Smart, Adaptive Capital

Manuel is a 30-year veteran of the venture capital and financing community who has devoted his career to helping entrepreneurs and new businesses succeed by providing them with highly responsive, creative and flexible financing solutions. As an entrepreneur and innovator himself, Manuel understands the challenges new ventures face as they seek to find the capital necessary to begin production, scale their operations or take their companies public. Under his leadership, Hercules has committed more than $8.0 billion in investments to over 430 VC-backed, innovative companies. Prior to founding Hercules Capital, Manuel was a Managing Director at VantagePoint where he focused on technology investments. Prior to that, he served as President and Chief Investment Officer of Comdisco Ventures, a division of Comdisco, Inc. As a long-standing advocate for children’s health, developmental learning and education, Manuel currently serves as a director on the following non-profit boards: Northeastern University, where Manuel is a Member of the President West Coast Council, Member of the Academic Affairs and Student Experience Committee, and Member of the Corporation; Lucile Packard Foundation for Children’s Health (LPFCH), which was established in 1996 out of the Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University and is an independent public charity, devoted exclusively to elevating the priority of children’s health and increasing the quality and accessibility of children’s healthcare through leadership and direct investment. Manuel serves as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors, Chairman of the Compensation Committee, Chairman of the Executive Search Committee, Member of the Executive Committee and Member of the Investment Committee. Children’s Health Council “CHC” which specializes in working with children with ADHD, Learning Differences, Anxiety & Depression and Autism Spectrum Disorders and Teen Mental Health Therapy. Manuel serves as Corporate Treasurer, Chairman of the Finance Committee, Chairman of the Investment Committee and Member of the Executive Committee. Previously, Manuel also served on the Board of Directors for the Charles Armstrong School, an independent, non-profit, co-educational lower- and middle-day school specializing in teaching students with language-based learning differences, such as dyslexia. Located in Belmont, California, Armstrong helps its students re-enter traditional public and private schools with the learning tools necessary to be language proficient.

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Steve leads the Technology Group at Hercules with more than 15 years of operational and structured finance experience. He has led over $800M in capital investments at Hercules and has worked with breakout companies such as Box, Lightspeed, IronPlanet, MachineZone and Trulia. Steve’s been involved with early stage startups with passionate founders and a great concept as well as billion dollar revenue businesses looking to finance their next big market. Prior to Hercules, Steve was a strategic member of Lightcross, a silicon photonics startup, where he led the product management team. Before joining Lightcross, he was a principal at Comdisco Ventures.

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April is a Managing Director with more than 15 years of venture banking experience. Prior to joining Hercules, April served as Senior Vice President and Managing Director, US for MMVF, a Toronto-based venture debt fund. Prior to that, April served as Senior Vice President and Managing Director of the Mid-Atlantic Technology and Life Sciences division with Comerica Bank. Earlier in her career, she was Executive Director of the Potomac KnowledgeWay Project, and Senior Fellow for Regional Economic Development at George Mason University's Institute for Public Policy. April has received numerous honors for her involvement in the tech community, including Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Northern Virginia Technology Association and Women in Technology. She has been named to the Washingtonian’s list of 100 most powerful women as well as a Tech Titan. April holds a Ph.D. in Public Policy and Administration from Saint Louis University and a B.A. and Masters in Urban and Regional Planning from The George Washington University.

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Kevin Zeidan has more than 20 years of experience in the innovation sector working with VCs, start-ups and public companies. Kevin has forged solid relationships with top-tier VC firms, banks, debt funds, and C-level executives because of his commitment to bring value and financial intelligence to the venture and technology communities. Specialties: venture debt, senior/junior lien and payment terms, working capital, MRR lines of credit, no covenant growth capital loans, bridge loans, venture capital, relationship management, banking, and finance Kevin is currently a Managing Director at Hercules Capital where he is focused on originating, executing and managing new investment opportunities. Prior to his current role at Hercules Capital, Kevin spent the last 20 years of his career split between Comerica Bank and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). Kevin spent a vast majority of his tenure at these respective banks being actively responsible for developing new business relationships with Technology and Life Science companies as well as providing business and financial advice to his portfolio companies and network. Kevin earned a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with an emphasis in International Finance and Management from the University of San Francisco.

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Roy is a Managing Director in the Technology Group and a co-founder of Hercules. He has more than 30 years of operating and finance experience with technology companies. Before joining Hercules, Roy was a Vice President at GrandBanks Capital, a venture capital firm and a founding principal of VantagePoint Structured Investments, a debt fund affiliated with VantagePoint Venture Partners. Prior to that Roy co-founded Imperial Bank’s Emerging Growth Industries’ Boston office, where he focused specifically on debt financing for venture-backed companies. Roy’s operational experience includes roles as the Vice President of Finance and CFO to technology companies. He began his career at IBM in research and development, and is author of a patent for asynchronous communication systems. Roy is currently an Advisory board member, and sits on the investment funding committee of Northeastern University's student-led IDEA start-up incubator program. He has served in the past as a member of the board of trustees and Treasurer for the Mad River Glen Ski Cooperative. Roy holds a Bachelor’s of Science in Electrical Engineering and an M.B.A. from the University of Michigan.

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Tom Harris is a Managing Director in Hercules’ Technology Group at our Palo Alto offices, and brings more than 17 years of financing, syndications and technology investment banking experience to the firm. Tom joins Hercules after several years at Silicon Valley Bank, most recently as a Managing Director in the Syndications group, where he led more than $4 billion in syndicated senior and subordinated facilities for leading technology companies. Prior to SVB, he spent 6 years on BofA Merrill Lynch’s Investment Banking team, with more than $22bn of lead software M&A, LBO and IPO transactions completed, and more than $10bn in lead leveraged loan and bond transactions closed. Prior to BofA Merrill Lynch, he spent 8 years in high yield origination and capital markets at TD Securities in New York. Tom holds an MBA with honors from Columbia Business School and a BS in Finance and Economics from the Stern School of Business at NYU.

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Catherine is a Managing Director of Business Development at Hercules. Before joining Hercules, Catherine spent over 10 years in senior operational roles within startup companies, including sales, business development, research and product management. At Cleantech Group, Catherine ran the company’s data business, where she lead the product, engineering, research and sales teams. Prior to Cleantech Group, Jhung was the Director of Sales at edo Interactive. Prior to edo Interactive, Catherine spent over five years on the executive team at Equilar, the leading research firm for benchmarking executive and board compensation. There, she built and managed the business development and client services divisions from the ground up, growing the business to over 600 clients. Catherine received an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, a bachelor’s in Agricultural Economics and a minor in Computer Information Systems from UC Davis.

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John Eggbeer is a Principal in the Technology group working in the DC office. He first joined Hercules Capital as an associate in October 2011 and is focused on deal origination, underwriting and portfolio monitoring of debt and equity investments in the mid-Atlantic, Southeast and Midwest regions. Prior to joining Hercules, he worked as an associate at MMV Financial, a Toronto Canada based venture lending firm. He began his career as an analyst in the Comerica mid-Atlantic Technology and Life Science office focused on lending solutions for venture backed technology companies. Eggbeer graduated from the University of Richmond’s Robins School of Business with a BS in Business Administration.

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Greg, a seasoned executive with more than 10 years of financial services experience, is a Principal responsible for business development in the technology market. Most recently, Greg served as Vice President at East West Bank, where he helped found and build the late-stage technology banking practice. Prior to East West, he was a Vice President in Silicon Valley Bank’s corporate finance division. Greg began his financial services career as an analyst in Bridge Bank’s technology banking group. He has also worked as a management consultant and economic analyst intern for the Ministry of the Economy of Luxembourg. Peterson is a CFA charterholder and received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Cornell University.

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Charlie Wehr is a Vice President working in the Boston office, focused on a broad range of technology sectors, including enterprise software, digital media, information security, and life sciences, among others. Charlie comes to Hercules after nearly 6 years at Bridge Bank, where he was most recently a Vice President and Relationship Manager in the Technology Banking Division. Prior to that, Charlie was a Senior Consultant at Grant Thornton for 3 years. Charlie received a B.A. in Public Policy Studies & Economics from Duke University, and a M.A. in Applied Economics from The John Hopkins University. He also holds a graduate certificate in Financial Management from The John Hopkins University, Carey Business School.

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Lesya joined Hercules Capital in 2012 as a senior associate in the Technology group, and was promoted to Vice President in May 2015. Before joining Hercules, she worked with two early stage venture capital firms: Nourish Capital, a start-up fund focused on investing in early stage consumer retail businesses, and Hopewell Ventures, primarily focused on growth companies in the Midwest. Prior to that, Lesya worked as a Corporate Credit Monitoring Manager for Raiffeisen Bank Ukraine, a subsidiary of Raiffeisen Zentralbank Austria. She began her career in product management at Rockwell Automation. Leysa graduated Magna Cum Laude from Marquette University with a Bachelor’s in Science. in Computer Engineering. She was a recipient of a full international scholarship sponsored by the United States Information Agency/Freedom Support Act program.

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Michael joined Hercules Capital as an analyst intern in January 2007 and was promoted to the role of Associate in October 2009. In April 2011, Michael was promoted to Vice President and currently focuses on debt and equity investments in the Life Science and Technology sectors. Prior to Hercules, he held positions with Credit Suisse HOLT as an equity research analyst and with Bristol-Myers Squibb as a global sourcing and supplier management analyst. Michael graduated from Northeastern University with a B.S. in Finance.

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Michael Plato joins Hercules from Investment Banking at US Capital, where he led a lower-middle market, tech-focused deal team. Prior to investment banking, Michael was a founder of RENEW and of BidNetwork USA, and early in his career was a Diplomat with the US Government $20b AUM Overseas Private Investment Corporation. Michael has a BA from Michigan State University and MBA from Johns Hopkins University.

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