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
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