Steve Brown is the Founder and Managing Partner of Trinity Capital Investment, 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 an Operating Partner at Trinity and is responsible for analyzing investment opportunities and collaborating on the firm’s investment strategy, objectives, asset allocation and balancing risk against performance.
Harder is an accomplished technology professional with a proven ability to manage organizations and product development at early-stage companies. As the executive vice president of engineering and operations for Sand9, Harder worked to design, develop and produce groundbreaking piezoelectric MEMs based timing devices for mobile, IoT, and communications infrastructure markets. He has served in many technology leadership roles including director of operations for Cirrus Logic, vice president of engineering for White Electronic Designs, and technical leadership roles with ON Semiconductor, National Semiconductor, Vivid Semiconductor, Medtronic and Motorola. 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 a Managing Partner at Trinity Capital Investment and is responsible for managing sales activities for Trinity Capital Investment in order to achieve the firm’s deployment goals. Brown manages relationships with potential customers as well as with strategic partners including venture capital firms and technology bank lenders. Under his leadership, Trinity continues to expand the firm’s portfolio and strategic relationships, a testament to his extensive experience in sales, startups and fund management.
Brown has been an entrepreneur since he was 19, running small businesses and startup companies. He joined Trinity in 2015, following the sale of Brown Equity, an Arizona-based real estate financial investment firm he founded and operated. Before starting his own firm, he co-founded and managed Sharp Equity Homes, a full-service, web-based multiple listing service for trustee sale auctions in Arizona and California. Kyle has founded or co-founded three additional startups over the course of his career and enjoys the process of building high performing teams and enabling them to deliver exceptional results.
Brown serves as an advisory board member for both the One Institute and the Camelback Society, a non-profit organization working to improve the community. Although he currently resides in Phoenix, Brown can often be found surfing Manhattan Beach, California.
Hal Hayden is constantly inspired by the crossroads of technology and finance. He is a Trinity Capital Investment Partner 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. Along with partners Steve Brown and Alex Erhart, they designed Trinity to understand the obstacles facing early-stage companies and help clients navigate through them to achieve their plans.
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 Investment as Chief Financial Officer with responsibility in all aspects of the company’s financial matters, investor relations, legal, and human resource management. Susan 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 a Partner at Trinity Capital Investment 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 Investment 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 Investment in 2017 as the Managing Director of Venture Leasing. He is the point person for Trinity’s Equipment Leasing 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 at Trinity Capital Investment, where he is responsible for evaluating new opportunities, managing the due diligence process, and supporting a wide variety of marketing and finance activities. His work is critical to the Trinity team and leverages his expertise in data modeling, research, and statistics.
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 Investment. 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 Investment 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 joins Trinity as Director of due diligence for Trinity Capital Investment and is responsible for analyzing incoming investment opportunities and providing recommendations to the Investment Committee.
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 responsible for business development for Trinity’s venture leasing 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 Investment 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 Investment 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 Investment . 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 Investment. 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 rejoined Trinity Capital Investment as a director in the portfolio management department where he was responsible for reporting and analysis on the status of Trinity’s growing number of portfolio companies but has now crossed over to our origination’s team where we will be sourcing potential investments and continuing to build relationships with our referral partners. Steven will be based in Silicon Valley come July 2019.
Prior to joining Trinity, Lambe was a senior financial analyst at Sprouts Farmers Market where he was responsible for managing and improving a $4 billion sales forecast for over 260 stores. Prior to joining Sprouts, Lambe began his career at Trinity where he grew his responsibilities from financial modeling and analysis to managing and coordinating the due diligence and underwriting process.
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 a business analyst for the due diligence team at Trinity Capital Investment. 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 Investment 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 Investment 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 joined Trinity as a Portfolio Management Associate. Ferguson’s role is to perform trend analysis on the performance of Portfolio Companies to monitor breaking developments involving or affecting the companies. She collects monthly compliance data to support the Senior Portfolio Management staff and completes cash life estimates for Portfolio Companies based on the latest trends.
For three years Ferguson taught Northern Arizona University 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. Even as a child, Melana would graph her allowance and analyze trends in her spending. She spends her free time snowboarding, dancing, competing in sand volleyball, and playing board games with family.
Sandy Calandrilla joined Trinity Capital Investment as the receptionist. Her roles include supporting the accounting staff with administrative responsibilities as well as stocking the office with all its supplies.
Calandrilla has a long history of office management. From managing the office of a law firm in New Jersey for 33 years to Human Resources overseeing 2 hospitals in Arizona, Calandrilla brings a great deal of administrative experience to Trinity team.
In Calandrilla’s free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband and family, including their 2 daughters, 2 sons-in-law and 5 grandkids. Calandrilla is an excellent chef and baker!
