David works across all aspects of Wildwood Ventures including portfolio strategy, investment management, investor relations, and firm administration. Prior to Wildwood David was EVP, Venture Platforms and EVP, Global Strategy at VF Corporation, serving on VF’s Executive Leadership Team for six years. During his 17 years at VF, David worked across nearly all of VF’s amazing brands in Colorado, North Carolina and Switzerland in areas such as strategy, consumer insights, innovation, new ventures, and purpose. Prior to VF David spent time in private equity and consulting, and he attended both UNC Chapel Hill and Harvard. David lives in Denver with his wife Jennifer and four kids. He is a diehard Tar Heel fan and can be found in the South Carolina Low Country any chance he gets.

Jesse works across all of Wildwood including growth, founder sourcing and advising, and investor relations. Prior to Wildwood, he was CEO of Magneti, an award-winning growth marketing firm he bootstrapped, scaled, and exited. Earlier in his career, Jesse launched a failed healthtech startup and led digital marketing and growth at two venture-backed SaaS companies. Jesse lives with his wife and four kids near Denver, where they enjoy all the delights of living in Colorado including skiing, mountain biking, dirt biking, and camping. He enjoys guest lecturing at his alma mater Colorado College, hunting for passable landlocked sushi, and only drinks coffee cuz apparently, that’s what adults do.

Jess Welton is Principal and Head of Business Design. She serves as a fractional co-founder for entrepreneurs and leads the product strategy practice informed by human-centered design. Before Wildwood, Jess launched start-up businesses at VF Corp’s venture studio. At Salesforce, she pioneered next-gen products for Professional Services and co-created strategy for an evolving, digital-native world with CxOs at companies like Verizon, BMW, Under Armour and Disney. She spent formative years at the award-winning innovation consulting firm, Smart Design, after graduating from Loyola Marymount University. Jess enjoys lecturing on strategy and innovation for MBA students at Berkeley Haas, racing road bikes, taking her dog to the beach, and refurbishing her ’84 Toyota Land Cruiser.

Kristen focuses on Wildwood’s portfolio design, entrepreneur sourcing and selection, startup building, and fund operations. Kristen’s career includes building venture funds at VF Corp, Nike, and the US Agency for International Development; investing in and advising startups across ten sectors and twenty countries; and rolling up her sleeves as a co-CEO and fractional cofounder in early stage businesses. A graduate of Harvard Business School and Johns Hopkins, Kristen is driven by a mission to harness business as a positive force for social change. She spends her time doing wildly inefficient DIY projects, scheming about her next travel adventure, obsessing over good books, and enjoying stereotypically Colorado activities with friends, family, and an extremely fluffy dog named after Rosie the Riveter.

Charles Irizarry is a seasoned entrepreneur, venture builder, and CTO specializing in technology and innovation. With a strong background in distributed computing systems, cloud-based software architectures, and emerging technologies like AI and blockchain, he has an impressive track record. Charles was a Co-Founder and former Managing Director of Rokk3r, a technology venture studio that went public in 2016. He also served as CTO of FoodLogiQ, leading the company from Seed to Series B and overseeing its 2022 acquisition. Additionally, he was Advising CTO to Boatyard, an on-demand boat services platform acquired in 2020. Charles balances product innovation with company lifecycle realities and leads innovative teams to deliver quality digital products and platforms. He loves them video games.

Nick works with Wildwood’s partner entrepreneurs to validate business models, conduct market testing, prototype and build go to market strategy. Prior to Wildwood, Nick led new business models for The North Face at VF. Earlier in his career, he built and scaled brands for Amazon and REI, overseeing product, international sourcing strategy, and brand creation. Nick and his wife live in Denver and welcomed their first child in the winter of 22’. Their gang of four (plus dog) enjoy exploring Colorado on ski’s, bikes, boards and two/four feet. These days, Nick is training to compete in the Ironman 70.3 World Championships and dreaming about waterproofing his laptop so he can attend meetings from the pool.