Leadership

Chase Weir – Executive Chairman

Chase Weir is a veteran start-up, non-profit, and cross-industry founder, owner and senior executive leader. A serial entrepreneur, Chase has secured multiple institutional equity and debt financings alongside acquisitions, spin-offs, and reverse-mergers in mobility, entertainment, new media, software and education technology.

Chase has been a retained advisor to US Presidential campaigns, Congressional leadership and national party committees, a senior advisor and executive-in-residence to a global renewable energy portfolio in Dubai, UAE, a lead advisor to biomass and wind projects in the US and Germany, and contract counsel to private-equity ventures in the UK and Australia.  He has negotiated and secured dozens of strategic partnerships with multi-nationals globally from Japan and India to Singapore and Hong Kong. A multiple-time research grant, service award and academic scholarship recipient, Chase graduated magna cum laude with a BS in Management from UNC. He is an alumnus of the Leadership Institute, Mindshare, and Aspen Institute, and has led international development projects with the United Nations and Australian Chamber of Commerce & Industry.

Sometimes preferring the literal mountain to the metaphorical, Chase has organized/led adventure expeditions to Mts. Washington, Denali, and Kilimanjaro, Patagonia, Serengeti, Mesoamerican and Great Barrier Reefs, Moreno and Columbia Glaciers, Arabian Desert, Australian Outback, Buffalo, Gauley, Orinoco and Cangrehal Rivers, and research treks to Tikal, Caracol and Copan, among many others.

Along his travels to these once-pristine and last wildernesses, Chase has seen civilization’s ever-expanding and degrading footprint on landscapes everywhere. These experiences have driven him to commit his professional career to the nexus of sustainable practices, smart economic growth, and cheap-clean-abundant-reliable energy.  Dedicating his private work and public contributions to the energy-environment-economic revolution, he was recently accredited as a LEED AP CI, and is the co-author of the forthcoming paper, The Need for Fluorescence in the Post-Incandescent World. Chase is also a principal owner and co-founder of two covert start-up ventures in clean energy.
 

Jeff Houle – Board Member, Secretary

Jeffrey R. Houle is a Co-Managing Shareholder of Greenberg Traurig's Northern Virginia Office. A U.S. attorney and English solicitor with over 20 years of legal and business experience, Jeff has represented Fortune 500 companies, members of the Forbes 400, and has closed more than $5 billion in transactions. Jeff serves as Chair of the firm's Regional Corporate Practice Group and has achieved national and international recognition for his success and experience representing businesses and investors. Those businesses comprise a broad spectrum of industries, including energy, government and defense contractors, technology, mining and mineral extraction, telecommunications, financial services, real estate, business process outsourcing, online gaming, and manufacturing.

Jeff’s areas of concentration include public and private securities offerings; foreign issuer public offerings and SEC compliance; mergers, sales and acquisitions; cross-border mergers and acquisitions; venture capital; fund formation: venture capital, private equity and special purpose funds; joint ventures and corporate partnerships; leveraged buyouts; strategic alliances; and, leveraged ESOP transactions.

Jeff's experience is global in scope having represented clients on six continents and in more than 30 countries. Jeff's practice includes representing public and private companies as well as underwriters in equity and debt offerings and complex acquisition and disposition programs, such as mergers, joint ventures, tender offers, and asset and stock sales. He is experienced in organizing private domestic and offshore investment funds and representing such funds, and a diverse mix of individuals, sponsors, lead investors and placement agents in connection with venture capital, strategic debt and equity investments, and other financing transactions. Jeff has also served on the board of directors and board of advisors of numerous companies, private equity funds and investment banking firms.

Jeff Karras – Board Member

Jeff Karras joined Levensohn Venture Partners in January 2001 and specializes in digital media and cleantech technologies. Before joining LVP, Jeff was a Group Product Marketing Manager at Sun Microsystems, where he was a key strategic driver behind their Portal Server product line. Prior to Sun Microsystems, Jeff was a Principal Consultant with PricewaterhouseCoopers' Strategic Change Group, where he provided strategic guidance across a variety of industries including telecommunications, software, energy and financial services.

In the past, Jeff has worked closely with a number of LVP portfolio companies including Atheros, Veraz Networks, Covigo, Rapt, and Reconnex. Currently, Jeff is a board observer at ShotSpotter and holds board seats at Plum and Sim Ops Studios. In addition, Jeff is an active member of the Board of Trustees for Astia.

Jeff received a BS in Commerce from the University of Virginia and an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
 

Jeff Weiss – Board Member

Jeff Weiss runs ASAP Ventures to help high-potential, growth-stage companies get to market faster and smarter. These companies are active in cyber security, alternative energy, intelligence and fraud mitigation, mission preparedness and training, software development, and transformational management.

An early e-business and on-line media entrepreneur, Mr. Weiss helped found two firms which deliver information and services to businesses online; Picture Network International was sold to Kodak in 1997, and CDx (Certificate of Deposit Exchange). He was Chief Marketing Officer of Vista Information Technologies, a $100mm network services firm. He has advised dozens of companies through significant changes, as a board member, an investor, an investment banking advisor, and as a strategy consultant, and has raised substantial funding in the corporate, venture, and capital markets. As a result, he has broad understanding of how companies grow and create value, how to create and communicate business and marketing plans, in managing operations, as well as in evaluating partners and closing capital transactions.

Mr. Weiss graduated from Cornell University and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. He is on the Trustee Council of Cornell University, is President of his Cornell class, is Development Chair of Cornell Hillel, is on the Executive Committee of the Shenandoah National Park Trust, is Trustee of the Washington Hebrew Congregation, and is immediate past Co-Chair of the Aspen Institute's Socrates Society.