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.

Katy is currently the Chief Financial Officer at Optoro, the world’s leading returns optimization platform. She was previously the founder of Ten12 Consulting where she partnered with companies, funds and advisors to strengthen expertise and drive growth. She was the Chairman and CEO of Geeknet (GKNT), the publicly traded parent company of ThinkGeek.com where she partnered with the team to grow the eCommerce and direct to retail channels. She also served as Executive Vice-President and Chief Financial Officer of Geeknet and ThinkGeek.

Katy previously spent 18 years at GE where she was named a Company Officer in 2003. She was Vice-President and CFO of GE Healthcare in London and was Vice-President of the GE Audit Staff. She held several other financial leadership positions within different industries at GE.

Peter has held top leadership positions at multiple software technology companies. He founded and served as CTO at companies including iWant, SupplyScape, and TraceLink, and he’s served as CTO of companies such as INTTRA and Performaworks. Peter has a degree in Computer Science from Northeastern University and began his career at Microsoft in 1998. At Optoro, Peter will oversee the technology team in continuing to evolve, scale, and optimize Optoro’s product.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Karen’s career in sales and sales management led her 8 years ago into the world of Reverse Logistics.   In 2012, Karen was hired by eRecycling Corps (now Hyla Mobile) as one of the first members of their newly established sales team, responsible for selling millions of used mobile phones generated by eRC’s innovative mobile device trade in programs with ATT, Verizon and Sprint.  Karen’s next move was to build and lead the team at Assurant Solutions, responsible for optimizing the value of millions of mobile phones and accessories acquired through T-Mobile’s trade in, upgrade, and buyer’s remorse programs. After a successful few years at Assurant, Karen moved to Optoro to build and lead the BULQ Enterprise team.

Outside of work, Karen enjoys the beach, biking, hiking, snowboarding and skiing, reading, and dining out. Her passion is sharing adventures to places less traveled with her husband and two sons and spending quality time with family and friends in her beloved hometown of San Diego.

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.

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.

Emily has a passion for bringing products to life through powerful storytelling. Before Optoro, she spent nearly a decade at MicroStrategy, an enterprise analytics and mobility software vendor. She led product, services and solutions marketing—managing a diverse team with both technical and business expertise. Prior to MicroStrategy, she ran North America marketing and sales enablement for Axios Systems, a UK-based IT Services Management software company. Emily also held marketing and client services roles at research firm, Current Analysis. Though she’s spent most of her career in the tech space, Emily didn’t start out there. She began her career as a buyer for a large retail department chain, Hecht’s / Strawbridge’s, part of The May Department Stores Company that was later purchased by Macy’s.

Blair has spent the last 10 years leading marketing efforts across B2B and D2C verticals at DC-based technology startups, including WeddingWire, Inc., where she spent 6 years.  At WeddingWire, Blair led the company’s consumer brand marketing efforts, including brand positioning and strategy.  During her tenure at WeddingWire, Blair was also responsible for B2B marketing and product marketing initiatives.

After leaving WeddingWire, Blair was the Director of Marketing for the on-demand manufacturing startup, Xometry, Inc. where she led B2B marketing strategy aimed at growing the company’s network of manufacturing partners.  Prior to her work in startups, Blair began her career at Ogilvy PR where she managed public relations campaigns for federal clients.

Blair has a BA from Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee.  Outside of work, Blair is an avid runner and a mom of two young children.

Joe has over a decade of experience as a consultant, practitioner, and engineer leading multi-disciplinary teams to create and implement solutions in the eCommerce and supply chain space, bridging the gap between operations and technology. Prior to Optoro, he led the design and implementation for distribution centers of enterprise retailers and brands at a boutique consulting firm, followed by 3 years at Carter’s where he was responsible for the Retail & eCommerce supply chain roadmap and omni-channel support across the company.

Joe has a BS in Industrial & Systems Engineering from Georgia Tech. Outside of work, Joe enjoys playing with his 1 year old, music, and cooking with his family.

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.

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

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.

In 2006, he and his two partners founded SWaN Investors and, in 2012, they partnered with Legend Investors to form SWaN & Legend. The companies have over twenty widely diversified investments, including growth oriented companies, start-up ventures, and domestic and international real estate holdings. Nader is 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. 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 innovation solutions, creating strong client partnerships, with emphasis on hiring, developing and retaining extraordinary people. NEW was recognized by JD Power for providing “Outstanding Customer Service Quality” and by both the Washington Business Journal and the Washingtonian Magazine as one of the top 50 places to work.

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 is involved in a number of philanthropic, business and community organizations. He is a partner in the Washington Nationals Baseball Club and a partner in Monumental Sports and Entertainment – which owns the Washington Capitals, Wizards, Mystics and Verizon Center. He currently serves as secretary of the Inova Health System Board of Trustees. He is the past chairman of the Inova Health System Foundation Board where he has served since 2001. He is a member of Venture Philanthropy Partners, The Economic Club of Washington, DC and the Young Presidents Organization.

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.

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.

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).