Idaho Board of Trustees

As a nonprofit corporation, VentureCapital.org has no shareholders.
It is governed by a Board of Trustees, corporate officers and management.

Mick Wiskerchen

VentureCapital.org

Mr. Wiskerchen brings more than 25 years of broad industry and technical expertise through his executive positions he has held in Fortune 100 through Start-Up Companies.

Specializing in scaling very profitable businesses; through expertise in Hyper-Growth Playbooks, Rapid Revenue and GTM Models, “Best in Class” Operations, M&A execution, and on-boarding world class Customer Success opportunities.

Early in Mick’s career he was selected in a prestigious two-year International Leadership Program at The Boeing Company, sponsoring his MBA and aggressive international career growth. Where he managed and led Manufacturing, Engineering and Finance teams. Along with, critical strategic “Lean” initiatives for the $100B plus company for ten years.

He has held successful leadership and Board roles at four SaaS companies, a FinTech company, The Boeing Company, AT&T Wireless, Micron Technology, ClickBank and helped aggressively scale many early to mid-stage companies from roles as a CEO, COO, CRO and as a Strategic Advisor.

He is the Chairman – Venture Capital Org - Idaho Advisory Board, Co-Founder of the Treasure Valley CFO Forum, past Chairman – Boise Valley Economic Partnership (BVEP), Governor - Economic Development Advisor appointed role, Idaho AgTech Council member. Outside of work, you’ll find Mick with his family and friends on a mountain, river, lake, sandy beach or at a ball game.

Mick Wiskerchen

Board Chairman

Nick Crabbs

Vynyl

Nick Crabbs is a partner and founding member of Vynyl, a product development firm that works with corporations, institutions, and investors to build unique mobile, web, applications that are technically excellent, visually appealing, and create real & measurable business value.

Prior to his work with Vynyl, Nick spent nearly a decade working for some of the nation's largest banking institutions, local municipalities, and large enterprise environments as an IT specialist and manager. Embracing his more entrepreneurial endeavors, community engagement and tech evangelism Nick has worked with several start-ups, local community organizations and leadership with large-scale events to leverage his knowledge and expertise in technology, management and recruiting to judge events, offer mentorship, speak on panels, and contribute to a growing tech and entrepreneurial ecosystem.

Nick is also the co-chair of Boise Entrepreneur Week, a program within Trailhead that promotes entrepreneurship in Boise. He serves on the board of directors of The Saint Alphonsus Foundation, Meridian Technical Charter High School, and the Idaho Virtual Reality Council. Nick is an advisor to Boise State Venture College, the Boise State computer science department, and Women Innovators (W.IN).

Nick Crabbs

Board Member

Steve Hatten

TechHelp

Steve Hatten is the Executive Director of TechHelp based at Boise State University. In his roles at TechHelp, Idaho's Manufacturing Extension Partnership and EDA University Centers, Steve has served as a Manufacturing Specialist and the New Product Development Manager for TechHelp since 2000. He worked with hundreds of Idaho manufacturing companies and startups.

Steve is a mechanical and manufacturing systems engineer with a range of experience in engineering and manufacturing environments. After completing engineering degrees at the University of Idaho and Stanford, he worked 13 years in the aerospace industry where he developed skills in mechanical design, design for manufacturability, and manufacturing process improvement. Steve enjoys using all of those skills with Idaho inventors and manufacturers.

Steve is a strong advocate of integrated engineering solutions to streamline manufacturing, especially with the use of cross-organizational teams. At Boeing, he led a team that made significant reductions in product design, fabrication, and test cycle time. Steve has a passion for introducing and improving product development services for Idaho manufacturers, including product design, prototyping, and management tools to improve product development processes.

Steve Hatten

Board Member

Melanie G. Rubocki

Perkins Coie

Melanie Rubocki is the Head of the Corporate group for the Boise Office. With a foundation in finance and entrepreneurial studies from the Wharton School of Business, Melanie brings a business sensibility and reasonableness to her client relations and any negotiated transaction. She represents business clients through their entire life cycle, from startup formation to exit. Her approach to the client relationship is proactive, rather than reactionary - she endeavors to help clients avoid legal pitfalls and traps for the unwary.

Melanie represents clients in many industries including: automotive aftermarket, cleantech, e-commerce, energy, interactive entertainment, manufacturing, mining, retail and consumer products and software and other Web-based businesses. She regularly advises clients in relation to emerging growth company issues, entity and fund formation, and licensing and technology transfer transactions. And she regularly advises directors and officers on corporate governance and fiduciary duty matters.

Melanie has led clients in all forms and stages of equity and debt financings and has an active M&A practice, advising both buy and sell side clients on complex mergers, acquisitions and other strategic business joint venture and arrangements. She also handles certain commercial real estate transactions and general business contracts and transactions. Melanie has recently founded and currently leads the U.S. Foreign Investment Visa industry group which assists clients considering E-2 or EB-5 investment opportunities including designation as a USCIS regional center.

Melanie G. Rubocki

Board Member

Paul Judge

Venture Development

Mr. Judge’s career includes more than 25 years of venture development experience including leadership roles in two public offerings. Significant career engagements include co-founding a national retailer of liquefied natural gas, leading the restructuring of a captive Private Equity fund, and founding a Sprint PCS branded mobile phone operator where as CFO he participated in raising over $500 million. Mr. Judge has served as an active board member with 10+ early stage companies over his career.

Paul Judge

Board Member

Matt McKinlay

Amplēo

Matt McKinlay is a partner at Amplēo, responsible for the turnaround and restructuring services of the company, and the Idaho market. He has 20 years’ experience working with a wide array of companies in multiple industries as a senior leader. Matt has been chief financial officer, chief restructuring officer, workout advisor and receiver of numerous companies and is skilled at helping solve difficult financial and operational challenges.

Matt graduated from the Marriott School at Brigham Young University with an MBA in Finance as a Hawes Scholar and pursued a career in the Midwest with three Fortune 50 retailers in ever-increasing roles such as financial analyst, financial manager, and director of finance, planning, and analytics. Since 2007, Matt has worked for small to mid-sized businesses helping companies through financial crises. Matt is credentialed as a Certified Management Accountant (CMA) and is one of Idaho’s only fully credentialed Certified Turnaround Professionals (CTP). He is active in the Boise community and volunteers as Treasurer of the Risk Management Association – Boise Chapter, and sits on the Board of Directors of Tru-Grocer Federal Credit Union.

Matt is a member of the Boise Angel Alliance and is an active angel investor in Idaho. He is also a member of the Treasure Valley CFO Forum. In his free time, Matt likes to golf, bicycle (road and mountain), ski, play tennis and eat pizza. He is married to Paula, and together they stay active trying to keep up with their four children.

Matt McKinlay

Board Member