With more than 20 years of experience in strategy, innovation, and international business development, I am a board member at EBAN, the European Business Angel Network, where I support and promote the role of angel investors in Europe. I am also an active angel investor myself, leading and participating in several investments in startups across various sectors and regions. I’ve been working with and investing in venture capital since 1999.
As an advisor and a founding member of the Lithuanian Business Angel Network, I contribute to the development of the angel investing ecosystem in Lithuania and the Baltic region. In less than five short years, Lithuania was awarded best performing business angel network in 2022! Further proof, you can do anything in 5 years and set a mission to shoot straight to the top with vision. I have also served as an advisory board member for Lithuania’s Ministry of Economy and Innovation, where I provide insights and recommendations on the policies and programs that foster entrepreneurship and innovation. Additionally, for several years I have been a committee chair for the entrepreneurial MBA final thesis at Vilnius University, where I mentor and evaluate the students’ projects and proposals. It was my great honour to deliver the commencement address for the Vilnius University MBA program in 2021 – in the very same room where I once received a certificate having studied one summer as a seventeen year old student from Canada in 1989.