Advisory Board

David is a 26 year veteran within the software industry and has been a Chief Marketing Officer and senior marketing executive at several leading companies including Tradeshift, FRONTEO, Marsh Clearsight, SAP and SAS. He is currently responsible for marketing strategy at Workday, a cloud ERP business.

As an avid triathlete, David has completed 17 Ironman races and over 100 other triathlons in his sporting career. He also enjoys mentoring and giving back to the community. 

David holds a Bachelor of Commerce and Business Management degree from Ryerson University with a minor in Communications.

Grazia started her career in banking with Irving Trust (New York). She moved to investment banking and worked for Citicorp Investment Banking (London, Rome), and Bank of America Securities (San Francisco) as Vice President Capital Markets. After leaving the finance industry she worked for several years as development director for the Institute of International Education (IIE).

Currently she is working for Sotheby’s International Realty. Grazia brings to her real estate clients a strong sense of value and financial expertise. In addition, her real estate clients can count on her exceptional client service focus, marketing and negotiation skills.

Grazia is known in the Bay Area community for her dedication to philanthropic work centered on fostering entrepreneurship, especially across countries and with youth. She is a member of the Program Committee of the BizWorld Foundation, member of the Board of Governance of the Business Association Italy America (BAIA) and member of the Financial Women Association (FWA). She is also involved with the work of ASTIA and WeareWatermark (formerly the Forum for Women Executives and Entrepreneurs).

Grazia has a J.D. from University of Milan and a M.A. with honors from John Hopkins University, School of International Studies (SAIS).

Gary has spent half his career in the investment world, previously as a Managing Director at Fortress Investment Group where, among other responsibilities, he assisted in the establishment of Pantera Capital, a Fortress-backed Bitcoin-related investment firm. He also served as Chief of Staff to the COO of UBS investment bank. The previous half of his career was spent in financial roles with international organizations, firstly, the United Nations as a divisional Chief Financial Officer and then with the World Bank as Head of the Loan Services Group where he was responsible for the financial reporting of the World Bank's loan portfolio. Gary holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of London and an MBA from the Wharton School of Business at University of Pennsylvania He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales.

Eric is the founder and CEO of Media Cause, a digital marketing agency that works exclusively with nonprofits and causes. Media Cause launched in 2010 and has worked with over 50 US nonprofits, global NGOs and local community foundations. Eric is also the founder and President of Social Good Labs, an incubator for new nonprofits and social good startups. As a social entrepreneur and advisor, Eric is passionate about developing scalable solutions to global issues by leveraging the power of the internet and technology.

In 2009, Eric was a co-founder of Tallwave, a startup/business accelerator and was responsible for building the companies second portfolio company, Ethology, a digital advertising agency. Prior to Tallwave, Eric spent five years at Google where he played a significant role in important program launches, built new teams, and ran Google’s SEM/Agency councils. Eric received an EMG/Founder’s award from Google’s Executive Management Group for his work on the creation and rollout of the multi-billion dollar AdWords API program in 2008. Before joining Google in 2004, Eric worked with several online media startups including America Online after receiving a degree in economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara. Eric lives in Marin County, CA with his family.

Marina is a Managing Director at Accenture and is based in San Francisco. She is part of the Financial Services practice. Prior to joining Accenture, Marina was the Head of Global Sourcing (CPO) for Visa and prior to that at Providian Financial. Marina started out her career practicing corporate law at a major San Francisco law firm and then in house at Providian Financial before switching to the business side.

Marina has a BS and MBA from Berkeley- Haas and a JD from UC Berkeley Law (Boalt Hall). Marina lives in Orinda with her husband and two children. Marina is active in the community and is currently serving on the BizWorld Advisory Board, the Haas Alumni Council and is President of the Goan Institute. Previously, Marina served on the Women’s Initiative Contra Costa County Board.

Marcus Guerro has more than 25 years of experience in successful consultative selling as a trusted business advisor with leading executives. Currently, Marcus is a client development executive with Accretive Solutions in San Francisco. In his role, he leads with a client-centric approach, delivering value based on an understanding of clients’ individual and corporate needs with an emphasis in the areas of accounting, finance and enterprise governance. Prior to joining Accretive Solutions, Marcus worked in a client development capacity with several firms including Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and Grant Thornton. Marcus started his career in the Audit and Advisory Practice for PwC as a CPA with a specific focus on Technology and Entertainment, including the prestigious Motion Picture Academy.

Michele serves as Chair of the BizWorld Advisory Board and is Head of US Asset Management for Hanover Global Executive Search, an Executive Search firm based in London, UK. She also leads the Diversity and Inclusion efforts for Hanover's US operations. Her previous responsibilities includes leading west coast business development as vice president for US Bank's RIA Custody division, institutional relationship vice president for Tealwood Asset Management, as well as vice president and divisional sales director for Ameriprise Financial Services Asset Management division.

Michele studied Economics and Philosophy at the University of Minnesota and is located in San Francisco, California. Involved in the Bay Area Community, Michele serves on the executive board of Financial Women San Francisco, Chair's the Wealth Management Series for the CFA Society of San Francisco and serves on the CFA's Women's Interest Network committee.