Committee Chair
JD, MBA, is BrightStar’s Executive Director and Investment Committee Chair. He has spent the vast majority of his career with early stage and small businesses as an owner, advisor, consultant, and/or part of the leadership team.
Mark Burish is a co-founder of the Madison, Wisconsin law firm of Hurley Burish, S.C.
Pam Evason, CFA, CPA, is Managing Director of Windermere Wealth Advisors, a wealth management firm she co-founded in 2010.
Jonathan Fritz is a Partner with HealthX Ventures, a Madison based early stage venture capital organization focusing on digital health.
Jeff Harris has been an investor in and board member of a number of early stage companies in located in Wisconsin, including Somna Therapeutics LLC (currently) and Prodesse Inc. (which was sold in 2009).
Lorrie Keating Heinemann is President & CEO of the Madison Development Corporation (MDC). MDC has funded over 200 emerging and high tech companies in the Madison area including Nordic Consulting, TomoTherapy, PerBlue, Stemina Biomarker and NeuWave Medical.
Lisa Johnson is CEO of BIOForward. She served 3.5 years as WEDC’s vice president for entrepreneurship and innovation. Before joining WEDC, Johnson worked in the biotech industry for 22 years.
Mike Malatesta is a successful entrepreneur and business executive. He founded, built and sold one of the largest environmental services companies in the Upper Midwest.
Dan Matola, CFA, is BrightStar’s treasurer, and Partner and Senior Relationship Manager with RMB Jacobus.
Michelle J. Picard is an active investor in early stage companies, several of which are headquartered in Wisconsin.
Thomas M. Shannon currently is President & CEO of BrightStar Wisconsin Foundation, Inc. As Co-founder in 2013, he donates his time as head of this charitable organization whose mission it is to create high growth jobs through early-stage investment.
Andy Shrago serves on the boards of Pinpoint Software and HDL Diagnostics. He previously was Chairman of the Board of Proxim Diagnostics Corp and served on several other companies’ boards.
Jay Wigdale is founder of Milwaukee based Lakefront Partners. Launched in 1998 Lakefront makes concentrated investments in early stage companies primarily focused in business/healthcare services and technology.
