our team

Supporting Your Growth

Summit is powered by a dedicated team with deep domain expertise in target sectors. Our team includes experienced investors, seasoned executives and knowledgeable operators.

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Pagden
Jono Pagden
Principal
Investment Team
London
Healthcare & Life Sciences
4
Jono focuses primarily on the healthcare & life sciences sector in Europe. His investment experience includes Advance Medical (acquired by Teladoc), CluePoints, Fortis Life Sciences and zahneins (acquired by PAI Partners).

Prior to Summit, Jono worked on the Retail/Healthcare and U.K. M&A teams at Goldman Sachs.

Jono holds a Bachelor of Business Science, with honors, in accounting and finance from the University of Cape Town. He is a dual British and South African national.

Paradis
Charlie Paradis
Analyst
Investment Team
Menlo Park
Technology
8

Charlie focuses primarily on the technology sector.

Charlie holds an AB in psychology with a minor in economics from Harvard University.

Parsons
Luke Parsons
Principal
Investment Team
London
Healthcare & Life Sciences
4
Luke joined Summit in 2017 and focuses primarily on the healthcare & life sciences sector in Europe. His investment and board experience includes RadioOnkologieNetzwerk (acquired by Medipass) and Viroclinics Biosciences (acquired by Cerba Healthcare).

Prior to Summit, Luke served as Vice President in the Mergers & Acquisitions division of Jefferies.

Luke holds an MA in applied economics, with honors, from the University of St. Andrews.

Peyer
Steffan K. Peyer
Managing Director
Investment Team
London
Technology
1
Steffan first joined Summit Partners as an Associate in 2007. Today, he focuses on the technology sector in  Europe. His investment and board experience includes 360T Group (acquired by Deutsche Börse), Appway (acquired by FNZ), Akeneo, Elatec, ImagenAI, Market Logic, MUBI, Optimove, PatSnap, Red Points, RELEX Solutions and Signavio (acquired by SAP).

Prior to rejoining Summit in 2013, Steffan was a member of the management team of Turbulenz Limited. Before that, he worked for UBS Investment Bank.

Steffan holds a BS in finance and accounting, magna cum laude, from Boston College.

Steffan volunteered for Powerlungs in Switzerland, a not-for-profit focused on providing young asthmatic children with training courses in the sport of rowing. He is an American and Swiss national and speaks German and English.

Popova
Sophia Popova
Partner
Investment Team
Boston
Technology
1
Sophia joined Summit in 2017 and focuses primarily on the technology sector. Her current board and investment experience includes Invicti Security, Klaviyo (NYSE: KVYO), Markforged (NYSE: MKFG), Later (formerly Mavrck), Vensure Employer Services (formerly PrismHR), Sifted, StackAdapt and Ylopo.

Prior to Summit, Sophia was an investment partner at Dorm Room Fund and held roles at several startups including Contactive, where she was Product Manager. Before that, Sophia worked for Morgan Stanley.

Sophia holds a BA in economics and mathematics from Yale University and an MBA, with distinction, from Harvard Business School. She is fluent in English and Bulgarian.

Reitzenstein
Tim Reitzenstein
Associate
Investor Relations
Boston

Tim joined Summit Partners in 2023 and serves on the Investor Relations team for Summit Public Equity. Prior to Summit, Tim worked on the Institutional Sales team at Columbia Threadneedle Investments.

He holds a BA in international relations and German language and literature from Tufts University.

Reyes
Alberto Reyes
Associate
Investment Team
Boston
Growth Products & Services
8

Alberto is an Associate on the Growth Products & Services team. His investment experience includes Halborn.

Prior to Summit, Alberto worked in the Technology Investment Banking Group at Evercore.

Alberto holds a BSBA in finance, summa cum laude, from the University of Arizona. He speaks English and Spanish.

Roberts
Thomas S. Roberts
Former Managing Director
Former Managing Directors

Tom joined Summit Partners in 1989. During his tenure with Summit, Tom served on Summit’s executive committee and in 2010 co-founded Summit Partners Credit Advisors, the credit affiliate of Summit Partners which focuses on the borrowing needs of small and large companies. Tom was a Managing Director and member of Summit’s Board of Managers until 2017, a Senior Advisor until 2018 and a board director of more than 30 companies, seven of which were public.

Tom’s past directorships include AmeriPath (NASDAQ: PATH, later acquired by Quest Diagnostics), Fiber Options (acquired by Sentrol Life Safety Systems), Infor (acquired by Golden Gate Capital and Koch Equity Development), Pacer Electronics (acquired by Anixter International), Rehab Management Services (acquired by Integrated Health Services), Saber Software (NASDAQ: SABR, later acquired by McAfee), Sybari Software (acquired by Microsoft) and vente-privee.com.

Prior to Summit, Tom was an analyst at Booz Allen Hamilton. He received an AB in economics, magna cum laude, from Princeton University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar.

Tom is a former President of the National Venture Capital Association.

Roseman
Neil Roseman
Advisory Partner
Executive Partners
As an Advisory Partner, Neil works closely with the Summit team and our portfolio companies to assist with engineering organization design and architecture strategy. He brings over 20 years of experience in building high-scale software and web services for consumers and the enterprise.

Neil spent a decade at Amazon.com where he served as Vice President of Technology, responsible for Amazon.com’s Marketplace Platform, Digital Media Technologies, and World-wide Retail Software systems. He was instrumental in developing products, software and services for the Kindle line of e-readers, and he led many of Amazon’s most successful product launches, including Music and DVD stores, Marketplace, Amazon China and the initial Amazon Web Services product. Neil’s teams built and designed the Subscriptions Platform and Digital Ordering systems, which are still used globally by Amazon Prime, all Amazon Digital offerings and other Amazon.com services.

After Amazon, Neil served as Vice President of Engineering for Zynga, where he created the company’s platform and led the launch of Zynga.com. Prior to Zynga, he founded Evri.com, which developed a new way for people to discover and engage with content on the web using a deep natural language approach. Earlier in his career, Neil worked for pioneering Internet music e-commerce startup Music Boulevard and BIOSIS (acquired by Thompson Reuters Scientific), a provider of indexing and search tools for the biology and life sciences communities.

Neil holds a BA in biology from Temple University. In addition, he is an inventor on several patents in the e-commerce and semantic web domains.

Neil Roseman's Advisory Partner role is a part-time role.

Rottier
Peter L. Rottier
Managing Director
Investment Team
Menlo Park
Technology
1
Peter joined Summit Partners in 2006, and focuses primarily on the technology sector. Peter's current board directorships and investments include MercuryGate, Syndigo and Trintech.

Peter’s prior experience includes Answers (acquired by Apax Partners), Ascentis (acquired by UKG), Healthline Media (acquired by Red Ventures), HelpSystems (acquired by H.I.G. Capital), Infor (acquired by Golden Gate Capital and Koch Equity Development), ISH (acquired by PwC), Perforce Software (acquired by Clearlake Capital), Rocket Fuel (Nasdaq: FUEL), Salient Partners, Snap Fitness (acquired by TZP Capital Partners), Solid State Equipment (acquired by Veeco Instruments) and Systems Maintenance Services (acquired by Partners Group).

Prior to Summit, Peter worked for KSL Capital Partners, Stone Arch Capital and RBC Capital Markets.

Peter received a BS in finance from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota and an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

He is a member of the Board of Overseers of the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

Schiller
David H. Schiller
Managing Director and Chief Investor Relations Officer
Investor Relations
Boston
1

Dave joined Summit in 2016. As Chief Investor Relations Officer, he manages the firm’s business development efforts and relationships with its Limited Partners.

Prior to Summit, Dave was a Managing Director with Renaissance Institutional Management, where he was responsible for business development and investor relations for hedge fund products. Previously, Dave was a Managing Director at BlackRock, where he co-led North American Institutional distribution for BlackRock Alternative Investors, the business unit responsible for BlackRock’s alternative investments in hedge funds, hedge fund of funds, private equity, real estate, infrastructure and specialized alternative products. He has also held business development and institutional relationship management roles with Barclays Global Investors and Goldman Sachs & Co.

Dave holds a BA from Ohio Wesleyan University and an MBA from Babson College.

Scott
Chandler Scott
Senior Associate
Investment Team
Menlo Park
Technology
7

Chandler focuses primarily on the technology sector. His investment experience includes DocuSketch, Jungle Scout and PriceLabs.

Prior to Summit, Chandler was an Analyst at EPIC Ventures, where he focused on the technology sector and managed Junior Analyst teams in sourcing and diligence.

He holds a BS in economics from Brigham Young University.

Sencherey
Papa Yaw Sencherey
Associate
Investment Team
Boston
Technology
8

Papa Yaw focuses primarily on the technology sector.

Prior to Summit, Papa Yaw worked in the mergers and acquisitions group at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. He holds a BS in Business with concentrations in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the Stern School of Business at New York University.

Shanahan
Liam Shanahan
Analyst
Investment Team
Boston
Healthcare & Life Sciences
8

Liam focuses primarily on the healthcare & life sciences sector.

He holds a BA in economics from Harvard University and an MBA from Louisiana State University.

Shankar, M.D.
Mark Shankar, M.D.
Vice President
Investment Team
Boston
Healthcare & Life Sciences
6

Mark focuses primarily on the healthcare & life sciences sector. His investment and board experience includes LumaBridge.

Prior to Summit, Mark worked on the Healthcare Investment Banking Team at Goldman Sachs. In addition, he served as a clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physician & Surgeons and was the Chief Emergency Medicine Resident at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

Mark holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, an MD from the George Washington University School of Medicine, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Shaw
Madison A. Shaw
Associate
Investment Team
Boston
Growth Products & Services
8

Madison is an Associate on the Growth Products & Services team. Her investment experience includes 48forty Solutions and CollisionRight.

Prior to Summit, Madison worked in the Technology & Services Investment Banking Group at Raymond James.

Madison holds a BS in economics from Duke University.

Sikkens
Han Sikkens
Managing Director and Head of Europe
Investment Team
London
Technology
1
Han joined Summit Partners in 2004 and today manages the firm’s London office. He focuses primarily on investments in the technology sector in Europe.

Han is currently a director at Darktrace (LSE: DARK), Flow Traders (Euronext: FLOW), MUBI, Optimove, Red Points and Syncron, and he is active in the firm's investments in Akeneo, LearnUpon, Odoo, and Solactive. His previous board and investment experience includes 360T Group (acquired by Deutsche Börse), Acturis Limited (acquired by Astorg), Avast (LON: AVST), Immersive Labs, Multifonds (acquired by Temenos), RELEX Solutions, SafeBoot (acquired by McAfee), Siteimprove (acquired by Nordic Capital) and Welltec International (acquired by Exor and 7 Industries).

Prior to Summit, Han worked for Scotia Capital and IBM Corporation. He holds a BS in business administration from the University of Groningen, an MSc in international business from the University of Groningen, and an MSc in international finance from the CERAM Graduate School of Management & Technology. Han is a Dutch national and speaks Dutch and English.

Smith
Ashley Conti Smith
Principal
Investment Team
Boston
4
Ashley joined Summit Partners in 2019 and currently focuses on managing the firm's credit positions.

Prior to Summit, Ashley worked at DDJ Capital Management where she analyzed public and private investment opportunities across the capital structure. Previously, she worked at Pro Mujer, a nonprofit organization that provides financial inclusion, health and education programs to low-income women in Latin America. Ashley began her career at Jefferies & Company and Moelis & Company in their Restructuring & Recapitalization groups.

Ashley holds an AB in economics and Spanish from Bowdoin College where she was a Sarah and James Bowdoin Scholar and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College where she was named an Edward Tuck Scholar and received the Julia Stell Award for leadership. She currently serves on the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children (MGHfC) Family Advisory Council, a committee that aims to improve health care delivery for the pediatric community at MGHfC. Ashley is also a member of the CareWays Collaborative Board of Directors, a nonprofit focused on improving surgical and medical outcomes for pediatric patients in under-resourced countries around the world.

Stamps, IV
E. Roe Stamps, IV
Cofounder, Former Managing Director
Former Managing Directors

Roe cofounded Summit Partners in 1984. During his tenure at Summit, Roe was a Managing Director and member of Summit’s Board of Managers until 2000, a Senior Advisor until 2017, and a board director of many public and private companies.

Roe’s past directorships include AmeriPath (acquired by Quest Diagnostics), Boca Research (NASDAQ: BOCI), First Marketing Company (acquired by Taylor Corporation), Intercommunity Cancer Centers of America (merged with OnCare), Pediatrix Medical Group (NYSE: PDX; later renamed MEDNAX, NYSE: MD), Sunrise Medical and Telebit Corporation.

Prior to Summit, Roe was a General Partner at TA Associates, a Senior Investment Manager at First Chicago Investment Corporation and an Associate with The Palmer Organization. He holds a BS and an MS in industrial engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology and an MBA, with second-year Honors from Harvard Business School.

Roe is a former Director of the National Venture Capital Association.

Steichen
Jenna M. Steichen
Associate
Investment Team
Boston
Technology
8

Jenna focuses primarily on the technology sector. Her investment experience includes A Cloud Guru (acquired by Pluralsight) and Pluralsight.

Prior to Summit, Jenna was an investment partner at Dorm Room Fund.

She holds a BS in information systems, cum laude, from Boston College.

Stern
Ross D. Stern
Managing Director
Investment Team
Boston
Healthcare & Life Sciences
1
Ross joined Summit Partners in 2009 and focuses primarily on the healthcare & life sciences sector. His current board and investment experience includes Fortis Life Sciences, Hallmark Health Care Solutions, Paradigm Outcomes, PharmScript, Sound Physicians, TurningPoint Healthcare Solutions, U.S. Renal Care and VaxCare.

Ross' prior investments and directorships include Abode Healthcare (acquired by BrightSpring Health Services), DMG Practice Management Solutions (acquired by Ares Management) and My Dentist (acquired by Heartland Dental).

Previously, Ross worked at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation and in Cowen and Company’s Health Care Investment Banking Group, where he focused on M&A transactions as well as public and private offerings.

Ross holds a BA in economics and history from Bowdoin College and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Stradling
Austin L. Stradling
Associate
Investment Team
Menlo Park
Technology
8

Austin focuses primarily on the technology sector. His investment experience includes Netgain.

Prior to Summit, Austin worked in the Technology Investment Banking Group at Evercore. Previously, he worked at Sorenson Capital Partners and Menlo Ventures.

Austin holds a BS in finance from Brigham Young University.

Strain
Christian R. Strain
Senior Advisor
Senior Advisor
London

Christian is a Senior Advisor and former Managing Director of Summit Partners. He joined Summit Partners in 2005 and served on the Growth Products & Services team throughout his tenure at the firm.

Christian's board and investment experience includes GRESB, Normec (acquired by Astorg), Ogone (acquired by Ingenico), Peak Well Systems (acquired by Schlumberger), Sézane (acquired by General Atlantic), Sipartech (acquired by Blackstone), Veepee and Westwing Group (FRA: WEW).

Prior to Summit, Christian worked for Apax Partners in Paris where he was a member of the Technology and Telecommunications team. He holds a BA in history from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, and remains active with Yale and Harvard Business School related activities.

Christian is a former board member of Invest Europe, formerly known as the European Private Equity and Venture Capital Association (EVCA). He was formerly the Treasurer of Invest Europe, a member of the Mid Market Council, and the Chairman of the Growth Equity Group. Christian currently serves as a member of the Board of Advisors of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), an independent, bipartisan organisation that develops principled national security policies and helps shape the choices of leaders in the U.S. government and the private sector. In addition, Christian is a certified EMT in France and volunteers regularly as part of a Red Cross ambulance crew in support of the Paris Fire Brigade. He is a dual French and U.S. citizen, and is bilingual in French and English.

Strickland
Tim Strickland
Advisory Partner
Executive Partners
Menlo Park
As an Advisory Partner, Tim works closely with Summit’s investment team to identify new investment opportunities and collaborate with portfolio company leaders to help shape growth strategies focused on long-term value creation.

Tim is a seasoned technology executive with deep experience leading high-performing revenue, enterprise sales, customer success and business development teams. He joins Summit from ZoomInfo (NASDAQ: ZI), a global leader in go-to-market intelligence solutions, where he served as Chief Revenue Officer and in other sales leadership roles as the company grew from $144 million to more than $1 billion in revenues. During his tenure at ZoomInfo, Tim helped build the customer growth and strategic sales organizations and led go-to-market functions through to the company’s IPO in 2020. Prior to ZoomInfo, Tim held customer success and sales leadership roles at Marketo, where he was part of the leadership team that led the publicly traded company through a take-private acquisition in 2016 and its subsequent acquisition by Adobe in 2018. Tim began his software career at Extole, where he helped lead the company’s business development efforts.

Tim holds an AB in history from Princeton University.

Tanimura
Cathy Tanimura
Vice President, Data Science
Peak Performance Group
Technology & Data Science
Menlo Park
6
Cathy works closely with the Summit team and our portfolio companies to help create and execute strategies that effectively use data and analytics to drive better decisions and build better products.

Prior to Summit, Cathy worked at Strava, where she built an analytics and data science team focused on product, marketing and business development. Previously, she led analytics teams at Okta and Zynga.

Cathy holds an AB in economics from Princeton University and an MBA from the University of San Francisco.

Tarnowski
Thomas M. Tarnowski
Managing Director
Investment Team
London
Healthcare & Life Sciences
1
Thomas joined Summit Partners in 2013, and focuses primarily on the healthcare & life sciences sector in Europe. His board and investment experience includes Advance Medical (acquired by Teladoc), CluePoints, DentalPro (acquired by BC Partners), Independent Vetcare (acquired by EQT), RadioOnkologieNetzwerk (acquired by Medipass), Viroclinics Biosciences (acquired by Cerba Healthcare) and zahneins (acquired by PAI Partners).

Prior to Summit, Thomas worked for Triton, where he led the Nordic healthcare team with a focus on healthcare services and medical technology investments. Before that, he worked for Credit Suisse First Boston and Citigroup.

Thomas received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BBA in finance from Valdosta State University. He is a Danish national and speaks Danish, English, Norwegian, Polish and Swedish.

Terada-Herzer
Kai Terada-Herzer
Associate
Investment Team
Boston
8

Kai joined Summit Partners in 2021 and currently focuses on managing the firm's credit positions.

He holds a BA in economics from Amherst College.

Thiboult
Paul-Hugo Thiboult
Associate
Investment Team
London
Growth Products & Services
8

Paul-Hugo is an Associate on the Growth Products & Services team. His investment experience includes CERTANIA and Doctrine.

Prior to Summit, Paul-Hugo worked as a private equity investor at 3i in London and co-founded his own venture.

Paul-Hugo holds a BBA from IE Business School and an MSc, with distinction, from the London School of Economics. He is a French national and speaks English and French.

Thornton
Bob Thornton
Executive-in-Residence
Executive Partners
Growth Products & Services

As an Executive-in-Residence at Summit Partners, Bob works alongside Summit’s Growth Products & Services team to identify new investment opportunities with a specific focus is on building a comprehensive wealth management platform in collaboration with leading wirehouse teams serving the high-net-worth customer.

Previously, Bob served as President of the Private Wealth Management business of First Republic Bank, where he led the growth of that business from approximately $10 billion in assets to more than $250 billion. In his role with First Republic, Bob placed a premium on supporting the investment advisor as “wealth manager” to meet clients’ full wealth management needs.  Along with his team, Bob developed a series of high-value programs including integrated planning resources, a white glove insurance product and an internal referral construct that contributed to significant growth in the client and asset base of the wealth managers at First Republic. During his tenure, he and his colleagues were able to recruit over 150 high caliber financial advisors from across the industry.

Prior to joining First Republic, Bob had a successful twenty-year career in investment banking, principally focused on mergers & acquisitions and financings. He began his career at Goldman Sachs, followed by leadership roles at both Credit Suisse and Deutsche Bank.

Bob holds a B.A. in Political Science from Duke University and a J.D. from Columbia Law School.

Trustey
Joseph F. Trustey
In Memoriam
In Memoriam

1962-2015

Joe joined Summit in 1992 and for more than two decades, he was instrumental in defining and executing the firm’s strategy and shaping its culture. As a Managing Director and Chief Operating Officer, Joe was passionately committed to serving our investors and our portfolio companies, and he cherished the relationships and success we shared together.

Over the course of his career at Summit, Joe led investments in more than 25 companies, including Belkin, B&W Loudspeakers, Central Security Group, Grand Design RV, Keystone RV Company, Parts Town, Progressive Finance, Suburban Ostomy Supply Company, QuietStream Financial, Vivint, Vivint Solar and Wilmar Industries.

Joe served as a mentor to many young professionals entering the growth equity industry. He fostered leadership and encouraged creativity. He took the time to know his team on a personal level, marking anniversaries, engagements, weddings and births. Many members of the Summit family—including those that have gone on to successful careers outside of Summit—consider Joe a loyal friend and credit him with supporting them at the start of their career.

Joe loved practical jokes and relished the challenge of amusing and entertaining those around him. He had a sterling intellect, a quick wit, a genuine warmth and a complete lack of pretense—all characteristics that allowed Joe to establish fast and lifelong connections. From the man on the street to the seasoned CEO, he could relate with everyone on a personal level.

Prior to joining Summit, Joe served as a Captain in the U.S. Army and worked as a consultant for Bain & Co. He received a BS in Chemical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame and earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar.

At Summit and beyond, Joe led by example—with absolute integrity and honesty. He committed himself wholeheartedly to the organizations, institutions and individuals he touched, and we at Summit benefited greatly from this dedication. He was deeply, but often quietly, philanthropic, dedicating his time and his resources to countless efforts, including Team Daisy’s annual Pan Mass Challenge ride, the Citi Performing Arts Center, Shore Country Day School, Brooks School, Hannah & Friends, and his beloved alma mater, the University of Notre Dame.

Above all else, Joe adored spending time with his family. He was the devoted husband of Kris Trustey and the very proud father of A.J., Caroline, Anna and Claire. Joe passed away on July 29, 2015, in an accident that also claimed the life of his daughter, Anna.

As we strive to honor Joe’s legacy and continue his model of selfless giving, Summit Partners has endowed a fund at the University of Notre Dame. <a href=" http://www.summitpartners.com/news/summit-partners-establishes-the-joseph-f-trustey-endowment-for-excellence" target="_blank"> *The Joseph F. Trustey Endowment for Excellence*</a>  will continue Joe’s commitment to maximizing the campus experience for all students at his alma mater, with a specific mission to underwrite those aspects of campus life not covered by traditional financial aid.

A true friend, a trusted colleague and an inspiring leader, Joe embodied the spirit of Summit Partners. He is truly missed.

Tutun
Griffin Tutun
Associate
Investment Team
New York
Growth Products & Services
8

Griffin is an Associate on the Growth Products & Services team.

Prior to Summit, Griffin worked at Veritas Capital on the Credit Opportunities team. Previously, he held investment banking analyst roles at UBS Investment Bank in the Financial Sponsors & Leveraged Finance Group as well as at Truist Securities in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications Group.

Griffin holds a BA in History from Cornell University.

Uday
Hitha Uday
Associate
Investment Team
Menlo Park
Healthcare & Life Sciences
8

Hitha focuses primarily on the healthcare & life sciences sector.

Prior to Summit, Hitha worked in Healthcare Investment Banking at Harris Williams

Hitha holds a BA in economics as well as medicine, health and society with a minor in business and Asian studies from Vanderbilt University.

Vangerven
Marc J. Vangerven
Associate
Investment Team
London
Healthcare & Life Sciences
8

Marc focuses primarily on the healthcare & life sciences sector in Europe.

Prior to Summit, Marc worked in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group at Lazard.

Marc holds a Bsc in biochemistry from University College London. He is a dual Belgian & American national and speaks Dutch & English.

Vehr
Stefan Vehr
Vice President, Office of the CFO
Peak Performance Group
Operations
Boston
6
Stefan is a member of Summit’s Peak Performance Group and works with management teams to help identify and execute growth strategies that build long-term value. Most frequently, he collaborates with portfolio company CFOs to help them effectively scale their teams, processes and technology.

Prior to Summit, Stefan served in financial leadership roles at Litera, a legal technology business, and Syntellis Performance Solutions, an enterprise performance management (EPM) software and data business. He spent the first decade of his career working for publicly traded technology companies including CDW, Nuance Communications, and Microsoft.

Stefan holds a BBA in finance from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an MBA from Boston University.

Vollmer
Alex Vollmer
Director of Engineering
Firm Operations
Menlo Park
6

Alex serves as an architect and senior software developerwithin Summit’s internal software team.

Alex brings more than 27 years of professional software development and management experience in a wide range of industries, platforms and technologies. Prior to Summit, Alex ran his own independent software consultancy. Previously, he worked as a lead software engineer at a variety of high growth companies including:  Z2live, EVRI.com, Wetpaint, OnAir, LogiCalis and VoiceStream (T-Mobile).

Whelan
Melanie Whelan
Managing Director
Investment Team
New York
Growth Products & Services
1
Melanie joined Summit Partners in 2020 and is a Managing Director on the Growth Products & Services team. She focuses primarily on high-growth consumer and technology-enabled services. Melanie's board and investment experience includes Hairstory.

Prior to Summit, Melanie was CEO of SoulCycle. She joined SoulCycle in 2012 as COO and spent three years building and leading operations before her promotion to CEO in 2015. Under her direction, SoulCycle grew from eight NYC-based studios to nearly 100 studios in 18 markets across three countries. She led the company's diversification efforts, which included launching a vertically integrated, direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform and building a media division to drive audience and revenue growth strategies, including a 24/7 SiriusXM channel.

Previously, Melanie led Business Development for Equinox where she was part of a team that executed a multi-brand strategy with the U.S. launch of Pure Yoga, the creation of Blink Fitness and the acquisition of SoulCycle. Earlier in her career, she was a member of the founding team of Richard Branson's U.S. air carrier Virgin America and worked in corporate development at Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

Melanie currently serves on the Board of Directors of Chegg (NYSE: CHGG), the Board of Trustees of Southern New Hampshire University, and the GO Project, a non-profit focused on K-8 education inequity in New York. She holds a BA in engineering and economics from Brown University and is a member of the Aspen Institute’s 2018 class of Henry Crown Fellows.

White
Aaron C. White
Vice President, Capital Markets
Peak Performance Group
Capital Markets
Boston
6
Aaron is a member of Summit’s Capital Markets team, where he works on the firm’s capital markets activities, both for existing portfolio companies and for new acquisitions. In addition, he helps Summit manage its commercial and investment banking relationships.

Prior to Summit, Aaron worked in the Leveraged Finance Group at Deutsche Bank.

Aaron holds a BS in finance from The Pennsylvania State University.

White
Erin White
Chief Compliance Officer
Firm Operations
Boston
3

Erin joined Summit Partners in 2010. Prior to Summit, she worked for Bain Capital and Deloitte.

Based in Summit’s Boston office, Erin is the firm’s Chief Compliance Officer.

She holds a BA in economics and an MBA from Boston College. She is also a CFA charterholder.

Whittemore
Alexander D. Whittemore
Senior Advisor
Senior Advisor
Boston

Alex is a Senior Advisor and former Managing Director of Summit Partners. He joined Summit Partners in 2007. He is responsible for leading the firm’s capital markets activities, both for existing portfolio companies and for new acquisitions, and for helping the firm manage its commercial and investment banking relationships. In addition, Alex is a cofounder of Summit Partners Credit Advisors.

Prior to Summit, Alex worked for Morgan Stanley, where he founded the Boston office of the Financial Sponsors Group. He was also previously employed by Chase Manhattan Corporation and Chemical Banking Corporation.

Alex holds a BA in history, cum laude, from Carleton College and an MBA from Darden School at the University of Virginia.

Woodsum
Stephen G. Woodsum
Cofounder, Former Managing Director
Former Managing Directors

Steve cofounded Summit Partners in 1984. During his tenure at Summit, Steve was a Managing Director until 2000, a member of Summit’s Board of Managers until 2015, a Senior Advisor until 2017, and a board director of many public and private companies.

Steve's past directorships include CIDCO (NASDAQ: CDCO), Clean Harbors (NASDAQ: CLHB, later NYSE: CLH), Information Builders, QMS (NYSE: QMSI, later acquired by Minolta) and Superior Services (NASDAQ: SUPR, later acquired by Vivendi Universal).

Prior to Summit, Steve was a General Partner at TA Associates and an Investment Analyst at First Chicago Investment Corporation. He holds a BA in psychology from Yale University and a Masters in Management from Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

Steve is a former President of the New England Venture Capital Association.

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Shanahan
Liam Shanahan
Analyst
Investment Team
Boston
Healthcare & Life Sciences
8

Liam focuses primarily on the healthcare & life sciences sector.

He holds a BA in economics from Harvard University and an MBA from Louisiana State University.

Shankar, M.D.
Mark Shankar, M.D.
Vice President
Investment Team
Boston
Healthcare & Life Sciences
6

Mark focuses primarily on the healthcare & life sciences sector. His investment and board experience includes LumaBridge.

Prior to Summit, Mark worked on the Healthcare Investment Banking Team at Goldman Sachs. In addition, he served as a clinical assistant professor of emergency medicine at the Columbia University Vagelos College of Physician & Surgeons and was the Chief Emergency Medicine Resident at New York Presbyterian Hospital.

Mark holds a BA from the University of California, Berkeley, an MD from the George Washington University School of Medicine, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Shaw
Madison A. Shaw
Associate
Investment Team
Boston
Growth Products & Services
8

Madison is an Associate on the Growth Products & Services team. Her investment experience includes 48forty Solutions and CollisionRight.

Prior to Summit, Madison worked in the Technology & Services Investment Banking Group at Raymond James.

Madison holds a BS in economics from Duke University.

Sikkens
Han Sikkens
Managing Director and Head of Europe
Investment Team
London
Technology
1
Han joined Summit Partners in 2004 and today manages the firm’s London office. He focuses primarily on investments in the technology sector in Europe.

Han is currently a director at Darktrace (LSE: DARK), Flow Traders (Euronext: FLOW), MUBI, Optimove, Red Points and Syncron, and he is active in the firm's investments in Akeneo, LearnUpon, Odoo, and Solactive. His previous board and investment experience includes 360T Group (acquired by Deutsche Börse), Acturis Limited (acquired by Astorg), Avast (LON: AVST), Immersive Labs, Multifonds (acquired by Temenos), RELEX Solutions, SafeBoot (acquired by McAfee), Siteimprove (acquired by Nordic Capital) and Welltec International (acquired by Exor and 7 Industries).

Prior to Summit, Han worked for Scotia Capital and IBM Corporation. He holds a BS in business administration from the University of Groningen, an MSc in international business from the University of Groningen, and an MSc in international finance from the CERAM Graduate School of Management & Technology. Han is a Dutch national and speaks Dutch and English.

Smith
Ashley Conti Smith
Principal
Investment Team
Boston
4
Ashley joined Summit Partners in 2019 and currently focuses on managing the firm's credit positions.

Prior to Summit, Ashley worked at DDJ Capital Management where she analyzed public and private investment opportunities across the capital structure. Previously, she worked at Pro Mujer, a nonprofit organization that provides financial inclusion, health and education programs to low-income women in Latin America. Ashley began her career at Jefferies & Company and Moelis & Company in their Restructuring & Recapitalization groups.

Ashley holds an AB in economics and Spanish from Bowdoin College where she was a Sarah and James Bowdoin Scholar and an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College where she was named an Edward Tuck Scholar and received the Julia Stell Award for leadership. She currently serves on the Massachusetts General Hospital for Children (MGHfC) Family Advisory Council, a committee that aims to improve health care delivery for the pediatric community at MGHfC. Ashley is also a member of the CareWays Collaborative Board of Directors, a nonprofit focused on improving surgical and medical outcomes for pediatric patients in under-resourced countries around the world.

Steichen
Jenna M. Steichen
Associate
Investment Team
Boston
Technology
8

Jenna focuses primarily on the technology sector. Her investment experience includes A Cloud Guru (acquired by Pluralsight) and Pluralsight.

Prior to Summit, Jenna was an investment partner at Dorm Room Fund.

She holds a BS in information systems, cum laude, from Boston College.

Stern
Ross D. Stern
Managing Director
Investment Team
Boston
Healthcare & Life Sciences
1
Ross joined Summit Partners in 2009 and focuses primarily on the healthcare & life sciences sector. His current board and investment experience includes Fortis Life Sciences, Hallmark Health Care Solutions, Paradigm Outcomes, PharmScript, Sound Physicians, TurningPoint Healthcare Solutions, U.S. Renal Care and VaxCare.

Ross' prior investments and directorships include Abode Healthcare (acquired by BrightSpring Health Services), DMG Practice Management Solutions (acquired by Ares Management) and My Dentist (acquired by Heartland Dental).

Previously, Ross worked at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation and in Cowen and Company’s Health Care Investment Banking Group, where he focused on M&A transactions as well as public and private offerings.

Ross holds a BA in economics and history from Bowdoin College and an MBA from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Stradling
Austin L. Stradling
Associate
Investment Team
Menlo Park
Technology
8

Austin focuses primarily on the technology sector. His investment experience includes Netgain.

Prior to Summit, Austin worked in the Technology Investment Banking Group at Evercore. Previously, he worked at Sorenson Capital Partners and Menlo Ventures.

Austin holds a BS in finance from Brigham Young University.

Tanimura
Cathy Tanimura
Vice President, Data Science
Peak Performance Group
Technology & Data Science
Menlo Park
6
Cathy works closely with the Summit team and our portfolio companies to help create and execute strategies that effectively use data and analytics to drive better decisions and build better products.

Prior to Summit, Cathy worked at Strava, where she built an analytics and data science team focused on product, marketing and business development. Previously, she led analytics teams at Okta and Zynga.

Cathy holds an AB in economics from Princeton University and an MBA from the University of San Francisco.

Tarnowski
Thomas M. Tarnowski
Managing Director
Investment Team
London
Healthcare & Life Sciences
1
Thomas joined Summit Partners in 2013, and focuses primarily on the healthcare & life sciences sector in Europe. His board and investment experience includes Advance Medical (acquired by Teladoc), CluePoints, DentalPro (acquired by BC Partners), Independent Vetcare (acquired by EQT), RadioOnkologieNetzwerk (acquired by Medipass), Viroclinics Biosciences (acquired by Cerba Healthcare) and zahneins (acquired by PAI Partners).

Prior to Summit, Thomas worked for Triton, where he led the Nordic healthcare team with a focus on healthcare services and medical technology investments. Before that, he worked for Credit Suisse First Boston and Citigroup.

Thomas received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BBA in finance from Valdosta State University. He is a Danish national and speaks Danish, English, Norwegian, Polish and Swedish.

Terada-Herzer
Kai Terada-Herzer
Associate
Investment Team
Boston
8

Kai joined Summit Partners in 2021 and currently focuses on managing the firm's credit positions.

He holds a BA in economics from Amherst College.

Thiboult
Paul-Hugo Thiboult
Associate
Investment Team
London
Growth Products & Services
8

Paul-Hugo is an Associate on the Growth Products & Services team. His investment experience includes CERTANIA and Doctrine.

Prior to Summit, Paul-Hugo worked as a private equity investor at 3i in London and co-founded his own venture.

Paul-Hugo holds a BBA from IE Business School and an MSc, with distinction, from the London School of Economics. He is a French national and speaks English and French.

Tutun
Griffin Tutun
Associate
Investment Team
New York
Growth Products & Services
8

Griffin is an Associate on the Growth Products & Services team.

Prior to Summit, Griffin worked at Veritas Capital on the Credit Opportunities team. Previously, he held investment banking analyst roles at UBS Investment Bank in the Financial Sponsors & Leveraged Finance Group as well as at Truist Securities in the Technology, Media & Telecommunications Group.

Griffin holds a BA in History from Cornell University.

Uday
Hitha Uday
Associate
Investment Team
Menlo Park
Healthcare & Life Sciences
8

Hitha focuses primarily on the healthcare & life sciences sector.

Prior to Summit, Hitha worked in Healthcare Investment Banking at Harris Williams

Hitha holds a BA in economics as well as medicine, health and society with a minor in business and Asian studies from Vanderbilt University.

Vangerven
Marc J. Vangerven
Associate
Investment Team
London
Healthcare & Life Sciences
8

Marc focuses primarily on the healthcare & life sciences sector in Europe.

Prior to Summit, Marc worked in the Healthcare Investment Banking Group at Lazard.

Marc holds a Bsc in biochemistry from University College London. He is a dual Belgian & American national and speaks Dutch & English.

Vehr
Stefan Vehr
Vice President, Office of the CFO
Peak Performance Group
Operations
Boston
6
Stefan is a member of Summit’s Peak Performance Group and works with management teams to help identify and execute growth strategies that build long-term value. Most frequently, he collaborates with portfolio company CFOs to help them effectively scale their teams, processes and technology.

Prior to Summit, Stefan served in financial leadership roles at Litera, a legal technology business, and Syntellis Performance Solutions, an enterprise performance management (EPM) software and data business. He spent the first decade of his career working for publicly traded technology companies including CDW, Nuance Communications, and Microsoft.

Stefan holds a BBA in finance from the University of Massachusetts Amherst and an MBA from Boston University.

Vollmer
Alex Vollmer
Director of Engineering
Firm Operations
Menlo Park
6

Alex serves as an architect and senior software developerwithin Summit’s internal software team.

Alex brings more than 27 years of professional software development and management experience in a wide range of industries, platforms and technologies. Prior to Summit, Alex ran his own independent software consultancy. Previously, he worked as a lead software engineer at a variety of high growth companies including:  Z2live, EVRI.com, Wetpaint, OnAir, LogiCalis and VoiceStream (T-Mobile).

Whelan
Melanie Whelan
Managing Director
Investment Team
New York
Growth Products & Services
1
Melanie joined Summit Partners in 2020 and is a Managing Director on the Growth Products & Services team. She focuses primarily on high-growth consumer and technology-enabled services. Melanie's board and investment experience includes Hairstory.

Prior to Summit, Melanie was CEO of SoulCycle. She joined SoulCycle in 2012 as COO and spent three years building and leading operations before her promotion to CEO in 2015. Under her direction, SoulCycle grew from eight NYC-based studios to nearly 100 studios in 18 markets across three countries. She led the company's diversification efforts, which included launching a vertically integrated, direct-to-consumer e-commerce platform and building a media division to drive audience and revenue growth strategies, including a 24/7 SiriusXM channel.

Previously, Melanie led Business Development for Equinox where she was part of a team that executed a multi-brand strategy with the U.S. launch of Pure Yoga, the creation of Blink Fitness and the acquisition of SoulCycle. Earlier in her career, she was a member of the founding team of Richard Branson's U.S. air carrier Virgin America and worked in corporate development at Starwood Hotels and Resorts.

Melanie currently serves on the Board of Directors of Chegg (NYSE: CHGG), the Board of Trustees of Southern New Hampshire University, and the GO Project, a non-profit focused on K-8 education inequity in New York. She holds a BA in engineering and economics from Brown University and is a member of the Aspen Institute’s 2018 class of Henry Crown Fellows.

White
Aaron C. White
Vice President, Capital Markets
Peak Performance Group
Capital Markets
Boston
6
Aaron is a member of Summit’s Capital Markets team, where he works on the firm’s capital markets activities, both for existing portfolio companies and for new acquisitions. In addition, he helps Summit manage its commercial and investment banking relationships.

Prior to Summit, Aaron worked in the Leveraged Finance Group at Deutsche Bank.

Aaron holds a BS in finance from The Pennsylvania State University.

White
Erin White
Chief Compliance Officer
Firm Operations
Boston
3

Erin joined Summit Partners in 2010. Prior to Summit, she worked for Bain Capital and Deloitte.

Based in Summit’s Boston office, Erin is the firm’s Chief Compliance Officer.

She holds a BA in economics and an MBA from Boston College. She is also a CFA charterholder.

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