Michelle has more than 30 years of finance, accounting, administration and investment experience, in publicly traded, privately held and not for profit corporations, startups and billion-dollar enterprises, regional investment funds, investment advisory service firms and highly performing national funds. Michelle has served as a C-level consultant to early-stage start-up companies since 2013 providing strategic financial services as their contract Chief Financial Officer, advising on a number of complex financial transactions, and to an investment advisory firm as Venture Partner, supporting the investment process for Series B, C and later stage syndicated venture transactions, including due diligence, financial modeling, investment document preparation and portfolio reporting.

In addition to her experience as a CEO, COO and Chief Financial Officer, Michelle has served in investment roles at West Capital (series B, C and later stage investments), TechColumbus (now Rev1; multiple angel, pre-seed and seed funds), Fletcher Spaght Ventures (an Ohio fund focused on series B+), and Battelle Memorial Institute (where she managed a corporate venture capital fund of funds portfolio and internal investment fund).

While at Battelle, Michelle also served as Finance Manager, providing business, financial operations, management information and support to the decision-making process, including interpretation, analysis, reporting, business administration, overhead rate development and complex proposal pricing for the Systems Analysis & Engineering group of Battelle’s National Security Division. In this role, she provided support and counsel in financial and business-related functions, including the preparation, monitoring and revision of financial forecasts, budgets and overall financial performance; supported accounting operations in developing and implementing accounting policies and procedures; provided support to management and project leaders in project activities; and participated in strategy development and implementation. Michelle also served as financial lead for a new manufacturing market sector — a novel product line for this services organization — including the design and implementation of a new overhead rate structure, proposal pricing and contract pricing models. She also managed several M&A transactions, including divesting of portfolio companies.

Prior to Battelle, Michelle served as Shareholder Relations Manager for Maxwell Technologies (Nasdaq: MXWL), a leader in power storage technologies. She also served in administrative, accounting and financial reporting roles within the organization.

In addition to these, Michelle assisted in the development of the strategy and launch of Ohio Advanced Energy Economy and Ohio Advanced Energy Economy Institute in 2011 to help advance the opportunity for energy efficiency and renewable energy technology companies in Ohio, serving as Launch CEO through 2012 and COO through 2014.

Michelle is a Certified Public Accountant and a Certified Equity Professional (CEP), a recognized certification in the subject of equity-based compensation, from Santa Clara University. She also earned a BS in Business Administration with an emphasis in Service Sector Management from California State University, San Marcos, and an MBA from The Ohio State University.