Eved is committed to delivering innovative solutions to help change the Meetings and Events industry for the better, and our investors are critical to our success. We are honored to work with the following firms and individuals.
Merrick Ventures, led by Michael W. Ferro, Jr.
MK Capital, led by Bret Maxwell
New Word Ventures, led by Matthew B. McCall
Thor Equities, led by Joseph J. Sitt
Michael W. Ferro, Jr. is the past chairman, CEO and founder of Click Commerce, Inc. Under Mr. Ferro’s leadership, Click Commerce pioneered the market for Internet portals that drove the integration of disparate systems in numerous vertical markets. Mr. Ferro is the current Chairman and CEO of Merrick Ventures, a technology holding company. Mr. Ferro is also the current Chairman of Merge Healthcare (Nasdaq MRGE), the leading imaging software company in the world.
In addition, Mr. Ferro is Vice Chairman of WHITIA (the World Health Imaging, Telemedicine and Informatics Alliance).
Mr. Ferro is a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and is a Director with the RAND Health Board of Advisors. Mr. Ferro is also a Director on the Board of Trustees of The Chicago Museum of Science and Industry, The Field Museum of Chicago, The Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, Northwestern University and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He serves on the boards of Northwestern University, The Chicago Community Trust, Children’s Memorial Hospital, Northwestern Memorial Foundation, Big Shoulders Foundation, and AfterSchool Matters. In addition to his civic and philanthropic activities, Mr. Ferro participates in several business organizations. He is the past Chairman of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center and a board member of the Economic Club of Chicago. Mr. Ferro is also a member of Young Presidents’ Organization and The Commercial Club of Chicago. He is a graduate of the University of Illinois.
Bret is a Managing General Partner at MK Capital. He is also the Managing General Partner on three of the Productivity Funds totaling $200 million in committed capital. Bret has been a decision-making partner in six other fully invested funds, representing over $300 million in committed capital. Prior to founding MK Capital, he was the co-Founder of First Analysis' venture capital practice in 1985. Bret's areas of expertise include outsourced business services, telecom and internet infrastructure, and energy and power infrastructure. Bret is a graduate of The McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University and Kellogg's Graduate School of Management. He has served as the Chairman of the Illinois Venture Capital Association, and is a director on the board of Mount Sinai Hospital and on the finance committee of the Jewish United Fund. He is also Certified Financial Analyst.
Matt joined New World Ventures in 2009 and remains co-founder & Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson Portage Venture Partners.
Matt’s current and past investments include Analyte Media, Apptera, BrightTag, Cognitive Concepts (acquired by Houghton Mifflin), Everdream (acquired by Dell), Feedburner (acquired by Google), Imago Scientific (acquired by Ametek), Lefthand Networks (acquired by HP), Performics (acquired by DoubleClick/Google), Playdom (acquired by Disney), Siimpel (acquired by Tessera), and TicketsNow (acquired by Ticketmaster). He is currently on the boards of Analyte Media and Apptera.
Previous to 1995, Matt worked in the Boston Consulting Group’s Chicago Office, where he managed consulting and client teams on projects in the telecommunications, health-care and financial services industries. During and after college, Matt worked for Bankers Trust in Merchant Banking as well as Merrill Lynch and U.S. Trust.
Matt has been honored by Crain’s Chicago Business on its annual “40 under 40” list of leading Chicagoans under age 40, named to the AlwaysOn Top 100 VC’s in the US list and as one of the most prominent members of Chicago’s technology community. Matt has keynoted or been a panelist at over 70 area conferences and events nationwide. He has served on the advisory on numerous regional high technology advisory boards. Matt is the author of a popular venture blog, VCConfidential.com. He is also a founder & trustee of the McCall Family Foundation, focused encouraging social entrepreneurship and global human/women’s rights.
Matt graduated with a B.A. in economics and history from Williams College and earned an M.B.A. with honors from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management. He also holds a Masters in Manufacturing Management from Northwestern University’s McCormick School of Engineering.
Joseph J. Sitt is the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Thor Equities—a forward-thinking international real estate development and redevelopment company that specializes in value-added investments in shopping centers, malls and mixed-use urban developments in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Latin America. Thor currently has a retail, office, hotel, and residential portfolio totaling more than ten million square feet valued at more than $3 billion. He also serves as Chairman and Managing Principal of the Thor Urban Property Funds with equity in excess of $1 billion whose investors include pension funds, investment banks, prestigious top-tier college endowments, and foundations.
“Talia Mashiach and her team have developed a system that makes it easy for us to know the payment status of any of the thousands of vendors we work with. The staff hours we used to spend on that tedious paperwork can now be used to better serve our customers and add value to their programs. It’s great to partner with Eved; they understand the business and give us what we need.”
Fay Beauchine
President,
Engagement & Events,
Carlson Marketing