Jonathan Aberman
Jonathan is a highly respected and valued thought leader on entrepreneurship and innovation. His work as a venture investor, innovation consultant, university professor and media commentator allows him to experience and connect the many threads of entrepreneurship and technology innovation that are core to the United States economy and its future. When Jonathan talks about these areas, the community takes notice. He is identified as a leader of change and influence in print and television media, among other things has been recognized by Washingtonian magazine as a “Tech Titan,” by the Washington Business Journal as a member of the “Power 100” and by the Commonwealth of Virginia as one of its “50 Most Influential Entrepreneurs” in the Commonwealth.” His experience as a venture investor, innovation consultant, university professor and media commentator gives him a 360 degree perspective on entrepreneurship and technology innovation. He has been an innovation policy adviser to a number of political campaigns at the national and state political campaigns.
Jonathan has unique expertise in the melding of national security and entrepreneurship with technology commercialization. He has worked on this issue with a broad range of national security agencies and universities on these matters, including DOD Laboratory establishment, DARPA, the Air Force, the Army, the Department of Homeland Security, George Mason University and the University of Maryland, at College Park. He has acted as a policy adviser to state and federal government in these areas. His activities regarding entrepreneurship and national security resulted in the formation of Tandem National Security Innovations, a national innovation community that has helped national security entities such as DARPA, DHS, SOCOM, and JSOC, and others locate and engage with nontraditional sources of innovation.
Since 2004, when he started Amplifier Ventures, Jonathan has helped to start 16 technology businesses. Among these businesses are successful companies in cybersecurity, mobile communications, internet and mobile content and software. He has helped these businesses grow by providing strategic advice, business model and customer discovery acumen and deal management. His experiences and contacts in the venture capital industry inform his views on technology innovation and provide a perspective that is uniquely available as a technology and innovation consultant.
Jonathan has a significant media footprint. He hosts What's Working in Washington, a podcast and weekly radio show on Federal News Network’s WFED (AM 1500) examining innovation in one of the least understood business communities in the country. Jonathan's skillful interviews reveal how D.C.that the region is about way much more than just politics. And that it is brimming with creative people who are interesting, engaged and getting things done. From 2015 to 2018, Jonathan wrote a weekly column on the region’s business community for the Washington Post. And from 2018 to 2019 he wrote a regular column on innovation, entrepreneurship and economic development for the Washington Business Journal. All of these activities make him a sought-after commentator on developments in technology, innovation and political economics. He was referred to in Forbes Magazine as the “unsung hero” of the attraction of Amazon HQ2 to the Greater Washington region. He is often quoted in national publications including Axios, Bloomberg, CNN, Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. He is also an active and regular participant on panels involving innovation, entrepreneurship and technology as well as a keynote speaker at similar events.
During his career Jonathan has helped to create many successful communities of entrepreneurs. In addition to his role in establishing Tandem National Security Innovations in 2013, in 2011, he was the founder of Startup Virginia, Startup Maryland and StartupDC as part of the Obama Administration's StartupAmerica Initiative. These efforts resulted in the formation of regionally impactful programs including 1776 Accelerator and the iCorps program. In 2012 he formed FounderCorps, a not for profit that aggregated many of the Greater Washington region's most prominent entrepreneurs and promoted mentorship. In 2018 he formed the Tandem Product Academy, an educational program focused on teaching founders and senior executives essential skills necessary to scale technology product-based businesses.
Jonathan’s prior professional experience includes being a partner and senior leader of a number of national law firms, and working as an associate in the investment banking industry in London, England. He obtained an education in economics and law (with post graduate qualifications in each), earning degrees from George Washington University (BA), the London School of Economics (MSc in Economics), Cambridge University (BA and MA in law) and New York University (LLM).
Veronica kayne
Veronica has extensive experience in technology commercialization, technology and law. She also has demonstrable organizational change and leadership skills in government and university settings. During her career she has worked with many inventors in intellectual property protection and monetization, and has extensive experience managing patent portfolios and charting enforcement strategies. Throughout her career she has managed large teams of professionals to achieve complex objectives.
Veronica is a effective leader in change management. She has was for an extended period a federal government official, serving as Assistant Director of the Nonmerger Litigation section of the Federal Trade Commission. During that time as Assistant Director she combined two disparate groups of lawyers and staff into a single operational team, and led a dramatic change in morale and productivity which resulted in significant changes in government enforcement of antitrust regulations. While Assistant Director she led enforcement cases in a number of technology areas. She also has worked extensively with universities and regional economic development entities on a board range of research engagements. For a five year period she applied her change management skills as the Director of Technology Transfer for George Mason University, where she led the restructuring of an under performing technology transfer office of a Tier One research university, which included changes in staffing, rationalization of expenses and changes in the patent process. Her efforts resulted in a material reduction in operating expenses and a demonstable improvement in the quality of patents obtained.
Also during her career Veronica has been a partner in nationally regarded law firms — Wilmer Cutler and Haynes & Boone, and General Counsel of the Healthcare Cost Institute. Because of these experiences she has strong insights into companies’ growth strategies, including mergers and acquisitions and internal expansion, market analysis, and competitive dynamics. Her technology and intellectual property experience spans the entire life cycle: research, invention, protectability, commercial potential, licensing and commercialization. She also understands the dynamics and importance of effective and objective corporate governance.
Veronica is also a highly effective instructor. She has taught many continuing education classes for attorneys and other professionals in a wide range of topics around intellectual property and antitrust. Her teaching is highly rated for her ability to take complex concepts and simplify them.
Veronica studied ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Pennsylvania (BA) and at the University of California at Los Angeles (MA in evolutionary biology). She received her law degree cum laude from Villanova University School of Law (JD).
Amplifier network
Amplifier Advisors benefits from proprietary relationships with experienced technology entrepreneurs, proven business school professors and leading service providers to draw together subject matter expertise for short term and long term client engagements. We have used these relationships to help federal agencies reach nontraditional innovators, state and local governments address innovation challenges through the creation and execution of economic development programs, not for profits change organizational culture to support entrepreneurial behavior and startups achieve business growth. Our Tandem Product Academy, a program to help promising technology businesses achieve commercial growth, is an example of our dynamic and effective access to unique resources.