ED FERNANDEZ
BOARD DIRECTOR - NON EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - ADVISOR
Palo Alto. California. USA - Madrid. Spain
Board Level Competencies
Technology Innovation & Corporate Venturing
Digital Transformation - Machine Learning & AI
International Expansion & Growth
Strategic Alliances & JV
Corporate Development - M&A
Venture Capital & Early Stage Investment & Financing
Social Responsibility & Sustainability - B Corp certification
Diversity & Inclusion
Public Listed Companies [ USA, UK & Australia ]
< Independent Board Director >
Arowana International [ ASX:AWN ] . [ 2018.present ] Private Equity & Fund Management . $145M AUM
. Chair Audit, Risk & Compliance committee
. Remuneration & Nomination committee member
< Independent Board Director >
VivoPower International [ NASDAQ:VVPR ] . [ 2018.present ] Solar Energy & Critical Power Services. 1,8 GW solar energy assets - Board Observer
< EVP, Managing Director & Board Member >
BlackBerry (South European Subsidiary): Blackberry Spain S.L . [ 2009.2013 ] Smartphones FMCG and Enterprise Services SaaS . $750Mn P&L
. Board Member & Board Secretary
Private Companies [ USA, UK ]
< Board Director >
BigML Inc . [ 2015.present - USA ] Machine Learning SaaS and On-premise Enterprise Platform
< Advisory Board Member >
Avana Capital. [ 2019.present - USA ] Private Lending in CRE. $550Mn AUM
< Board Director >
MyPark Corp . [ 2018.present - USA ] On demand Smart Parking IoT Platform
< Strategic Board Advisor >
Arowana Alicorn Venture Fund [ 2018.present - UK ]
Board level Affiliations
EU Commission - DG FISMA Technical Experts Stakeholder Group on SME [2020 . 2021]
YPO - Young Presidents Organization [ 2011 . present ]
Member since 2011: YPO Global One & US Pacific at large Chapter
YPO is the largest international organization of business leaders comprising Chief Executives, Presidents, and Chairmen from all over the world.
CNBC Chief Executive Network [ 2015 . present ]
CNBC and YPO have an exclusive partnership. This partnership comprises the regional Chief Executive Networks in the Americas, EMEA and Asia-Pacific made up of cross-sections of YPO's global membership of 26,000 top executives on the frontlines of the economy
Milestones & Significant events
Arowana International
. Machine Learning & AI enterprise office function: [ complete build out of in-house and outsourced capabilities (PE, Fund Management & Enterprise Office) [ Nov - 2018 ]
. DDLS - EdventureCo acquisition & merger [ Dec.2017 ]
. Thermoscan M&A sale to ARA Group [May - 2019]
. VivoPower acquisition of majority stake in EV Electric Vehicle company Tembo e-LV [Oct 2020]
. VivoPower NASDAQ Public Offering - Capital Raise of $28 Mn [Oct 2020]
. VivoPower PE financing [ $18Mn loan & Convertible Debt Restructuring. 2018 ]
. Thermoscan strategic review and M&A - sale to ARA Group. 3.8 x MOIC [ 2018 - Apr 2019 ]
. Joint Venture with Aboitiz Equity Ventures - EdventureCo
. Alicorn Fund capital raising [ $150M.2019 - 2020 ]
. Arowana Impact Capital - Impact & social Investment in Asia [ Singapore 2019 - 2020 ]
. ASIOF Fund - private credit/PE [ $150M . 2029 - 2020 US & Australia ]
. Agricultural Infrastructure Project Financing - Lucky Bay - $50M loan financing for $130M Multi Port Project [ Australia, 2019 ]
. DDLS Strategic Alliances [ Google, Amazon AWS, Cloudera. 2018-19 ]
. Thermoscan Strategic Alliance: Solar Assets thermographic drone inspection [ 2018 ]
VivoPower International
. Solar energy assets sales
[ Express Power project sale Oct.2018 ]
[ North Carolina projects sale May.2018 ]
. ISS Joint Venture development of 1,8GW portfolio [ Apr.2017 ]
. VivoPower Data Center power services expansion [ 2018 ]
BlackBerry
. Scroon acquisition & merger. interim MD [ May.2013 ]
. BlackBerry consumer FMCG and corp services expansion from 2007 to 2011 in Europe & LATAM - $750 Mn P&L on 125% YoY growth
Early Stage/Venture Capital
Alicorn Venture Fund investments:
. Anodot (Machine Learning - Silicon Valley/USA - $3Mn, secondary - Oct 2020)
. GlassBox Digital (UI/UX analytics - UK - $6Mn Series C - June 2020)
BigML Inc
. Series B capital financing [ May.2018 ]
. PreSeries: Joint Venture spin off M&A sale to Buildgroup USA. A Machine Learning Predictive & Success Scoring Service of Startups & Early Stage companies for VC/PE investors [ Mar.2016, 3x ROIC]
MyPark Corp
. Seeding & Series A capital financing [ Aug.2018 ]
. AI, Machine Learning & Predictive Analytics strategy [ Aug.2018.present ]
Public Venture Capital financing: early stage IPO . [ TSX-V: Toronto Venture Exchange ]
Board Advisory on Corporate Innovation & Digital Transformation: Silicon Valley Innovation Center [ SVIC: 2015.present ]
Governance, Social Responsibility & Sustainability, B-Corp Certification [ Arowana & VivoPower May.2018 ]
Academic Affiliations
Northeastern University - Faculty professor: Master in Analytics/Machine Learning and Enterprise Applied Intelligence [Silicon Valley Campus 2019.present]
University of California Berkeley - Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology: Lecturer - Data-X course [ 2017.present ]
Singularity University - SU Ventures: Mentor & Adviser [ 2015.present ]
IE Business School: EIR - Visiting Lecturer [ 2015.present ]
Financial Times - IE Corporate Learning Alliance: Faculty Member [ 2016.present ]
ISDI: Lecturer - Machine Learning & AI and Corporate Innovation - Master in Digital Transformation [ 2017.present ]
UNIR University: Professor - Machine Learning & AI and Corporate Innovation Master Courses [ 2017.present ]
Research and Analysis:
CB insights - The Next Computing Platform
In the press
CNBC - What CEOs need to know to outwit Artificial Intelligence
CNBC - The Billion Dollar Unicorn trend is about to go global
CNBC - The demise of the smartphone is inevitable and necessary
CNBC - A bigger, better consumer market than millennials
Interests:
Develop my professional career at Board level, maximizing my personal contribution and impact.
Inspire people and younger generations in particular (including my daughter & son) through education & academic work.
This is short list of the most influential ideas impacting me this decade:
· In the grand scheme of things, I believe our economic system can evolve for the greater good in the future and eventually the 4th sector could take over the economy.
· I am fascinated by new neuroscience based algorithms and their influence in the quest to true A.I. (Artificial Intelligence), which originally triggered my interest in applied Machine Learning.
· I do believe also there is a need for a unified Brain Theory (i.e Free Energy Principle) to address causality, reasoning and overcome current limitations of Deep Learning and Neural Networks.
The solutions are likely to be inspired both by neuroscience and new physics principles Timeless physics & Dissipation driven adaptation (a.k.a LIFE) which I expect to become prominent theories in the future.
This ideas and my own personal goals keep me awake at night occasionally.
‘‘ My 1st computer was a Commodore 64 back in the 80s, a 64Kb RAM machine running on a 1 MHz CPU. Avid assembler programmer I became an amateur hacker at that time.
Hyperactive, multitasker, finisher of Madrid's marathon, nerd-curious-ENTP, self-made, determined, resilient and mission driven. I like ideas, and building and growing ventures for impact and legacy no matter at what scale ‘‘
ed fernandez