OUR TEAM

PAT EAST

Executive Director 

Pat East is an entrepreneur himself whose company, Hanapin Marketing, sold in 2020 to its largest UK competitor. He has served as president of the Bloomington chapter of the VisionTech angel investment fund since 2014 and is Executive Director of The Mill, the nonprofit center for entrepreneurship that manages Flywheel Fund.

MARTINA FAUSTO

Venture Analyst

Martina is a graduate of Notre Dame, where she served as Insights Analyst on the De-risking Team at the IDEA Center, Notre Dame’s entrepreneurial and commercialization hub. She’s also worked at SOSV MOX, a mobile-only accelerator, and Antler VC in Singapore.

 

Melissa Ward

Fund Administrator

Melissa Ward is the Innovation Impact Catalyst Manager at Oregon State University’s Advantage Accelerator, where she supports faculty innovation and OSU startups. Previously she served as Head of Initiatives and Partnerships for The Mill.

Scott Reynolds

General Counsel

Scott began his legal career at large firms in New York and California before relocating to Bloomington. He worked with The Mill to get Flywheel off the ground and has since joined the team. An entrepreneur himself, Scott enjoys enabling founders to innovate and execute.

CY MEGNIN

Advisor

Entrepreneur, founder, and advisor for two decades, Cy is the Entrepreneur-in-Residence and a full-time mentor to entrepreneurs across the Velocities region that includes Bloomington, Columbus, and surrounds.

Jason Whitney

Advisor

Jason Whitney serves as Vice President of Venture Development and Executive Director for the Indiana University Angel Network, supporting and developing Indiana University affiliated entrepreneurial ecosystems nationwide.

Kunal Deshpande

Venture Intern

Jessica Guan

Venture Intern

Ashby Jain

Venture Intern

Flywheel offers rotating internships throughout the year and welcomes applications on an ongoing basis.

The Underrepresented Investor Fellowship (UIF) is an initiative from Flywheel’s commitment to support investor diversity in venture capital. According to a 2022 Survey conducted by Deloitte & NVCA, only a quarter of investment professionals in the VC industry are women, and only 19% of investment partners are women. From the same survey, VC firms reported 5% Black investment professionals and 6% Hispanic/Latino investment professionals. Furthermore, the combined percentage of investment partner positions held by Black employees and Hispanic/Latino employees was less than 10%.

Our fellowship’s objective is to increase diversity in the VC hiring funnel and act as a model for others by giving students and young professionals from underrepresented backgrounds the opportunity to gain early experience and exposure in VC with our firm as interns.

Interested in interning with us? Please send us a cover letter and resume.

MEMBER NETWORK

Ed Ackerman

President & COO | Solution Tree

Victor Aguilar

Director of Project Management | LHP Engineering Solutions

Alain Barker

Director, Entrepreneurship & Career Development | Indiana University Jacobs School of Music

Timothy Bender

CEO | Specialty Coating Systems, Inc.

Ravi Bhatt

CEO | Folia

Bruce Calloway

Government & Community Relations Manager | Duke Energy

Randy Cassady

Vice President | Cassady Electric

Scott Caulfield

Owner | Arbutus Properties

Chris Chasteen

Cofounder | Content Cucumber

Chris Clark

Realtor/Broker | Century 21 Sheetz

Anthony Corsaro

ENtrepreneur & Investor

Dan Corsaro

President | Indianapolis Fruit Company

Maggie Corsaro

Pediatric Nurse

Erik Coyne

COO | Branchfire

Warren Cutshall

General Counsel | Miller Real Estate

Chris Dautel

VP Strategic Planning & Corporate Development | Schurz Communications

Jeffrey Donovan

Managing Partner | Donovan CPAs

Peter Dvorak

CEO | Pinnacle Asset Management

Pat East

Executive Director | The Mill

Charlie Farber

Board CHair | Conversight.ai

John Fernandez

Senior Vice President, Innovation & Strategic Partnerships | The Mill

Dave Fox

CFO | Specialty Coating Systems

Ben Frame

VP, Digital Products | ClearObject

Tom Gabbart

CEO | Milestone Business Solutions

Tom Guevara

Director, Public Policy Institute | Indiana University

Robert Henschel

Project Director, Research Engagement | Indiana University

Darrell Hurston

Assistant Professor | Indiana University

Matt Josefy

Assistant Professor of Strategy & Entrepreneurship | Kelley School of Business

Keith Kleinmaier

CEO | TenantTracker

Connie Kuhlman

Director | BTFC Consulting

Chris Martoglio

CEO | Blue Burro Technology

Blake Mathias

President | Mathias Family LLC

Cullen McCarty

Executive Vice President | Smithville Communications

Lawrence McAlpin

Software Architect | Salesforce

Richard Millunchick

Manager | BAMco Enterprises

Dave Mood

Vice President | Harrell-Fish

Fred Nash

Co-Founder | Fortitude Fund

Ryan Newton

Software Engineer | Meta Platforms
Associate Professor | Purdue University

Eric Nichols

Staff Machine Learning Engineer | Cruise

Caryn O’Sullivan

CEO | Drapery Street

Mat Orrego

CEO | Cornerstone Information Systems

Matt Panucci

CEO | MoonGeese

Douglas Parker

CEO | Circle Prosco

Joyce Poling

Assistant to the Chancellor | Ivy Tech

Mike Richardson

Owner | FASTSIGNS & Midwest Color Printing

Sherman Rogers

CEO | Advise Health Holdings

Adam Saenz

LHP Engineering Solutions | Principal Embedded Controls Engineer

Peter Samuelson

Founder | Ardeo 

Cedric Savarese

CEO | FormAssembly

Jessica Savarese

Maurer School of Law

Scott Shishman

Region President | Old National Bank

James Silberstein

Former Entrepreneurship Program Chair | Ivy Tech

DJ Sirota

Vice President, MedSurg | Cook Medical

Diane Sirota

Vice President, MedSurg | Cook Medical

Susan Sterling

CEO | Sterling 3

Regan Stevenson

Entrepreneurship Faculty | Kelley School of Business

Randy Stocklin

Former CEO | One Click Ventures

Noah Stoffman

Gregg T. and Judith A. Summerville Chair of Finance | Indiana University

Gregg Summerville

General Partner | Neal Avenue Partners

Ben Swanson

COO & Co-Founder | Secretly Group

Geng Wang

CEO | Civic Champs

Melissa Ward

Innovation Impact Catalyst | Oregon State University Advantage Accelerator

Tim Whicker

President | Electric Plus

Jason Wilber

Startup Advisor

Andy Williams

Former Executive | Rogers Group

Loren Wood

Principal | Loren Wood Builders

Angela Zentz

Lecturer of Entrepreneurship | Purdue University

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THE MILL

Flywheel Fund is operated by The Mill, the heart of southern Indiana’s startup ecosystem and its largest coworking space. Our mission is to help launch and accelerate startups, and our vision is to become Indiana’s center of gravity for entrepreneurship.

A 501c3 nonprofit, we are committed to being a center for entrepreneurs, by entrepreneurs. Two-thirds of our board members represent technology- and innovation-driven companies. Our other board members bring expertise in economic development, local government, higher education and venture capital.

Board of directors

Executive Committee

Karin St. John, Chair | COO, St. John Associates

Ravi Bhatt, Vice Chair | Co-Founder and CEO, Folia

Cindy Kinnarney, Treasurer | Banking Executive

Beka Mech, Secretary | Product Leader, Acadis, Vector Solutions

Adam Gross | Executive Director Ivy+ Career Link, Ivy Tech Community College-Bloomington

Anne McCombe, Past Chair | Technology Executive

Voting Directors

Michelle Cole | Technology Executive

Jeana Finlinson | Senior Director, Global Learning & Talent Development, Cook Medical

John Hamilton | Mayor, City of Bloomington

Nate Lattimer | Vice President, Centralized Services, ShipSigma

Chelsea Linder | Vice President, Innovation & Enterpreneurship, TechPoint

 

Donald Lukes | University Treasurer, Indiana University

Jennifer Pearl | President, Bloomington Economic Development Corporation

Tina Peterson | President and CEO of Regional Opportunity Initiatives and the Community Foundation of Bloomington and Monroe County

Brooke Pyne | Vice President, Technology Engagement, IEDC

Rahul Shrivastav | Provost & Executive Vice President, Indiana University

Eli Serrano, Student Board Member | Founder & CEO, Airoma

Ben Swanson | Co-Founder, Secretly Group

Mike Trotzke | CEO, Cheddar

Derek Whitley | Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer, Flamel.ai

Jason Whitney | Vice President of Venture Development, IU Ventures, and Executive Director, IU Angel Network