Finding a symbiotic relationship between service and my work has been a common thread throughout my life. I started my career as a healthcare consultant turned venture capitalist at Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, helping launch the payers fund and leading investments in some of the best companies in healthcare. I took a sabbatical to enlist in the Army Reserve, eventually commissioning as an intelligence officer where I was recruited for a special operations joint task force, deploying to Afghanistan and Iraq.
While in theater, I was recruited for the Secretary of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit and helped lead the investment practice in human systems, launch the Unit’s direct investment function in National Security Innovation Capital, and worked as a PM for the Air Force’s strategic acquisition function AFWERX. In total I was able to deploy almost $2B in defense funding to extraordinary startups across the United States. After a brief stint at KKR, the opportunity to found J2 Ventures was too great not to pursue.
I have an MBA from Harvard Business School and a Bachelors in Hispanic Studies and Political Science from Columbia University.
