Our Team
Matthew Rappaport - General Partner
Matthew Rappaport is the General Partner of Future Frontier Capital (FFC). Matthew managed hundreds of early stage technology, market and patent landscape analysis projects through his firm, IP Checkups since 2004.
He has made investments in Canopy Growth Corporation, Blue Ocean Barns, Magrathea, and Level 42 AI.
Matthew is on faculty at the Fung Institute of Engineering Leadership at the University of California - Berkeley.
Subscribe to Matt’s newsletter: Ignore the Confusion
Mark Garner - GP/Data Analyst
Mark Garner Casaña is the Chief Technology Officer and Data Scientist Future Frontier Capital (FFC). Mark built, oversaw, and managed an enterprise SaaS solution for a technology and IP analysis firm.
He has developed ML/AI models related to mining patent information to identify trends in emerging technologies.
He earned a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Oklahoma.
ADVISORS
Joan Salwen
Joan Salwen is the CEO of Blue Ocean Barns, maker of Brominata, the most effective burp suppressant for cattle. Brominata is a 100% natural Hawaii-grown seaweed. When added in small amounts to regular cattle feed, Brominata reduces cows' methane emissions by 80% or more. Joan was a Managing Director at Accenture, a global consulting firm, for 20 years before building a team at Stanford University to explore the efficacy and safety of red seaweed as a feed additive. Joan grew up in rural Iowa in the long shadow of her family farm, which is still farmed by her aunt and first cousins.
Ryan Anderson
Ryan Anderson is IBM’s Architect in Residence in San Francisco and a Principal for IBM’s Global Industry team where he is focused on the AI-enabled modernization of legacy systems for Fortune 500 customers.
He holds an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering and an MBA from Cambridge University, and spent 30 years developing technology for avionics, energy, gaming, and unified communications. He holds more than 20 patents related to edge computing, brain computer interfaces, AR/VR, and artificial intelligence, and 2019 was honored to join the Linux Foundation Edge (LFEdge) Governing Board
Ryan is active in startup and VC communities in San Francisco, Las Vegas and UK - and he is investor and advisor to 10 companies in fintech, biology and cell therapeutics, human health, climate technology, web3 and high-performance computing. He also convenes a monthly debate and drinking club #SolanoSalon for quirky and interesting Berkeley-area people.
Lisa Salley
Lisa Salley is an award-winning corporate executive entrepreneur. She is the Founder and Managing Partner of Heritage Solutions Group (HSG), a boutique strategy and operations firm focused on mentoring, staffing, and financing projects in emerging and underserved urban markets.
Lisa spent over 25 years in executive officer positions at General Electric, Dow chemical, Underwriters' Laboratories, and the American Petroleum Institute where her expertise in strategy, commercialization, scalability, and operations were honed through roles ranging from Nuclear Materials Engineer to Division President.
Lisa teaches part-time at Babson College in the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business Program. She serves on the Philadelphia Board of Education and on the Advisory Board of the Materials Engineering Department at Carnegie Mellon University where she earned a BS in Metallurgical Engineering & Materials Science. She also holds a MS in Decision Sciences and Engineering Systems from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. For the past few years, Lisa has been listed on the Philadelphia Tribune’s List of Most Influential African Americans in Philadelphia.
Bruce Kahn
Dr. Bruce Kahn is the lead Portfolio Manager of the Shelton Sustainable Equity Fund. Previously, Bruce was responsible for delivering technical advice to investors on MSCI’s ESG and Climate Solutions tools and data sets for investment decision making, risk management, reporting and engagement.
His previous 18 years of work experience included portfolio management and other responsibilities at firms such as Citibank, Deutsche Bank, Macquarie Global Inc., and Sustainable Insight Capital Management.
Dr. Kahn earned a PhD in Land Resources from University of Wisconsin, Madison, an MS in Fisheries and Allied Aquacultures from Auburn University, and a BA in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology from the University of Connecticut. Bruce served as an Agriculture Extension Agent in the United States Peace Corps in the Republic of Cameroon, (1989-1993), as a Fulbright Scholar in Israel from 1999-2001 and has been teaching courses in Sustainable Finance, Statistics and Agriculture as an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Earth Institute since 2012.
Leah Edwards
After earning a BS in Finance from UC Berkeley and an MBA + Certificate of Public Management from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, Leah had a successful career as a co-founder of technology companies. Beginning with a $380 million sale of the first company she co-founded, Leah has co-founded and led or coached numerous technology and sustainability companies to successful exits.
Leah also served as the Director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies in the Stanford GSB and is now teaching entrepreneurship and innovation at Stanford and UC Berkeley. In addition to venture investing and advising startups, Leah also consults with corporations, universities and nonprofit organizations, particularly around establishing innovation programs and alternative sources of revenue or support.
Leah also serves on the boards of Cumplo and NameCoach.
Steve Krawczyk
Steve started at Gilead Sciences in 1989 as a medicinal chemist and in 2000 moved to Gilead’s IP department as a patent searcher and analyst. In 2006, he became the head of Patent Informatics, managing the patent search group and providing FTO, landscape searches, and design around assessments in support of M&A and partnering diligence.
Steve’s work at Gilead resulted in over 40 peer reviewed publications, patents and presentations. He earned his PhD in Medicinal Chemistry from the University of Michigan. Later he obtained an MBA through Golden Gate University and a JD from Santa Clara University.
Peter Fiske
Peter Fiske is a renowned expert in the field of water and environmental sciences. He is the Executive Director of NAWI (National Alliance for Water Innovation) and the Director of the Water-Energy Resilience Research Institute (WERRI) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He has over two decades of experience founding startups and commercializing new technologies.
Fiske has a strong background in geochemistry and materials science, with a Ph.D. from Stanford University. He has worked in various roles, including as the CEO of PAX Water Technologies, Inc., where he pioneered the use of biomimicry to develop innovative and energy-efficient technologies for the water industry.
Dr. Frank Davis
Dr. Frank Davis has over twenty years of clinical experience and has worked in various mental health settings with diverse populations. He has extensive training in family systems, psychodynamics, attachment, trauma, and multicultural focused psychotherapy. Dr, Davis has developed expertise in working with K through 12th grade student athletes, college level student athletes and professional athletes.
Dr. Davis advises various professional groups on the underlying dynamics that operate within organizations. He provides workshops on diversity issues to graduate schools and mental health agencies throughout the Bay Area. Dr. Davis received his Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology in 2008. He received his Master's degree in Counseling Psychology from John F. Kennedy University, in 2000.
Bowman Heiden
Dr. Heiden is currently the Executive Director of the Tusher Center for the Management of Intellectual Capital at UC-Berkeley and co-chair of the Technology, Innovation, and Intellectual Property program at the Classical Liberal Institute at the NYU School of Law. He is also the Director of the Center for Intellectual Property (CIP), which is a joint center for knowledge-based business development between University of Gothenburg, Chalmers University of Technology, and the Norwegian University for Science and Technology. Dr. Heiden was recently a member of the European Commission High-Level Expert Group on Standard Essential Patents.
Previously he was Innovation Director for the Qatar Science & Technology Park, where he was responsible for driving innovation strategy and intellectual property policy. Over the past 15 years, Dr. Heiden has managed over 150 innovation projects with industry, university research institutes, healthcare providers, and start-up ventures.
Dr. Heiden holds degrees in engineering, technology management, and economics, and his research is at the interdisciplinary interface of economics, law, and innovation, in particular, intellectual property and open innovation in knowledge-intensive sectors. Before turning his focus to the field of knowledge-based business, Dr. Heiden played professional basketball in a number of European countries.
Nirav Bisarya
Nirav is a 10-year investment veteran with extensive ties to both the real estate and technology worlds. Nirav is co-CIO of his family office, Gen3Ventures. Nirav also spent 12 years in sales and customer success roles building B2B startups in the Salesforce ecosystem and evolving established hardware technology companies.