Finclusive

Garry Cooper is the CEO of Rheaply, a Series-A Climate Tech company in Chicago, and one of six GPs at Longjump VC, a first-check, founder-led fund investing in the next generation of Chicagoland founders. Garry shares his fundraising journey for Rheaply and for Longjump, and ideation process behind the two ventures. LongJump VC had been an idea for Garry and his network of Chicago founders, until George Floyd's death last summer solidified the formation of the fund. The GPs successfully raised over $4 million by the time the fund was announced in March 2021. 

As a Black founder, Garry constantly asks himself, "What more can I do for Black, brown and underserved communities?" He draws parallels between Rheaply's mission of advancing the Circular Economy and LongJump's mission of giving voice to underfunded and unconnected founders. Garry shares his goals for the next ten years, and how he strives to broaden the economy to let more people in. 

Fion is the co-founder and COO of Fairly AI, an AI Governance, Risk, and Control (GRC) solution that keeps organizations' AI responsible and regulated. She discusses her career as a technical and business leader at ATG before, during, and after its Oracle acquisition, her experience with late-stage investing, followed by her interest in early-stage venture investing. She joined Founder Institute, where she met her co-founder and together they launched Fairly AI in April 2020. Fion shares how Fairly AI closes the gap between technical data scientists and non-technical decision makers, and reduces high-velocity financial and ethical AI risk. 

A C-suite executive connector and facilitator, Nicole Ward is the National Director of Sales at Moss Adams LLP, and Podcast host of Watermark Women of the C-Suite. In her conversation with Kelly, she shares her journey in angel investing, her appetite for risk, and the joy she finds in supporting those building something they are passionate about. She shares her journey of making one of her first investments in Porfolia, where women can learn about venture investing from other women. Nicole appreciates the American philanthropic culture and enjoys sharing her time and network with entrepreneurs and new investors. She's also very interested in biohacking and cites her endless energy as one of her sources of power.