Over 100 years of combined experience in private equity, business development, entrepreneurship, community venture capital, economic development, education and banking.
Diamond senior management‘s unique blend of skills, talents and experience will allow the company to effectively execute its mission of investing in and helping grow emerging growth companies. Our advisors have unique experience in managing venture funds, accessing government incentives, and investing capital market matters.
Mr. Peek, a CPA, has financed over 200 companies in his career. He is a former banker with a track record of at least 40 financing in seven years of commercial banking and the balance of his financing with a community development corporation (CDC) over a seven year period. Of the approximately 160 financing he managed while with the CDC, more than 70% were to LMI firms and consisted of more than $100 million in financing project cost. He has financed retail, food, real estate, manufacturing, hotel, construction, IT, and various government contracting clients. He managed loan portfolios averaging $30 million with two banks and was responsible for all of the commercial loan business development activities at a $350 million community bank. Mr. Peek syndicated up to $70 million in financing while at these commercial banks. Mr. Peek voted or was an observer on investing $5.5 billion into nearly 400 community banks, CDFIs, Community Banks and Credit Unions, 50 US. States and Territories who created revolving loan funds, venture capital funds, and loan guarantee funds creating over $15 billion in economic impact and access to capital.
Prior to re-launching Diamond Ventures, Mr. Peek was a Senior Policy Advisor at the U.S. Treasury. Mr. Peek was a voting member on the $1.5 billion State Small Business Credit Initiative and an observer on Investment Committees representing Secretary Geithner and Deputy Assistant Secretary Don Graves, Jr. on the $30 billion Small Business Lending Fund (SBLF) Investment Committees, respectively. He was also a voting member on the $300 million CDFI Lending Fund. He was appointed to be a voting member on the Director Selection Committee whose role was to appoint board members to TARP bank recipients. Mr. Peek represented the US. Treasury on the Presidential Task Force for Veterans and led the Access to Capital subcommittee and the Appalachian Regional Commission. His experience and contacts within the Federal Government will be leveraged to assist the Fund’s portfolio companies.
Mr. Saboor is one of the South’s leading development financiers. He has funded over 600 businesses in his career, piloted the development of several lending programs in underserved areas in the Southeast, and leveraged more than $500 million in bank financing and public and private capital to create over 10,000 jobs. He served for over 10 years as the president of the SBA local certified development company in Atlanta responsible for administering the SBA 502,503 and 504 program. , Of the approximately 600 businesses in all capacities CDC from 1979 to the present, more than 70% of the financings were to LMI firms and consisted of hundreds of millions of dollars in financing project cost in all aspects of the capital stack.
Mr. van der Vaart has served as current Chairman and Chief Investment Officer of Small Enterprise Assistance Funds (“SEAF”) with over 25 years with SEAF. Under his leadership, SEAF has significantly increased its capital under management and improved its investment performance. SEAF has over $700MM in AUM and has created more than 25 funds in global markets such as in Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Middle East regions. SEAF enjoys a 32+ year track record and has multi-year track records and engagement with the USAID, OPIC, USAID, Soros Groups, European banks and Sovereign welt funds and a host of global and institutional investors both private and public. SEAF, headquartered in Washington, DC, has been recognized globally for socially conscious investing and impact investing.
SEAF has over $700MM in AUM and has created more than 20 funds in global marketers in Europe, Asia, Africa, and other global regions. SEAF enjoys a track record with USAID, PIC, and a host of global and institutional investors both private and public.
Mark Swanson is an accomplished entrepreneur, C-level executive, speaker, and consultant. A combination of unusual curiosity (labeled as ADD), classic engineering education, and rigorous military discipline have fueled a successful career as a visionary executive. Mark possesses an atypical combination of market insight, technical prowess, and leadership ability to bring a vision to fruition. Mark’s twenty-five-year career has focused on executing disruptive business models that leverage Internet Software and Services. He has served as the Chief Executive Officer or Chief Technology Officer in half a dozen startups and senior executive in two multibillion
dollar companies. Mark describes himself as an “Innovation capitalist,” focusing on helping organizations migrate to digital business ecosystems. He continues to work with both startups and large organizations to solve problems with technological solutions.
As the founder, Mark has built four venture-backed businesses from the idea stage through successful exits via IPO or acquisition. As an Internet pioneer, he created the Internet’s first Software-as-a-Service application (1996), the first use of Virtual Reality on the Internet, and one of the first Infrastructure-as-a-Service offerings. Mark started his career in the United States Army. He commanded two military units, including forming the first unit of Apache attack helicopters, and later managed high-tech projects as a test pilot.
Mark’s industry recognition includes two Inc. 500 awards, two Chamber of Commerce Business of the Year Awards, two Emmy Awards, Business Journal Entrepreneur of the Year, Ernst & Young International Entrepreneur Award, Comdex New Media Invision Award, and New York City Champions of Technology Award. The West Point Mark is a former member of the Young President’s Organization, the founder and past Chairman of the Georgia Electronic Commerce Association, and the Southeast Software Association. Mark graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point with a degree in Computer Engineering and a Master of Science degree in Technology Management from the Georgia Institute of Technology.
To help source investments and build enterprise value in their portfolio companies, the Principals have formed an industry advisory board consisting of distinguished executives and community leaders (the “Board of Advisors”). Members of the Board of Advisors bring perspective, operational insight and senior level access to potential customers and suppliers for the Partnership’s portfolio companies. The Board of Advisors will be expanded when the Fund is open for investments by significant limited partners and other value added persons up to nine members.
The Board contains persons who have been widely acclaimed in their fields of endeavor.
Mr. Thomas W. Dortch, Jr. led the 100 Black Men of America and is heralded as the Chairman Emeritus. He was reelected as national Chairman in 2017. Mr. Dortch is CEO of his entity which manages minority and disadvantaged programs for the U.S. DOT, City of Atlanta, and numerous government and private entities. He is also Chairman of Fulton-DeKalb Authority which manages and owns Grady Hospital, one of the major hospital authorities in the Southeast. Mr. Dortch has obtained and facilitated billions in minority and disadvantaged business contracting with DOT, Airports, and Transportation.
Dr. Fred Humphries, Sr. is a former member of the board of Wal-Mart and Brinker. He led Florida A&M University for years as President and was much aligned with the national media for recruiting minority leaders in competition with Harvard University. He is a historic and legendary educator and a template for HBCU, College and Universities management in America.
Richard Venegar, a former Principal of Diamond, informally advises Mr. Peek and the Partnership and Diamond from time to time on deal structuring, financial modeling, tactical and strategic advice, and fund advice. While not formally a part of Diamond’s management, Mr. Venegar offers meaningful advice gathered from 40 years of SBIC and fund management that is institutional support for the investment thesis and a private equity track record with returns that have exceeded industry benchmarks of like funds in their comparable vintage years.
Joel S. Kress is COO of Pomona Investment Fund. He has over 20 years of alternative investment, operations and legal experience, and has held senior level management positions in the asset management industry since 2005. In 2013, Joel founded Z to A Ventures, LLC, a strategic advisory and consulting business that primarily serves asset managers in the alternative investments industry. Previously, Joel was a Partner and Senior Managing Director at ICON Investments, a credit-oriented global investment platform that has invested over $4 billion of client capital. Prior to ICON, he was a corporate attorney at Fried Frank LLP in London and New York. Joel received a JD from Boston University and a BA from Connecticut College. Joel is Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, a Senior Advisor to Diamond Funds Ventures Management, LLC, an Advisor to EMM Investments, LLC, and a Director of Precision Kidd Steel Company, Inc.
Frank O. Miller is Chief Technology Officer for Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) at Ciena, responsible for aligning Ciena’s product portfolio to the business challenges and opportunities of customers in the region.
Frank has over 25 years in the ICT industry as principal engineer, strategist and executive with deep experience in access, transport, cloud, voice, video and wireless platforms. Mr. Miller is a globally recognized technology leader and innovator with prior leadership roles in telecom, cable, academia and Fortune 500 companies. Before joining Ciena, Frank was the Vice President of Access and Chief Architect at CenturyLink, Global CTO for Cable for Huawei and CTO for BendBroadband.
Mr. Miller was the Independent Technology Executive of the Year in 2011 in the cable industry for key innovations in cloud, video, wireless and access technology. Frank also won the Distinguished Service Award from the Oregon Association of School Executives, Volunteer of the Year from the Oregon Library Association and Excellence in Telecommunication from the State of Oregon in recognition of over two decades of public, volunteer leadership in leading the vision and implementation of the telecommunication landscape for the State of Oregon.
Frank has an Executive MBA with distinction from Ashridge Hult International Business School (London / Shanghai) and a BS in Information Technology with honors from University of Phoenix. Frank also attended Executive Training at Dartmouth University at Tuck and graduated from US Navy Dive School.
Diamond also has a strategic advisory financing relationship with civil rights icon and former U.N. Ambassador, Andrew J. Young. Robin Tanya Watson, is Executive Director at Achieve Palm Beach County and former CEO of Year Up-Jacksonville and Dr. Satira Streeter, CEO of Ascensions Health Advisors in Washington, D.C.
Joel Kress, Managing Director at Ares Management | Senior Advisor
Joel S. Kress is the founder and managing member of Z to A Ventures, LLC, a strategic advisory and consulting firm that focuses principally on assisting alternative asset management firms that are seeking to diversify and expand their capital and investor bases, and a vice president of V&A Capital, a New York-based merchant bank focused on investing in and advising European and U.S. middle-market companies. Mr. Kress was previously a principal and senior managing director for ICON Investments, a $2 billion alternative investment management group that manages and distributes a range of alternative investment products for individual and institutional investors. In that position, Mr. Kress was actively involved in all aspects of the firm’s business, including product development and capital raising, portfolio management and operations, risk management, compliance and investor relations.
Mr. Kress began his career at a multinational law firm where he practiced in both New York and London and focused primarily on the representation of public and private companies and investment funds in connection with mergers and acquisitions, corporate finance and financing transactions (including debt and equity issuances), corporate governance and general corporate advice, and fund formation and other asset management matters.
Mr. Kress is a member of the Brooklyn Eagles, a group of young professionals that was formed to provide advice and committed support, including fundraising, to the Brooklyn Public Library. From October 2009 to May 2011, Mr. Kress was a member of the Board of Directors and Treasurer of Montessori Day School of Brooklyn, a Section 501(c)(3) non-profit pre-elementary day school licensed by the NYC Department of Health. Prior to his involvement with the Montessori Day School, Mr. Kress’ volunteer activities included pro bono legal services for
death penalty cases, a volunteer for the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship, staffing soup kitchens in New London, CT and Philadelphia, PA, and teaching literacy to inmates at the Niantic Correctional Institution in Niantic, CT.
Mr. Kress received a JD, cum laude, from Boston University School of Law and a BA with honors from Connecticut College. He was also a visiting student in the Masters of Jurisprudence program at St. Catherine’s College, Oxford University in Oxford, England.
Ed Shirley, Partner at Fairview Capital Partners | Senior Advisor
Richard Venegar, Private Equity Veteran, Board Member – Brown Ventures, Financial Advisor & Former Vice Chair of the NAIC | Senior Advisor
Dr. Crystal Francis, Program Manager at Nava PBC | Diversity Equity & Inclusion Strategic Advisor
Denise Rosemond, Managing Partner Diversity-Works | Diversity Equity & Inclusion Strategic Advisor