Flywheel's Strategic Advisory Board
Flywheel Fellows
Follow the Flywheel Team on Twitter @flywheelvc
Trevor R. Loy
Twitter: @trevorloy
General Partner
Trevor brings 15 years of venture investing, entrepreneurial and operating experience in seed and early-stage technology ventures with particular strengths in corporate strategy, executive leadership, design engineering, and sales and marketing. Over his career, he has founded, managed, advised, invested and participated in the growth and success of more than 20 technology-focused ventures.
Trevor founded Flywheel Ventures and has led its growth firm to a full-time staff of 7 people and nearly $40 million under management. He oversees firm strategy, team development and external relationships and leads Flywheel investments in Comet Solutions, Filtrbox, Micromanipulator, Tuscany Design Automation, SAMBA Holdings, and Aravo Solutions. He previously led the firm’s investments in, and eventual exits from, Rdestiny and WorkingWild.
From 1999-2002, Trevor acted as advisor to 16 technology ventures before raising the first Flywheel fund in 2002. During this period he also served as a co-founding Director of the “Gap Fund” at Stanford University’s Office of Technology Licensing. Trained as an engineer, Trevor spent 12 years in various entrepreneurial, executive and technical roles including Gigabeat (backed by Kleiner Perkins and acquired by Napster, now Roxio); Brooktree (acquired by Rockwell Semiconductor, now Conexant Systems); ParkingNet, Teradyne, and Intel Corporation, where he managed the team behind Pentium and Pentium II microprocessors and won the Intel Quality Award for his innovations in the semiconductor manufacturing process.
An advocate for the role of entrepreneurship across disciplines, particularly in his chosen New Mexico, he is Co-Founder and President of the New Mexico Venture Capital Association; Co-founder and Chairman of Social Venture Partners New Mexico, Co-founding director of the Arrowhead R&D Center at New Mexico State University, Co-founding director of Lobo VentureLab at the University of New Mexico, and was a key member of the team that built the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, the entrepreneurship center at Stanford’s School of Engineering. Trevor has been named a top “Power Broker” by New Mexico Business Weekly in successive years from 2004-2007 and is a member of Social Venture Network. He is a contributing author of “Technology Venture Capital Deals” (Aspatore Press 2007). He was recently named to the Board of the National Venture Capital Association.
Trevor holds a BS Electrical Engineering, MS Electrical Engineering, and MS Management Science & Engineering, all from Stanford University. He also studied at the Stanford Center for Technology & Innovation in Kyoto, Japan and Hong Kong University of Science & Technology in China.
Kim Sanchez Rael
Twitter: @kimsanchezrael
General Partner
Kim brings to the team 19 years of entrepreneurial start-up, executive management, policy and venture investing experience with particular strengths in university and lab commercialization, operations and finance for technology companies.
Kim joined Flywheel as a General Partner in 2003 and leads Flywheel’s current investments in MIOX and Tred Displays.
Prior to Flywheel, she was a co-founder and investor in Qynergy Corporation (and advance materials/energy startup backed by In-Q-Tel) where she served as Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer from 2001-2003. Prior to Qynergy, she spent seven years in executive management at Intel Corporation where she oversaw finance, manufacturing, engineering, and operations and planning. Her duties included, managing a capital budget of over $200 million and a $1B factory planning project. Kim also previously served as a legislative aid in the US Senate, where she focused on science and technology policy and foreign affairs.
A New Mexico native and active public and non-profit servant, Kim co-chairs the Governor’s statewide Infrastructure Finance Team and serves on the Governor’s Water Infrastructure Investment Team and was founding president of an elementary charter school. A Kauffman Fellow and Leadership Albuquerque graduate, Kim is a co-founder of Social Venture Partners New Mexico, has been repeatedly featured as a New Mexico top business “Power Broker” and was recognized as one of New Mexico’s “Top 10 Women of Influence” in 2006 by the New Mexico Business Weekly. She has served on numerous health and education non-profit boards.
Kim is currently a board director of MIOX and Tred Displays.
She received her BA with honors from Harvard University and her MBA and Certificate in Public Management from Stanford University.
Scott L. Caruso
Twitter: @slcaruso
General Partner
Scott brings a decade of angel and venture investing experience and over 25 years of technology industry experience as a founder, builder, manager and advisor to over two dozen early-stage ventures in the Internet, Software and IT arenas. A seasoned tech entrepreneur and engineer, he has particular strengths in supporting company transitions from product development to sales-driven businesses and developing effective corporate infrastructure for scale.
Scott joined Flywheel as a General Partner in 2003 and leads the firm’s investments in Groople, Lingotek, Intelisum, Sindhara Supermedia, 4Blox and Trackvia. He is also a board observer for Filtrbox.
Prior to Flywheel, Scott was an active angel investor from 1999 to 2003 investing in 12 start-up companies ranging from biotech to IT infrastructure. He founded and led two successful technology start-ups – as Founder/President HotSpare, a self-financed, profitable internet infrastructure services company and as co-Founder of Compute Intensive, a self-funded ISP services company to the SMB market (acquired by Verio and sold to NTT for $6 billion). Between 1989-1994, Scott was a Systems and Sales Support engineer at Sun Microsystems. Prior to Sun, he managed the computer operations group of New Mexico State University’s Computer Sciences Dept. and was responsible for connecting NMSU to the Arpanet (predecessor to today’s internet) and building the first campus-wide email system.
He is past Director of New Mexico Angels from 2004-2006 and is a board director of Lingotek, Intelisum, 4Blox, and Trackvia, a board observer at Groople and past board observer at SAMBA.
Scott received a BS, with a minor in Computer Science from New Mexico State University in 1987.
Lawrence Chavez
Twitter: @lawrencechavez
Venture Partner
Lawrence has over 18 years of finance, operations management and strategic marketing experience in a variety of entrepreneurial businesses and five years as an active angel investor in New Mexico-based companies. At Flywheel, Lawrence has principal responsibility for managing Flywheel’s New Mexico Gap Fund which provides seed funding of up to $100,000 for promising start-up companies. Lawrence supports the flywheel portfolio with financial management support including recently acting as interim CFO for Micromanipulator. Additional responsibilities include sourcing, screening and structuring new investment opportunities, conducting due diligence and market research for prospective and current investments.
Prior to Flywheel, Lawrence was an active angel investor and entrepreneur in a variety of New Mexico companies. He was a Founder and Principal of Infinity Business Development, a start-up consulting firm, and a Founder/CEO of Infinity Music, Inc., which he exited in a private transaction in 2006. Prior to that he spent six years as Purchasing/Operations Manager for Our Secret Ltd., a growth consumer products company where he oversaw production, manufacturing and global supply chain logistics. Lawrence is an active member of the New Mexico Angels investment group and serves on its Screening Committee. He is currently on the board of the New Mexico Venture Capital Association. Lawrence holds a Bachelors of Accountancy from New Mexico State University and a Masters in Marketing from Texas A&M University.
Paula L. Marez
Director of Finance & Operations
Paula joined Flywheel in October 2005 and oversees financial information and investor relations. She was recently named 2007 #4 Top CFO in the Small Private Company category by the New Mexico Business Weekly.
Prior to joining Flywheel, Paula spent most of her career in the upscale restaurant management business, and received the distinguished honor of being named Restaurateur of the Year by the Santa Fe Restaurant Association in 2000. She is a graduate of New Mexico State University and holds a BS in Hospitality and Tourism Services, with an emphasis in business administration and accounting.
Yasine Mogharreban Armstrong
yasine@flywheelventures.com
Twitter: @yasinem
Communication Manager
Yasine joined Flywheel in 2008 and manages the Firm’s public relations, communications, marketing and events. She has particular strengths in message development and fundraising.
She most recently served as a Deputy National Finance Director for New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson’s Presidential campaign where she was responsible for planning and implementing national fundraising events across the country. She was also the Special Assistant to Communication for Governor Bill Richardson where she served as a spokesperson for the Governor and First Lady, researched and composed talking points on a variety of state and local issues and helped manage communications related to state business. Yasine holds a Bachelors in Communication from Truman State University and a Masters in Political Communication from the University of New Mexico.
Lillian Montoya-Rael
lillian@flywheelventures.com
Twitter: @LMontoyaRael
Entrepreneur In Residence
Lillian Montoya-Rael has over 20 years of experience in the public, private, and non-profit sectors. She is a seasoned operations professional with extensive experience in strategic planning and implementation, financial planning/budgeting, and communications. She has a solid reputation for innovative and effective initiatives that are sustainable and for creating consensus around tough issues.
Prior to joining Flywheel, launched LMR Consulting LLC, helping corporate and non-profit leaders navigate everyday strategic and organizational challenges. Concurrently, she worked as a Wealth Management Advisor with Citi Smith Barney. Previously, she was the Director of the Community Programs Office at Los Alamos National Laboratory where she led strategic planning efforts, and the corresponding investments in regional education, economic development, and community giving. She was also the Executive Director of the Regional Development Corporation where she was one of the first economic development leaders to espouse a “regional approach” to regional diversification and development. Her experience also includes 12 years of state government employment where she was the Deputy Director at the NM Commission on Higher Education and State Cash Manager at the NM State Treasurer’s Office.
A native New Mexican, Lillian has distinguished herself as an active participant in many community, business and educational organizations and has been repeatedly featured as a New Mexico top business “Power Broker” by the New Mexico Business Weekly. She is currently a board member of the City of Santa Fe’s Business and Quality of Life Committee, New Mexico First, the Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship, and the NM Business Roundtable for Educational Excellence.
Lillian received her BA and MBA from the University of New Mexico.
