The Angel Capital Association (ACA), the North American trade association of accredited investors that invest in high-growth early-stage ventures, has elected Kevin Laws, chief operating officer of AngelList (San Francisco), and Linda Lorraine Smith, member of Sierra Angels (Incline Village, Nev.), to its Board of Directors.
Both were elected at ACA’s Annual Member Meeting on March 26, 2014, during the 2014 ACA Summit in Washington, D.C. At the same meeting David Verrill was reelected as ACA chairman of the board and current board member Christopher Mirabile was elected as vice chairman.
“These new directors bring excellent capabilities and member views to the ACA board,” said Marianne Hudson, ACA executive director. “Kevin has great entrepreneurial and investing experience and represents the accredited platforms that have helped evolve angel investing. Linda has extensive experience in national and state public policy issues that affect entrepreneurs and investors alike.”
ACA provides professional development for angel groups, family offices and individual accredited investors and delivers services and benefits to support the success of the portfolio companies of ACA members. ACA also serves as the advocacy voice and the trusted authority on accredited angel investing in the United States.
Kevin Laws is an active angel investor and chief operating officer of AngelList. He founded Vast.com in 2005 and served as its CEO, driving deals with Yahoo, AOL, and Microsoft/Bing to power portions of their search technology. Before that, he was a principal at PacRim Venture Partners, responsible for software and Internet investments. He served as vice president of product at Epinions and a manager in the Media Group at Booz & Co. He led software development at Computer Sciences Corporation’s offices in Heidelberg, Germany, where he oversaw one of the first large-scale web-based Intranets. Laws is a director of AngelList, Vast.com, and Cabify. He holds a degree in computer science from Dickinson College, a master’s in International Relations from Boston University, and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School Management.
Linda Lorraine Smith has had a distinguished public and private career as well as being an active angel investor and advocate. Her public career included serving three U.S. presidents, two congressmen, one mayor, and a governor. She spent 12 years in Washington, D.C., working as director of administration in the White House’s Office of Management and Budget and for two congressional committees. Upon moving to Hawaii, Smith became the director of finance for the city and county of Honolulu, responsible for a budget exceeding $900 million. She was also a senior policy advisor to the governor of Hawaii, where she was involved in tax policies that encourage angel investing. Smith is a former business owner. She has made investments through the Hawaii Angels and has been an active member of the Sierra Angels since moving to Lake Tahoe, Nev., with her husband in 2011. Smith was recently recognized as the Outstanding Alumni from her graduate school alma mater, the Maxwell School of Citizenship at Syracuse University.
The Angel Capital Association is the leading professional and trade association focused on fueling the success of accredited angel investors and portfolio companies in high-growth, early-stage ventures. ACA is the voice of the angel industry, providing comprehensive services in support of members working in angel groups, through portals and individually. ACA provides professional development, public policy advocacy and significant benefits and resources to its membership of 220 angel groups and more than 12,000 individual accredited investors. www.angelcapitalassociation.org; @ACAAngelCapital.
Submitted by Angel Capital Association
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