Leadership

Under his leadership, Optoro has expanded from a scrappy start-up to a major industry player, helping the nation’s top retailers address the $500B market of returned and excess goods. Tobin has been recognized as a leading SaaS CEO through honors such as Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year and Washington Business Journal’s 40 under 40. Prior to launching Optoro in 2010, Tobin founded eSpot, one of the original eBay drop-off facilities, his first foray into the growing world of e-commerce. Tobin holds a B.A. from Brown University with a double major in Business Economics and American History.

While at eSpot, Vitarello meticulously designed, programmed, and implemented every feature of the proprietary software, systems and marketing algorithms that put eSpot at the forefront of its industry and created the core for Optoro’s software today. He provides an eye for streamlining the reverse logistics process and an uncompromising attitude always demanding excellence. Adam has been responsible for major design elements and implementation strategies of Optoro’s proprietary software and systems. As President, he manages corporate headquarters and remarketing solutions with a one-on-one approach that puts employees first with the goal of maintaining a small-business feel in a rapidly expanding environment. Adam utilizes that same personal interaction strategy with clients and partners in advancing the automation and remarketing technologies that serve as the driving force of Optoro’s service.

When he’s not pulling all the strings for Optoro and our partners, he can be found training for marathons, triathlons, or mountain climbing. Even atop Mt. Kilimanjaro, reverse logistics is never far from his thoughts. Adam holds a B.A. from Brown University.

Doug has co-founded and served as CTO for a variety of start-up endeavors including a video game development studio, a natural language processing company, and a machine learning research lab. This last company, Geometric Intelligence, was acquired by Uber in 2016 and became Uber AI Labs, a research-driven organization dedicated to developing and scaling machine learning solutions from innovation to implementation.

Between start-ups, Doug received a PhD in cognitive neuroscience from NYU with a focus on understanding how the brain implements linguistic compositionality. Outside of work, Doug enjoys reading with, wrestling, and wrangling his young twins and, when time permits, participating in triathlons.

Larisa began her e-Commerce career in 1999 with industry pioneer Buy.com, where she launched their first advertising sales capability.   During her 7-year stint at the company, she oversaw all of their online and offline marketing programs as their Vice President of Marketing.  Larisa then moved to Silicon Valley, where she served as Vice President of Marketing for shopping search engine TheFind.com (acquired by Facebook in 2015).

Larisa got her first taste of the reverse logistics world when she joined Best Buy and led both their direct-to-consumer and wholesale Secondary Markets online businesses.  Prior to joining Optoro, Larisa led the global digital and e-commerce efforts for the world-renowned fitness company, Zumba Fitness. Larisa holds a B.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, where she graduated cum laude.

Prior to joining Optoro, he served as general counsel for Exodus Communications, Exclusive Resorts, and Starpoint Health. Adam began his career as a corporate and transactional attorney for leading law firms in Silicon Valley and Washington, D.C.

Adam earned his BA from the University of Pennsylvania and his JD from the Georgetown University Law Center. Outside of work, he loves spending time in Chatham, Cape Cod or elsewhere with his wife and two sons, enjoying sports, mountain and road biking, cooking, and exploring new cuisines all over the world.

With almost 20 years of professional experience guiding retailers and providing thought leadership, Casey owns accounts, revenues and client support at Optoro, focusing on client success and partnerships. Casey previously served as Managing Partner of Retail Strategic Ventures, an advisory services and venture firm within retail/wholesale, and EVP for the Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA), the trade association for the world’s largest and most successful retailers. Prior to RILA, Casey spent a decade at KPMG and its spin-off consulting division, BearingPoint, in their retail management and strategy consulting practices. He lived overseas for several years working for international retailers in Asia, South America and Europe.

Recognized as a leading retail authority, Casey has appeared in numerous media outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, The New York Times, Fox News, ABC News, NBC News and National Public Radio. He received his B.A. in Economics from Denison University.

Away from Optoro, Casey is a human jungle gym for his two young boys and spends time with his amazing – and understanding – wife. He serves as a Trustee on the Board of his alma mater, Denison, and on the national Board for Meals on Wheels America.

Pankaj is passionate about building products that make a difference while delivering business outcomes; he specializes in developing and growing software product businesses focused on B2B and enterprise markets. Pankaj has a track record of delivering rapid revenue growth, increased profitability and business exits for venture and PE backed startups.

Prior to Optoro, Pankaj led product management, strategy and M&A for GetWellNetwork, a provider of patient engagement software. At GetWellNetwork Pankaj built up an enterprise grade product platform that won multiple Best in Category awards and executed multiple acquisitions that expanded the platform. He previously held product roles with multiple B2B companies including Siebel Systems.

Pankaj holds a Bachelor in Electronics Engineering and has a MBA from Carnegie Mellon University. Outside of work, Pankaj loves to read, travel, experience different cultures, meet new people, and spend time with his family, that includes a furry four-legged Goldendoodle.

From conference calls with Fortune 500 retailers to working taco lunches with refurbishment technicians at warehouses south-of-the border, Ken has seen many layers and partnerships in reverse logistics, and he collaborates with our Business Development team to bring winning reverse logistics solutions to our clients.  Prior to Optoro, he spent six years at another reverse logistics company where he was responsible for an account portfolio of over $100M per year in addition to designing and managing more than $10M-worth of in-house and outsourced electronics refurbishment.  He began his early supply chain career at CEB’s Operations practice.

Ken received his B.S. in Civil Engineering from Stanford University and his M.B.A. from Georgetown University. He traces his passion for the ways that business can support environmental responsibility to his time as a Peace Corps volunteer in Jamaica and continues to support that work as the vice-chair of the non-profit Friends of Jamaica.  He spends his time as much as possible enjoying the woods with his wife and daughter or jogging the streets of Washington, D.C.

Carol has over 20 years of experience in human capital, talent management and elevating human potential.  Her diverse global experience includes leadership roles in emerging companies, large global corporations and successfully advising companies through mergers and acquisitions that focused on retention and culture preservation. Carol has spent the last 5 years with Promontory Financial Group, which was acquired by IBM in 2016 to expand artificial intelligence capabilities in the regtech arena. During her tenure with Promontory she was the Chief People Officer and led the firm’s 200% global growth and successfully integrated hundreds of employees into IBM.

Carol has a BA from Virginia Tech and multiple professional certifications from Georgetown University.  Outside of work she is active with her two children and with the Nation’s Capital chapter of the Girl Scouts of America.

Laura brings a wealth of senior leadership experience at tech companies ranging from small and private to large and public. Since joining Optoro, she has revolutionized the accounting department by overhauling, streamlining, and automating financial processes to deliver meaningful, flexible, and robust reporting. Laura takes pride in creating efficiencies that extend beyond her team, being a value-added business partner who creates time and space for other departments to focus on their core missions. After earning her B.B.A in Accounting from the University of Hawaiʻi, she caught the tech bug at Ernst & Young where she made her mark on their tech-focused assurance team. When she’s not running down numbers, Laura loves hanging out with her husband and big kids who provide constant comic relief, and traveling with them anywhere they can put their toes in the sand.

Omar’s career began at eSpot, where he initially developed his expertise in secondary markets and discovered reverse logistics. While at Optoro, Omar has leveraged his abilities as an agile learner to apply innovative yet pragmatic solutions to many of the complex problems associated with returns. He has held many roles at Optoro and thrives in dynamic settings, bringing a can-do attitude to everything he does. Omar currently leads Optoro’s ReCommerce business, where he is responsible for establishing and executing a product vision and strategy to drive growth.

Omar is a devoted meditator, which he credits for his ability to maintain poise under pressure. When he’s not focused on mindfulness or finding a second home for returns, Omar enjoys the arts, cycling, traveling, and cooking.

Tyler has over 15 years of experience driving customer-centric solutions. Tyler holds an MBA from Georgetown and comes to DC by way of California, where he grew up and received a bachelor’s degree from UC Davis. Prior to Optoro, he was a Director of Business Development at an education technology company.

Tyler lives in Washington, DC, with his wife and two children. He is a huge San Francisco 49ers fan and is working on indoctrinating his kids.

From tiny start-ups to global consulting firms, across a variety of industries and on both sides of the Atlantic, Kate brings over 20 years of software testing experience to Optoro. Kate is passionate about transforming Quality Engineering teams into full and equal partners in the product life cycle, injecting quality practices and risk management from the earliest project concept to the final code deploy.

She started her career testing educational software for Logotron, but soon discovered a talent for creating software testing teams from the ground up. Before Optoro, Kate was at Acquity Group (now part of Accenture Interactive), where she single-handedly built the testing practice, growing it into a world class QA Center servicing e-commerce implementations for national brands.

Kate lives in Washington, DC with her husband, son, and two guinea pigs. She loves camping, gaming, tending to her tiny urban vegetable garden, and dabbling in a variety of fiber arts.

Alex leads brand and experience design for Optoro, and is responsible for delivering an optimal end-to-end user experience for customers. Prior to Optoro, Alex was Creative Director at Capital One, where he created seamless product experiences for 10mm+ upmarket card customers and has also worked for various startups and growth stage companies across e-commerce, fin-tech, advertising, healthcare and kids entertainment.

Originally from South Africa, Alex launched his career as a creator and co-founder of Africa’s largest serialized kids entertainment media company — Strika Entertainment — and had a successful exit to Naspers (NPSNY) in 2010. Strika’s flagship product, Supa Strikas, can be seen on TV in over 160 countries through channels like Disney and Nickelodeon, with ~ 500 million comic books distributed around the world to date.

Alex graduated with a double major in Art Director and Graphic Design from the Red & Yellow Creative School of Business in Cape Town, South Africa.

Zach is a seasoned client service and partnerships executive with 15 years of experience serving as a trusted advisor to external partners and driving business growth. 

As Vice President of Client Success, Zach and his team are responsible for driving client value, client satisfaction, and growth of our client programs. Prior to Optoro, Zach held various client and partnership management roles across a variety of industries, including at American Express, Madison Square Garden, and two Interpublic Group agencies.

Outside of Optoro, you can find Zach cheering on his beloved Philadelphia or Penn State sports teams, or spending time outside with wife and two young daughters.

Gene serves as Optoro’s Vice President of Sales, leading the team focused on growing business with omnichannel retailers. With over 20 years of industry experience, Gene joined Optoro from BMC Software where he led a global team of sales and marketing professionals with an annual revenue of $100M+. Gene’s passion for disruptive technology with practical, high ROI impact has led him to work in sales leadership roles in large companies like Sun Microsystems and retail tech giant NCR, as well as Silicon Valley startups.

Gene resides in Washington DC with his wife, four children and two overfed dogs. He is a graduate of the University of Maryland, Smith School of Business and enjoys drumming in an “old-guy” rock and blues band.

Ricardo has led teams that serviced successful fulfillment operations in a 3PL model for companies like Comcast, Sandisk as well as several OEM’s and software companies. With his insatiable drive for process improvements and lean operations, Ricardo is a key player managing our internal operations as well as the ones where we are co-located with clients and 3PL providers.

When not making sure all our orders ship on time in full and with no errors, he spends quality time with his two children, cooking and mountain biking. Ricardo has a BS in Industrial Engineering from ITESO in Guadalajara, MX.

Previously, she worked in legal and policy roles at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board and as in-house counsel specializing in litigation at Sallie Mae, Inc. Earlier in her career, she practiced as a general litigator at the law firm Williams & Connolly LLP and served as a law clerk to Judge Sidney H. Stein of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Zoe received her BA from Yale University, a JD from Stanford Law School, and a Masters in Accounting from American University. She is a Certified Public Accountant and a Member of the Bars of the District of Columbia and New York.

When off duty, Zoe teaches Business Law, Ethics and Governance at American University’s Kogod School as an adjunct, and serves as Chair of the Board of My Sister’s Place in D.C.

Marty brings over 10 years of experience in Financial Planning and Analysis, including software experience from his time at Thomson Reuters and MicroStrategy.

His passion lies in making Finance a key partner to all departments across an organization and transforming Finance  from a cost-center into a profit-center.

Born in Washington, D.C., Marty enjoys living in the District and, as a former soccer player, enjoys catching local D.C. United matches and supporting all D.C. sports teams.

Marty has is B.A. from Princeton University and his M.B.A. from University of Maryland, Smith School of Business.

Caroline started her career on Wall Street as a global equities sales trader at Deutsche Bank. She moved to DC in 2004 and has led enterprise sales teams at CEB (now Gartner), Bloomberg Government, PowerToFly, and General Assembly.  Caroline loves building sales teams and helping individuals develop all the skills they need to be successful.  Caroline has her B.A. in English Literature from Princeton University and M.B.A. from Georgetown University. She lives in DC with her husband and two young daughters.

Under his leadership, Optoro has expanded from a scrappy start-up to a major industry player, helping the nation’s top retailers address the $500B market of returned and excess goods. Tobin has been recognized as a leading SaaS CEO through honors such as Ernst & Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year and Washington Business Journal’s 40 under 40. Prior to launching Optoro in 2010, Tobin founded eSpot, one of the original eBay drop-off facilities, his first foray into the growing world of e-commerce. Tobin holds a B.A. from Brown University with a double major in Business Economics and American History.

While at eSpot, Vitarello meticulously designed, programmed, and implemented every feature of the proprietary software, systems and marketing algorithms that put eSpot at the forefront of its industry and created the core for Optoro’s software today. He provides an eye for streamlining the reverse logistics process and an uncompromising attitude always demanding excellence. Adam has been responsible for major design elements and implementation strategies of Optoro’s proprietary software and systems. As President, he manages corporate headquarters and remarketing solutions with a one-on-one approach that puts employees first with the goal of maintaining a small-business feel in a rapidly expanding environment. Adam utilizes that same personal interaction strategy with clients and partners in advancing the automation and remarketing technologies that serve as the driving force of Optoro’s service.

When he’s not pulling all the strings for Optoro and our partners, he can be found training for marathons, triathlons, or mountain climbing. Even atop Mt. Kilimanjaro, reverse logistics is never far from his thoughts. Adam holds a B.A. from Brown University.

She has a proven track record of using her extensive experience to drive business outcomes through technology and digital solutions. Chima has been the transformational CIO for several global organizations, including most recently as the Global Chief Information Officer of BECU and ambassador for Innovate UK (UK government agency for Innovation and Research);  and formerly the CIO of adidas, Fox Network Group, Burberry Corporation, WalMart Stores Inc Asia business operations, and American Express’ Global Corporate Technologies.

Chima is also experienced in building high-performing and diverse cultures in Fortune 500 and signature brands through progressive technical resources, communications, and robust development programs that support organizations in achieving double-digit growth.

She has both public corporate and non-profit board experiences and has completed the Women Corporate Directors’ OnBoard Bootcamp and certification. In addition, she is a sought-after speaker on topics ranging from the CIO’s role in the executive suite and boardroom, to making digital part of an organization’s culture. For these reasons, she has been recognized as a top leader in STEM, Globalization, and IT.

Chima has a Bachelor of Arts (Politics & Philosophy), University of Hull along with an advanced studies certification in Women Corporate Directorship at Hong Kong and Executive Management, Harvard Business School. She was raised and educated in London, and is now married with two children and settled in the U.S. with other global residences. 

He sits on the board of directors of several leading companies ranging from American Express to Groupon. Ted has been involved with Revolution Growth since its founding, as an investor in and Chairman of Revolution Money and AddThis (formerly Clearspring). (Mr. Leonsis has no financial stake in the other Revolution Growth I investments.) Ted is the founder, chairman, and majority owner of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Washington Capitals (NHL), the Washington Wizards (NBA), the Washington Mystics and the Verizon Center. Leonsis retired from active management of AOL in 2006, where during the previous 13 years he was an inspirational leader and held a number of senior positions, including vice chairman and president, and worked closely with Steve Case for a decade to build AOL into the world’s leading internet company with a market value at its peak in excess of $100 billion.

Leonsis founded SnagFilms, the internet’s leading site for online audiences to find, watch, and share documentary films. Ted also has been an producer of award-winning documentary films such as Kicking It and Nanking, which premiered at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and has won a Peabody Award and an Emmy Award. A third documentary produced by Leonsis, A Fighting Chance, aired on ESPN in fall 2010. Early in his career Leonsis was the founder of several technology-enabled consumer companies, including Redgate Communications, where Leonsis is crediting with coining the phrase “new media.” Leonsis has been named Washington’s Businessman of the Year, a Washingtonian of the Year, one of the 20 most influential people in sports, and one of the top 10 entrepreneurs of the year. Leonsis blogs daily at TedsTake.com

Tenfore Holdings is an investment management firm that provides operational value-added to growth-stage companies where technology plays a transformative role. Tenfore focuses on commerce and Big Data equity/debt investments where they can apply their operating experience and strategic relationships to enhance value. They have extensive experience operating at scale, and understand how to build smaller enterprises to scale. By providing capital, strategic guidance at the board level, and operational support to talented managers, the firm helps companies realize their full revenue, profit and market-value potential for the long-term.

The managing partner is Dan Levine. Dan has 6+ years experience working with Eddie Lampert overseeing, developing, and operating core and startup businesses, particularly within Sears Holdings, concentrating on eCommerce, mobile, social, machine learning, and local spaces. He has focused on multichannel experiences that leverage and link online, store, supply chain, pricing, inventory, merchandising, and analytics systems. Dan holds an AB from Harvard and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

He has served as a CEO and board member for some of the DC area’s most dynamic technology companies, including Ignitio, Cirrus Seven, and Logi Analytics. He was founder and CEO of pioneering web analytics and optimization firm Visual Sciences, formerly WebSideStory, which he sold to industry-leader Omniture. Additionaly, he served as Chief of eCommerce Technology for GSI Commerce, which was acquired by eBay in 2011 and became eBay Enterprise. He is currently the CEO and Principal of McLean, VA – based Product Lab, LLC. Mr. MacIntyre holds a BA from the University of Vermont.

Anthony (Tony) Nader is Managing Director of SWaN & Legend Venture Partners.  In 2006, he and his two partners founded SWaN Investors and, in 2012, partnered with Legend Investors to form SWaN & Legend Venture Partners.  The multi-stage venture capital firm invests in high-growth, high-quality organizations and the entrepreneurs behind them. 

Nader is also Vice Chairman at Asurion, a company that he successfully merged with his company, NEW, in 2008.  Nader joined the upstart NEW in 1990 as Chief Operating Officer, was named President in 1999 and Chief Executive Officer in 2006.  Under his leadership, NEW grew to be the largest global provider of extended service plans for the consumer electronics and appliance industry.  The company does billions of dollars of insurance, under special lines regulations, for both mobile phone carriers and retailers around the world.  For over twenty years, NEW grew at a compounded rate in excess of 20 percent.  During his tenure, Nader focused the organization on delivering high quality customer care, developing innovative solutions, and creating strong client partnerships, with emphasis on hiring, developing and retaining extraordinary people.  

Before joining NEW, Nader was the Product Manager for extended service contracts at Progressive Corporation in Cleveland, Ohio.  Prior to Progressive, Nader served as a Retail Banking Officer for Ameritrust Company, N.A.

Nader serves on a number of volunteer and for-profit Boards.  He currently is the Chairman of the Inova Health System Board of Trustees, serving in that role since 2017.  Inova is Northern Virginia’s leading non-profit healthcare system.  He is the past chairman of the Inova Health System Foundation Board where he has served since 2001. 

He serves on the Board of Arlington Asset Investment Corporation (NYSE: AAIC); Federal Realty Investment Trust (NYSE: FRT); BigTeams; DuraStat; MusiCapital and is an active Board Advisor for José Andrés Think Food Group. 

Nader is involved in a number of philanthropic, business and community organizations.  He is a partner in Monumental Sports & Entertainment, which owns the Washington Capitals (NHL), Wizards (NBA), Mystics (WNBA) and Capital One Arena; and a partner in the Washington Nationals (MLB); aXiomatic, which has a controlling interest in e-sports franchise Team Liquid and the Professional Fighters League (PFL).  He is a member of Venture Philanthropy Partners, The Economic Club of Washington, D.C., and the Young Presidents’ Organization-Gold. 

Nader is a graduate of John Carroll University and holds an MBA from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University.  Nader and his wife, Annette, have three children.

Since joining the GGF team, Dan’s primary focus has been on rapidly growing technology companies in the industrial, consumer, and financial services sectors. He is a board member at Kilowatt Financial, a board observer at Clean Power Finance and TAS Energy, and was a board member at Gen110 before its 2013 acquisition by Solar Universe. Before joining KPCB, Dan was a vice president in the Goldman Sachs Special Situations Group and a founding member of its alternative energy investing team, where he eventually led the team’s solar initiatives.

Dan had a direct role investing in First Solar and was a board observer at SunEdison from 2006-2009. Before joining the Special Situations Group, Dan was an FX trader at Goldman Sachs, making spot markets in the euro and Swiss franc. Dan holds a B.S. degree with distinction in management science and engineering from Stanford University, with a concentration in financial and decision engineering.

His primary research coverage includes the automotive, airline and transportation industries, as well as the consumer electronics industry. His previous research coverage also included the cable/satellite industry. He is a member of the management team for Franklin Flex Cap Growth VIP Fund. Mr. Stevenson joined Franklin Templeton Investments in 2004. He holds a B.A. in economics from UCLA. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) charterholder and a member of the Securities Analysts of San Francisco (SASF).

Julia Taxin is a Partner at Grotech Ventures. She brings over 10 years of experience in venture capital, finance, and consulting to Grotech Ventures. Prior to joining Grotech, she spent time at Sandbox Industries focused on evaluating new investment opportunities and working with portfolio companies and management teams on growth strategies. She began her career as a IT consultant at PwC in Chicago where she focused on Oracle implementations and supply chain optimization.

Julia currently serves on the board of or led investments in Airside Mobile, Backbone PLM, Drum Technologies, Optoro and The Mom Project. She also holds board observer roles at Ceros, Shipmonk and UrbanBound among others. Julia is a member of the Venture Committee at Vinetta DC and previously served as an investment advisory board member of CIT GAP Funds from 2013-2016.

Julia holds a BS in Finance from the University of Florida and a MBA from the University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business with concentrations in Finance and Entrepreneurship.