Meet our Board of Directors
Mike Forgash | David J. Freschman |Kevin Kleinschmidt | Bruce Luehrs | Farid Naib
Mike Forgash
Mike is a Managing Partner and founding member of Zon Capital Partners. His 20-year career was primarily in the software/services industry, where, as CEO, he twice steered companies to successful acquisitions. Mike leveraged these skills into a successful venture capital career in 1998. He also led the e-Commerce and Software practice area for Safeguard Scientifics, a publicly traded (NYSE) venture capital holding company. Prior to joining Safeguard, Mike headed up two IT companies.
In Mike’s operating career, he served as President of Continental Healthcare Systems and later as CEO of Creative Multimedia, an early Internet professional services company that designed and delivered business solutions. He led and managed all aspects of that organization, including a complete restructuring which led to its eventual sale. He began his career with Shared Medical Systems, now Siemens, in various implementation and sales roles.
Mike sits on the boards of AlignAlytics, Aviom, Smart Destinations, SuiteLinq and RCD Technology and is the former chairman of the Mid Atlantic Capital Alliance. He holds a business degree from Duke University. top
David J. Freschman, MBA, CPA
David is a Managing Principal of Innovation Capital Advisors, LLC (ICA), which serves as the management company of Innovation Ventures, L.P. (IV) and the Delaware Innovation Fund (DIF). He has been responsible for all aspects of IV's and DIF's management since its inception and has served as DIF's President and CEO since its establishment in 1995.
David is active in the venture and entrepreneurial communities and has lectured for The White House Conference on Small Business, The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Temple University and several other institutions. He is the creator and founder of Early Stage East – the East Coast's premier early stage venture capital fair. He chaired the venture capital study of Delaware's Strategic Economic Council and served a three-year term representing New Castle County, Delaware on the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia.
David has served on many companies' boards of directors, including Foxfire Printing and Packaging, Business Intelligence International, Skill Survey, Smart Button, Market Data Insite, Solstice Software and Maverick Network Solutions. He is also actively involved in community activities, serving on the boards of the Kutz Home Nursing Home, New Castle County Chamber of Commerce, Junior Achievement of Delaware, Delaware Society of CPAs and the American Israel Chamber of Commerce, among others.
Prior to establishing the DIF, David was responsible for forming the corporate finance advisory division of McBride Shopa and Company, one of the largest certified public accounting and consulting firms in Delaware. He began his career with the Enterprise Group of the Philadelphia office of Arthur Andersen, LLP.
David graduated with honors with an MBA from Loyola College of Maryland and cum laude from the University of Delaware with a BS in accounting, where he was a John B. Lynch Scholar. He is also a member of Beta Gamma Sigma – the National Honor Society. top
Kevin Kleinschmidt
Kevin currently serves as President and COO of Philadelphia-based Energy Plus, an energy supply company that he cofounded in 2007 and grew to over $150 million in annual revenue in less than 3 years of operations.
Prior to this position, he served as managing director of both partnership marketing and strategic planning and financing for Juniper Bank and at Barclays Bank, which purchased Juniper. At Juniper, Kevin led financing efforts that secured over $250 million in venture backing and helped grow the partnership business to over $3 billion in annual transaction volume.
Kevin began his career in finance and investment banking at JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley. Kevin serves on the boards of several local nonprofit arts.
Kevin has an undergraduate degree for The College of William and Mary and a MBA in finance and accounting from New York University. top
Bruce Luehrs
Bruce has been a banker, entrepreneur and venture capitalist for the past 25 years. He has extensive experience in both equity and debt financings and is well known in the Philadelphia area, having served as a past Chairman of the Greater Philadelphia Venture Group and as an active member of the Mid Atlantic Venture Conference Steering Committee and the Association for Corporate Growth. Over the past eight years, Bruce has championed investments in 14 companies totaling over $60 million.
Previously, Bruce was a General Partner of the Edison Venture Fund, Vice President of Columbia Capital and a principal at PNC Equity Management and Fidelcor Capital. Earlier in his career, he was a commercial lender with Continental Illinois National Bank (Chicago) and Fidelity Bank (Philadelphia). While at Fidelity, he developed a lending and investment practice for Fidelity Bank to serve emerging growth companies in the Delaware Valley. In 1988, he secured a SBIC license for Fidelity Bank and served as the first President of the SBIC unit and Fidelcor Capital.
Bruce was commissioned as an officer in the United States Air Force in 1975. He received an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University following graduation from Duke University with a BA in Economics, summa cum laude. top
Farid Naib
Farid is most recently founder and Chief Executive Officer of Document Depository Corporation, a leader in the field of critical data management. In 1992, he founded FNX Limited, which grew to become the leading provider of financial derivative instruments technology to over 120 of the largest banks worldwide. FNX was acquired by GL Trade Corporation in 2007 and is now part of SunGard Corp.
Farid has received numerous awards for his leadership and entrepreneurial achievements. FNX was been named Growth Company of the Year by Price Waterhouse Coopers and is a multi-year recipient of the Philadelphia 100 and the Fast 50 awards. FNX repeatedly earned top honors in the Inc. 500's list of America's fastest growing, privately held companies.
He has served on several boards, including Gain Capital, the highly successful FX trading firm based in northern New Jersey. He is also a member of the Young Presidents Organization (YPO) and a visiting member of the Management Department at the Wharton School, where he guest lectures on entrepreneurship.
Farid holds a BBA from Emory University and an MBA in Finance from The Wharton School of Business of the University of Pennsylvania. top