
ABOUT
Us
It takes a strong network united under a common vision to see impact. Learn more about our activities and our people.
Our Work
We are building a global Yale ecosystem of entrepreneurship and innovation through:
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social and professional networking
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education on market trends, investment, and industries
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partnership and collaboration with other Yale entities on campus and in the greater Yale community
We are developing our community through regular events (both in-person and online), through our newsletter and social media outlets, and through collaborative partnerships at the university and beyond.
Leadership
Team

Chris Brady
Chris Brady Jr. ’05 is a venture capitalist with 15+ years founding, operating and investing in emerging technology companies over a wide range of sectors. Chris sits on boards at CoolIT Systems, IntegriCo Composites, and Katai. He is a Co-Founder of Accelerate Yale and Yale Angels.

Sam Hendel
Sam Hendel ’03 is a Co-Founder of Dataminr, the leading real-time AI company for event and risk detection. In addition, he is an experienced professional in the Investment Management industry and serves as President and Portfolio Manager of Levin Easterly Partners, the value investing firm. He specializes in Arbitrage, Event-Driven, and Value investing across all sectors. He is a Co-Founder of Accelerate Yale and Yale Angels.

Jo Ilfeld
Jo Ilfeld, PhD is an executive leadership coach, Forbes.com author and CEO and founder of Incite To Leadership, a premier Bay-Area leadership coaching and consulting company. Incite To Leadership has worked with well-known brands and companies throughout the Bay Area and the world including eBay, The SF Giants, Genentech, Clorox, and Gilead as well as high-growth start-ups and non-profits. Jo began as a small business entrepreneur who grew her first business into a million-dollar company. Inspired by her own leadership journey, Jo uses her experience to help other company leaders align their executive teams for outsize results. Jo has a BS from Yale College and holds a PhD in Business from UC Berkeley.

Wendy Maldonado D'Amico
Wendy Maldonado D’Amico ’93 works at the Yale Alumni Association (YAA) on #50WomenAtYale150, a celebration commemorating the dual milestones of coeducation at the university. She holds a BA in English from Yale University, an MPA from Harvard’s Kennedy School, and an MBA from MIT Sloan. She serves as a member of the YAA Board of Governors, as well as a Director of Accelerate Yale and Yale Angels.

Ellen Su
Ellen Su ‘13 is the Chief Product Officer at Wellinks, Inc., formerly known as Convexity Scientific, Inc. As the former CEO and Co-Founder of the startup Wellinks, which was acquired by Convexity Scientific, Ellen has raised funding, directed product, led design, and formed critical business relationships. At the core, she is an operations and product person who focuses on empowering creative teams to deliver user-critical features. She is a member of the leadership teams of Accelerate Yale and Yale Angels.

Adam Brenner
Adam Brenner ‘05 is a Partner at DLA Piper and Co-Founder of Accelerate Yale and Yale Angels. He represents private equity funds, technology companies and venture capital funds based in the U.S. and abroad – on their financings and other corporate transactions. Adam particularly enjoys advising companies and lead investors on strategic company growth, especially national security-related technology companies. He also has extensive experience working with emerging growth companies and investors on structuring transactions around international trade matters.
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Grace Hsieh
Grace Hsieh '07 is a marketing and operations advisor to senior leadership teams across the tech, consumer, financial services, healthcare, education, luxury, and tourism sectors. Educated at Yale and Wharton, Grace is a Board Member of the Yale Alumni Nonprofit Alliance (YANA) and a Co-Founder of Accelerate Yale and Yale Angels. She has had 4 solo piano performances at Carnegie Hall.

Michael Lewittes
Michael Lewittes ‘89 is a media industry expert, entrepreneur, and investor, with a track record for scaling businesses. During his 30-year career, he has held leadership positions at Hearst, News Corp., and NBC. In 2009, Michael founded Gossip Cop, the first and only website to fact-check entertainment news. Gossip Cop was acquired by a private equity-backed digital publisher. Since selling his company, Michael has been active in venture capital. He’s an operating partner in Overton Venture Capital and an LP in Supernode Ventures’s fund. Michael is also known as a leading authority on Google’s algorithm. He regularly advises VCs and startups, as well as major retail companies and media corporations, on best practices and growth strategies, including SEO. Michael sits on the advisory board of several companies and organizations, including the Yale Entrepreneurial Society. He also serves as a mentor at the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking.

Gary Stewart
Gary Stewart ‘96, JD ‘99 is the CEO and founder of FounderTribes, an app that gamifies founder education and provides access to mentors and fundraising. Until recently, he was the CEO and co-founder of “The Nest,” a mobile app that could be called “Masterclass for founders.” From 2014-2019, Gary was the Director of Wayra UK, a corporate accelerator backed by Telefonica (O2). From 2010-2014, Gary was an associate professor at entrepreneurship at IE Business School in Madrid and CEO of Wayra Spain. He launched his first start-up in 2005. Before becoming an entrepreneur, Gary worked as a lawyer in the U.S., U.K., and Spain. He graduated magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Yale College and was the executive editor of The Yale Law Journal at Yale Law School. He is a Governor of the University of East London and has been on the Power List of the most influential black people in the UK. He is a member of the leadership teams of Accelerate Yale and Yale Angels.
Volunteers

Elizabeth Zietz
Elizabeth Zietz ’22 graduated from Yale College with a BA in Statistics and Data Science & Political Science and currently works as an Associate Consultant at Bain & Company. At Yale, she was the Executive Director of YHack, Yale’s annual hackathon, a Director’s Fellow at the Yale Institution for Social and Policy Studies, and a fellow at the Yale Law School Information Society Project. As a classical pianist, Elizabeth has performed at renowned venues such as Stern Auditorium at Carnegie Hall and Millennium Park’s Pritzker Pavilion. Elizabeth is the webmaster of Accelerate Yale and Yale Angels and assists with marketing and community engagement efforts.

David Padron Castillo
David Padron Castillo graduated from Yale with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science in 2022 and is currently working as a software engineer at Meta. He is originally from Dallas, TX. On campus, he was a part of the developer group in the Student Tech Collaborative which writes custom web applications for the University as well as individual professors. In addition, he was involved with YIEEE and the Yale archery club and formerly involved with Code4Good, a student-run organization that connects students with CS backgrounds with local nonprofits that can benefit from their technological skills.