Innovation
Meets Execution

Joe D’Cruz is the Founder and Managing Director of Catalyze, where he builds scalable businesses that commercialize promising innovations licensed or purchased from the Fortune 50 and global defense companies. D’Cruz serves on the board of Catalyze’s Metro Aerospace, and is also a board member and executive chairman of Alpine Advanced Materials. Earlier in his career, he led the Communications, Media and Entertainment practice at EDS/HP; the Mobile Data Services practice at Nokia Networks; and the Electronics, Specialty Chemicals, and Imaging group at E.I DuPont. D’Cruz is also a serial entrepreneur, unleashing the value of promising technology in numerous startup ventures.

Tricia D’Cruz is Founder and Managing Director of Catalyze, and is involved with its holding companies as the Executive Chairperson of Almaden Genomics, and as a member of the boards of both Alpine Advanced Materials and Metro Aerospace. Over her three-decade career, she has held the role of President of Tekelec’s Switching Solutions Group, Executive Vice President at Efficient Networks, and was the global market leader in Digital Subscriber Line when Efficient went public and was subsequently acquired by Siemens. D’Cruz also founded VectorPoint, a strategy consulting firm engaged by the C-suite of mid-market and early-stage technology companies.

James Bendle is a Partner and the Chief Financial Officer of Catalyze, leading financial planning, accounting, compliance and reporting. His early manufacturing and finance roles at Caterpillar and Dell led him to building the finance and treasury organizations at high-growth telecommunications startup General Bandwidth. Over his career, he has demonstrated a penchant for incubating and growing businesses, as well as for portfolio management. Before Catalyze, he was Senior Vice President of Finance for space communications startup CesiumAstro. Bendle also launched an early e-commerce company that landed on the Inc. 500 list of fastest-growing private companies for three consecutive years.

Jon Bennett is a Partner and serves as Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships at Catalyze, helping identify and harvest technology from the Fortune 50 to unleash the full value and potential of their investments. Previously, Bennett served as Senior Vice President at SDL Citadel, and before that, was Senior Director External/Governmental Affairs for Energy Future Holdings, TXU Energy, and Luminant, where he designed and directed advocacy strategies. He has also held leadership positions in operations, finance and strategy at Oncor Electric Delivery.

Michele Hodde serves as Chief Marketing Officer for Catalyze, driving sales growth across the suite of portfolio companies, including Almaden Genomics, Alpine Advanced Materials, and Metro Aerospace. She spent a decade at Orica, the global leader in commercial explosives for the mining industry, and was the founder, president and CEO of EarthRoamer, an Xpedition Vehicle manufacturer. 

Nick Brown was the Director of Investor Relations at Pickering Energy Partners in Houston, and, prior to that, served as Managing Director and as a Client Portfolio Manager at Cushing Asset Management. Before joining the private sector, Brown served for four years in the United States Marine Corps as an Infantry Squad Leader, receiving multiple commendations, including a Purple Heart during combat operations

Frank Cappuccio has four decades of experience in management, engineering, and strategic development. A senior advisor to the U.S. DOD Defense Science Board and the National Academy of Science, he is also a fellow at the American Institute of Aeronautics & Astronautics and serves as CEO and President of Cappuccio & Associates. He has received the President Bush Innovation Award, Lockheed Martin President’s Lifetime Achievement Award, and the National Engineers Council “Kelly Johnson Award”.

Edward (Ed) Dolanski retired in 2020 from the Boeing Company as President of its $10 billion Government Services business, where he led a team of more than 13,000 employees at 295 global locations. Over his more than three decade career, he was President and Chief Executive Officer of Aviall, a Boeing subsidiary and the world’s largest provider of aerospace parts and aftermarket services, and a vice president with The Raytheon Company.

Linda Hart is Vice Chairman, President, and CEO of Hart Group, a diversified group of companies involved in manufacturing and investments. Among her many achievements are tenures as Chairman of the NYSE Legal Advisory Board, as an outside consultant to the Securities and Exchange Commission in Washington, D.C. and as a visiting professor at Stanford Law School.

Raanan Horowitz is the former CEO of Elbit Systems of America, where he led the company’s evolution to $1.5 billion annual revenue through strategic acquisitions and organic growth. He previously served on the boards of BigBear.ai [NYSE: BBAI], GigCapital5 [NASDAQ: GIA], Ametrine Inc., the National Defense Industry Association, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and was a member of the Wall Street Journal CEO Council. Horowitz currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Institute for Defense Analysis, the Board of Directors of Parry Labs, and actively participates in various industry and government task forces focused on enhancing U.S. innovation and competitiveness.

Thomas C. Leppert was the elected Mayor of Dallas from 2007 to 2011, during which he served on the Executive Committee of the US Conference of Mayors, and served as a White House Fellow under President Ronald Reagan, working both in the Office of the Secretary of Treasury and the Office of Policy Development in the White House. He served as the Chairman/CEO of The Turner Corporation and CEO of Kaplan, Inc., as well as in several other leadership roles.

Dr. Bobby B. Lyle currently serves as Chairman of Lyco Holdings Incorporated, a private investment firm. He founded Lyco Energy Corporation and served as its Chairman, President and CEO. Most notably, Dr. Lyle has served as trustee of Southern Methodist University for over 32 years and is a member of the Executive Boards of the Lyle School of Engineering and the Cox School of Business, where he served as dean ad interim and executive dean. In 2008, SMU named the Lyle School of Engineering in his honor.

Ron Nicol is a Senior Advisor at Boston Consulting Group, which he joined in 1987, and has worked on major business transformations with a number of Fortune 50 companies. He was a US naval officer, serving aboard a nuclear ballistic missile submarine and teaching nuclear engineering. Nicol currently serves as Executive Chairman of NUBURU and as a Board Member of Austin Industries.

Robert F. Weiss retired from a 34-year career with Lockheed Martin Aeronautics as the Executive Vice President and General Manager of Advanced Development Programs, also known as Skunk Works. Weiss also served eight years as an officer in the U.S. Navy as an aircraft carrier-based S-3 Viking jet pilot, and served an additional 16 years in the Naval Reserve, retiring with the rank of captain.

Retired General Norton A. Schwartz serves as President of the Institute for Defense Analyses, and has had a long and prestigious career of service and leadership that spans over five decades. General Schwartz spent nearly 40 years in uniform, last serving as the 19th Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force. As a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he functioned as a military adviser to the Secretary of Defense, National Security Council, and the President.

Education
M.S., Business Administration, Central Michigan University
U.S. Air Force Academy Graduate

Engineering, the top technology role for the U.S. Government. She previously served as the Assistant Secretary of the Army for Acquisition, Logistics and Technology; prior to which she held several senior positions at The Raytheon Company and was a principal engineer for the Joint STARS Self Defense Study at Grumman.

Education
M.S., System Science, University of California, Los Angeles

M.S., Mathematics, University of Toronto

B.S., Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles

B.S., Mathematics, University of New Brunswick

Retired Major General Keith Thurgood is a former Deputy Commanding General and Chief of Staff for the United States Army Reserve, and has held executive leadership roles, including as CEO of “The Exchange”, the Department of Defense’s $10 billion for-profit retail organization. He has commanded for the military at the company, battalion, brigade, and flag officer levels, and has been mobilized for three Active-Duty tours since September 11, 2001. 

Education