Our Team

Steve Martell has spent a decade at multi-national organizations in diverse roles across finance, accounting, and commercial planning. Steve has led multi-million dollar projects with a global reach and served on an advising committee to a local nonprofit through a period of growth. Steve can also be found exploring the beautiful mountains and rivers near Asheville, NC with his wife Megan and dog Boone. Tanuki the cat stays at home.

Erica Mueller is a portrait and wedding photographer and creator of the Embody Project, currently based in Asheville NC. Erica’s 20+ years of experience creating powerful and inspiring images includes a combined 15 years in San Francisco and Los Angeles, where she photographed hundreds of clients both in and out of the entertainment world. The Embody Project gallery show is currently on display in life-size prints on fabric, and will be traveling the globe in 2018 and beyond.

Cory brings a wealth of wisdom, software engineering expertise, and a splash of alchemy to every venture. Some previous ventures include being a founding member of the Apple Store, and saving a major manufacturer millions by rearchitecting and modernizing their technology. Recognizing the key to magic is fun and balance, when Cory closes his laptop, you can find him enjoying board games with friends, gazing at the stars, or exploring the world around him.

Peter is an IT and Software solutions architect for domestic and international companies, building enterprise road maps and management solutions as well as standards and guidelines for integration with new and existing systems.

Cecily Mak is a Venture Partner with ConsenSys, a global blockchain technology company building the infrastructure, applications, and practices to enable a decentralized world, where she performs a blend of operations, strategic partnerships, and start-up strategy and relations work.

She previously served as Chief Business and Legal Officer at Flipboard (2012-2018) and SVP & General Counsel at Rhapsody/Napster (2004-2012).  She has been teaching Digital Media Law at UC Hastings since 2006 and serves as an advisor, board member, and CEO coach to several media and technology start-ups around the world.

An environmental entrepreneur focused on scaling mission-driven organizations and connecting them to mainstream audiences. Led a public-private initiative to grow Asheville, NC’s entrepreneurial ecosystem and systematically scale high-growth companies. Create and communicate vision and strategy to key stakeholders and broader community focused on: developing entrepreneurs, recruiting talent, attracting investors, and building a highly visible and connected startup community.

Jeff, at Venture Asheville and throughout his career, is focused on building entrepreneurs and getting them funded and resourced through partnerships, community alignment, mentoring and investor advocacy. He manages the Asheville Angels supporting start-ups and early stage, high growth companies locally and in the Southeast region.