About us
Iker Marcaide Board Member
Founder & CEO of peerTransfer, the emerging leader in international student payment processing. The company has offices in the US and Europe, has received several innovation awards such as winning the HIT Barcelona 2010 Innovation Summit, MITX awards for “Best Consumer Tech That Makes Life Easier” and the “Innovative Business Model” and is backed by international investors including Spark Capital, Accel Partners and Maveron. Iker was a former management Consultant at The Boston Consulting Group in Europe, engaging with leading financial institutions and consumer goods corporations in building strategic plans, defining and implementing sales & marketing strategies as well as turnarounds and operational improvements.
Iker, originally from Spain, is an MBA from MIT Sloan, Master in Operations Management from the MIT School of Engineering, as well as MS in Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Valencia.
Alex Finkelstein Board Member
Alex Finkelstein is a General Partner at Spark Capital and joined the firm at its inception. He has led Spark’s investments in 5min Media (acquired by AOL), 8D World, Altius Education, Linkwell, peerTransfer, OnSwipe and CSN Stores. Alex focuses on working with and investing in highly passionate entrepreneurs who enjoy leaving stable jobs to build transformative companies.
Prior to joining Spark Capital, Alex was the creator and producer of a number of television shows and Internet properties that he sold to major networks, including FOX, E!, Discovery, ITV1 (U.K.) and Yahoo. Alex’s shows all had major product integration components and were sold in partnership with Fortune 500 brands.
Previously Alex was a Principal at Seed Capital Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm that was formed in partnership with Softbank. Before joining Seed Capital Partners, Alex was an Associate at GrandBanks Capital, an early-stage venture capital firm that was also formed in partnership with Softbank.
Alex also worked at Cambridge Associates, where he served as a Senior Venture Capital Research Associate and Senior Consulting Associate.
Alex Finkelstein holds a BA in political science from Middlebury College.
Adam Valkin Board Observer
Adam has worked in the Internet industry for fourteen years. He has held venture, entrepreneurial and corporate positions during this time with a focus on consumer internet services and digital media. Adam was most recently Global Head of Digital Media & New Business at Endemol - the world's largest television production company - where he was responsible for the company's digital strategy and activities in 30 countries.
Prior to that he spent nine years at London-based venture capital firm Arts Alliance where he led or supported a number of investments in Europe, Israel and the US including LOVEFiLM, Propertyfinder, Smartjog, Prepay Technologies, Daylife and Kenshoo. Adam was also co-founder and interim CEO of LOVEFiLM, Europe's largest online DVD subscription service and co-led the consolidation of the UK's largest private investor club, Pi Capital.
Before Arts Alliance, Adam held management positions in the US at barnesandnoble.com and Firefly Network. Adam has a degree in economics from Harvard University.
Amy Errett Board Observer
Amy joined the Maveron team as a partner in 2008. She offers Maveron more than 25 years of business and operating expertise as a leading entrepreneur, senior executive and social-mission visionary. Her focal points are emerging Web enabled consumer trends, e-commerce social shopping, and online education. Amy currently serves on the Altius Education, Course Hero, KidZui, Livemocha, Mozes and VideoEgg boards of directors.
Amy’s multifaceted career has ranged from the online Web 2.0 media industry to the offline consumer marketplace, and has stretched as far as volunteer nonprofit leadership. Most recently, she was chief executive officer and an owner of Olivia, repositioning the travel company as a complete lifestyle company for gay women both online and offline while multiplying revenues from $5 million to $25 million in 2007. In 2006, she was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year for Northern California. Prior to her work at Olivia in 2002, she founded and served as chair and chief executive officer of The Spectrem Group, a worldwide strategic consulting, information, and M&A advisory firm. Amy sold Spectrem to an IPG subsidiary, NFO Worldwide (NYSE:NFO) in 1996. After the sale, she joined the senior management team at E*Trade where she diversified the company’s business beyond brokerage and ran a $200 million business that encompassed the management of E*Trade’s growth areas, including their business-to-business stock option division, and launched a successful asset-based products and investment management services division. Among Amy's citations is the Israel Fellows Award, presented by the San Francisco–based Jewish Community Federation. A passionate humanitarian, Amy is the chair of the board of Glide Foundation, San Francisco’s largest nongovernmental, direct social services organization. Amy is also a member of San Francisco’s Barbary Coast chapter of YPO and serves on the board of Wharton West.
A New York native, Amy earned an MBA in finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in liberal arts from the University of Connecticut. She is a fanatical UCONN Huskies fan where she was a student athlete. (This makes for fascinating partner meetings during basketball season since she is not a DUKE fan!) She and her partner live in San Francisco with their daughter.
