CxO Event | November 2017

Mat Ellis founded Cloudability in April 2011 and is its CEO. Prior to Cloudability, Mat held executive positions with four startups, and key technology roles at Frito-Lay, Pepsi Cola and Goldman Sachs. He currently sits on the boards of the Oregon Entrepreneurs Network and the Technology Association of Oregon. Originally from the UK and now residing in Portland, Mat is well known as a mentor and advisor to startups across the US.
 

Diane serves as a Partner with Voyager and focuses on software and digital media investments in the Pacific Northwest, particularly Oregon. With over 30 years of technology company experience in leading marketing, strategy and business development, Diane works with startups in the enterprise software, Internet/mobile/social, and security software industries throughout the West Coast.

Diane is on the boards of Act-On Software, Stackery, TiE Oregon, University of Oregon Seed Fund Advisory Board, the Oregon State University Advantage Accelerator, and Providence Child Center.  She is also a board observer of Chirpify, Lytics, SheerID, Skyward, and Ubix, and  She graduated with a Bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University in Biomedical Engineering, and received an Executive MBA from Insead in Fountainebleau, France. Diane lives in Portland, Oregon.

Skip is a frequent speaker on technology trends and topics, economic development, public-private partnerships and civic innovation. Before joining the TAO, Skip served as an economic development policy advisor to Portland Mayor Sam Adams, where he helped create Portland’s first comprehensive economic development strategy in 16 years, recognizing software as a key industry cluster. While at the City of Portland, Skip’s projects included the adoption of the nation’s first open source software procurement policy at the municipal level, an award-winning regional open data initiative and the development of resources to support entrepreneurship, like the Portland Seed Fund. Previously, Skip was a corporate and IP attorney and entrepreneur. Skip is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of TECNA, Technology Councils of North America, which is a global network of technology and entrepreneurship associations, and he serves on advisory boards for Wells Fargo and Worksystems, Inc. Skip is also a 2012 recipient of the Portland Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 award. When he's not working on behalf of the region's tech industry, Skip enjoys exploring the Pacific Northwest with his family.
 

Brad Gevurtz is a Managing Director in the Investment Banking group, focused on the technology sector. He has been with D.A. Davidson since 2005 and during his time with the firm has served as the Head of Investment Banking and as a member of the Board of Directors and the Public Equity Commitment Committee. He is a current board member of his regional ACG, an investor in numerous private equity and venture capital funds, a former board member of Thinking Machines Corporation (parallel processing software company), and a former member of the valuation committee of OVP Venture Partners.
Brad has spoken at industry conferences and has been quoted in numerous publications about corporate finance and M&A issues. He holds a B.A. with Distinction in Economics from Pomona College, a J.D. from the University of Oregon School of Law, and an MBA with Honors in Finance and Accounting from Columbia University, where he was elected President of the top academic honor society.