Alex is an Associate at Peterson Ventures. Prior to joining Peterson Ventures, Alex worked at CVF Capital Partners, a private equity firm based in Northern California where he was an associate on the investment team. In this role, Alex was responsible for all aspects of the investment process including sourcing, diligence, and deal execution. He was a board observer at ComAv (Aerospace), Precision Machine & Manufacturing (Industrials), and BC2 Environmental (Drilling Services). Before CVF, Alex worked at Goldman Sachs in the Investment Management Division with the Alternative Investments and Manager Selection (AIMS) group working in hedge fund strategies. Alex graduated from Utah State University with a double major in Finance and Economics.

Ben is the Managing Director at Peterson Ventures. He has been with Peterson Ventures since inception, raising over $90 million in capital, and investing in over 70 deals in his nearly 10 years of experience. Prior to joining Peterson Ventures, Ben was the first employee hired at an enterprise tech startup based in Northern Virginia where he was the product and business manager. Prior to his startup days, he spent several years at Charles River Associates, a leading global economic and business consulting firm headquartered in Boston. Ben received an MBA and a B.S. in Finance from Brigham Young University, where he was a Hawes Scholar.

Ben currently serves on the boards of Blyncsy, Entermedicare, MarketDial, Microbenefits, and has an observer seat on the boards of Chatbooks, Grow, DSCO, HireVue, and Therapydia.

Ilana Stern is a Partner at Peterson Ventures.  Stern is an active angel investor and board member, a lecturer in entrepreneurship at Stanford GSB and the Founder and former-CEO of Weddington Way, a direct to consumer brand, which was acquired by Gap Inc. in December 2016.  After selling Weddington Way to Gap Inc., Stern joined the executive team at Gap Inc. and was a leader in customer experience and innovation for the company. She began her career in NYC as a buyer for Bloomingdale’s. Identified as an “Accelerator” by WSJ, “40 under 40” by SF Business Times, Stern approaches brand building with unwavering focus and industry-changing boldness. Stern has an MBA from Stanford GSB and graduated summa cum laude from the University of Pennsylvania.

Meagan is an Executive Assistant at Peterson Partners. Prior to joining Peterson Partners, Meagan worked as an Assistant Store Manager at lululemon. Meagan received a B.S. in Athletic Training from Brigham Young University.

Randall is a Venture Partner at Peterson Ventures. Prior to joining Peterson Ventures, Randall worked at Salesforce via its acquisition of Brighter Option, a SaaS-based advertising technology platform, where Randall was the first business hire, responsible for driving revenue growth and go-to-market strategy. Prior to Brighter Option, Randall served as SVP of Global Sales at RockYou, a Sequoia/Lightspeed/First Round-backed digital media company. Randall also worked in sales strategy and account management positions at both Google and eBay. Randall holds an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a B.A. in Organizational Communication from the University of Utah.

Board Directorships

• Homelyfe
• Loop
• Taft
• Airin
• Blue Matador
• Spiff
• Wooly
• Backbone
• Grain
• SimpleCitizen
• Honeycomb

Tanner is an Analyst at Peterson Ventures. Prior to joining Peterson Ventures, Tanner was a Senior Associate at University Growth Fund, the largest student-ran venture capital fund in the country. While at University Growth Fund, Tanner was responsible for leading deal teams through the entire diligence process including deal screen, investment memo and deck, and investment committee pitch. While attending school he worked for a tech startup, Xandem Technology, in Strategy and Operations. Tanner graduated from the University of Utah with a B.S. degree in Finance.