Corporate Partnership Program

Megan Alves has significant experience in strategy, logistics, and business development. She has held several leadership roles at Wayfair, all focused on building teams, operations and analytics for growth initiatives. Megan's last role at Wayfair was as Associate Director of Supplier Advertising, with oversight for finance, sales operations, customer service and analytics. Since leaving Wayfair, Megan has started a property management business, volunteers for local organizations on fundraising efforts, and focuses much of her energy on raising her two young boys.

Prior to Wayfair, Megan was a Senior Manager of Strategy and Applied Innovation at Staples, where she worked closely with product managers and marketing experts on piloting C-suite moonshot initiatives. She also held positions in supply chain distribution, inventory management, and sales operations.

Megan is a certified Lean Six Sigma Black belt and was a member of the Northeastern Beanpot Academic Case Competition Team. She received her BS in Finance and Supply Chain Management from Northeastern University.

Rebecca leads Upgrade's Financial Institutions Team nationally. An experienced FinTech executive, she covers all bank and credit union partnerships at Upgrade. Rebecca has worked closely with a variety of regulated Financial Institutions (“FIs”) from Banks/Credit Unions as small as $30M to as large as $00 billion. She has developed custom acquisition programs across a variety of consumer asset classes, unsecured personal installment loans, cards, autos and home improvement draws. In her time at Upgrade, Rebecca has developed and sold forward flow programs with over 200 Financial Institutions in the United States, far exceeding any marketplace lending platform in history. Most recently, Rebecca and her team have begun offering their 200+ partners an additional Upgrade product (deposits) to bring a brand new liquidity source to regulated financial institutions, creating match funding solutions for FIs with deposit pressure. Since the launch of deposits in late 2022 nearly $1 Billion has been swept to these existing partnerships. Rebecca also currently serves as an advisor to pre-seed B2B FinTech start-ups.

Rebecca has been a subject matter expert speaker on many shows and podcasts, and in 2023 she was named to the FT Partners Women in Fintech Rising Star list.  Rebecca has been published in Journal of Digital Banking, and CFO Tech Outlook, among others.

Prior to Upgrade, Rebecca was with another marketplace lending platform where she covered capital markets for personal unsecured loans, warehouse facilities, ABS securitizations, structured pass-through securities as well as Financial Institution flow programs. Prior to entering the FinTech space, Rebecca was in investment banking with Bank of America Merrill Lynch and before that in securities lending at Goldman Sachs in the U.K.

Based in San Francisco, California and originally from Hartford, Connecticut, USA, Rebecca holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from Northeastern University and FINRA licenses Series 7, 63 and 52.

With 32 years of experience in asset servicing and financial services technology, Peter is a seasoned professional specializing in bridging the gap between business and technology disciplines and driving transformational change and operational excellence.  With a focus on aligning people, processes, and systems, Peter has successfully led large scale business transformation projects, streamlined operations, built scalable enterprise processes, and implemented enterprise technology platforms.

Peter's specific areas of expertise include organizational design, process engineering, program management, change management, and technology operations.  As a leader and mentor, Peter is passionate about fostering talent and building teams.  With expertise in guiding both individuals and organizations through complex change, he is committed to sharing knowledge through teaching, experiential education, mentoring and consulting.

As an Innovation Lead, Peter serves as a lead subject matter expert where he cultivates leading innovation ideas targeting strategic high revenue opportunities with potential for a new business.  He works with prospective business partners including development and distribution partnerships, new customer acquisition, and equity investment, and leads efforts for technology platform strategy in support of the emerging Data Services business.

Peter received his undergraduate degree from Northeastern University's D'Amore-McKim School of Business in Business Administration, Marketing, Management, and he completed his Master of Science in Management Information Systems from Boston University.

Dan is a co-founder at mabl (www.mabl.com), which helps companies use artificial intelligence improve the quality of their software. Prior to mabl, Dan was a product leader at Google, which he joined through the acquisition of Stackdriver, which he also co-founded. Dan spent his early career in product and technical leadership roles at VMware and Microsoft. He lives in Boston with his wife and three children.

Dan received his undergraduate degree from D'Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University and his MBA in Management and Strategy, Management and Organizations from Northwestern University – Kellogg School of Management. As an undergraduate, Dan was a member of the Northeastern Academic Beanpot Case Competition Team, and often supported future teams as a judge and practice coach.

Michael Bowden is a Managing Director of Portfolio Management at Hercules Capital, a specialty finance company that provides venture growth loans to high-growth companies in the technology, life sciences, and sustainable and renewable technology industries.  Michael focuses on underwriting debt and equity investments in the life science and technology sectors as well as overseeing the portfolio management of all debt, warrant and equity holdings that were originated out of Hercules' U.S. East Coast and London offices.

Michael joined Hercules Capital as an Investment Analyst Co-op in January 2007 and joined the Hercules investment team full-time in January 2008.  Michael has spent most of his career at Hercules, being promoted to the role of Associate in October 2009, Vice President in April 2011 and then to Managing Director of Portfolio Management in January 2019.

Prior to Hercules, he held co-op positions with Credit Suisse HOLT as an equity research analyst and with Bristol-Myers Squibb as a global sourcing and supplier management analyst.  Michael received a B.S. in Finance from Northeastern University and an M.B.A. from Boston University.

John, Director – Finance & Accounting (F&A), leads the Global Supply Chain Forecast team for the Gillette division @ P&G. John leverages his 30 years of Gillette business experience to deliver high level forecast accuracy behind strong financial analysis to then make best informed business decisions. During Fiscal Year Ending 6/30/24, John delivered $70MM+ in lower manufacturing costs (> 4%) vs prior year enabling business reinvestment.

Over his 30 years with Gillette / P&G, he has held many different F&A roles including external reporting, stewardship, strategy development, commercial operations and product cost analysis. Through his leadership, John supported company acquisitions, process auditing, product launches, strategic initiatives, and supply network designs. He was recently recognized by senior business leadership for his dedication, care and commitment to the organization and business through role-modeling of servant leadership and service delivery. Prior to Gillette, he worked for four years @ KPMG, one of the Big 4 accounting firms.

John graduated from Bryant College with a Bachelor Degree in Accounting. He holds a certificate as a Certified Public Accountant and is a Chartered Global Management Accountant.

Ben Brown is a Managing Partner in Brookfield's Real Estate Group, and Head of the Americas region. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing all real estate activities in the region, including investments and portfolio management. He is also sector head for office globally. Ben has held various roles at the Firm, including head of the U.S. office portfolio and he has lead acquisitions and dispositions for the office property business in London and New York.

Prior to joining Brookfield in 2010, Mr. Brown worked at the New Boston Fund, Sovereign Bank and Thor Equities. Mr. Brown received a B.S in Finance from Northeastern University. He is a member of the Real Estate Board of New York's Executive Committee and Board of Governors and a member of the D'Amore-McKim School of Business New York city executive leadership council.

Kelly Burke is the Senior Manager of Partnerships at Reebok and is an experienced global marketing professional with over 12 years of experience in the consumer goods industry. Prior to her current role Kelly held several roles at Reebok in product marketing.

Kelly is experienced in building relationships internally and with external partners to deliver on consumer needs. She is skilled in managing partnerships and creating footwear product across the sports and entertainment space. Kelly is a frequent guest speaker in undergraduate marketing classes.  She received a B.S. in Marketing from Northeastern University.

David is an accomplished finance executive with extensive leadership experience across prominent financial institutions and innovative startups. He currently serves as CFO of PowerHouse, a climate tech company, where he oversees finance, technology, people and culture. David also is a fractional CFO with BurnhamLake, LLC, advising early-stage ventures on financial planning and fundraising strategies.

Previously, he was EVP of Finance at Alumni Ventures, leading the finance team for one of the U.S.'s most active venture capital firms. During his tenure at Fidelity Investments, David held multiple VP roles, spearheading corporate financial planning, financial operations, and fund accounting initiatives. He began his career at Arthur Andersen, providing financial consulting for distressed businesses.

David holds an MBA and an MS in Accounting from Northeastern University.

Daniel A. Collins is a 20-year supply chain executive with an extensive background in strategic sourcing and supplier management. His areas of expertise are in the medical device and food industries, and he has worked for several prominent companies in each, including C.R. Bard (acquired by Becton Dickinson in 2017), Johnson and Johnson and Mars, Inc. At C.R. Bard he was awarded the 2016 Charles Russell Bard CEO award for his innovative, collaborative work with the company's top strategic suppliers.

Prior to supply chain, Daniel worked in the technology and hospitality sectors for several start-ups, major hotel companies and hospitality technology firms including Starwood Hotels and Micros, Inc. (now part of Oracle).

He is currently the Senior Director of Strategic Sourcing and External Manufacturing for BVI Medical, a private equity-owned, fast-growing ophthalmic products company. Recruited in 2020 to establish the sourcing function, Daniel leads a global team of professionals responsible for managing all raw material and finished goods spend for BVI's 7 plants as well as the company's extensive footprint of external manufacturers.

As a “double Husky” Daniel is a two-time graduate of Northeastern University, with an MBA (‘04) from the D'Amore-McKim School of Business and a B.A. (‘92), Modern Languages, from the College of Social Science and Humanities. He's an active mentor to Supply Chain students and a former member of Northeastern's Supply Chain Career Track Advisory Board.

As a Partner in Deloitte's Global Employer Services (GES) practice and Head of Financial Services, Leigh travels the world partnering with clients to solve complex global talent and tax challenges. She co-authors leading best practices in global mobility and forges forward best-in-class products for Fortune 100 companies. Her clients include extraordinary leaders and deal makers in the Financial Services industry.

Leigh is known for fiercely supporting her clients' objectives, leveraging the Deloitte network of experts, challenging the status quo, and relentlessly delivering market insights to support her clients' growth strategies. She has an infinite capacity for developing next level products, an insatiable appetite for learning and reading, and nurtures a growth mindset for herself and her team.

Leigh received her undergraduate degree in Finance and International Business from the D'Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University and her M.S. in Leadership and Administration from Boston College – Woods College of Advancing Studies.

Kristen FitzPatrick serves as the Director of Data & Analytics for Dunkin' and Baskin-Robbins at Inspire Brands, Inc. Leading the brands' data and analytics initiatives, FitzPatrick has played a pivotal role in expanding the function of analytics beyond traditional business reporting to influence strategic business decisions across the organization. Her ability to translate complex data into consumer-driven narratives has not only fueled the success of various initiatives but has also contributed to favorable long term business performance that garnered the brands' $11.3 billion acquisition by Inspire Brands, Inc. in December 2020.

With a background in investment management and a passion for giving back, FitzPatrick also serves as Treasurer of the Board for the Dunkin' Joy in Childhood Foundation, whose mission is to provide the simple joys of childhood to kids battling hunger or illness.

Sports taught a young FitzPatrick about building relationships, mentoring, and working toward shared goals. It was Northeastern University's co-op program that motivated Kristen to enroll and allowed her to put her skills to immediate work.  She received her undergraduate degree from Northeastern's D'Amore-McKim School of Business in Finance and Management in 2007.

John Hartz is President of Sloane & Company, based in Boston. He focuses on a range of the firm's corporate clients including New York Life, the largest mutual life insurance company in the U.S., and Insight Enterprises, a Fortune 300 technology provider.

John also designed and led a multi-year campaign to position American Express as a leader in customer service not just in the card industry, but among all customer service luminaries. For these companies and others such as Staples and HelloFresh, John has developed and executed integrated public relations campaigns designed to raise company profiles, protect and enhance reputations, facilitate marketplace positioning and drive thought-leadership.

He holds an MBA from Northeastern University and a B.A. in Political Science from the College of the Holy Cross, and he was the recipient of a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to conduct a year of international research on the role of subway systems in urban development. He is a member of the Northeastern University Business School National Executive Leadership Council and serves as a mentor to Holy Cross students interested in the PR/communications field.

As the Vice President of AI at SiriusXM, Derya is a trailblazer in leveraging artificial intelligence to craft personalized, engaging user experiences. With a career that spans the e-commerce, media, and finance industries, Derya has been at the helm of AI teams at some of the world's leading multi-billion dollar companies, including Instagram Reels at Meta and Spotify's Personalization team, the brains behind the beloved Daily Mix and Discover Weekly playlists.

She is the founder of AIProductMaster to empower aspiring professionals to break into the field and support mid-level PMs in their ascent to leadership positions, thereby shaping the future of AI innovation.

Derya is also an adjunct professor at Boston College, sharing her deep understanding of AI and product management to future leaders, bridging the gap between academic learning and industry practice.

Juan Thomas is an Associate Director of Customer Success Management at Moody's in Washington, D.C., where he drives customer loyalty for major global clients like Mastercard, IBM, Western Union, Google, and Amazon. At Moody's, he helps executive business leaders design holistic sanctions compliance & third-party risk programs leveraging innovative technologies & best-in-class datasets. With a strong background in financial markets, data, and technology, Juan has held roles at the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG), S&P Global Market Intelligence, and ION Analytics.

He holds a Business Administration degree from Northeastern University and the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation. Outside of work, Juan is an avid runner, having completed ten marathons across the U.S.

Jos is a Senior HR Executive with 25 years of global leadership experience in diverse and fluid business environments. He lived and worked during his career in the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Belgium and in various places in the Unites States.

He holds an HR degree from the Hogeschool Breda in the Netherlands and an MBA from the University of Derby in the United Kingdom.

Currently Jos is with TE Connectivity as the Vice President Human Resources for their global Industrial Solutions Segment.

Jos is recognized for successful developing and executing HR strategies that drive business results both in growth cycles and in tough environments. Proven in multiple industries, as well as in global & regional P&L roles and talent management. He is also acting as a key advisor on Inclusion, Diversity and Equity matters to the Division Leadership Team.

Before joining TE Connectivity in 2023 Jos worked for Schneider Electric and various GE businesses in Europe and the US.

During his career he has been visiting lecturer (HR modules) on the Hogeschool Breda in the Netherlands and the Business School of the University of Houston (UH).

Currently Jos is involved in various activities (mentoring, presentations and the RISE jury) for Northeastern University in Boston including hosting interns.

Located in Phoenix, Arizona, Dana Laura is Director of Strategic Sourcing at Honeywell, where she serves as the GBE Connectivity lead between Mechanical Sourcing & Supplier Readiness, Value Engineering & NPI.  She is also the HWEN Phoenix Hub Leader.

Prior to joining Honeywell, she held positions in global strategy at Aristocrat, Caesars Entertainment Corporation, and GE.

She began her career as part of GE's FMP program and during her tenure at GE, Dana worked in various business units and developed expertise  leading cross functional teams and global strategic sourcing.

Dana received her undergraduate degree from Northeastern University in Boston, MA in 2010 and she achieved her MBA at Penn State University in 2017.

Additionally, Dana is an advocate of helping students realize the benefits of education through coaching & volunteering at UNLV & her Alma Mater Northeastern University. As an undergraduate, Dana was a member of the Northeastern Academic Beanpot Case Competition Team.

Sophia Matveeva is the CEO & founder of Tech For Non-Techies, an executive education and consulting company. Sophia has contributed to the Harvard Business Review, Financial Times, The Guardian and Forbes on entrepreneurship and technology, and hosts the top rated Tech for Non-Techies podcast.

She has also guest lectured at the University of Chicago, London Business School, and Oxford University. Sophia is a start-up mentor at the Chicago Booth Polsky Center of Entrepreneurship, and has advised leading accelerators including Chicago Booth's New Venture Challenge and the Techstars x Blackstone Launchpad.

She holds an MBA from Chicago Booth, and a BSc (Hons) in Politics from Bristol. She speaks English, Russian and French.

Sophia also sits on the Advisory Board to Riviter, which uses AI to predict consumer trends for the world's biggest brands.

Michaela has more than a decade of strategic communications experience spanning the technology and pharmaceutical industries. In her current role as Director of Global Media Relations at AstraZeneca, a global, science-led biopharmaceutical company, she supports the company's rare disease business, Alexion.

Michaela previously held a number of Communications roles with increasing responsibility at Alexion. Before moving into the pharmaceutical industry, Michaela was Vice President of Investor Relations at ICR, a leading global strategic communications and advisory firm, where she worked with more than a dozen private and public technology companies. Earlier in her career, she was a Marketing and Financial Analyst at technology startup Safelight Security. Michaela received a B.S. in Finance from Northeastern University.

Robert Spivey is the Director of Research at Valens Research, and its Altimetry and FA Alpha businesses, where he and his team apply the in- depth research, combined with cleaned up accounting analytics, credit, management alignment, and other frameworks to provide unique, differentiated, and alpha generating equity, credit, and macro research to institutional, individual investor, and corporate clients.

Spivey has appeared on CNBC, been quoted in Barron's, Bloomberg, US News & World Report, Forbes, Marketwise, on Yahoo! Finance, and on podcasts like Money Life with Chuck Jaffe. He has presented at higher learning institutions including Northeastern University, DePaul University, and HULT International Business School, and been a judge at the CFA Institute Research Challenge.

Spivey has held Assistant Portfolio Manager and Analyst positions and has experience at The Abernathy Group, Legacy Capital Management, and Credit Suisse.

Spivey has leveraged his experience on both the buy-side and sell-side of finance and opportunities to work in both the credit and equity markets to gain a unique perspective of how markets work together and can offer contrary signals. His experience in communicating analysis to some of the largest investment managers in the world, working as a generalist analyst at a hedge fund, and to helping manage portfolios on the buy-side has helped give him a wide-ranging perspective on investing and identifying market mispricings, and what they mean for stock and credit research, and for overall asset allocation and portfolio strategy.

Spivey is a CFA Charterholder and member of the CFA Institute. He received a BS in Business Administration with a concentration in Finance and a minor in Philosophy from Northeastern University in Boston.

Based in Boston, Chuck Svirk joined MassMutual Ventures in 2015 shortly after the launch of the firm in 2014, and is charged with sourcing new investment opportunities and portfolio management. Recently, Chuck was promoted to partner, and as an expansion of his role, has joined our Climate Tech Fund. He brings his decade of venture experience within fintech and enterprises SaaS to the fund, and will look to source opportunities within climate insurance, carbon finance, and the blue economy, among others.

Prior to joining MMV, Chuck served as an investment associate at Clear Brook Advisors, advising family offices on illiquid fund investments in venture capital, private equity, and hedge funds. Before Clear Brook Advisors, Chuck co-founded Photos to Photos, Inc., a venture-backed mobile gaming studio located in Boston. Earlier in his career, Chuck served as an associate at Siemens Venture Capital, where he helped support and source investments in healthcare.

Chuck graduated cum laude from Northeastern University with a BS in business administration, concentrating in finance and entrepreneurship.

Liz Tverskoy is a dynamic sales and marketing leader with 10+ years of experience at Google, currently serving as their Head of Ad Sales in New York. She manages large-scale sales teams, driving ~$1B in annual revenue.  Liz is passionate about developing go-to-market strategies, refining operational processes, and designing effective incentive structures for Sales Teams, while working with Chief Marketing Officers externally to define their Digital Marketing Strategies via Google Advertising. Liz has been guest lecturing at Northeastern University and UCLA for the last 7 years with a focus on AI and Digital Marketing, and enjoys bringing real-world experience to the classroom.

Outside of work, Liz is passionate about giving back to her community through involvement with organizations such as the Boys and Girls Club of America and the Bowery Mission. She loves to spend time outdoors hiking and camping (just completed Mt. Fuji!), by the beach diving into a great novel (current favorite: Shantaram), or cooking up a feast for friends and family.

Sage Witham is a Director of AI and Clinical Collaboration research programs at  GE Healthcare. Sage is based in Boston and is responsible for the management of AI research and product development activities that help GEHC and research collaborators globally. She works with partnering organizations and provides the conduit into GEHCs product development teams to ensure joint objectives are achieved in a timely and efficient manner.

Sage holds a Bachelor's in Business  Administration from Northeastern University's' D'Amore-McKim School of Business. She has been with GE for over 7  years, spending time in multiple GE businesses working in cross-functional project management roles to support business needs.