Leadership Team

Black Dragon Capital is led by a team of investment, operating, and technology professionals with strong financial backgrounds, operating experience, and track records of applying capital mandates for early-stage, expansion-focused, and leveraged buyout situations in both private and public companies.

Louis

Louis Hernandez Jr., Founder, Managing Director and CEO

 

Louis Hernandez Jr. is a highly experienced technology investor and executive, corporate board member, author, and philanthropist. He works closely with Black Dragon Capital portfolio companies to create market leaders.

Hernandez guides Black Dragon using an operationally led and thesis-driven approach. Investments are predicated on the firm’s deep understanding of the impact digitization has on workflow, technology, economics, and human factors driving the transformation of the digital landscape.

Hernandez has led several companies that were in the Black Dragon portfolio. He served as chairman and CEO of Avid Technology, Inc., a leading developer of advanced technology for media originally focused on content creation for film, video, and music. He led Avid through a major transformation, restructuring the organization and diversifying the product mix to improve margins, remake the cost structure, and return the company to profitability. The turnaround involved innovative new products, a new digital strategy, cost efficiencies, workforce optimization, and the establishment of predictable, stable revenue streams, all while the company was undergoing a nine-year financial restatement. Under Hernandez, Avid also achieved a dramatic improvement in ethnic and gender diversity.

Hernandez was also chairman and CEO of Open Solutions, an award-winning banking technology leader whose DNA core processing system helped reshape the global landscape for banking technology. The company is now part of Fiserv. Open Solutions was for years one of the world’s fastest-growing enterprise banking systems.

He has served on the boards of global companies, including Edison International and HSBC Holdings, and has advised global organizations, such as Infosys and KPMG.

The 501(c)3 philanthropic foundation that Hernandez established, Louis Hernandez Jr.’s Foundation For A Bright Future, focuses on equal opportunity for children. It provides scholarships and support for education, healthcare, arts, and leadership development programs.

Hernandez is the author of three books: Saving the American Dream, Too Small to Fail, and The Storyteller’s Dilemma.

Louis Hernandez Jr.

Founder, CEO, and Managing Director, Black Dragon Capital

“We believe the entrepreneurial spirit should be nurtured through experienced execution and is best understood and optimized by peers who have walked-the-walk and talked-the-talk in the same industries that we invest in.”

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Samantha McDonald
Vice-President of Finance

Samantha McDonald

Samantha McDonald is the VP of Finance at Black Dragon Capital, primarily responsible for supporting finance, reporting, compliance, fund performance, investor relations reporting, and SEC reporting. She also takes the lead in standardizing the tools and approach by the analyst team in support of the firm’s activities.

McDonald also provides support to the deal team and Dragon Performance group on selected projects involving complex financial structuring, ensuring the accuracy and alignment of all closing documents, high-level due diligence, financial analysis, and selected shared services for the portfolio companies.

She has almost 20 years of experience in finance and investments and began her career as a senior accountant with Deliotte before eventually going on to serve as CFO of Software Technology Inc, an educational K-12 software company, and VP of Finance at Grayscale Investments, the largest digital asset fund provider with $50B AUM. She was also the CFO/COO at the World Gold Council, where she was responsible for the management and day-to-day operations of two gold ETF funds: SPDR Gold (GLD) and SPDR Long Dollar Trust (GLDW). GLD is the largest ETF to invest directly into physical gold with $58 billion in AUM. Samantha was most recently the CFO for Flat World Partners, a next-generation investment advisory firm, solely focused on Impact Investments.

Richard Sussman (Dark BG, Dark Shirt)

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Richard Sussman
Partner

Richard Sussman

Richard’s career spans across private equity, venture capital, Fortune 500, and start-ups in technology, media & telecommunications (TMT) scaling revenue, tech, and capital across a diverse portfolio globally.

He has run operations, IP, and revenue-generating business units at four tech/media/data companies with ~$1B market caps (The Nielsen Company, IPG, TiVo-Rovi, and Gracenote-Tribune Media); as well as co-founding two venture-backed media, entertainment & eCommerce technology platforms (with respectable exits) and two venture capital funds. The first, as a founding Managing Partner of a European-American growth fund with a portfolio of 20+ investments worldwide returning ~700% IRR for investors and tracking top-decile fund performance. The second, a 21+ portfolio seed-stage venture fund which leverages data science and Silicon Valley’s most accomplished founders to invest in a portfolio of Y Combinator startups with the statistical power to outperform, also tracking top-decile fund performance with a 53% mark up to date.

Richard is often interviewed and profiled on the state of technology by media publications such as Los Angeles Business Journal, TechCrunch, Wall Street Journal, CNBC, and The Los Angeles Times. He is often seen speaking at industry events such as the Goldman Sachs’ Special Situations Group, Digital Hollywood, Digital Analytics Association, and the International Consumer Electronics Show (CES). He is also an occasional guest lecturer at UCLA, USC, and other Universities and has published several thought-pieces on the state of TMT, Private Equity, and Venture Capital.

Richard is a graduate of the Harvard Business School, Saybrook University, and Franklin University Switzerland. He is a recipient of several industry awards including the two-time recipient of ARF’s Great Mind Award, Nielsen's Best of the Best Award, and nominated as one of the 50th most influential alumni in 50 years from Franklin University Switzerland. He is originally from London, England, grew up in Los Angeles, bi-lingual, studied & worked in the U.S., S. Africa, and Europe, and visited ~30 countries across NCSA, APAC, BRICS, EMEA, NCSA.

Formal Photo - Raiyaan (gray)

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Raiyaan Shingati
Financial Analyst

Raiyaan Shingati

Raiyaan Shingati is a financial analyst at Black Dragon Capital. Raiyaan is an experienced investment professional with over seven years of experience in external audit, SMB lending, strategy consulting and venture capital investments across several technology industries. Previously, he worked at a global technology venture capital fund where he was responsible for sourcing and evaluating investment prospects, due diligence, deal structuring post-term sheet negotiations, business modelling and commercial diligence, liaison with external diligence parties and closure. Raiyaan also served as a director at a financial technology lending start-up, where he helped launch three new lending products and helped turned the business profitable through a new revenue model implementation. He began his career with Price Waterhouse Coopers in their external audit department for technology firms. Raiyaan is a qualified Chartered Accountant (ICAI) from the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India and has a bachelor’s degree of Commerce and a General Management diploma from Jain University

Anubhav Shetty

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Anubhav Shetty
Financial Analyst

Anubhav Shetty

Anubhav Shetty is a financial analyst at Black Dragon Capital. Anubhav has over five years of experience in investment banking and venture capital investing. Previously, he worked with Wadhwani Catalyst Fund, a global impact fund based out of Mumbai. At Wadhwani Catalyst Fund, he assisted the global head of the fund in building partnerships, deal sourcing, due diligence, and deal closure. Prior to that, he was part of the investment team at Aavishakaar Capital, a venture capital fund with a presence in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Indonesia, and Kenya. At Aavishkaar Capital, he worked on deal sourcing, due diligence, deal closure, and portfolio management. Anubhav is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) and has a bachelor’s degree in Commerce from the University of Mumbai.

Steve

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Steve Richards
Senior Director

Steve Richards

Richards comes to Black Dragon with over 20 years of experience in the software and technology sector in finance-related roles, including corporate finance, operational finance, strategic planning & analysis, and corporate development.

He began his career in investment banking and venture capital and has worked as the CFO of various startup companies and has held high-level corporate development positions at multibillion-dollar public companies: namely, Constellation Software, SAP, and BearingPoint.

Richards obtained an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the University of Maryland and a BA in Economics and Finance from the University of Virginia.

At Black Dragon, Richards helps lead the Dragon Performance Group, the firm’s consulting arm that provides leading-edge technology and operational support to Black Dragon portfolio companies.

Sarah

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Sarah Hernandez
Special Projects Director

Sarah Hernandez

Sarah Hernandez is the special projects director of Black Dragon Capital.  She has more than 16 years of experience providing project management, coordination and communications support to investors, boards of directors and senior management in a variety of sectors, from banking technology and media to defense and the U.S. military.

Hernandez manages the shared service delivery group for the Black Dragon portfolio companies. The centralized services, which lower costs and drive value, include recruiting, on-boarding, insurance, and compliance reporting. She also is the liaison between investors, the Black Dragon team, advisors, and various board of directors of the portfolio companies.

Before Black Dragon, Hernandez was a project manager at Open Solutions, where she managed the board of directors’ projects, press interactions, and key speaking events for the chairman and CEO and other key executives.   Earlier, she served as an executive assistant and project manager to the chairman and CEO of Colt Defense, where she was also the lead ISO auditor.

Hernandez has the distinction of serving in the U.S. Marine Corps as an aviation operation specialist for the presidential Helicopter Squadron One (Marine One), receiving an honorable discharge with the rank of sergeant. She earned her Bachelor of Science in criminal justice administration at Park University.

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Frank Capria
Director, Media Technology

Frank Capria

Frank Capria is a Director specializing in Media Technology at Black Dragon Capital. Frank has over a decade of experience in product strategy in companies of varying sizes.

Prior to joining Black Dragon, Mr. Capria led the video surveillance product group for LenelS2, a subsidiary of United Technologies where his focus was on advanced analytics and machine learning. Prior to United Technologies, his entire career was spent in the media and entertainment sector working businesses ranging from startups to mature companies. Mr. Capria spent nearly a decade at Avid and was part of Louis Hernandez, Jr.’s team-leading Avid’s dramatic transformation.

Before becoming a technologist, Mr. Capria was an editor at WGBH (PBS) in Boston where he won a regional Emmy Award in 1999.

Mr. Capria earned his MBA from the F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business at Babson College. He received his Bachelor of Science in Broadcast Journalism at Boston University where he now serves as Senior Lecturer for the Film and Television program.

Tim

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Tim Greenfield
Senior Partner

Tim Greenfield

Tim Greenfield, senior partner of Black Dragon Capital, is a proven business builder with a track record in growing technology businesses in financial services, mobile applications, e-commerce, and software. He has broad experience in acquisitions, capital raising, and strategy.

Greenfield’s role at Black Dragon spans the full investment cycle, from sourcing and due diligence to post-transaction integration, strategy and operational improvement through to a liquidity event or full exit. His areas of focus include financial leadership, operational improvements, capital raising strategy, strategic planning, commercial growth, organizational planning and financial controls for Black Dragon Capital and our portfolio companies.

Previously, he served as a chief revenue officer and president of mobile commerce and payment processing for Net Element, helping to build a leading mobile payment business in Eastern Europe and a growing payment processing business in the United States. Earlier, Greenfield was president of Gold Mobile, an early-stage firm that offered a mobile wallet solution, customer relationship management, mobile apps, and mobile couponing products. He also acquired and successfully exited a distribution business and led the turnaround of a distressed industrial company.

Greenfield began his career at McKinsey & Company, where he consulted on strategic and global projects for Fortune 100 clients across a wide range of industries, including e-commerce, cable, retail, private equity, food and beverage, and automotive. He also was a business unit manager at General Electric, working in various management and technical roles in GE Appliances, GE Transportation Systems, and GE Power Systems.

He holds an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, a master’s degree in manufacturing engineering from the McCormick School of Engineering at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan.

Daniel

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Daniel J. Consigli
Chief Financial Officer, Chief Compliance Officer & Partner

Daniel J. Consigli

Daniel J. Consigli is the chief financial officer, chief compliance officer, and partner of Black Dragon Capital. He has 20 years of operating experience, primarily in leadership positions with financial service firms that include banking and asset management businesses, where he specialized in turnarounds and mergers and acquisitions. His operating experience includes all aspects of finance, strategy, reporting, mergers and acquisitions, and operations. He has experience in private banking, broker-dealer, asset management, and financial custodian businesses.  He coordinates financial, accounting, reporting, and strategy for Black Dragon Capital.

Consigli has worked at early-stage and large-scale businesses during his career. Before joining Black Dragon, he worked with Luminex Trading & Analytics LLC, an early-stage technology registered broker-dealer, where he led the finance and accounting functions. Previously, he worked at Israel Discount Bank of New York, managing banking, investing, asset management, and corporate and commercial real estate lending for the Miami region and Latin America.

Earlier, Consigli was the divisional chief financial officer of JPMorgan Chase & Co., responsible for 18 divisions, globally executing strategy, finance, and infrastructure management of the business line operations.

Dan earned his executive MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and his Bachelor of Science from Babson College.

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Priscilla Wilson
Executive Assistant

Priscilla Wilson

Priscilla Wilson is a highly competent Executive Assistant at Black Dragon Capital and carries 13+ years of experience under her belt crafting with leaders across domains in Technology and Education.

She has a constant drive to learn and has an open mind to possibilities when solving problems. She embraces new ideas and challenges conventional methods. She has vast experience which empowers her to be dynamic in a fast-paced environment. Priscilla is very adaptable and shares exceptional interpersonal and social skills that enable easy communication with the Senior Executives and Directors.

Priscilla adheres to the Organizational Hierarchy and is an ardent complaisant. She is also tech-savvy- and finds systems easy to use and is a self-explorer.

She has studied Masters in Personnel Management, therefore, warranting notable administrational skills. She is a self-made, strong-standing woman and also a Mother of two, juggling between Career and Motherhood both at the same time with ease.

Gina Rogoto

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Gina Rogoto
Marketing & Development Manager

Gina Rogoto

Gina Rogoto is the marketing manager of Black Dragon Capital. She overviews the firm's marketing strategy, and manages its digital assets (website and social channels). Gina also serves as the development manager of Louis Hernandez Jr.’s Foundation For A Bright Future, formerly A Little Hope Foundation. She has devoted herself to giving back by providing opportunities, resources, and a sense of connection to those in need. 

Raised and educated in France, Gina moved to the United States in 2010 after earning a master’s degree in business administration in Paris. Having both lived in and traveled to a number of countries, she has a great passion for other cultures and speaks French, English, and Spanish fluently. 

Throughout Gina’s decade-long career, top name corporations, such as BCBG Max Azria and Avid Technology, have relied upon her operations management and marketing expertise to orchestrate and streamline vital processes and procedures within their organizations, resulting in greater brand representation. Gina believes the most noteworthy aspect of her career has been her ability to use her multifaceted talents to successfully move between several major industries including food, fashion, technology, and nonprofit. 

Jackie Cornacchio

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Jackie Cornacchio
Senior Accountant

Jackie Cornacchio

Jackie Cornacchio is the senior accountant for Black Dragon Capital.  She began her career in public accounting focusing on a variety of clients including non-profits and banking.  She received her Bachelor of Arts in Accounting from Assumption College in Massachusetts.

Jackie has experience in several industries including healthcare, casinos, and restaurants in both accounting and payroll systems implementation.

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Maria Kitmiridis
Executive Assistant

Maria Kitmiridis

Maria Kitmiridis is the Executive Assistant to the CEO & Managing Director of Black Dragon Capital. She brings over 20 years of administrative experience to the table with expertise in project management. Her main responsibilities at Black Dragon Capital are to be the CEO’s right hand and establishing strong lines of communication with various stakeholders and providing administrative support for different organization initiatives.

Maria is originally from Connecticut and has migrated to Miami with her family in 2018. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Management and has almost two decades of experience in providing support to people in key leadership positions. Maria has spent most of her career working with IT heads for different financial institutions and private equity firms as well as help a position as a trading assistant for Equity Capital Markets. She is a self-starter whose excellent communication and organizational skills have allowed her to thrive and stay on top of her tasks in fast-paced environments.

Greg

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Greg O’Brien
Human Resources & Administration

Greg O’Brien

Greg O'Brien coordinates human resources and administrative functions at Black Dragon Capital. He has more than 40 years’ experience in high technology, primarily in the banking software and enterprise software industries. He served in a broad range of functions at the executive level as the partner to CEOs and top management in both large publicly traded and early-stage companies. He has extensive international experience and a broad range of skills that include merger and acquisition, corporate governance, organizational assessment, executive recruitment, compensation, strategic planning, and finance with strong business acumen and bottom-line orientation.

O’brien has held long-term executive assignments to the CEOs of Avid Technology, Open Solutions, and CashEdge/FiServ and continues to provide advice and governance support to several early-stage companies. Previous roles included senior vice president of human resources at Open Solutions; vice president of human resources worldwide for Mercator Software; vice president of operations and chief administrative officer for CSK Software, a Japanese worldwide banking software and services company, residing in Germany; vice president of human resources and administration for Micrognosis, a global trading systems and solutions provider to the financial industry; and director of human resources and administration for Control Data Corporation.

He holds an MBA with an emphasis in management science and a Bachelor of Business Administration in accounting and finance from Pace University in New York City.

Charles

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Charles Gravallese
Accounting & Reporting Manager

Charles M. Gravallese

Charles M. Gravallese is the accounting manager of Black Dragon Capital. Gravallese has 20 years of work experience in multi-national companies serving in accounting, finance, and operating functions. He has worked in a variety of industries, including technology, manufacturing, services and nonprofit. He also has extensive international reporting experience. 

Gravallese most recently spent several years with Stellar Materials, an international manufacturer of refractory materials, where he led the efforts of the multi-national accounting and finance group. Earlier, he was with Enterprise Car Rental as a senior level accountant for the car sales division. He also was with MedVance Institute, a multi-state for-profit college enterprise, where he supervised the accounting department. 

He began his career in public accounting, performing audits in numerous industries, including financial services firms and nonprofit organizations. Gravallese served in the U.S. Air Force as an account manager at Stellar Materials. He earned his Bachelor of Science in accounting at the University of Maryland and his CPA license from the state of Maryland. 

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Aren Wong
Marketing Assistant

Aren Wong

Aren Wong is the marketing assistant for Black Dragon Capital. She provides support for all Marketing and PR-related initiatives while creating content for both digital and traditional platforms. She also handles the social media management for Black Dragon.

Aren is a creative at heart who enjoys researching and optimizing strategies. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in English Studies: Anglo-American Literature from the University of the Philippines Diliman in 2013. Her desire to continue learning and improving her craft has allowed her to gain experience in different industries including: Education, Hospitality, IT, Marketing & Advertising, and Travel.

Chandrasekhar

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Chandra Sekhar Kartha
Financial Analyst

Chandra Sekhar Kartha

Chandra Sekhar Kartha is a financial analyst at Black Dragon Capital. Kartha is an experienced merger and acquisition professional with almost a decade of experience in investment banking, strategy and corporate merger and acquisition across several industries.

Previously, he worked with the corporate strategy, merger and acquisition team at IGATE, a NYSE listed information technology services company, culminated in the multibillion-dollar sale of IGATE to Capgemini. At IGATE, he was responsible for deal sourcing, due diligence, and closure of inorganic opportunities in the enterprise resource planning and engineering services space. Previously, Chandrasekhar was part of the aerospace merger and acquisition team at Honeywell Technology Solutions Ltd., where his primary responsibility was portfolio rationalization and assessment of M&A opportunities. He began his career at HSBC Investment Banking, where he worked with the global auto sector team based out of London and Hong Kong, advising Europe, Middle East and Africa clients on fundraising and acquisition-related activities.

Chandrasekhar has an MBA in finance and strategy from Xavier Institute of Management in Bhubaneswar, India, and a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Calicut University, India, in electronics and communications.

Loree

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Loree Rossi
Project Manager

Loree Rossi

Loree Rossi is a project manager for Black Dragon Capital. She has over 20 years of experience in public relations, marketing, project management, and administration. She handles a wide range of projects that support the operating and administrative activities, working closely with the managing partner, senior partners and operating leaders of the firm. She coordinates projects for sourcing new deal activity, client outreach on behalf of the portfolio, media content projects and investment activities. Originally from upstate New York, Loree migrated to South Florida in 1996 after completing her education. She began her career in the hospitality industry as an administrative assistant for an exclusive Boca Raton Hotel & Spa. She transitioned into the financial industry where she worked for 15 years as a marketing coordinator for Ameriprise Financials’ southern regional offices. She also worked in media technology as an executive project manager for the Chairman and CEO of Avid. Loree works out of the Southern Florida offices of Black Dragon Capital.