Leadership
Sonja Markova
Executive Director, 'Cane Angel Network
Sonja Markova brings over 20 years of experience in angel group management and early-stage investments. Previously, Ms. Markova was Executive Director of Band of Angels, Silicon Valley’s oldest angel investment group and Managing Director of Keiretsu Forum, the largest global angel investment network. Ms. Markova was Vice President of Point Reyes Management, a single-family office, where she invested in startups from the firm’s asset allocation in ventures. She is an Advisor at the Berkeley SkyDeck and Mentor at the Alchemist Accelerator where she works with early-stage founders on their preparedness for Seed funding. She is also an Advisor at Camp BizSmart, a program for young aspiring entrepreneurs, ages 11 to 18, designed to acquire essential skills needed to be successful in school, at home, and in a future profession. Ms. Markova began her career in venture capital as an Investment Associate at the International Cooperation and Development Fund (Taiwan ICDF) in her home country Macedonia.
Operational Team
Norma Kenyon
Vice Provost for Innovation at the University of Miami
Norma Sue Kenyon, Ph.D. is The Martin Kleiman Professor of Surgery, Microbiology & Immunology, Biomedical Engineering and Biochemistry & Molecular Biology at the Diabetes Research Institute, University of Miami. Dr. Kenyon and her research team have focused on ways to transplant insulin producing cells, in both clinically relevant islet transplant models and in clinical studies, without the need for life-long anti-rejection drugs. Key accomplishments include development and sharing of methods for islet and islet/bone marrow transplantation, demonstration of the impact of costimulatory blockade on insulin independence and long-term islet survival and incorporation of stem cells to enhance islet engraftment and survival. Dr. Kenyon is the Vice Provost for Innovation at the University of Miami and Chief Innovation Officer of the Miller School of Medicine. Under her leadership, the U Innovation team has successfully increased the number of licensing agreements and startups emanating from faculty innovations across the university's 12 schools and colleges.
Student Investment Team
An interdisciplinary team comprised of University of Miami graduate business, law, engineering, and medical students undertakes the initial review of company submissions. The student investment team works closely with the 'Cane Angel Network Executive Director to vet company submissions, perform due diligence, prepare deal memos, and identify the strongest candidates for investment consideration by the 'Cane Angel Network members.
If you are a gradaute student interested in participating for credit or volunteering with the 'Cane Angel Network please complete this 'CAN Student Analyist application form. If you have any questions, please email caneangelinfo@miami.edu.
Steering Committee
The ‘Cane Angel Network Steering Committee is made up of experienced professionals in business, finance, and academia who provide input and support to implement best practices that serve as a foundation for the ’Cane Angel Network to operate at the highest standards.
