SYZYGY ADVANCE CLIENTS & INVESTMENTS
Impact Venture & Finance
INVESTOR
Early-stage healthcare venture capital firm focused on the healthcare industry.
INVESTOR
INVESTOR
FUND VI – LP
THE FUND LA I – LP
ADVISOR/
SHAREHOLDER
Tony Greenberg, CEO
Tony brings decades of experience in harnessing technology and analytics to create, measure, and refine social impact initiatives. He has contributed to impact efforts as the founder of the top sourcing advisor for IT infrastructure (RampRate), an investor and advisory board member for multiple impact-focused startups, and in personal projects ranging from support for innovative addiction treatment approaches, to sponsorship of schools in rural India and afterschool programs in LA, to advising the largest charitable effort of the cryptocurrency community, to early stage investments in India’s leading social impact fund. Tony’s core competency is in aligning social impact programs with each enterprise’s strategy and culture and creating auditable statistical proof of positive impact in a world that is often filled with greenwashing and unintended side effects.
Since founding RampRate in 2000, Tony has brought transparency and governance to the opaque and often corrupt technology sales process and ensured that ESG / CSR factors were included in billions of dollars buying decisions of large enterprises such as eBay, Sony, CBS, and 100+ others. Led by Tony, RampRate’s team has also run many custom social impact strategy projects, including Microsoft’s corporate citizenship strategy in the UK, a collective commitment to reduce emissions across enterprise data centers under the auspices of the Clinton Global Initiative, and a digital service efficiency dashboard for eBay that brought unprecedented transparency in measuring and minimizing the carbon footprint of the company’s IT function. For the last 5 years, RampRate has also guided blockchain companies away from energy-intensive proof-of-work projects to proof-of-stake and similar carbon-reducing paths. As an investor, advisor, and board member, Tony focuses on projects that are transformative in their potential. His list of investments and advisory clients includes blockchain technologies that democratize access to investment and reduce the potential for corruption, network technologies that provide privacy against oppressive regimes, projects measuring the provenance and effectiveness of natural medicine, and product & supplier vetting tools to help consumers vote for positive social impact with their wallets. He has also been an early-stage investor in impact-focused funds such as Unitus Ventures. Tony has founded two early-stage startups in this area – with one focused on identifying and removing waste in corporate data centers and a consultancy targeted to creating measurable improvements in CSR score. He is currently an emissary to Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Centre, a founder at 7hands, a health and wellness distribution entity, and investor in a 900 store retailing chain in the hair salon/beauty sector. In his youth, Greenberg built and sold a boutique retail optical chain that provided optometry services that revenues over $1500/sq ft.– Media Bio
– Impact Bio
Tony Greenberg, CEO
Tony brings decades of experience in harnessing technology and analytics to create, measure, and refine social impact initiatives. He has contributed to impact efforts as the founder of the top sourcing advisor for IT infrastructure (RampRate), an investor and advisory board member for multiple impact-focused startups, and in personal projects ranging from support for innovative addiction treatment approaches, to sponsorship of schools in rural India and afterschool programs in LA, to advising the largest charitable effort of the cryptocurrency community, to early stage investments in India’s leading social impact fund. Tony’s core competency is in aligning social impact programs with each enterprise’s strategy and culture and creating auditable statistical proof of positive impact in a world that is often filled with greenwashing and unintended side effects.
Since founding RampRate in 2000, Tony has brought transparency and governance to the opaque and often corrupt technology sales process and ensured that ESG / CSR factors were included in billions of dollars buying decisions of large enterprises such as eBay, Sony, CBS, and 100+ others. Led by Tony, RampRate’s team has also run many custom social impact strategy projects, including Microsoft’s corporate citizenship strategy in the UK, a collective commitment to reduce emissions across enterprise data centers under the auspices of the Clinton Global Initiative, and a digital service efficiency dashboard for eBay that brought unprecedented transparency in measuring and minimizing the carbon footprint of the company’s IT function. For the last 5 years, RampRate has also guided blockchain companies away from energy-intensive proof-of-work projects to proof-of-stake and similar carbon-reducing paths. As an investor, advisor, and board member, Tony focuses on projects that are transformative in their potential. His list of investments and advisory clients includes blockchain technologies that democratize access to investment and reduce the potential for corruption, network technologies that provide privacy against oppressive regimes, projects measuring the provenance and effectiveness of natural medicine, and product & supplier vetting tools to help consumers vote for positive social impact with their wallets. He has also been an early-stage investor in impact-focused funds such as Unitus Ventures. Tony has founded two early-stage startups in this area – with one focused on identifying and removing waste in corporate data centers and a consultancy targeted to creating measurable improvements in CSR score. He is currently an emissary to Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness Centre, a founder at 7hands, a health and wellness distribution entity, and investor in a 900 store retailing chain in the hair salon/beauty sector. In his youth, Greenberg built and sold a boutique retail optical chain that provided optometry services that revenues over $1500/sq ft.– Media Bio
– Impact Bio
Alex Veytsel, CSO
Alex is an expert in digital media business models, revenue streams, and technical backbones, specifically around hosting, delivery, and optimization of the user experience. Since joining RampRate in 2004, he has served as a business planning and strategy advisor to technology giants like Microsoft, Sony, and Intel on subjects like mapping of the digital value chain and associated revenue flows, partner strategies, and pioneering business models, including some of the earliest mobile video and digital home business plans. As a sourcing advisor, he has helped both major TV networks (e.g. NBC, Fox) and industry pioneers (e.g. iFilm, Audible) reduce costs, improve performance, and reinvest negotiated savings in innovative technologies. A big focus of these efforts has been optimization of content delivery strategies, where he has helped build multi-CDN platforms for both major events (including the Super Bowl and the first March Madness online broadcast) and ongoing optimization of cost and performance. His expertise extends to adjacent markets such as gaming (where he has worked with companies like Blizzard and Riot to scale rapidly), mobile (MVNO strategies, ringtones, mobile delivery), and sports. Prior to RampRate, Alex covered subjects such as peer-to-peer delivery and Web analytics as a senior research analyst at Aberdeen Group.
Gulliver Smither, CTO and Digital Strategist
Gulliver Smither is a Product-oriented CTO and digital strategist with over 20 years of experience across the media sector working for some of the best-known brands in the world. Gulliver previously worked at Sony as the CTO to their D2C and digital supply chain division and before that as an SVP running the global product and tech teams for Sony’s LA Studio. Prior to that, he was the VP of Product at the BBC, the CTO at Base79 where he oversaw a successful exit, and the Director of On-Demand at ITV. Gulliver is an industry maverick in digital strategy & product innovation; agile & lean software development; technical innovation; cloud computing and architecture; product road maps, growth and management; multi-platform application development; and video on demand. Gulliver joined RampRate after a successful engagement at Sony where they succeeded in saving him millions of dollars.
Kristen Priest, Managing Director, Client Engagement
As Managing Director of Client Engagement, Kristen manages overall delivery responsibility for RampRate’s large-scale sourcing advisory and optimization projects with Fortune 500 clients and top brands including Sony, eBay, Nike, Intel, Hearst, and others, overseeing 50+ IT services procurement projects affecting over $2B in customer IT services expenditure, as well as IT services procurement resulting in 7-figure cost reductions for multiple clients worldwide. Kristen also maintains a leadership role as an analyst, researcher, and writer, for various strategic research initiatives, and oversees RampRate’s Advisory Services and Partner Programs.
Amy Neumann, Managing Director, Partnerships & Business Development
Insatiably curious about discovering new social impact applications for technology, Amy Neumann is Managing Director, Partnerships & Business Development at RampRate. Amy helps clients with increasing both positive social impact and financial success through partnerships including advising on, creating, and implementing innovative tech solutions (AI, blockchain, DAOs), sourcing more environmentally-friendly supply chains, and measuring data to prove positive change and ROI. She is a social good and technology fanatic who has been creating positive change for more than two decades at organizations like AT&T, Yahoo, Advance Publications, and Case Western Reserve University. In 2016 she founded a 501(c)3 nonprofit which helps other nonprofits accomplish their goals more efficiently and effectively by leveraging tech. Amy speaks often on emerging tech for impact and STEM diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), is a widely published writer and author, and loves getting creative in her art studio.
Griffin Flannery, Director of Impact Strategy
Griffin is an expert Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) risk management and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)-or more simply put: Impact. Prior to starting with RampRate, Griffin spent his career measuring the environmental and social impacts of assets, projects, programs, and organizations in the international development and financial sectors. He joined the RampRate team to proselytize the business case for Impact, and to pursue creative means of measuring the impact of business decisions. Griffin helps clients understand their risk exposure, design strategies to mitigate downside and capture upside, and use the resulting data to craft compelling narratives of their positive contributions to people and planet. He helps decision makers understand social and environmental costs and opportunities, and how those things impact their bottom line.
Ben York, Director of Corporate Strategy
As Senior Investment Analyst to RampRate, Ben York oversees the deal intake, due diligence, and portfolio management of RampRate’s investments and accelerator program. Ben also serves as the Wellness Lead within health & wellness, cannabis, psychedelics, and other related industries, providing guidance to clients across revenue models, go-to-market strategy, and fundraising strategy among other areas. Ben’s background is in venture capital and startup finance. Prior to his role with RampRate, Ben was the Due Diligence & Deal Flow Manager for the Arcview Collective Fund and an Investor at VU Venture Partners. Ben is also a Mentor for both the Eaze Momentum Accelerator and Founder Institute (SF) where he advises startups on everything from business plan formation to fundraising strategy.
Barry Watkins, Director of Operations
Barry is a passionate Product and Operational leader working with startups and growing businesses to improve process, build successful culture & community, manage worldwide distributed teams, as well as provide strategic and logistical support for worldwide events.
A dynamic team builder with excellent communication and mentoring skills, Barry knows how to inspire productivity, encourage creativity, and foster good morale within teams while delivering amazing user experiences for clients and customers.
Throughout his career, Barry has helped the launch and growth of several successful startups in multiple different industries including Blockchain, Mobile, Social Media, Ad-Tech, VR/AR, SaaS, Healthcare, Wellness, and Fintech.
Board Advisors
Purvee Kondal
Purvee Kondal is a Senior Director of Technology & Engineering Sourcing at the Albertsons Companies, an advisory board member at the Sourcing Industry Group, and RampRate. She is also a National Association of Corporate Directors Accelerate program participant. She is a seasoned Procurement executive with over 15 years of experience leading transformational changes at notable organizations such as Johnson & Johnson, General Electric, Capgemini, Ross Stores, and Globality. As a champion of diversity and inclusion, she co-chairs the Fellowship Nomination Committee at the Athena Rising Foundation as an Athena Alliance member.
She helps companies identify value and improve efficiencies for Procurement, Sourcing, and Vendor Management functions through advanced technology, collaboration, innovation, diversity, and partnerships. She was nominated for “Transformation Leader of the Year” by the Women in IT Summit & Awards Series in 2020.
Purvee holds an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from San Jose State University.
Curt Hessler
Curt Hessler brings varied and substantial business and legal experience to RampRate’s board. He has extensive experience in M&A, finance, strategic development, and law. He has served on the boards of five public companies, numerous private companies, and nonprofit organizations and is a seasoned executive with extensive experience at senior levels in the information technology, media, and government sectors. He has held a variety of senior positions at major corporations including Unisys and Times-Mirror Group. Curt was most recently chairman and founding CEO of 101communications, a Los Angeles-based media company. He has held several government positions including Assistant Secretary of the Treasury for Economic Policy. He holds a Master’s degree in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley, a JD from Yale Law School, and a BA from Harvard and also is a Rhodes Scholar.
Barry Patmore
Barry Patmore had a distinguished 34-year career at Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting) where he helped improve business processes and implement large scale IT systems for companies including Microsoft, US West, Capital Group, Visa, Disney, Mazda, and JPL. His responsibilities included managing partner of the Pacific Northwest and Southern California offices and global managing partner of the business process competency. He was one of the lead developers of Method/1, the firm’s systems development methodology, and he collaborated with Michael Hammer to develop the methodology utilized by the firm for business process re-engineering. Patmore has since served as a venture partner with Brentwood Venture Capital specializing in business-to-business enterprises and software companies. He also was the interim CIO at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, during which he directed the outsourcing of IT. He continues to advise the hospital.
Peter Gross
Peter Gross has been a voice of innovation in the data center industry for decades. He is known as founder and leader of EYP Mission Critical. Peter now serves as VP of Bloom Energy’s Mission Critical Practice where he will apply the world’s most efficient natural gas-powered fuel cells to sustainably and consistently power data center facilities while reducing their carbon footprint. Peter brings 25 years of experience in engineering and design of power systems as applied to data centers, trading floors, command and control centers, and telecommunication and broadcasting facilities. Before Bloom Energy, Peter was Vice President and Managing Partner of HP Global Technology Consulting at Hewlett Packard. Previously, Peter was founder and CEO at EYP Mission Critical Facilities, Inc., which specialized in strategic technology planning, design, and operations support for large-scale data centers.
Peter Hirshberg
A Silicon Valley executive with several high profile marketing and branding related ventures, Peter has led emerging media and technology companies for more than 20 years. He is chairman of the executive committee of Technorati, the leading aggregator of user-generated content in the world, tracking over 100 million Weblogs and 70,000 posts per hour. He also is co-founder and chairman of The Conversation Group, a fast-growing agency helping brands with strategy and marketing. During a nine-year tenure at Apple Computer, Hirshberg headed Enterprise Marketing, where he grew Apple’s large business and government revenue to $1 billion annually and helped lead the company’s entry into the online service arena. After leaving Apple, Peter’s new-media strategy firm served clients including America Online, Microsoft, NBC Television Network, Estee Lauder, Pacific Bell, and Silicon Graphics.
Joe Weinman
The author of Cloudonomics: The Business Value of Cloud Computing (Wiley 2012), available in English and Chinese and considered the seminal work on cloud computing economics and business value, and the author of the forthcoming book Digital Disciplines, which provides blueprints for exploiting the cloud, big data and analytics, social, mobile, and the Internet of Things to develop competitive advantage. He has been awarded 20 U.S. and international patents in cloud computing, homomorphic encryption, wireline and wireless network technologies, and consumer products. He also serves as the chairman of the IEEE Intercloud Testbed executive committee. He is a frequent global keynote speaker who has appeared multiple times on broadcast TV and radio, and leading web videos such as The New York Times TimesCast and TheStreet.com, and is frequently quoted in the industry press. His work has appeared at GigaOM.com, Forbes, InformationWeek, The New York Times, Businessweek, and numerous other print and online publications. Joe has been a senior executive at Telx, AT&T, Bell Labs, and Hewlett Packard, in areas such as corporate strategy, product management, marketing and sales, and research, development, and innovation. He has been named a Top 10 Cloud Computing Leader, as well as receiving many other accolades. He received a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Computer Science from Cornell University and the University of Wisconsin, Madison respectively, and completed Executive Education at the International Institute for Management Development in Lausanne, Switzerland.