Roger A. Strauch

Roger Strauch is chairman of The Roda Group, an early stage venture capital group, based in Berkeley, California. Roger co-founded the firm with Dan Miller in 1997. The firm is focused on investment opportunities that address the consequences of climate change, stress on the Earth’s natural resources and the increased demand for low carbon energy. Roger is an investor in and advisor to PicsArt and SoloLearn – mobile apps developed in Armenia. Also he is the Chairman of the Paros Foundation which supports arts and education organizations in Armenia. Moreover, Roger earned a Bachelor of Science degree, with distinction, from Cornell University and Master of Science degree from Stanford University, both in electrical engineering. He holds two patents in the area of wireless communications.

Arman Bernardi

Arman Bernardi serves as the CEO and President of iCoat Company, a leading provider of coating technologies in the optical industry. Arman significantly grew both the revenues and profits of the company since he was recruited to be its CEO following a private equity buyout, leading to iCoat’s acquisition by Essilor Group in 2014. Prior to iCoat he co-founded and served as CSO of TightLink Corporation which was focused on cloud-based workflow software. Prior to TightLink Arman was the Director of Business Development at TCSI, where he was responsible for TCSI’s direction for next-generation transportation and telecommunications products. Arman holds a BSEE from Cornell University and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University.

Ani Vartanian-Boladian

Ani Vartanian-Boladian is Managing Partner at Rubicon Point Partners, LLC. Ani focuses on investment selection and disposition, transaction underwriting and structuring. Prior to co-founding Rubicon Point Partners in 2011, Ani served in the Obama administration where she led a team responsible for the $200 billion TALF program and restarting the securitization market during the height of the recent financial crisis on behalf of the U.S. Department of the Treasury. Previously she was with Rockwood Capital, where she was involved with acquisitions, asset management, and establishing a $400 million separate account on behalf of a state pension fund. Ani began her career at Goldman, Sachs & Co. Ani holds a BA from Harvard University and an MBA from Stanford University.

Raffi Kassarjian

Raffi Kassarjian is Advisor to the CEO of Monitis. Previously, he was Senior Vice President, IoT at TeamViewer GmbH, and CEO of Monitis. Before joining TeamViewer, Raffi served as the Head of Product Management, Marketing and Retail Banking Services for Converse Bank. Raffi also served as CEO of iCON Communications, Armenia’s first broadband wireless service provider, acquired by UCom in 2011. Prior to moving to Armenia, Raffi served as Vice President and General Manager at Fair Isaac Corporation (NYSE:FICO), where he launched the company’s first internet service. Raffi was also a Senior Manager in the Strategic Services Group at Accenture. Raffi is Chairman of the Board of Repat Armenia Foundation, and holds Board positions at Impact Hub Yerevan and EVN Report. Raffi has a BA in International Relations and MBA from Stanford University.

Armen Martirosyan

Co-Founder and CEO of BluIP, Las Vegas based global Unified Hosted Communication Service provider, with Offices in Las Vegas, NV, Los Angeles, CA, Denver CO, Manila Philippines, and Yerevan Armenia. Customers include Netflix, Marriott, Hilton, AT&T and other major national brands. He has over 25 years of experience in Strategy, Growth Hacking, making IT profit center for large multination global organizations.

Prior to BluIP, build and sold large India based software development company, and had various executive roles from CTO, to President at both private and public companies, and before that spend five years at Deloitte Consulting Group working with companies such as Microsoft, Callaway Golf, and Nestle.
Angel investor and advisor to number of US and Armenia based startups.

Paul Nadjarian

Paul Nadjarian is currently the General Manager of the CARFAX Service Shops Division. Previously at CARFAX, Paul was Head of Products and General Manager of the Used Car Marketplace. Prior to CARFAX, Paul served as the Founder & CEO of Mojo Motors, which was acquired by CARFAX in 2015. Paul has an extensive background in both the auto industry and the internet. He started his career at Ford Motor Company selling inventory to auto dealers and eventually ran the internet lead management group at Ford. After Ford, Paul joined eBay Motors to build the Parts & Accessories category, growing the business to be the largest category at eBay. More recently, Paul was the head of Product and Marketing at OnForce, an online marketplace for local contract professionals. Paul has also been on the founding team of GreenLeaf Auto, an auto recycling venture within Ford, and CombineNet, an advance sourcing and optimization platform. Paul earned his BS in economics from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Vahe Andonians

Vahe Andonians is a serial entrepreneur and senior lecturer at the Frankfurt School of Finance & Management.

Recently, Vahe founded a new startup – Cognaize – which is specializing in the AI-based processing of financial documents. Additionally, Vahe is a partner alongside Moody’s Analytics at Traidum, which is building a blockchain based negotiation platform for trading Structured Credit products.

In 2017 Vahe sold his latest startup – SCDM, an AI-based analytics company specialized in the fixed income market, to Deloitte. Having started as a data provider for investors in structured credit in 2003, SCDM had broadened its services from data management to bespoke IT solutions into reporting, business intelligence, and cash flow simulations for investors in structured credit.

Early 2017 SCDM had sold its structured credit business to Moody’s Analytics and was focusing on its valuation business, putting a value on over 40.000 financial instruments on a daily basis.

Clients included, among others, Deutsche Bundesbank, KfW, EAA, Berings, BNP Paribas, BNY Mellon, Deloitte, KPMG, and Creditflux. Vahe was leading the product development and research arm of SCDM, with a strong focus on Machine Learning and Blockchain 2.0 technologies.

Before that, Vahe has successfully founded, raised and sold several start-ups in the area of Machine Learning. Prior to that, Vahe was co-managing a Statistical Equity Arbitrage Hedge Fund for Erstebank in Austria.

Vahe holds an Engineer title in information and high-frequency technology from the Federal Higher Technical Institute for Education and Experimentation in Moedling, Austria and an MBA from the University of Liverpool, England.