Steve Brown is Chairman and CEO of Trinity Capital, a leading provider of venture loans and equipment leases to emerging growth companies. A trusted industry veteran, Brown founded Trinity on the premise that it’s not how you act on your best day but how you react on your worst day that defines a relationship or partnership. This philosophy is deeply embedded in the firm’s approach, and leverages Trinity’s financial, technical, and operational expertise.
Brown’s 30 years of experience in venture equity and venture debt is apparent in his ability to adeptly manage sales and strategic business operations working with early-stage companies. He served as general partner at Point Financial Capital Partners, a venture leasing fund and held a prior role as the president and CFO of InvestLinc Financial Services, an early-stage private equity fund and consulting firm. He has also worked as a partner at Cornerstone Equity Partners, a private equity fund.
Brown has a B.S. in business administration and marketing from McNeese State University and is a current Small Business Investor Alliance – Western Regional Committee member. Growing up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana left a lasting impression on Brown. He is an avid LSU fan and loves a good bowl of spicy gumbo on a cold day.
Gerry Harder is the Chief Credit Officer at Trinity Capital and is responsible for analyzing new investment opportunities, monitoring Trinity’s investment portfolio, and collaborating on execution of the firm’s investment strategy, objectives, and asset allocation.
Prior to joining Trinity in 2016, Harder spent over 30 years in the electronics industry, with experience in semiconductors, electronic systems, and medical devices. In 1994, he was co-founder of Vivid Semiconductor, a venture funded semiconductor start-up which was later acquired by National Semiconductor. Throughout his career, he has served in various technical and leadership roles at companies such as Motorola, Medtronic, Cirrus Logic and ON Semiconductor. His experience with a broad range of technologies and end-user applications is incredibly valuable to companies in the Trinity portfolio.
Harder holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Arizona State University.
Kyle Brown is President and Chief Investment Officer at Trinity Capital. He is responsible for directing the company’s lending policies and investment strategy in order to achieve the firm’s deployment goals. Brown joined Trinity in 2015 with over 10 years of fund management and financial services experience. Under his leadership, Trinity continues to expand the firm’s portfolio and strategic relationships.
Prior to Trinity, Brown founded and managed Sharp Equity, LLC and Brown Equity, LLC- companies established to provide equity and bridge debt financings. Those companies managed multiple private offerings and deployed over $250M in capital.
Brown serves on the board of the One Institute and is married with four kids.
David M. Lund joined Trinity Capital as the Executive Vice President, Finance and will be responsible in developing financial strategies and also maintaining investor relations and partnership compliance. He has over 35 years of experience in finance and accounting serving companies in the technology sector.
Prior to joining Trinity Capital, Mr. Lund served as the Chief Financial Officer of Hercules Technology Growth Capital; as the Corporate Controller of Rainmaker, Inc., from January 2005 to July 2005; as the Corporate Controller for Centrillium Communications from January 2003 to February 2005; as the Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Finance for APT Technologies from April 2002 to January 2003; as the Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Scion Photonics from February 2001 to March 2002. Mr. Lund also served in public accounting with Ernst & Young LLP and Grant Thornton LLP.
He received a B.S. degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Accounting from San Jose State University and a B.S. degree in Business Administration with an emphasis in Marketing from California State University, Chico.
Scott Harvey joined Trinity Capital as the Chief Legal & Compliance Officer and is primarily responsible for overseeing compliance within the organization, and ensuring compliance with laws and regulatory requirements. Mr. Harvey has over 35 years of legal and business experience with leveraged finance and financing public and private technology-related companies.
Prior to joining Trinity, Mr. Harvey was the co-founder of Hercules Growth Technology Capital and has been their Chief Compliance Officer since February 2005. Since July 2002, and prior to co-founding the Company, Mr. Harvey was in a diversified private law practice. Previously, Mr. Harvey was Deputy General Counsel of Comdisco, Inc., a leading technology and financial services company, from January 1997 to July 2002. From 1991 to 1997, Mr. Harvey served as Vice President of Marketing, Administration & Alliances with Comdisco, Inc. and was Corporate Counsel from 1983 to 1991.
Mr. Harvey received a B.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Missouri, a J.D. and LLM in taxation from The John Marshall Law School and an M.B.A. from Illinois Institute of Technology.
Hal Hayden is constantly inspired by the crossroads of technology and finance. He is an advisor at Trinity Capital and the founding CEO and managing partner of Agility Ventures. During his 30-year career of lending and leasing to emerging growth technology companies, Hayden has gained invaluable experience working with companies across all stages in a wide variety of industries.
A natural entrepreneur, Hayden built his industry knowledge while serving as the vice president of the software finance division at First Sierra Financial. He founded Heritage Software Finance, which was purchased by First Sierra Financial in 1997. Prior to starting Heritage, he founded Priority Leasing Corporation, a technology leasing company which was purchased by private investors in 1995. Hayden began his career as a regional account manager for IBM’s General Systems Division.
Hayden holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Arizona and is a current board member of Lighthawk, a non-profit organization. He has also served on the board of directors for the United Association of Equipment Leasing. With a passion for the great outdoors, travel and aviation, he is a commercial instrument-rated pilot and enjoys flying for both business and personal travel.
In April 2019, Susan Echard joined the team at Trinity Capital as Chief Financial Officer with responsibility in all aspects of the company’s financial matters, investor relations, legal, and human resource management. Echard is a hands-on finance executive with over 30 years of experience that has focused on taking companies to the next level of operations, growth and efficiencies.
After graduating from the University of Michigan, Echard worked for Ernst & Young in San Diego. She completed a successful IPO for a software company in San Diego and went on to specialize in SEC filings, working as the Director of External Reporting for Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Tupperware, PetsMart, and CSK Auto. For the past 14 years, Echard has held Controller/CFO roles at PE backed software companies, performing company exits, as well as mergers and acquisitions in both the US and International markets.
With her extensive operational and strategic experience, as well as her passion for people and culture, the fit with Trinity seemed natural. Echard is also an avid cyclist and enjoys weekend rides around her town of North Scottsdale.
Ron Kundich is the Senior Vice President and Managing Director at Trinity Capital and is based in Silicon Valley. In this role, Kundich is responsible for developing relationships with our referral partners, sourcing potential investments and evaluating investment opportunities. He works closely with venture capitalists, commercial technology bankers, attorneys and financial professionals in Silicon Valley and abroad as he accomplishes these goals.
Kundich’s career path has included increasing levels of responsibility with leading technology banks including Silicon Valley Bank, Imperial Bank (acquired by Comerica Bank) and Square 1 Bank. Most recently, Kundich was a Co-Founder as well as the Regional Manager and Managing Director of Square 1 Bank’s Silicon Valley office where he was able to lead the team’s efforts in becoming a leading provider of venture debt and banking solutions to technology companies of all shapes and sizes.
He received his MBA from San Jose State University and his BS from the University of California Riverside.
Nader Maghsoudnia joined Trinity Capital as the Managing Director of the Portfolio team. In this role, Nader is responsible for the overall approach, underwriting and risk management of client portfolios. He develops and executes portfolio and investment strategies, considering the unique objectives of each client he serves.
Maghsoudnia has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, working with early stage, venture capital backed technology companies to public entities. He’s a seasoned commercial lender with a background that includes sourcing potential investments and portfolio management with leading technology banks including SVB, Bridge bank, East West Bank and Square 1 Bank. Most recently he was the Senior Vice President for Square 1 Bank and was responsible for structuring, underwriting and managing loans to achieve key bank objectives.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in business finance from Pennsylvania State University.
Ryan Little joined Trinity Capital in 2017 as the Managing Director of Equipment Financing. He is the point person for Trinity’s Equipment Financing division, engaging our clients to structure equipment transactions and help preserve cash. He works with companies to understand their CapEx growth needs and provides them with the most optimal solution for efficiently financing their equipment.
Previously Little was the Manager of the Mid-Market Division with Currency Capital, growing the salesforce and local office exponentially. Prior, he worked with Balboa Capital as a Sales Manager providing equipment financing and working capital to businesses, while managing his team. He has owned several businesses, and truly has first-hand knowledge of the life of the entrepreneur.
Little received a BA in Economics from Harvard University and was a member of the Harvard Men’s Basketball team. In addition to entrepreneurship, Little has taken several mission trips, volunteers with many local causes and still finds time to play and coach hoops.
Vibhor Garg is a Director of Marketing at Trinity Capital, and is responsible for planning, development and implementation of the company’s marketing strategies, marketing communications, and public relations activities, both external and internal. He works closely with the Origination team in promoting and developing the company’s brand.
Prior to joining Trinity, Garg co-founded Bharat Health Organization, a web-based technology platform that connects patients and corporate clients to an exclusive network of healthcare organizations, solutions and services in India. Previously, Garg served as programmer and analyst for Cognizant Technology Solutions.
Garg holds an MBA in Global Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and a B.S. in electronics engineering from VIT University. While enrolled at VIT, he published a technical paper in the International Journal of Computer Applications.
Richard Nelson manages the due diligence process for Trinity Capital. In this role, he is instrumental in screening, analyzing and executing investment activities, providing modelling and analysis for a wide variety of investment decisions, and making recommendations on investment opportunities. Nelson has extensive experience working with startup companies in project management, process engineering and quality engineering. He leverages this expertise to evaluate investment opportunities including the underlying technologies and go-to-market strategies of our potential customers.
Prior to joining Trinity, Nelson served as the MEMs oscillators and resonators principal product engineer at Sand9 where he was responsible for establishing production manufacturing for MEMs product lines and developing process control structures for MEMs technology. Prior to Sand9, Nelson was the biometrics principal product engineer with Validity Sensors with responsibility for architectural definition of new products in biometric products. Nelson has an established track record of bringing semiconductor products to market, working with National Semiconductor, Vivid Semiconductor and Medtronic.
Nelson holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology. He holds issued and published applications of 13 patents and enjoys hunting and fishing in his spare time.
Jonathan Cheung serves as Director of due diligence for Trinity Capital and is responsible for analyzing incoming investment opportunities and providing recommendations to the Investment Committee.
Cheung began his career in the Apple Finance Development Program, where he rotated through several Apple business units to provide regional and global support to Apple’s finance teams. During his tenure at Apple, Cheung worked in Japan, Australia, and the US on a variety of international projects encompassing financial analysis, modeling, market growth strategy, business process re-engineering, and enterprise reporting. While pursuing his MBA, Cheung performed in-depth due diligence for Grayhawk Capital.
Cheung has a B.A. in Economics and a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley. After working for Apple, Cheung received his MBA in strategic marketing and a M.S. in Business Analytics from Arizona State University’s W.P. Carey School of Business. Cheung is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and is an avid baseball fan.
Jonathan Kielmeyer is a director of Portfolio and Valuations for Trinity Capital. He is responsible for investment strategies, underwriting, and risk management for Trinity’s portfolio of clients. Additionally, Kielmeyer developed and implemented Trinity’s strategy, process and approach for investment valuations.
Prior to joining Trinity, Kielmeyer spent 2 years at SVB Capital and Silicon Valley bank. As Vice President on the Innovation/Debt Platform team, he was responsible for leading the due diligence process for partnered deal structures within the Strategic Capital Group, as well as developing new credit solutions to drive growth and improved returns. Additionally, he also served as Lead Analyst on the warrant portfolio team where lead overall strategy. Prior to SVB, Kielmeyer spent 6 years in Intel’s finance rotation program.
Kielmeyer holds the CFA designation, earned his Masters in Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance from Arizona State University, and his Bachelor’s of Science in Finance from the University of Arizona.
Cory Cramer is a Director of Equipment Financing and is responsible for business development for Trinity Capital’s Equipment Financing efforts. His responsibilities include sourcing new investment opportunities, developing referral relationships, and performing due diligence on potential equipment financing opportunities.
Prior to joining Trinity, Cramer began his career with E.&J. Gallo Winery in the heart of wine country where he held various roles with increasing levels of responsibility. Cramer’s hard work earned him a spot in the category rotation program where he supported national retailers with analytics & market insights. Most recently, Cramer was responsible for business development for the Southwest division.
Cramer earned his BS in Finance with a minor in Spanish from the University of Idaho. He enjoys spending his free time in the outdoors golfing, skiing, and spending quality time with family.
Jason Hamlin is the Senior Controller for Trinity Capital and is responsible for the firm’s financial management, controls and financial reporting. He serves on the investment committee at Trinity and manages accounting activities. Hamlin brings over 17+ years of experience in investment fund management, back office, finance and accounting and is responsible for day-to-day financial operations at Trinity. He frequently works with client financial teams to review investments and identify potential risks.
During his career, Hamlin has served as vice president of capital markets at Cavan Commercial. Before Cavan Commercial, Hamlin was the senior vice president of finance for Majestic Capital, a hedge fund management company where he was responsible for managing investor relations, accounting and tax for numerous corporate entities. Hamlin served as chief financial officer for Life Rebuilders and Lakeside Capital Management prior to joining Majestic Capital.
Hamlin has a B.S. from Arizona State University and an MBA degree from the Thunderbird School of Global Management with an emphasis on capital markets. In addition to being actively involved with the Young Life organization, he is a gifted woodworker and knows his way around a ski slope.
Don Schade is the Controller for Trinity Capital and is responsible for the firm’s financial controls and financial reporting.
Schade has more than 20 years of experience in finance and accounting with companies large and small, most recently as a consultant for small businesses. Prior to his work as a consultant, he was CFO of a receivables servicing company in Scottsdale where he implemented financial controls and a reporting structure that reduced costs and increased revenue to bring the company to profitability. He started his career in the airline industry and managed the financial reporting, budgets and capital expenditures for various operating divisions of a major airline.
He has a B.S. in Finance from Arizona State University and is a Certified Public Accountant. He enjoys the outdoors and spending time with his family.
Rena Curtis manages the documentation and closing process at Trinity Capital. Curtis manages customer service for clients in the Trinity portfolio and brings her extensive experience in lending and leasing management, documentation and processing. Curtis demonstrates her extensive experience working with tech startups through her incredible attention to detail and exceptional ability to maintain order in a rapidly changing environment.
Prior to joining Trinity, she served as the lease manager for Agility Ventures, a venture leasing firm. She has almost two decades of experience in the automotive industry and held various positions at American Honda Motor Corp.
Curtis is the epitome of a Comic-Con fan, she enjoys the camaraderie of the Comic-Con community and possesses a special reverence for all things Star Wars.
Crystal Voss manages the portfolio for Trinity Capital. In her role, she performs financial analysis and manages a complex client portfolio for Trinity. Voss is responsible for portfolio maintenance activities and reports on the health of the fund’s current investments. Voss builds strong relationships with Trinity’s clients and monitors and analyzes the progress of companies in the firm’s portfolio, identifying challenges and opportunities for success.
Voss has over 20 years of experience in the financial and banking industry. She served as the lead business analyst at American Express. Her experience also includes a long history of service at Wells Fargo bank with progressively more responsibility in each role. Over the course of two decades, her roles included operations manager, business system consultant and technology manager, with responsibility for posting over $300 million in daily customer transactions. Voss’ performance track record provided her with the opportunity to attend the Wells Fargo Leadership Development Program in 2004 and 2005.
Voss holds a B.S. in Psychology from Arizona State University. Since childhood she has always had a flare for numbers, and enjoys solving problems by analyzing how things work.
Steven Lambe serves as a director of origination here at Trinity Capital where his responsibilities include developing relationships with business partners within the venture capital ecosystem and sourcing new investment opportunities. He has worked in various roles throughout his time at Trinity including stints in due diligence and portfolio management. Lambe previously worked at Sprouts Farmers Market where he was involved with a team that evaluated M&A opportunities as well as multi-year organic growth plans in support of the CFO. Lambe is based in San Francisco.
Lambe has a Master of Finance degree from the Hult International Business School where he studied private equity and financial modeling in London, England. He also has a B.S. in business administration and finance from the University of Arizona. Lambe enjoys spending time with his family and friends and staying active by snowboarding and exploring the outdoors.
Bryce Esquerre is an analyst for the due diligence team at Trinity Capital. He is responsible for the initial analysis of all of the incoming investment opportunities.
Prior to coming to Trinity, Esquerre held roles as a securities administrative services analyst II at Wells Fargo as well as a staff accountant at an equipment company. His eye for detail is keen as he combs several different pieces of financial information.
Bryce received a BS in Accountancy from Arizona State University. His hobbies include hiking, camping, kayaking, video games and listening to music from Led Zeppelin, Van Halen and Alice in Chains to name a few.
Trin Coleman joined Trinity Capital in 2014 and serves as the company’s associate, Finance & Investor Relations, where she delivers support for finance, accounts payable, accounts receivable, marketing and investor relations.
Prior to joining Trinity, she held a contracts administrative position with IMC Sales & Marketing where she processed new home contracts and supported the documentation process. For more than 19 years, she has provided administrative assistance for companies in a wide range of industries including financial services, education, healthcare services and retail. Coleman has extensive experience in finance, accounting, purchasing, and contract management.
Coleman holds an associate’s degree from Estrella Mountain Community College and is currently pursuing her Accounting Assistant Certification. She is an outdoor enthusiast and spends her downtime enjoying camping, hiking and fishing with her family.
Lindsay Watson works in the marketing and sales department at Trinity Capital where she supports the team in various strategies, coordinating project activities, and participating in research efforts. Watson brings tremendous enthusiasm and experience to her role.
Watson comes to the Trinity team with a background in both the nonprofit and for-profit sectors. She has led several high capacity events, leading teams of volunteers to the success of those events. Watson has played a significant role in fundraising tens of thousands of dollars for scholarships awarded to junior high and high school students to attend summer camps. In the for-profit sector, Watson was known as high performing sales manager at a major clothing store where she was awarded top sales manager on a few occasions.
Watson holds a Bachelor of Interdisciplinary Studies in Nonprofit Management and Communication from Arizona State University. She enjoys traveling the world with husband, going to her kids’ performances and sporting events and playing an active role at her local church.
Melana Ferguson is an analyst for the Due Diligence team. She is responsible for the initial analysis of all incoming investment opportunities. She analyzes financial information, cap table syndicates, and business models; presenting her findings to the Senior Due Diligence staff.
For three years Ferguson taught NAU students how to analyze and interpret statistical data to identify how data trends affect the target outcomes. She has also worked as an administrative and marketing assistant at Forest Highlands golf course; where she organized the budget analysis and cost benefit scenarios which enabled her to determine marketing needs.
Ferguson received a BS in Finance from Northern Arizona University, with minors in Math and Psychology, and a certificate in financial investments. She spends her free time snowboarding, dancing, competing in sand volleyball, and playing board games with family. Even as a child, Ferguson would graph her allowance and analyze trends in her spending.
Sarah Stanton is our General Counsel and Secretary here at Trinity Capital. Her experience and expansive knowledge in corporate governance, SEC and Nasdaq compliance and mergers/acquisitions has been wildly beneficial for Trinity.
Prior to Trinity, Stanton served as a Senior Associate General Counsel at Verra Mobility, where she handled corporate and securities matters, including SEC reporting, public company compliance and M&A. Sarah has also represented multiple public and private companies in corporate governance matters and domestic and cross-border M&A at DLA Piper and Rusing Lopez & Lizardi. She had also been recognized in the Super Lawyers as a Southwest Rising Star for 2014 through 2018.
Stanton is a graduate from the University of Arizona earning her Bachelor’s in Journalism as well as her Juris Doctor degree. In Stanton’s free time, she enjoys sampling the local cuisine in different places around the world- everything from pastor tacos on the street in Mexico City to Parisian fine dining, taking on ambitious cooking and baking projects, and throwing dinner parties. She also loves to run, cycle, do Pilates and play with her two cute rescue dogs.
Spencer Bazz is a Relationship Manager at Trinity Capital. His responsibilities include sourcing new investment opportunities, developing referral relationships, and performing due diligence on potential debt financing opportunities. He works closely with venture capitalists and technology banks domestically and abroad, as he accomplishes these goals.
Prior to joining Trinity, Bazz was a president of an angel investing group at his alma mater, Grand Canyon University. His responsibilities included sourcing angel investment opportunities for HNW individuals in the Phoenix Valley.
Bazz earned his Bachelor’s in Finance and Economics from Grand Canyon University. He enjoys spending his free time with wife, hiking, and playing basketball.
Jason Isaacson is an Analyst on the Portfolio Management team at Trinity Capital. He is responsible for providing updates on portfolio company operating performance, supporting the team on warrant valuations, and contributing to additional analysis.
Prior to Trinity, Isaacson held positions in public accounting as an external auditor and as a corporate financial analyst. He has worked with several different sized public and private companies and developed process improvements around key reporting areas.
Isaacson received a Bachelor’s in Finance at Indiana University and his Master’s in Accountancy at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. He was a teaching assistant and peer tutor for corporate finance and accounting courses. In his free time, Isaacson enjoys traveling, golfing, playing tennis and hiking.
Maria Dauglash joined the Trinity team in April 2020 as a Paralegal/Contracts Manager and supports Trinity’s contracting process, compliance, and transactional activities. She’s a bonafide contracts geek and enjoys all things contracts and transactional.
Dauglash brings to Trinity over 20 years of combined experience in Corporate transactional, governance, and full-cycle contracts management. Her career spans across real estate, health care, public service, and the CUSO industries.
Dauglash cherishes her teenage son and her best friend and husband of 17 years. She is an experimental cook and a novice gardener. She enjoys nature hikes and cross-country driving.
Christina Dixon is the Senior Staff Accountant at Trinity Capital. She works with the Finance department to help with the month end close process, account reconciliations, audit requests and special projects. Dixon is also responsible for new hire on-boarding and setting up and maintaining benefits for all employees.
Dixon has over 20 years of experience in finance and accounting. Prior to joining Trinity, she worked for AFS Technologies in Phoenix where her responsibilities included assisting with the month end close, processing international payroll, revenue analyses and calculating monthly royalty and commission payments. She was also a key member in the implementation process of the Concur expense report system. Dixon also has previous experience with accounts payable, accounts receivable and sales tax filings.
Dixon holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Eastern Michigan University. She enjoys traveling with her family, puzzles, movies and hikes with the dog.
Katie Thomas is Director of Financial Reporting at Trinity Capital. She brings with her over 13 years of experience in public accounting and consulting. Her role has an expansive span as she is a liaison for the external auditors, direct and oversight of preparation of all periodic financial statements and SEC filings, ensures compliance with SEC and GAAP reporting guidelines, assist with month-end close just to name a few.
Thomas graduated from Arizona State University with dual degrees in Finance and Accounting and a minor in Spanish and decided to pursue Accounting full-time. She started her career at KPMG before moving to a local and regional firm before leaving public accounting to pursue a career consulting as an outsourced controller and CFO.
In her spare time, you’ll find her chasing her two children around or traveling with her husband.
Gavin Silver is an Analyst for the Due Diligence team at Trinity. He is responsible for the initial analysis of all of the incoming investment opportunities. Prior to coming to Trinity, Silver held roles as a Foreign Exchange Analyst at Northern Trust as well as a Growth & Strategic Ventures Analyst at a real-estate tech startup. His startup experience gives great insight into perspective investments.
Silver received a Bachelor’s in Finance from Menlo College. His hobbies include golf, tennis, hiking and enjoys following Formula 1 racing.
Bob D’Acquisto joined Trinity as Managing Director on our Origination team. His role is to source and evaluate qualified investment opportunities. We are thrilled he joined our team with 20 years of tech and finance experience. He is a trusted partner to VC’s, PE’s, Tech Banks, Service Providers and Entrepreneurs. D’Acquisto has held successful roles in tech banking with Western Alliance/Bridge Bank and Avidbank, along with founding and managing Snowbird Capital.
D’Acquisto holds a Bachelor’s degree in Commerce from Santa Clara University. D’Acquisto enjoys spending time with his family, traveling, playing soccer and surfing.
