Investment Thesis & Unifying Themes
Are you an accredited investor interested in putting capital to work to help us through and out of this crisis? Does our thesis fit your investment profile? We'd love to hear from you. Reach out to any one of us (our contact info is in our bios), or contact us through this site. We'd love to set up a time to discuss the opportunity.…
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Investment Framework
Know Faster
Surveillance, testing, analytics, population health, GIS, AI
Fix It Faster
Rapid drug development platforms, disinfection, devices, contact tracing, tools, mobile, telemedicine
Make Work, Work
Teleconnection, collaboration, business continuity, EDtech, robotics, employment tech
Do Better Next Time
Communication, supply chain, food security, process & manufacturing resilience
Latest Blog
Why launch a $100 Million Pandemic Impact Fund?
The pandemic is the biggest problem facing the world right now, and there is an extreme shortage of venture capital or dedicated funds to support early stage innovators who are developing much needed solutions. The Pandemic Impact Fund fills that gap.
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Pandemic Preparedness Doesn’t Have a Beginning or an End
Relief organizations have been working hard to address the medical, social and economic impacts of the covid-19 pandemic. This work is necessary and admirable, but it does not help us…
Read More
Impact Investing’s Secret Weapon – the Donor Advised Fund
Impact investing has always been focused on creating positive social and/or environmental outcomes. At some points, Impact Investing has struggled to define itself as compared with philanthropy. Both require measurable…
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How an Impact Venture Capital Fund Thinks About its Investment Thesis
Venture Capital Funds all have a thesis about what makes them tick and why institutional and individual investors would join them as Limited Partners. Social and Environmental Impact Funds often…
Read MoreMeet Our Partners
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Peter Adams
Managing Partner
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Dave Harris
Managing Director
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Sue Stash
General Partner
Peter Adams
Managing Partner
Peter Adams is co-author of Venture Capital for Dummies (John Wiley & sons, 2013) and serves as the Executive Director of the Rockies Venture Club, the longest running angel investing group in the U.S. His broad investment experience also includes being Managing Partner of the Rockies Venture Fund I, L.P. (an early stage venture capital fund), founding the Colorado Life Science Angels group, and leading Impact Investing conferences for the past eight years. Peter serves as an Officer on the Board of the Angel Capital Association, the North American association of professional angel investing groups. His professional career comprises over 30 years of business experience in corporate leadership (CIO and Economics Director) and entrepreneurial endeavors (CEO/Founder). He founded the Rockies Venture Institute, the Women’s Investor Network, and BizGirls, a non-profit CEO Development Program for young women. In his spare time he enjoys ocean sailing and hopes to sail around the world in a catamaran.
- peter@pandemicimpactfund.com
- +1 720-353-9350
Dave Harris
Managing Director
Dave Harris’s expertise spans finance, capitalization strategies, fundraising and operations. Dave has helped to facilitate and lead over 125 investments from early seed rounds to later stage, follow-on financings. He is the Director of Operations for Rockies Venture Club (the longest running angel investor group in the U.S. with over 200 investors, a portfolio of 50+ companies and $45M invested since 2014), and a Managing Partner with the Rockies Venture Fund I, L.P. (a seed stage venture capital fund). Previously, Dave worked as a collaborative start-up consultant working with early stage emerging growth companies. He has 7+ years experience in international finance and project management at Thomson Reuters and Lipper.
Dave is a graduate of CU Boulder and enjoys climbing 14ers, backpacking, mountain biking, and cooking; often simultaneously, while responding to emails.
- dave@pandemicimpactfund.com
- +1 720-840-8598
Sue Stash
General Partner
Sue’s experience spans numerous roles including CEO, Founder, Corporate Executive and Investor including 10+years abroad. She has founded and run for-profit tech companies, as well as impact oriented social and environmental non-profits. Sue’s corporate experience includes Sun Microsystems and IBM where she held various executive and management positions in marketing, engineering and M&A. She has served/serves on several for profit and non-profit Boards, served on multiple government committees for innovation and capital formation, is a member of the Blackstone Entrepreneurs’ Network advisory committee, and is passionate about building impactful businesses. In her spare time she enjoys sharing time with her daughters (who will change the world), being in the mountains and getting upside down.
- sue@pandemicimpactfund.com
- 3035898135
Meet the Team
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Barbara Bauer
Venture Partner
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Carson Kahn
Venture Partner
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Kevin Morningstar
Venture Partner
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Eric Bielke
Advisor
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Stephen Flaim
Advisor, Ph.D., F.A.C.C., F.A.H.A.
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Emily Klein
Associate
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Kevin Kudra
Operations Manager
Barbara Bauer
Venture Partner
Barbara is an experienced, international business leader currently focused on impact investing and social enterprise. She is currently Director of the Women’s Investor Network. In her corporate life, she held various executive positions at Sun Microsystems, StorageTek, US West, Raynet, and Bell Laboratories. Most recently, she was Executive Director, Myanmar, for Partnership for Change, a Norwegian impact investment and international development organization. Prior to this, Barbara was a Princeton Senior Fellow, working in Myanmar and Thailand on projects supporting opportunities for refugees. She started two boutique businesses: GlobalSight Partners, an international management consulting organization, and Silk and Stones Travel, a travel company specializing in custom designed, sustainable tourism in Southeast Asia. Barbara also developed and led the Center for Women Entrepreneurs at the University of Denver. Her academic credentials include a B.S. and M.S. in Physics, and the Stanford Summer Executive Program. In her spare time she enjoys travelling, especially to developing countries with great textile traditions, and since the “stay at home” directive she enjoys reading and watching British World War II series.
Carson Kahn
Venture Partner
Carson was named a Goldman Sachs Top 100 Entrepreneur for his innovation across AI, EdTech, and FinTech. Most recently, he served as CEO (formerly CTO) of Volley, a machine learning startup backed by JPMorgan Chase, Zuckerberg Ventures, Fathom Capital, and executives from Apple, Goldman Sachs, McKinsey, and Facebook; and as President of data intelligence firm Brainspace.com (acq., 2016). Carson is a member of the Forbes Technology Council on Artificial Intelligence, Bloomberg New Economy Forum Solutions Working Groups, ACM SIG-AI, and IEEE Society for Computational Intelligence. He previously joined the founding team of Vetica.com before spinning off Chalk.com, an early data science-powered learning technology platform. He also co-founded and sold Keystone Learning Systems (acq. 2013). More recently, he has been tapped for expertise in AI, cybersecurity, China, and the Future of Work by members of the Congressional Caucus on AI and White House National Economic Council, and has lectured on machine learning, natural language processing, and entrepreneurship by invite of Stanford, MIT, and the University of Colorado, among others. In his spare time, he can be found playing racquetball or writing musical scores that will never see the light of day.
Kevin Morningstar
Venture Partner
Kevin Morningstar is s 35-year veteran of the medical device industry, having served in a variety of positions, including engineering, manufacturing, quality, and regulatory. A Colorado serial entrepreneur for many years, he co-founded the surgical instruments startup Silverglide Surgical Technologies, Inc. and served as Senior VP of Operations. Stryker acquired Silverglide in a planned exit. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University and currently consults globally in the medical device industry, the digital health community, and the startup ecosystem. Kevin is an active angel investor and member of Rockies Venture Club, where he serves on the Life Science Screening Committee and as a general partner in Rockies Venture Fund I and a Venture Partner. Kevin enjoys gardening, camping, good wine, travel, vintage electronics, antiquarian books and family get-togethers.
Eric Bielke
Advisor
Eric brings years of venture capital experience to the Pandemic Impact Fund. He has primarily invested in enterprise software with a particular focus on cleantech and aerospace. He is currently a member of the investor advisory board of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Previously, Eric was a partner at GE Ventures where he served on the boards of Desktop Metal, RigUp, Proterra, CoolEdge Lighting, Sungevity, and Ambyint. Prior to GE Ventures, Eric was a Senior Associate at Next47 where he was involved with the firm’s investments in TOA Technologies (acq Oracle), Electric Cloud (acq CloudBees), and CounterTack. Before investing, Eric co-founded SoCore Energy, a venture-backed commercial-rooftop photovoltaic system developer acquired by Engie and was a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Co. He holds a BA from Dartmouth College and an MBA from the Chicago Booth School of Business where he was a George Schultz fellow. In his free time, he enjoys cross country mountain biking and pursuit of the perfect taco al pastor.
Stephen Flaim
Advisor, Ph.D., F.A.C.C., F.A.H.A.
Dr. Flaim is Senior Special Advisor to the National Institutes of Health National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, and an advisor to the Institute for Global Entrepreneur at UC San Diego. He held faculty positions in Medicine and Physiology at the Penn State College of Medicine and senior management roles at various pharmaceutical, medical, and bioscience companies. Dr. Flaim is a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology, the American Heart Association, the American College of Clinical Pharmacology, and emeritus fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine. He was Chairman of the Board of Governors for the Tech Coast Angels, President & Chairman of the San Diego Tech Coast Angels, and Director of the Angel Capital Association. Dr. Flaim holds a doctorate in Human Physiology & Pharmacology from UC Davis.
Emily Klein
Associate
Emily Klein is an Associate with the Pandemic Impact Fund. She is passionate about providing financial and educational resources to help startups scale their businesses and their impact. She sees early-stage investment as the most important catalyst for promoting more sustainable, diverse, and creative companies. In addition, she is a Programs Manager for Rockies Venture Club, works with the Women’s Investor Network and mentors at Watson Institute, where she enjoys helping young, global entrepreneurs tackle some of the world’s toughest challenges.
Emily is a graduate of Brown University and UVM Grossman School of Business where her MBA focused on sustainability + impact investing. Outside of work, you can find her designing jewelry and playing in the Colorado mountains.
Kevin Kudra
Operations Manager
Kevin Kudra graduated from Colorado State University with a Bachelors of Science in Corporate Finance & Innovation and Organizational Management and Entrepreneurship. Previously, Kevin worked as a Business Analyst Consultant for a boutique consulting firm with a primary focus on operations & supply chain strategy working across industries such as oil & gas, private equity, and real estate. Kevin also manages Rockies Venture Club’s Capital Analytics program and enjoys golfing in his free time.
