Meet the Data Point Team
Investment & Operations
Special Advisors
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- 341 Newbury Street, 6th Floor, Boston, MA 02115
- (617) 874-5152
- info@datapointcapital.com
Steve joined Data Point Capital in July of 2024, having previously served as CFO at GrandBanks Capital and Ironside Capital. He has a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce, Accounting and Finance from University of Toronto.
Lars co-founded and served as CEO of SessionM, up until the firm’s acquisition by Mastercard. Prior to co-founding SessionM, Lars was at Apple, Inc., where he was a member of the executive team of iAd, Apple’s mobile advertising business unit. Before Apple, Lars was a co-founder and Senior Vice President of Business Development at Quattro Wireless, a leading mobile advertising platform that was acquired by Apple in 2010 (marking one of Apple’s largest acquisitions to date). Prior to Quattro, Lars was Vice President of Business Development at m-Qube, North America’s dominant mobile aggregator that was acquired by VeriSign in 2006. Lars started his career in investment banking and finance on the West Coast, working for Montgomery Securities, and later for an affiliate fund of private equity firm, Texas Pacific Group. Lars is actively involved in the entrepreneurial community, working closely with a range of venture funds and early stage start-ups along with non-profits. Lars received an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and his AB with honors from Harvard University.
Colin was the co-founder and former Chairman and CEO of iRobot (NASDAQ: IRBT). One of the world’s leading authorities on mobile robots, Colin is an industry pioneer with more than two decades of experience. Under his leadership, iRobot was at the forefront of the growing robot industry, delivering home cleaning and military robots that make a difference. Colin’s keen sense of business strategy was a driving force behind iRobot’s successful identification and execution of expansion opportunities. With Colin’s guidance, iRobot formed key strategic partnerships, building on decades of expertise from each partner to create new and innovative robot solutions. Colin’s leadership and vision for the future of robots have been recognized with numerous professional awards. He has been named CEO of the Year by the Mass Technology Leadership Council, a Mass High Tech All-Star, one of Fortune Small Business Magazine’s Best Bosses and New England Entrepreneur of the Year by Ernst and Young. Colin is a member of the board of directors at Striiv, Inc. Colin holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in computer science, both from MIT.
Fred is the founder and President of MMB. Prior to MMB, Fred was President and Chief Creative Officer at Hill, Holliday. Under Fred’s leadership, Hill, Holliday grew from $300 million to $1.2 billion winning international awards such as the Grand Clio, Cannes Lion, the Grand Effie, The One Show and the British Art and Designers Club.
Desh is the founder and former Chairman of Sycamore Networks which he took public on the Nasdaq. Prior to co-founding Sycamore Networks, Desh was the founder and former Chairman of Cascade Communications Corp, which was acquired for over $3.7 billion by Ascend Communications. As well as sitting on various boards, Desh is involved in several non-profit initiatives that include MIT’s Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation, Akshaya Patra Foundation, and the Social Entrepreneurship Sandboxes in India, Massachusetts and Canada.
Leo is an Academy Award® winning actor and activist – well known for his dedication to the environment on a global scale. As Chairman of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation (LDF), he works to protect biodiversity, implement ocean and forest conservation and educate the world about climate change. In September 2014, Leo was designated as a United Nations Messenger of Peace with a specific focus on climate change. That same month, Leo was honored with the Clinton Global Citizen Award, participated in history’s largest climate march in New York City and powerfully addressed the UN Summit. In January 2016, Leo was awarded a Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum in Davos for his work to bring global attention to the urgent need to address climate change. He also serves on the boards of World Wildlife Fund, Natural Resources Defense Council, National Geographic’s Pristine Seas, the funders’ collaborative Oceans 5, and International Fund for Animal Welfare. Leo produced National Geographic’s climate-change documentary “Before The Flood,” which has reached more than 63 million viewers worldwide. Leo also served as an Executive Producer on Netflix’s The Ivory Game; a documentary which takes a look into the dark world of ivory trafficking. In 2015, Leo starred in The Revenant, directed by Alejandro González Iñárritu, for which he received the Academy Award® (2016) for Best Actor in a Leading Role, as well as the Golden Globe® for Best Actor in a Motion Picture, Drama; Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Leading Role; and Critics’ Choice Awards for Best Actor.
John is the Executive Chairman of Epsilon, a global marketing technology company within Publicis Groupe. Prior to Epsilon, John was the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Conversant (acquired by Alliance Data Systems for $2.3 billion). John joined the senior management team and board of Conversant in August 2011 after the acquisition of Dotomi, where John served as Chief Executive Officer. John is a seasoned executive with over 30 years of experience in growing successful organizations. Before joining Dotomi, John founded Rainmaker Consulting Group Inc., which specialized in strategic sales and marketing consulting for marketing services firms. He also served as President of North America for Catalina Marketing Services, providing behavioral insights, database marketing and Internet solutions to key Fortune 1000 companies. His leadership at Catalina resulted in record revenues and net profits. Additionally, John’s tenure includes four years at ACTMEDIA working with the launch team of the Instant Coupon Machine, as well as in CPG sales and marketing with Beecham Products and Frito-Lay, Inc. He has participated on boards for Bluestem Brands, Q Interactive, SuperMarkets Online, Affinova, Claria, Imagitas, and El Dorado Marketing. John has an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management, as well as a B.S. from the University of Illinois.
Gail spent 17 years as the CEO of Constant Contact, the trusted provider of online marketing tools for small businesses and nonprofits. Gail led the company from pre-revenue to a successful IPO on the Nasdaq and through its acquisition by Endurance in 2016 for $1.1 billion. At the time of the acquisition, more than 650,000 small businesses and nonprofits used Constant Contact’s online marketing tools to engage their customers and grow their businesses and company revenues topped $370 million. Gail serves on the Boards of Pepperlane, Shopify (NYSE: SHOP), Entrepreneurship for All, Mass Challenge and Lola Travel.
Nick is an experienced technology entrepreneur and investor in over forty high-tech companies and has led engineering, business development, and operational teams at companies such as CrossCom, Proteon, Fibronics, and Compugraphics. He has also served on several company boards and as an advisor for venture capital firms in the Boston area. In the 90s, he started Onlake Investments, a successful investment company. Prior to Onlake, Nick was the founder and former CEO of Nashoba Networks, which was acquired by Cisco Systems for $100 million, where he remained as vice president.
Diane was the founder and former Chairman, President and CEO of Communispace, a leading social networking company that is transforming the way that companies listen to and understand their consumers. Communispace was acquired by Omnicom in 2011 and has been renamed as C Space, where she continues to serve as the company’s Chairman. The company has created nearly 600 private online customer communities for a premier list of over 120 global corporations, with a 90% client retention rate and a tripling of revenues over the last four years. Communispace has won numerous awards for impact, innovation and culture. Diane is a Director of Eastern Bank (NASDAQ: EBC), Brightcove, Sago and Panera Bread. She has also served on the boards of numerous organizations including The Advertising Research Foundation, the Alliance for Business Leadership, Horizons for Homeless Children, and The Boston Philharmonic.
Peggy is the co-founder, Chair, and former Co-CEO of Abry Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm which has invested over $80B in 550 transactions. Prior to Abry, she was a Partner and member of the board of directors of Sillerman Communications Management Corporation, a merchant bank making investments principally in the radio industry. She is currently the Producing Director of Black Cap Productions. She also serves on the boards of Virtuoso Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ:VOSO), a special purpose acquisition company, and the Citi Private Bank North American Advisory Board. She is a member of the National Board of the non-profit Cradles to Crayons, the Massachusetts Women’s Forum, and the Advisory Board of the Carr Center for Human Rights at the Harvard Kennedy School. Peggy is also a Vice Chair of the Board of Trustees of Cornell University, where she is Chair of the Research and Innovation Committee as well as a member of the Executive Committee. In addition, she is a member of the Cornell Tech Council of Cornell’s NY Tech Campus, and a member of the Board of Advisors at the Millstein Program in Technology and Humanity. Peggy received a B.S. from Cornell University, an MBA from the Wharton Business School, and a fellowship in Advanced Leadership from Harvard University.
Jason is founder and former CEO of Definitive Healthcare, a healthcare data and analytics company which Jason took public (NASDAQ: DH). Jason expanded the company to nearly 500 employees serving 2,500 clients, including 9 out of 10 of the U.S.’ top pharmaceutical, medical device, and biotechnology companies. Jason was the key architect and strategist behind the company producing an award-winning product, collaborative culture, and community service-oriented mindset. Before founding Definitive Healthcare, Jason founded Infinata in 1999. The Company provided online databases of information for the pharmaceutical industry under the brand BioPharm Insight. Jason is an owner and board member of several data and media businesses in the healthcare sector and an industry expert on healthcare trends and developments. He is also a former McKinsey & Company consultant.
Steve is the founder and former CEO of Endeca building it until it was Oracle’s 6th largest acquisition ever on announcement in 2011. Prior to its acquisition, Endeca achieved $750M in cumulative worldwide revenue and pioneered Guided Navigation, one of the leading search innovations of the decade and now an industry standard. Before founding Endeca, Steve was part of the original team creating Akamai; a member of the early team at Inktomi in charge of creating the company’s infrastructure caching business; a product manager at Teradata; and a venture associate at Venrock.
Alan is the Founder of Where.com, a mobile location-based media company, which sold to eBay in 2011. Prior to Where.com, Alan was at GrandBanks Capital, a Softbank affiliate, and before that, Alan served as an Executive Vice President and Chief Investment Officer of ZDNet, where he managed technology and infrastructure and was instrumental in the sale of ZDNet to CNet for $1.6 billion.
Jason is chief executive officer of DraftKings (NASDAQ: DKNG). Jason co-founded DraftKings in 2012 and oversees the company’s strategy and operations. Jason has built a reputation for expanding DraftKings’ reach across numerous platforms through wide-ranging, forward-thinking partnerships. Jason has led efforts at DraftKings to work with policy makers and regulators to pass responsible sport entertainment legislation. Also under Jason’s leadership, DraftKings became the first company to launch an online and mobile sportsbook in New Jersey in 2018. Jason’s work has been recognized by the media and his peers, both nationally and locally in Boston. Recognition includes: Fortune’s “40 Under 40” list of the most influential people in business, appearing on that issue’s cover, Sports Business Journal’s “40 Under 40,” Boston Business Journal’s “Power 50: Game Changers,” and “40 Under 40,” among others.
Jim is the former President of Clarks Americas. In his role, Jim was responsible for overseeing US, Canada, Central and South America and the Caribbean markets. Jim was with the company for 19 years and during that time the company grew from just over $200M in revenues to over a $1B share of the North American market including over 13,000 locations where Clarks products are sold, inclusive of almost 300 company-owned stores.
Len is a Baker Foundation Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School after concluding a five-year term as President of Babson College. Prior to Babson, Len was at Limited Brands (now L Brands), where he served as Vice Chairman and Chief Operating Officer, and before that was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Au Bon Pain. His earlier academic career includes twenty years at Harvard Business School where he served as the George Fisher Baker Jr. Professor of Business Administration, leading MBA and executive education programs. Len currently serves as Vice Chairman of the Board of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE), a Director of Viewpost, LLC, a Director of Demandware, a Director of Restoration Hardware, a member of the Corporation of the Winsor School, a member of the President’s Council of the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering, an advisory council member of Goldman Sachs’ 10,000 Small Businesses Initiative, and as a member of both the Council on Competitiveness and the Council on Foreign Relations.