Access to Growth Capital

Speaker Bios:

Russell Simpkin

Russell has vast experience in banking- he’s been in the industry since 1989, and his passion for helping companies succeed allows him to be a valued partner and advisor to clients, friends, and their families. For the past 20 years he has dedicated himself to the business community, specializing in partnering and advising companies having annual revenues between $1M - $100M. He is very familiar with business, real estate, SBA, and ABL financing, and in his past has also financed non-profit organizations such as churches and youth organizations. Russell has a strong credit background, having helped companies navigate the challenging Great Recession period and assisting many clients with obtaining approvals for PPP loans during the more recent pandemic.

He is very active in the community, having served on several non-profit boards and is active in several Long Beach chapters for both real estate and business entities. He has attended the Wisconsin Graduate School of Banking and the Chartered Finance Analyst degree program and is a licensed real estate broker. Personally, Russell is from the Southeastern Massachusetts/Rhode Island area and has been in Southern California since 1982. He is a proud father of a young daughter and in his spare time enjoys golfing, fitness training, and traveling. He also enjoys reading anything related to business, including the Wall St Journal, Forbes, and Barrons.

Andria Martinez

Andria Martinez is a Field Director and technical advisor for Grow America, the country’s first and most dedicated community and economic development nonprofit . Since 1969 Grow America, formerly NDC, has worked to create and implement economic and community development strategies that increase the flow of capital to urban and rural communities, establish finance programs, and help to create a professional economic and community development workforce. Grow America is a not for profit that offers a wide range of services, including development assistance, professional training, small-business financing, and debt and equity for residential, commercial, public, and nonprofit facilities.

Andria, an Economic Development Finance Professional (EDFP), has over 15 years of experience delivering one to one technical assistance, training, and financing for municipal clients, small businesses and nonprofits. Her depth of knowledge and experience covers federal, state, and local community & economic development finance programs. Her passion is to help entrepreneurs and women overcome adversity and achieve success through education, opportunity, and financial empowerment.

Andria has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics with minors in Spanish and Portuguese from the University of California Los Angeles. She is an avid traveler and has lived & worked abroad in Brazil, Costa Rica, Spain and Mexico. A native of Long Beach, CA, Andria currently resides with her husband and daughter in Santa Barbara, CA.

Raghu Iyer

Raghu Iyer has 20-plus years of global experience in US, Europe & Asia in senior executive/management and executive board member roles including 12 years at CXO levels (COO, CSO & CIO) & board levels in fintech, financial services, pharmaceuticals, health tech, digital health and technology sectors. Prior to his current role at Nex Cubed since 2017 as a strategic investor/operator/advisor with early stage firms, Raghu was Chief Business Strategy and Operations Officer as well as an Executive Board Member at Vivimed Labs, a mid-size generic pharmaceutical firm where he grew its business from US $48 million in annual revenues to $225 million over 5 years. Prior to that, in 2008, Raghu was founding CIO of Singapore Mercantile Exchange (SMX) which was acquired by ICE (Inter Continental Exchange) for $150 million in 2011. Raghu was also a member of the board of directors at SMX. During his long career, Raghu has held senior management positions in business/technology strategy and operations overseeing engagements globally totaling more than $100 billion in value at firms such as McKinsey, Morgan Stanley, J P Morgan, Wells Fargo, S&P, Oracle, KPMG, BDF AG etc. These initiatives focused on M&A, business/financial growth, corporate turnaround, Digital/IT Transformation Strategy, and operational/financial improvement & effectiveness. During his extensive career, Raghu has been engaged in 40 M&A transactions valued at more than $2.5 billion. Raghu has also played an active role in fund raising totaling more than $750 million for publicly listed and privately held firms as well as startups.
Raghu holds an MBA from SIU, Carbondale, IL and received an MS in Engineering from University of Alaska, Fairbanks, AK. Raghu also attended the Global Advanced Management Program (GAMP) at Kellogg School of Management at NorthWestern University, Chicago, IL.

Host or Publisher Long Beach Accelerator