VU's Venture Capital Team

J. Skyler Fernandes

Co-Founder & General Partner — Global Head of Investment Teams

• Ranked Top 100 Powerlist VC; 15+ years of VC/PE investing
• 150+ portfolio companies including OpenAI, Figure AI, Beyond Meat (IPO, $14B)
• Bear Flag Robotics (acq. by John Deere, $250M), Sensity (acq. by Verizon)
• Former MD of Investments at Cleveland Avenue
• Founder & Former MD of Simon Venture Group (Simon Property Group)
• Adjunct Professor at New York University teaching Venture Capital

Andrew Zalasin

General Partner — North America, Europe & LatAm

• 25+ years of venture capital and private equity experience
• Early investor in Facebook, Uber, Twitter, Venmo, MakerBot
• Nearly 200 investments; served on 30+ boards across US, Europe & Asia
• Former General Partner for 17 years at RRE Ventures ($1.5B across seven funds)

Aakash Jain

Partner — North America, Europe & LatAm

• VU Cohort 2 Alum
• Co-Founder, Chicago Booth Angel Network (Silicon Valley)
• Venture Fellow at Jump Capital
• Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley & Financial Technology Partners
• MBA, University of Chicago Booth; MS CS, Cornell University

Andy Goldstein

Partner — Western Europe, Regional Co-Head of Admissions For Western Europe

Remy Goldstein

Partner — Western Europe, Regional Co-Head of Admissions For Western Europe

Boriana Gaitsgori

Partner — Bulgaria

Peter Matev

Partner — Bulgaria

David Lee

Partner — Hong Kong

James Zhang

Partner — Hong Kong

Angie Wang

Principal — Hong Kong

Anaina Malik

Principal - India

Jo Chaturvedi-Durant

Principal — Australia

Zeeshan Usmani, Ph.D

Venture Partner — Asia & Middle East

• Kaggle Grandmaster, Fulbright Scholar, Eisenhower Fellow
• Former Global Director of Data Science & Partnerships at Walee
• Over a decade of experience in AI, advanced analytics, and strategic partnerships
• 50+ research publications; collaborations with Home Depot, Misk Foundation

Daniil Tarasenco

Head of West Cohort Admissions

Hannah Wang

Head of East Cohort Admissions

Grace Zhang

Administrative Assistant

Jenna Fernandes

Co-Founder, Head of Operations, HR, & Investor Relations

Debbie Magnezy, MPA, MA

Head of Strategic Partnerships & VU's Endowment