The Saratoga Forum is an exclusive invite-only event for the Upstate Capital Board of Directors and Annual Sponsors.
The Saratoga Forum is the Upstate Capital’s premier event to connect the investment ecosystem across New York.
Who Will Be There?
Investors: Venture investors, private equity investors, investment bankers and transaction professionals, limited partners, angel investors and family office investors
Company leaders: CEOs, business owners and entrepreneurs from startups and established companies
Deal Makers: M&A professionals, attorneys, accountants, investment bankers and business professionals who facilitate investments in all kinds of companies
Tickets
Invitation Only – Invited guests, please RSVP below.
If you’d like to request an invitation to next year’s event, please contact Noa Simons, Upstate Capital’s President & CEO, at noa@upstatecapital.org
What to Expect at the 2021 Saratoga Forum
Curated content including CEO and investor conversations and Hugh Johnson’s Economic Outlook
Frank McEvoy
Investment Officer, NYS Common Retirement Fund
A member of the New York State Common Retirement Fund’s private equity team since 2009, Frank oversees a portfolio of U.S. and New York State-focused private equity fund investments. Prior to joining the Common Retirement Fund, Frank spent ten years as a management consultant for a wide variety of commercial clients. Frank has also worked in technology marketing for the 3M Company and was Director of State Tax for the Motion Picture Association of America. An Albany native, Frank received a Master of Business Administration from the Katz School of Business, University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Arts from the State University of New York in Albany.Business Administration from the Katz School of Business, University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Arts from the State University of New York in Albany. as a management consultant to a wide variety of commercial clients. Frank has also worked in technology marketing for the 3M Company and was Director of State Tax for the Motion Picture Association of America. An Albany native, Frank received a Master of Business Administration from the University of Pittsburgh and a Master of Arts from the State University of New York in Albany.
Hugh Johnson
Hugh Johnson Advisors
HUGH A. JOHNSON serves as the Chairman Emeritus of Graypoint LLC and Chairman of Hugh Johnson Advisors. He also serves as Chief Economist of both. In this position, he assists in the management of $2.1 billion in equity, fixed income, and cash investments for individual and institutional clients and assists as a consultant to $1.3 billion in institutional assets. In order to manage these assets effectively, Hugh formulates a broader outlook for the stock and bond markets by combining his knowledge of financial markets and economic history with an understanding of how market cycles work.
John Cococcia
Director @ P1 Ventures
John has spent the last 20 years working with early and growth stage companies as an investor, board member, trusted advisor and advocate. John gets deeply involved with each of the companies he has worked with, and focuses on issues such as strategy development and execution, C-level recruiting and coaching, venture and growth financings, strategic positioning, partnerships, restructurings, exits and turn-arounds. John is a trusted advisor to his companies, and has extensive Board-level experience spanning several high-tech industry categories, with active participation on compensation, audit, recruitment and M&A Board Committees. John has completed over 40 M&A and financing transactions.
In addition to his executive and investor roles, John is an adjunct professor at Siena College, and guest lectures at a number of universities on topics ranging from venture capital investing, entrepreneurship and leadership. John is married with a daughter, a son, three dogs and 20 chickens.
PJ Bellomo is the Co-Founder and CEO of P1ston, a supply chain collaboration platform for manufacturers and distributors. PJ spent the last 20 years serving in c-suite positions at SaaS and tech-enabled startups, including RocketDocs (CEO), PropertyRoom (CEO), and Commerce-5 (COO). An engineer by training, PJ began his career conducting process improvement analyses within manufacturing environments, and subsequently served as a management consultant at Arthur D. Little. He holds both an MS and BS from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Jennifer Tegan
Managing Director @ New York Ventures
Jennifer is Managing Director of New York Ventures at Empire State Development, a $100 million investment fund allocated toward direct equity investments into promising Seed and Series A start-ups and their diverse founding teams across New York State. Prior to joining Empire State Development, Jennifer spent 18 years with Cayuga Venture Fund where she invested in and supported entrepreneurs in technology-based start-ups. Jennifer has served on the boards of GiveGab, Pom, True Gault and Venuebook. She is also a member of the Board of Directors of Tompkins Financial Corporation and the National Venture Capital Association.
Brian Model
Managing Partner @ Topmark Partners
Brian is Managing Partner at Topmark Partners. Prior to Topmark, Brian spent 13 years managing equity investments in New York for Stonehenge Capital Company. His investment work is focused on growth-stage ventures, predominantly high potential business-to-business technology-enabled companies in up-and-coming regions, such as Florida, the Southeast, and Upstate New York, where an abundance of investment opportunities are underserved by a relatively small number of local growth equity investors. Brian earned a B.A. in Economics from Duke University and an MBA, with honors, from Columbia Business School.
Somak is a Founder and Managing Partner at Armory Square Ventures where he invests in software, mobile, and technology-enabled services companies across New York state and the greater northeast region. He is also a board member of the Upstate Venture Association of New York, as well as Clerio Vision, Vizbee, and ACV Auctions. Somak earned his BS from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the Columbia Business School.
Imran Cronk
CEO @ Ride Health
Imran Cronk is Founder and CEO of Ride Health, a New York-based healthcare technology and services company that works with hospital systems and health plans to coordinate transportation for low-income, elderly and individuals with disabilities who face transportation barriers to care. Ride Health was founded in 2016 and now facilitates tens of thousands of rides per month across the nation. Imran is also a Health Industry Advisory Council Member of the Ronald McDonald House New York, a Technology Advisory Board Member of the Non-Emergency Medical Transportation Accreditation Commission (NEMTAC), and a Fellow of the New York-based Kairos Society. Imran graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2016, where he studied Health & Societies and Healthcare Management. Originally from North Carolina, Imran’s hobbies now include hiking around the mountains of upstate New York and biking along the Hudson River.
Marissa is a Partner at Nixon Peabody LLP. She has extensive experience in M&A, debt and equity financing, strategic partnerships, venture capital investments and general corporate representation. She also been named one of the 40 under 40 by the Albany Business Review. Marissa earned her BA from Vassar College and her JD from Hoftstra University School of Law.
Christine is COO at VARA – new type of firearm safety company. Reach is a an incredible instant access technology we have been working on for almost five years – and we hit $1M in sales! I still get excited every day to get this into people’s hands! How rewarding to be part of an awesome team that makes a product that will save lives.
Christine is also an Angel Investor actively involved in early stage investing and mentoring throughout the Northeast with a past life of strategic and operational management focused on leadership and vision and strategy. Her roots are in plant manufacturing, supply chain, operations and turnaround situations.
She is the first investor in NYC-based ARC Angel Fund and in a member of Funding Post Angels. Christine is active in the Upstate New York startup community as an event judge, mentor, investor and advisor as well as the Chair of UNY50 Leadership Network. Christine was an organizer of Startupweekend Tech Valley and a principle in a gaming accelerator and fund based in Troy NY.
Exceptional networking: the invite-only Saratoga Forum is the premier place to connect with M&A and PE professionals, entrepreneurs, C-suite executives and industry leaders
The Saratoga Forum
The Saratoga Forum
Quality entertainment at The Saratoga Race Course
The Saratoga Race Course
The Saratoga Race Course
The Saratoga Race Course
“This is certain to be one of the most memorable and insightful discussions that Upstate Capital has hosted.”
Board Member David Helgerson of Hamilton Lane
BACKGROUND
Since 2003, the Upstate Capital Association of New York has connected the investment community, advancing the mission of increasing access to capital for companies and deal flow for investors across New York State. Upstate Capital hosts events regularly throughout the state for investors, transaction professionals, entrepreneurs and company executives and maintains a robust regional membership network.
