantry, Inc, a SaaS marketplace enablement company, Tradeshift, Inc, a supplier collaboration platform, and Delivery Hero Holding GmbH (ETR: DHER), a multinational online food-delivery service based in Berlin, Germany, and other technology businesses. He also served as a founding executive for SUP Media and is the owner of LiveJournal.com.

Evan Wray

Advisor

Evan Wray, one of our advisors, is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Mavely, a leading social commerce platform that drives customer acquisition and sales by connecting influencers and the world’s top retail brands since 2019. Additionally, since 2017, Mr. Wray has served as a Venture Partner for TMV, a leading early stage holding company overseeing two venture funds focused on ideas that will transform industries and inspire new ones. Through Trail Mix Ventures (“TMV”), Mr. Wray is board observer of four portfolio companies across food logistics, recycling networks, mobile gaming and D2C ecommerce. In 2012, Mr. Wray co-founded Swyft Media, the first emoji ad network, and served as Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer from 2012 to 2015. In 2015, Monotype Imaging (NASDAQ: TYPE) acquired Swyft, where Evan continued to lead the organization as the VP of the newly formed Consumer Division. From 2016 to 2019, he was founding partner of Irish Beef, a quick service restaurant franchise focused on implementing culture and technology to accelerate growth. Irish Beef was acquired by Equicorp Partners in 2019. In addition, Evan sits on the Venture Builders Advisory Board at the University of Notre Dame, where he received a BA in Economics in 2012.