The SDAC Fund Management Team
To execute the angel conference, a substantial team is required.
Staff
Mysty Rusk
Executive Director USD Free Enterprise Institute
SDAC Founder
SDAC V Fund Co Manager
Rusk is the Executive Director of the Free Enterprise Institute (FEI) at the University of San Diego. She has helped USD identify its unique position in the innovation ecosystem as an entity generator with a focus on scale and growth for wealth generation and serving the greater good. The FEI is the home of the SDAC, the Brink SBDC, and student entrepreneurship programs at USD. Rusk was part of the founding team of the Willamette Angel Conference in 2008, Central California AngelCon in 2017, SDAC in 2018, AngelNV in 2020 and the Fresno Area Hispanic Foundation Angel Conference in 2022.
“I love what Angel Conferences do for communities. On a local level, they are a very public demonstration that a community has the next generation of business leaders and the resources necessary to help them succeed. On a global level, Angel Conferences give us the ability to bring new solutions and technologies to market to solve the world’s greatest challenges.”
Stacy Peña
USD Free Enterprise Institute
SDAC V Fund Co Manager
Whether serving as Asst. Director of the Free Enterprise Institute at USD, fund manager or an investor, Stacy is committed to supporting the next generation of changemakers and social innovators.
Her expertise and business strengths were cultivated during the 90’s while working in wireless, digital telecommunication start-up companies. She caught the founders bug from her ‘devil in the details’ foresight, scrappy entrepreneurial mindset and start-up speed experience in business development, operations and marketing. She balances her time between her marketing services company and her role as Chief Business Officer at Six Dragonflies, LLC. – a socially minded enterprise offering capital, collaboration, and influential connections for women and under-represented entrepreneurs who remain focused on accelerating economic development and generational wealth
in their communities.
Stacy and Six Dragonflies, LLC have participated as an investor at the San Diego Angel Conference I, II & IV and served on the fund management team of SDAC II. As a fund co-manager of SDAC V, she was able to engage on both sides of the table working with companies positioned to scale and make extraordinary social impacts and connecting them with accredited angel investors who are passionate about sharing their treasure, time and talent to solve big problems.
Will Fowler
Founder, Signal Rock Capital
SDAC Fund Administrator
“SDAC has set a very high bar for activating Angel Investors in a community. The progress and sophistication of this program are incredible to watch.”
In his spare time Fowler enjoys reaching the most remote parts of his home state (Idaho) in his Jeep, and skiing with his wife and kids in the winter.
Fund Management Team
Brian Engleman
Fund Manager, SDAC IV
Engleman is a strategic, entrepreneurial minded, business development leader with 20 years of Silicon Valley experience. He works in advanced technologies globally. He has broad industry experience, including high tech, enterprise software, energy and environmental sectors. Engleman enjoys helping individuals and organizations understand what it takes to move from idea to invention to innovation, and enjoys working with others to make positive impacts.
Engleman has helped teams commercialize their technologies for the past 15 years, in part by presenting innovation programs around the world. He was an investor and due diligence lead during SDAC II, on the fund management team for SDAC III and is the fund manager for SDAC IV along with Sumner Webster
“The culture at SDAC is what makes it so amazing. This is a group of investors who are interested in helping entrepreneurs “Get to Yes” so they can start changing the world.”
Sumner Webster
CEO, Ironforge Development
Fund Manager, SDAC IV
Webster was born and raised outside Boston, Massachusetts. He played football while attending Harvard University, and still feels the aches and pains of that experience. He went on to work in consulting, venture capital and startups before earning his MBA. Webster’s work as the CEO of Iron Forge Development, one of the nation’s premier software development firms takes him across the U.S. and around the world. Iron Forge recently opened a location in Taiwan.
Webster has been with SDAC since its inception, working as part of the fund management team for three years before becoming the Fund Manager for SDAC IV along with Brian Engleman.
Amy Duncan
SDAC III Fund Manager
Brink Director
Founder and CEO, Goldfish Consulting
Duncan is a business owner, consultant, and investor with over 20 years’ experience working in the high growth biotech industry. Through her company, Goldfish Consulting, she’s been advising life science companies on business and positioning strategies for over 10 years, having previously worked 10 years in sales and marketing roles at Thermo Fisher Scientific.
She is a member of Tech Coast Angels San Diego, serves on the executive committee of the San Diego Entrepreneurs Exchange (SDEE), and was the Fund Manager for the 2020-21 San Diego Angel Conference (SDAC).
SDAC is the easiest way to learn about angel investing and a great place to make new friends.
Benton Moore
SDAC II Fund Manager
CEO, Sea Dragon Capital
Moore is CEO of Sea Dragon Capital, a fund for early-stage investments. His most recent clean tech startup was acquired by private equity firm Oaktree Capital. Benton brings to the team the perspectives of entrepreneur, attorney, and investor and the passion for scaling startups in diverse industries.
Moore has been with SDAC from the start, acting on the fund management team in years 1 and 3 and as the Fund Manager in year 2. He is also a mentor for start-ups at The Brink and is helping start the Torero Angel Fund in association with USD.
In an adventurous change-making career of over $100M in deals, Benton’s proudest accomplishment is coaching his daughter’s undefeated soccer team.
“There are no straight lines in startups – you have to embrace the chaos. For new angel investors, SDAC offers diverse deal flow, discipline, pooled intelligence, and unique camaraderie. For seasoned angels, the same.”
Jad Duncan
Chief Business Officer, Goldfish Consulting
Duncan is an experienced investor and entrepreneur with interests in clean technology and electric vehicles. Originally an investment banker with Series 7 and 63 certifications, Jad started a software engineering company, ES3, in 2000 with a successful exit 8 years later. He’s since founded a business consultancy.
Duncan is an angel investor with Tech Coast Angels. He has also been with the San Diego Angel Conference since its inception, where he is serving his fourth year on the fund management team.
He loves spending time with his family, races cars, teaches racing with the Porsche Club, travels and has started doing triathlons with his son.
“SDAC is the perfect way to learn how Angel investing works, without having to commit a lot of money. Also a great group of people to work with.”
Richard Lin
Founder, Explora BioLabs
Chairman, LaunchBio
Lin is the founder of Explora BioLabs, a biotech service company with more than 15 facilities across several major US biotech cities. Lin’s pioneering vivarium-as-a-service facilities provided hundreds of biotech companies with flexible, top quality preclinical research labs that are critical for their drug discovery efforts. Lin exited Explora in 2018 when it was acquired by a private equity search fund in. Prior to founding Explora, Richard served in various senior research positions in several early stage biotech companies.
Lin is passionate about community building. He currently serves as the Chairman of LaunchBio, and leads the Biocom CRO committee. He is a member of the Industry Advisory Board of the Southern California Biotech Center, a training program based in Miramar College. He was an investor during SDAC II and on the fund management team for SDAC III and IV.
“After I exited my company, I was looking for ways where I can use my experience and financial resources to help other entrepreneurs start and grow their companies. SDAC provided me with the perfect environment for me to meet other fellow investors and enthusiastic entrepreneurs.”
Silvia Mah
CEO, She Invests!
SDAC I Fund Manager
Mah is deeply integrated into the start-up scene, not just in SanDiego, but internationally. She is a founding partner of Ad Astra Ventures, which aims to “get to even” for high achieving women. Focused on “Impact with Integrity,” Mah is also the Founder & Chairwoman of Stella Labs, an accelerator for women-owned businesses; founding member of Stella Angels, a female angel investment group; Investment Committee member of Next Wave Impact, a social impact venture fund; and an angel investor to over 40 startups who have diverse founders on the leadership team. She also produces a globally-recognized podcast, She Invests!, highlighting the investment journeys of female angel investors and venture capitalists.
Mah was the Fund Manager for SDAC I, and has worked on the fund management team ever since.
Originally from Caracas, Venezuela, Mah believes in integrating family and work to create a lifestyle that serves both with a strong cup of integrity.
Tammy Stevenson, DVM, DACVIM (Neurology)
Ethos Veterinary Healthy
Stevenson was an undergraduate at USC majoring in business when she adopted her first pet and decided to change paths. She went on to pursue degrees in veterinary medicine, and board certification in veterinary neurology/neurosurgery. She currently practices at Ethos Veterinary Health in San Diego as one of their on-call emergency neurosurgeons.
Stevenson is on the Board of Directors of The Foundation for Animal Care and Education which is a nonprofit with the mission to enhance and preserve the quality of life of animals by providing access to necessary medical care and education. She has been involved in strategic development, fundraising and most recently is the HR committee chair.
With her introduction to angel investing during SDAC III, Stevenson has become an active angel investor participating in Tech Coast Angels of SD, The Red Bear Angels, and The Syndicate. “SDAC welcomes all levels of investor experience which makes it a very comfortable place to start learning and a great way to advance your knowledge rapidly.”
David Loseke
Managing Director, First Republic Bank
Loseke has worked in the business banking division of First Republic for over 10 years. He has direct experience in lending to professional service firms, non-profits, commercial real estate companies, and securities portfolios with sophisticated clients and unique borrower, guarantor, and collateral structures. David has funded over $500MM in loans during his tenure at First Republic Bank. Prior to joining First Republic, David was a Business Banker at Bank of America and formerly owned Crown RV Group and Mortgage Direct Lending, focusing on outdoor hospitality and residential lending respectively.
David leads the San Diego Chapter of the Nonprofit Financial Executives Alliance, which is a Bank sponsored affinity group for nonprofit financial leaders. He currently works with area accelerators, incubators, and angel/seed/VC investors to support the innovation community in San Diego.
“SDAC III was my first foray into angel investing and the experience was very positive for me. I wanted to continue learning more of the mechanics of the conference, and candidly, I admire the people on the fund management team and it was a great opportunity to learn more from them and contribute where I can.”
Tripti Thakur
Tripti Thakur is a 2x Startup CFO, ex-Wall Street, ex-Loyalty ecommerce, ex-AT&T professional. She was CFO of a $100M retail company and helped buy and sell Loyalty e-commerce companies during her 10 years at MyPoints and Prodege. She is an Angel investor and is currently the founder of Pitch Perfect, an app designed to reduce bias in venture capital. Tripti has an undergraduate degree from Baruch College, a graduate degree from New York University and is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Leadership from USC where she is focusing on the gender equity gap in venture capital.
