Team

Daniel Ryan is a software and technology executive with over 30 years of experience who brings a strong background in product and market strategy, business development, and M&A to CIBO Technologies. He is currently Chairman of Absolute Software (TSX:ABT), a leading SaaS endpoint visibility and control company with revenues approaching $100M. He joined as a director in June 2011 and was appointed Chairman of the Board in December 2013. From 2011 to 2018, Mr. Ryan was President and CEO of RedBrick Health where it grew from an early-stage business into an acknowledged industry leader in SaaS-powered employee well-being and health engagement until its acquisition by Marlin Equity Partners. Before RedBrick, Mr. Ryan was president and chief executive officer of Secure Computing (NASDAQ:SCUR), a $250M leader in enterprise security solutions, prior to it being acquired by McAfee (NYSE:MFE) where he served as executive vice president and general manager of their $500M network security business unit. From 1999 to 2006, he served as SVP and then president and chief operating officer at Stellent (NASDAQ:STEL), a leading enterprise content management software company that grew revenues from $2M to $130M during his tenure before being acquired by Oracle, where he became senior vice president of enterprise content management products. Mr. Ryan joined Stellent from Foglight Software, an innovator in e-commerce application performance management software, where he led product management, product marketing and business development. During his time at Foglight, the company grew from a start-up to a leader in that segment, realizing customer adoption by many leading e-commerce companies prior to its acquisition by Quest Software. Prior to Foglight, he was involved in early-stage technology companies in product management, product marketing, and business development roles.

Mr. Ryan holds a BS in math and economics from the University of Minnesota. He enjoys many sports, outdoor activities and good food. Outside of work, he enjoys spending time with his wife, four children, and two dogs.

Ignacio is a Partner at Flagship Pioneering, where he focuses on sustainability and life sciences investments with a special interest in the agricultural sector.

Previously, Ignacio was the Managing Director of Syngenta Ventures and was also involved in corporate venture capital activities, managing the relationship as a limited partner with Life Science Partners BioVentures, and the Gilde European Food and Agribusiness. Prior to Syngenta, Ignacio was the Chief Financial Officer of Progenika Group and spent several years working for Najeti Ventures Fund.

Ignacio holds a B.S. in Economics and Business Administration from Deusto University in Spain and an International MBA from Instituto de Empresa in Spain and WHU Otto Beisheim School of Management in Germany.

Margo Georgiadis is a CEO-Partner at Flagship Pioneering, the bioplatform innovation company. As a CEO-Partner, Georgiadis brings extensive expertise in technological innovation and high-performance business transformation. Working with Flagship CEO and Founder Noubar Afeyan and Lord Ara Darzi, she plays an instrumental role in Flagship Pioneering’s efforts to scale its preemptive medicine and health security initiative and develop new companies aimed at deterring or delaying the onset of disease, improve health outcomes for consumers, corporations and countries. She is also called on to leverage her artificial intelligence and machine learning experience to advance biotech innovation, and serves as CEO of a Flagship company still in stealth.

Margo is an experienced CEO and company builder who has dedicated her career to transforming products and services with data and technology to empower consumers to live better lives, and to deliver outsized growth and returns for investors. Most recently, she served as an Endurance Partner at venture catalyst firm General Catalyst, where she focused on building next-generation healthcare platforms that improve clinical outcomes while making healthcare more consumer-centric, accessible and affordable. Previously, she served as President and CEO of Ancestry where she brought together content, science, and technology to transform Ancestry into the undisputed global leader in family history and consumer genomics. Under her leadership, the company scaled to over 3.6M subscribers, doubled its genomics network to over 20M customers and delivered over $1B in subscription revenue with record setting profitability and cash flow.

Margo also spent nine years at Google as President of Americas and Vice President of Global Operations, leading the hyper scaling of Google’s commercial operations and advertising sales across all digital solutions including search, mobile, video, shopping, local and commerce, and platforms. Her other operating roles include serving as the CEO of Mattel, Inc., the COO of Groupon, EVP of US Card Services and CMO at Discover Financial Services, and as a partner at McKinsey and Company.

Beyond her operating roles, Margo is an experienced investor at the intersection of health and technology and has helped to scale multiple successful platform companies as an Endurance Partner at General Catalyst and a Managing Partner at Synetro Group.

Margo has received multiple awards for her business and community leadership including the Forbes “Excellence Award in Innovation,” Chicago Innovation’s “Visionary Award,” the Eastman Medal from the University of Rochester, Executive of the Year in Utah, and was named to Crain’s “Most Powerful Women in Business” and Fortune’s “50 Most Powerful Women in Business” lists.

Margo serves on multiple Boards including McDonald’s, Applovin, Ro, Handshake, the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and People’s Health Clinic. She earned a BA in Economics from Harvard College and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Bernie Cooney is a Senior Partner at Flagship Pioneering focusing on capital formation at both the fund and portfolio levels. Working closely with Stephen Berenson and in coordination with the relevant Flagship partners, Bernie will work with our GrowthCos to help optimize their equity raises, beginning with Series B financings, and extending to and beyond their IPOs.

Most recently, Bernie was the Managing Director, Equity Capital Markets Group at UBS Investment Bank. Bernie held several leadership positions at UBS where he was responsible for equity origination in multiple sectors and rebuilding UBS’s capital markets risk business. Prior to his time in equity capital markets, Bernie held a variety of roles in the institutional securities businesses at both UBS and Morgan Stanley, mostly focused on the healthcare sector. Bernie brings a wealth of capital markets experience, a broad array of relationships with public-market investors, and deep experience helping emerging life sciences companies raise equity capital.

Bernie holds a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University of Massachusetts and an M.B.A. from Georgetown University, McDonough School of Management.

Hugh Grant was chairman and chief executive officer of the former Monsanto Company. He joined Monsanto in 1981 and spent the next 37 years working on three continents in a variety of positions, including Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, and President. He held the roles of Chairman and CEO from 2003 until his departure in 2018, after successfully leading the $60 billion sale to Bayer.

Monsanto and Grant were recognized by numerous groups for innovation, corporate responsibility, and business leadership during his tenure. Grant has been named on Barron’s list of Most Respected CEOs, the Harvard Business Review’s Top 50 Best Performing CEOs, and recognized as “CEO of the Year” by Chief Executive Magazine. In 2015, employee reviews also earned Grant an honor on the Top 10 Highest-Rated CEOs list by Glassdoor.com.

Grant serves as lead director of PPG Industries, Inc., and recently joined the board of Freeport McMoRan and Invaio Sciences. He is also a former member of Civic Progress in St. Louis, Missouri. In 2011, he was inducted as a member of the American Academy of Arts & Sciences.

Born in Larkhall, Scotland, Grant earned a Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural zoology with Honors at Glasgow University. He also earned a postgraduate degree in agriculture at Edinburgh University and a Master of Business Administration degree at the International Management Centre in Buckingham, United Kingdom.

Michael Toelle owns T & T Farms, a diversified farming company, and sits on the board of CF Industries Holdings, Inc., a manufacturer and distributor of nitrogen-based fertilizers located in Deerfield, Ill. Toelle also serves on the board of directors for the Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company based in Columbus, Ohio.

Trisa currently serves as an Advisor to Pledgeling Inc, a charitable giving platform for the corporate world. In this role, she provides strategic advice on corporate needs, as well as growth opportunity areas for the business.

Trisa also recently retired from Dell, where she was a Senior Vice President and the Chief Responsibility Officer from 2008 to 2018. In this role, Trisa created and directed the company’s long-term strategic CSR plan, the 2020 Legacy of Good. Trisa reported regularly to Dell’s Governance and Nominating Committee, as well as to the Executive Leadership Team. Under her leadership, Dell became a global leader in driving innovative circular economy practices. By driving these practices across the company, Dell received the first large corporate World Economic Forum Circular Award. She took a new perspective on sustainability initiatives, working across the business, focusing on customer needs and business objectives, while simultaneously saving money and reducing the company’s footprint. Under her leadership, Dell was recognized for many awards, including, among others, 2018 CES Innovation Award, 2017 Environmental Leader Award, 2017 Fortune Change the World List, 2014 Keep America Beautiful Award, and the 2015 World Economic Forum Circular Award.

Prior to becoming Dell’s CRO, Trisa was a Senior Vice President in Dell’s legal department. Trisa served as the general counsel for the US Public business ($9B+), the Americas Large Corporate Sales Business ($35B+), the global Consumer Business ($5B+) and the Global Operations Team ($50B+). At Dell, Trisa spent much of her time helping the company grow internationally, from setting up global call centers to negotiating multi-billion dollar complex deals to managing key trade compliance issues and a global product recall. Her broad corporate law, compliance, and business technology background, as well as her strong leadership skills, make her an asset to any board on which she serves.

Prior to her time with Dell, Trisa was a partner with Seyfarth Shaw in Washington, DC, where she specialized in federal, state, and local procurement law and litigation. There, she represented major DoD, technology and other suppliers on issues ranging from bid protests and litigation to the TAA and false claims. Trisa has appeared in federal and state courts, as well as before numerous administrative agencies.

Trisa has been recognized for her efforts, both professional and philanthropic, in national, state, and local arenas. She has also been a featured speaker at numerous events. The National Diversity Council honored Trisa with their Most Powerful and Influential Women of Texas Award and named her one of the Top 50 Women in Technology in the United States in 2014. Trisa was honored as United Way’s Volunteer of the Year Award (2008) and was a finalist for the Austin Business Journal’s Profiles In Power Award (2005). Trisa was one of GirlStart’s 2018 “Austin Women in STEM” honoree, and Austin’s “Net Zero Hero”. She was also awarded the 2019 Integrity Award by the First Tee of Greater Austin. She has been a featured speaker at events and conferences including the Vanity Fair’s Founders Fair, Fast Company Innovation Festival, The Business of Green: An Atlantic Forum, The Economist Sustainability Forum, Exponential Manufacturing Forum for Singularity University, and SXSW. Interviews with Trisa appear in media outlets including Law and Technology News, Corporate Counsel Magazine, Fortune, Forbes, CGTN America, Business Insider, GreenBiz, CSR Vision, TriplePundit, Sustainable Brands, Huffington Post, The New York Times, and, most recently as a key note speaker at the NACD 2019 Annual Summit. She was a Tech Advisory Panel Member for Melinda Gates’ Pivotal Ventures and McKinsey & Company: “Rebooting Representation”, 2018. Trisa was also a judge for the Circulars Awards at the World Economic Forum, 2015-2018.

She earned a J.D. with honors from The National Law Center, George Washington University. She received her bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications from Boston University, magna cum laude.

Trisa currently serves on the boards of directors for LifeWorks Austin and The Miracle Foundation. In the past, she has serves as the chair of the board for Zachary Scott Theatre and KLRU – TV. She has also served on the board of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, the American Red Cross National Advisory Board, The United Way, Central Texas Advisory Board and I Live Here, I Give Here Board of Governors.

Joe Pianelli has over 30 years of experience in finance, corporate development, business formation, as well as senior level operating roles in the following sectors: wireless, digital media, Internet and consumer retail. He has worked on a global basis with C-level executives of large and small enterprises developing strategic growth plans and launching new business ventures. Core competencies include commercialization of new technologies, revenue generating partnerships and capital funding strategies. He has been investing in emerging technologies for over 25 years. Joe has worked with family offices focused on disruptive technologies investing across all parts of the value chain. Stage 1 Ventures recruited Joe to be an Operating Partner in 2015 leveraging his experience in scaling global businesses and working with institutional investors. Joe currently is a board observer for Invaio Ag Sciences, Trace Genomics and Freight Farms.

Joe started investing in agriculture in 2012 when he incubated VoloAgri, a vegetable seed technology and breeding company that went on to raise $140 million in capital funding. The current focus is on the digital transformation that is occurring in agriculture and the development of data driven agronomy. The digitization of farming will enable the capture of broad data sets including farm management practices, seed, inputs and weather. The application of machine learning and AI on plants and soil will enable new discoveries on how plants interact with the micro-biome and create new data driven agronomic decisions that will define the future of agriculture.

Lila joined Generation in 2004 and is the Co-Head of the Growth Equity strategy. Prior to joining Generation, Lila was a Director of Finance & Development at VolunteerMatch in San Francisco, and also a consultant for clients such as Save the Children (YouthNoise). Prior to joining VolunteerMatch, she was a Fulbright Fellow in Southern Chile where she worked on community-based forestry and conservation projects.

Lila graduated with honors from Stanford University with a BA in English and Latin American Studies. She also received an MBA from the London Business School. Lila is also a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. Lila speaks fluent Spanish.

Lila serves as a Board Director for CIBO Technologies, Recyclebank, and Seventh Generation’s Social Mission Board, as well as Board Observer for Optoro.