Ken Fredrickson is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and accomplished business executive with over 20 years of experience. He has raised over 30 million leading numerous investment groups though extremely profitable exits. He has also built 6 companies from the ground up, into best-in-class organizations.

Ken is a founding partner in High Road Spirits a United States national importer focusing on the sales, marketing, and management of global artisan spirit brands. The company currently distributes in 47 States and has annual revenues over 20 million.

Prior to co-founding High Road, Ken was the Founder of Tenzing Wine and Spirits, an artisanal importer and wholesaler in Chicago, Illinois.  He built this disruptive start-up from the ground up growing to over 30 million in annual revenue before a successful exit to a large national company.  In 2014 Ken led a group of investors acquiring Brewer-Clifton winery in Santa Barbara, CA.  He accelerated the business and sold the winery 3 years later achieving a 37% annualized rate of return for all investors. Ken has held numerous leadership positions in start-ups, turnaround efforts and real estate development.

Ken attended the University of Nevada Las Vegas, and he attained the Master Sommelier Diploma in 2000. In 2020, he released his first book Wine: A beginner’s guide. Ken is an active member of the community and remains one of the largest individual lronman Foundation fundraisers worldwide, annual charitable efforts through the Mayo Clinic, and involvement in various non-profits.  He is an avid traveler and frequent speaker at industry events world-wide.

Josh Yelen, CPA is an established business executive, entrepreneur, and investor. He previously co-found two Biotech companies focused on drug and device discovery during which he raised angel and series A rounds of $3.1M and $15M, respectively. Josh has over 20 years’ experience in both corporate and start-up settings. He is an active venture capital investor participating in numerous investment groups across a wide array of sectors.  

Josh is currently the Vice President of Revenue Cycle Strategy and Customer Success at FrontRunnerHC, a Healthcare Revenue Cycle SaaS provider. Over his career, Josh has held executive-level Accounting, CFO, Sales, Strategy and Operations roles including having budget responsibility for over $100 million and over 400 employees.  He has taken a number of companies from startup stage to maturity and exit.

He is a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Chartered Public Financial Accountant (CPFA). Josh also holds a Bachelors of Arts from Indiana Univiersity, a Master’s in Accounting (MAccy) from Rutgers University and an MBA with a focus in Healthcare Administration (MBA/HA) from the University of Miami. Yelen was previously recognized with the Miami Herald’s “20 Under 40 Award”, annually acknowledging 20 outstanding business and civic leaders under the age of 40.  He is active in his community volunteering for a number of different organizations in various capacities.

Retired President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Risk Officer and co-founder of Jefferies Finance. Mr. Toriello started Jefferies Finance with capital provided by Mass Mutual Insurance Company and Jefferies Corp in 2004. Today it is one of the leading providers of debt financing for private equity firms supporting mergers, acquisitions, and recapitalizations. Loan facilities and commitments have grown from 100 million per transaction in 2005 to over 1 billion today. Mr. Toriello also started, in 2006, an asset management fund within Jefferies Finance that presently has 10 billion under management. Although he retired from his day to day responsibilities as CEO, he remains on the credit committee that approves all loan commitments.

Mr. Toriello has over 46 years of Banking and Finance experience and has completed over 1,500 cash-flow and asset-based transactions. Prior to co-founding Jefferies Finance in 2004, Mr. Toriello held various senior management positions including responsibility for Origination and Portfolio Administration at GE Capital, Heller Financial, CIT Group, Citicorp, Bankers Trust, and Chase Manhattan Bank. Mr. Toriello’s finance experience includes structuring and execution of transactions of equity funds, in addition to restructurings, bankruptcy and asset liquidations.

Mr. Toriello has been a member of the Commercial Finance Association, Turnaround Management Association and American Bankruptcy Institute. Mr. Toriello has been elected to the board of directors of both the CFA and TMA in addition to serving on their executive committees.

After retirement Mr. Toriello served as an advisor to the Financial Group of Mass Mutual Insurance Company.

Mr. Toriello additionally serves on the board of Ankura Trust and also heads their audit committee along with being a member of their Risk Management team. Ankura Trust provides indenture trustee, loan agency, escrow agency and creditor representation among other banking services.

Mr. Toriello also serves on the board of KlickTrack, a software company that was founded in 2019 and has assisted in raising seed capital and bridge financing.

Mr. Toriello has also served on the board and executive committee of the Leukemia Society of America besides serving as its treasurer.

Andrew is an experienced operator, investor, and CPG marketer with over 15 years of experience. He has led numerous billion dollar businesses, always using executional excellence to deliver both top and bottom line results. His experiences range from P&L management, to all forms of traditional brand marketing and advertising.

Andrew's career has spanned two key industries, consumer products and sports and entertainment. Currently, Andrew is the Head or North America eCommerce Sales at Kraft Heinz.  He spent 8 years at Procter and Gamble with a variety of roles across finance and brand management. Separately, he led a successful sports marketing and athlete representation firm.

Andrew graduated from University of Virginia in 2010, with a Bachelor of Science in Commerce. He has been recognized as a top leader in the CPG space, in people management, and as a media/marketing expert.

Cem is the Founder and Senior Managing Partner of KAI Volatility Advisors. He is responsible for firm-wide management, as well as its Head of Research and Risk Management.

Cem Karsan formed Kai Volatility Advisors after over two decades of experience building industry-leading derivatives businesses. From 1999 to 2002, he worked as a volatility trader as part of RBC Dominion Securities’ Derivatives Arbitrage Group. From 2002 to 2005, he worked under renowned Wall Street investor John Mulheren at Bear Wagner Specialists, where Cem helped expand the firm’s fledgling derivatives arbitrage business into a competitive force within the industry. In 2005, Cem took a select group from the firm’s trading arm and founded his own proprietary market making firm, Precision Capital Management, specializing in equity index volatility arbitrage.

Cem triple majored in Economics, Policy Studies and English at Rice University and holds an MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.

Scott Wilson is the Founder and CEO of MINIMAL, an award-winning design and engineering firm with a decade of experience creating innovative products, building meaningful brands, and bringing game-changing experiences to life, from insight to realization. Prior to founding MINIMAL, Scott was the Nike Global Design Director and one of TIME magazine’s and Fast Company’s Most Influential Designers. Recipient of the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Award, an honor bestowed on the top designer in the country, he and his team of award-winning, diversely talented design professionals are forever looking for opportunities to create new categories and elevate existing ones.