EIR Profiles

Umar Brimah

As a founder himself, Umar loves diving into the weeds with entrepreneurs. After graduating from Baylor Universityhe followed his passions and launched an entertainment company that sold thousands of tickets to concerts featuring a wide roster of artists. He co-founded a Digital Marketing agency where he got the opportunity to spearhead content creation and distribution efforts for large franchises as well as local businesses. These experiences led him to join the Investor Relations team at Capital Factory where he spearheaded the Texas Startups National Roadshow that connected the best Texas startups with investors from across the nation. Facilitating hundreds of 1-on-1 meetings between startups and Venture Capitalists from across the nation. Building a network that he uses to make strategic value add connections. He now works as a Venture Partner at GVC Partners and Unknown Ventures. He was also named as one of Austin Inno’s 25 under 25 on the rise.

Will Coleman

Will is the co-founder and CEO of Alto, an affordable premium rideshare and delivery service headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Alto elevates the experience for passengers and drivers by providing unmatched safety, hospitality, and consistency in every ride and delivery.

Will founded Alto in 2018 and has since raised over $65M in venture funding to build, launch, and expand the business. Alto launched commercial operations in January 2019 in Dallas, and is now also available in Houston, and Los Angeles (with Miami, and Washington DC launching soon).

Will is a former Partner at McKinsey & Company where he led the consumer air and travel practice and helped some of the world’s largest travel brands build disruptive strategies for growth. While at McKinsey for nearly 11 years he supported airline, hotel, and car rental clients on commercial and operations strategy development and implementation.

Will and his wife, Kendall, have a 7year old daughter (Cora), a 4year old son (Winn), and twins (Wade and Lila) who they welcomed in June to the family in June of 2020.

Will holds a BBA inManagement Information Systems and a BBA in Business Administration from the University of Texas at Austin. His claim to fame at the Firm was his 53 foot school bus he purchased with his McKinsey BA signing bonus and used to host tailgate parties at UT football games during his 3 years as a Business Analyst. He no longer has the bus, but is still an avid UT fan and loves returning to Austin for any reason he can.

Gavin Copeland

As CEO, Gavin is responsible for developing the organization’s strategic initiatives and leading the planning, market communication, and execution of these initiatives.

Gavin has a wealth of experience in the health care field, most recently leading strategy into new technologies. Gavin’s worked directly with multiple companies in the healthcare/insurance industries for over 6 years consulting and providing technology solutions for their businesses. Prior to these ventures, Gavin was Senior Vice President at HealthCare Solutions, his responsibilities included strategic planning, senior sales development, and product development. (HealthCare Solutions which was acquired by Optum, one of the largest Pharmacy Benefit Management Companies in the Industry). Gavin also served in Executive leadership positions with FairPay Solutions and Concentra Medical Centers.

In each of these positions, Gavin led the organizations through substantial growth with his expertise in strategic planning, product development, strategic sales and relationship management.

Gavin holds a Bachelors of Business Administration in Management from Stephen F. Austin University and is on faculty at The University of Texas at Austin, McCombs Business School, Entrepreneurship. Gavin received The Certificate of Special Congressional Recognition for outstanding service to the community from the United States Congress and is on the Board of Child Protection Connection/Texas Lawyers for Children.

Isabella "Bella" Hughes

Hughes’ career spans the arts, nonprofit sector and entrepreneurship, bringing a decade of experience in CPG. Her most recent startup, Shaka Tea, a line of sustainably sourced herbal teas brewed with Hawai’i-grown māmaki, was acquired in 2022 by Irresistible Foods Group. She also co-founded Hawai’i Contemporary (formerly Honolulu Biennial), the premier contemporary art event in Hawai’i, along with co-founding Hawai’i FoundHer, the first accelerator program focused on AAPI and Native Hawaiian women entrepreneurs, presented by Purple Mai’a. An active mentor and advisor to CPG founders, she and her husband are angel investors through their fund Roya Capital, investing in early-stage CPG companies with women founders at the helm.

A frequent public speaker, moderator, and author, she’s been recognized by Pacific Business News as member of the 2018 ’40 Under 40,’ winners, was the Judges’ Choice CPG Winner at Foodbytes! by Rabobank in 2019, and won the 2022 Entrepreneur of the Year award by Hawai’i Venture Capital Association. Currently based in Austin, TX, she was born and raised in Honolulu, HI. Hughes  earned her BA in art history from Boston University and MA in Museum Studies from Johns Hopkins University. 

Amanda Eakin

Amanda Eakin is the Associate and Marketing Coordinator at Sputnik ATX. Prior to joining Sputnik, she worked on set of nationally distributed commercials, ran the science podcast at The Daily Texan and earned her degree in chemistry at The University of Texas at Austin. As an Associate at Sputnik ATX, she wears multiple hats; she promotes the program, manages marketing content and strategy, sources prospective startups for investment and advises founders in the program. She also fosters relationships within the startup universe, from marketing practitioners to investors, so Sputnik ATX can contribute to the Austin startup ecosystem and propel founders further. Amanda enjoys two-stepping, biking around Lady Bird Lake and tasting all the creative and delicious restaurants Austin has to offer. You can find her on Instagram at @amanda_eakin and on Twitter at @misssocurious.

Kevin Fishner

Kevin is currently the Chief of Staff at HashiCorp, the multi-cloud infrastructure automation company. Kevin was the second employee at HashiCorp and has held various roles. For the first two years of the company, Kevin ran all business side functions — sales, marketing, account management, customer success, business development. For the last three years he was the VP of Product responsible for defining HashiCorp’s product portfolio, open source monetization strategy, and internal product development processes. Now as Chief of Staff, Kevin treats the company itself like a product and build systems for long-term growth. Kevin graduated with high distinction in philosophy from Duke with a thesis on The Ethics and Political Philosophy of Subconscious Advertising Techniques.

EXPERTISE
Early state: pre product/market fit
– Finding product/market fit, getting to your first $10M in ARR
– Product positioning
– Problem discovery and customer interviews
Mid stage: post product/market fit
– Product pricing and packaging
– Open source monetization
– Building a product management group
– Product management at a portfolio company

Neil Goldman

Neil is a driven entrepreneur committed to innovation and conscious capitalism. Like all entrepreneurs, his focus has been to build a business that drives value. In 2019, H4H created enough enterprise value to be acquired by QuintEvents. Hotels for Hope has received tremendous accolades since its inception. In 2016, for the third year in a row, Inc. Magazine listed us among the 5000 fastest growing privately held companies in America. Entrepreneur Magazine named H4H a Top 30 Startups to Watch. In 2014, Neil was humbled to earn the Emerging Professional (Undergraduate Degree) Award from Penn State University and in 2018 the Alumni Achievement Award. Oh, and through all of this, they donated over $900,000 to help children live happier and healthier lives.

Neil is a walking billboard letting other businesses, and entrepreneurs, know that business is a powerful vehicle to make social change. At Hotels for Hope, they adhere to Conscious Capitalism – a business practice that puts stakeholders above shareholders. H4H’s stakeholders include: employees, clients, vendors, hotels and non-profits. As H4H continues to drive stakeholder value inherently shareholders will prosper; however, they ensure business decisions are made with stakeholders at the top of mind.

Travel is Neil’s life. In the office, he works with an amazing team that brokers/manages hotel inventory for large consumer events and brands. Hotels for Hope’s technology allows clients to extend their digital ecosystem, capture valuable consumer data, access new sponsorship/advertising impressions, create incremental revenue streams and increase attendee experience. Outside the office, Neil is a man consumed by wanderlust. If he could live anywhere (besides Austin) it would be Thailand…or maybe Vancouver.

Entrepreneurship is a great journey. With Hotels for Hope, Neil is able to parlay his passions, and industry expertise, to create a growing business vehicle.

“One way to fulfill your desires is to always put other people’s desires above your own.”

Sunthar Premakumar

Sunthar Premakumar is an Executive at REX, a company that consists of multiple technology companies which are tech driven, investment focused, operationally intensive and/or media related. The company is currently focused on recreating the real estate industry by disrupting how the entire system functions.

Sunthar started his career as an early employee at Piazza (an ed-tech startup in Palo Alto, CA backed by Sequoia, Bessemer, and Khosla Ventures) as a product designer and engineer. In his 6 year stint at Piazza, he managed the development of a classroom discussion forum that is used at 1400 schools in 90 countries and the development of a college recruiting tool used by Fortune 100 companies. He eventually served has Head of Product, Engineering, Sales, and Operations to led Piazza to become a profitable company.

Sunthar is passionate about helping young entrepreneurs navigate the initial hurdles of starting a company and finding product-market fit. While his expertise is around Product Management, he also has hands-on experience in product design, engineering, operations, business development, recruiting, and sales.

Sunthar moved from Seattle to Austin recently with his wife and son. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and a Master’s degree in Robotics from the University of Pennsylvania. In his free time, Sunthar enjoys playing sports, cooking, and traveling.

Areas of expertise include:
Product Design, Engineering, Operations, Business Development, Recruiting, and Sales.

Ryan Robinson

Ryan was born and raised in South Florida in the small beach town of Delray. He moved to Texas in 2014 to attend Baylor University where he received a BBA in Entrepreneurship. While at Baylor, Ryan started Campus Crates, a student storage and moving company which eventually sold to the UPS Store. Campus Crates is still alive and well today and is now active on the UT campus as well as several other campuses across Texas.

Today, Ryan owns and operates two businesses in the digital space. The first is Search Theory, a web development company focused on blue collar service businesses. Search Theory manages over 400 small business accounts across the country. Second, is Gyde, a member management software company that works with political groups, youth sports, schools+universities, and churches. The product allows these organizations to more effectively communicate, engage, and fundraise with their membership. Gyde recently closed a Series A round of funding and the future of the company is bright.

Ryan is also the head fundraiser for a non-profit Camp Cowboy which is based in Kempner, TX near Ft. Hood. The organization seeks to help combat veterans who have suffered physical and mental trauma from war through horse therapy and a safe atmosphere of others who face similar challenges.

Areas of expertise include:
Customer Discovery, Marketing, Product Development, and Sales.

Matt Thomas

Matthew Thomas is an entrepreneur who has spent most of his career working in Austin-based start-ups with a particular focus on Education Technology and Software-as-a-Service. Most recently he co-founded AcademicWorks, which provides cloud-based software to help colleges, universities, and community foundations manage their scholarship processes while increasing donor engagement. That’s a fancy way of saying that AcademicWorks encourages the virtuous cycle of giving by ensuring that scholarship dollars are used to help kids pay for college while recognizing donors for their impact and contribution so that they will in turn be inclined to help more students.

In April 2017, AcademicWorks was acquired by Blackbaud (NASDAQ: BLKB).

Prior to AcademicWorks, Matthew had the privilege of serving in several capacities, including the executive management team, at Austin-based PeopleAdmin, which was sold to Summit Partners in 2008.

Outside of entrepreneurial endeavors, you’ll usually find Matthew running around Lady Bird Lake or fighting his way through a marathon with Nutella to make up for the homebrew he just finished. You’ll also likely see him at an Entreprenuers’ Organization event, which is always filled with fantastic and inspiring people.

Brian Hall

Brian A. Hall is a practicing attorney with Traverse Legal, PLC (Hall Law) and the managing partner of its Austin, Texas office. He is the founder of TraverseGC.com, a monthly fixed-fee subscription-based provider of fractional General Counsel services to companies. Brian has served as outside general counsel to private, venture backed companies, public companies and venture capital funds. Since 2015, he has been General Counsel to Notley Ventures, an Austin-based social impact company. He primarily represents founders, startups and enterprise technology companies, with a focus on Intellectual Property, Internet Law, including such areas as digital and social media, advertising and promotions, privacy and data matters, and Business Law issues. Brian regularly advises clients on the acquisition of, enforcement of, licensing and monetization of intellectual property, and he has extensive experience with countless multi-million dollar corporate transactions involving an entity’s business-critical IP. Brian has also litigated cases across the United States involving trademark, domain name, copyright, software trade secret, online defamation and privacy/personal rights issues. Brian has been chosen by his peers as a Rising Star in Intellectual Property, as rated by SuperLawyers, for 2019 and has received the highest peer rating for level of professional excellence, AV Preeminent, by Martindale-Hubbell.

Brian regularly mentors and advises entities at all stages of the startup ecosystem, including as an investor. His experiences range from being a limited partner in StartupRunner, a seed stage venture capital fund, to an angel investor with the Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN). He is an active member and former Board member for Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Austin and is the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for PeopleFund, an Austin-based CDFI.

Brian is also a regular author and speaker on legal topics of particular interest to technology companies given his background as an IT Consultant with the global IT firm Accenture. Brian has provided trademark legal commentary on Fox 7 News (Austin), authored Coach’s Corner for foundingAUSTIN and the Founders’ Friday blog series, and presented CLE on a variety of topics.

Brian lives in Central Austin with his wife and two daughters. He comes from the Midwest but loves the Southwest spirit.

Tucker Villarreal

Tucker Villarreal joined Richards Rodriguez & Skeith LLP in September 2019, following a year-long clerkship with the firm. Tucker provides a wide variety of legal services including guidance on commercial transactions, entity structure, mergers, sales and acquisitions, technology agreements, corporate governance, and outside general counsel services.

Tucker graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and received his undergraduate degree in Government and History. He went on to attend the University of Texas School of Law, graduating in May 2019 and passing the Texas State Bar exam in the fall of that year. During his time at the University of Texas School of Law, Tucker served as the Research Editor for the Texas International Law Journal.

INSPIRATION

RESOURCES

OPPORTUNITIES

ENCOURAGE

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EMPOWER

HKEC ADVISORY BOARD

l

Meet our

OUR EXPERTS

Meet the HKEC Entrepreneurs-in-Residence

Umar Brimah is Venture Partner at GVC Partners & Unknown Ventures

Will Coleman is the CEO & Co-Founder of Alto

Gavin Copeland is the CEO of Pericon Technology.

Isabella Hughes is the Co-Founder of Hawai'i FoundHer.

Amanda Eakin is the Marketing Director of Sputnik ATX.

Kevin Fishner is Chief of Staff at HashiCorp.

Neil Goldman is the CEO and Founder of Hotels for Hope.

Sunthar Premakumar is an Executiveat REX Real Estate.

Ryan Robinson is the founder of Search Theory and Gyde

Matt Thomas is the Co-founder of Academic Works.

THE HERB KELLEHER ENTREPRENEURSHIP CENTER Making Entrepreneurship Accessible to All Longhorns

FOLLOW US

Inspiration

Resources

Opportunities

Umar Brimah

Will Coleman

Gavin Copeland

Isabella "Bella" Hughes

Amanda Eakin

Kevin Fishner

Neil Goldman

Sunthar Premakumar

Ryan Robinson

Matt Thomas

Brian Hall

Tucker Villarreal

Umar Brimah is Venture Partner
at GVC Partners & Unknown
Ventures

Will Coleman is the CEO
& Co-Founder of Alto

Amanda Eakin is the Marketing
Director of Sputnik ATX.

Kevin Fishner is Chief of Staff
at HashiCorp.

Neil Goldman is the CEO
and Founder of Hotels for Hope.

Sunthar Premakumar is an Executive
at REX Real Estate.

Ryan Robinson is the founder
of Search Theory and Gyde

Matt Thomas is the Co-founder of
Academic Works.

THE HERB KELLEHER ENTREPRENEURSHIP CENTER
Making Entrepreneurship Accessible to All Longhorns