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Tyrone Thomas is the General Counsel and Chief Compliance Officer at Doral Renewables, a leading developer, owner, and operator of renewable energy assets across the United States, with a portfolio exceeding 13 GW and more than $2.5 billion in long-term power purchase agreements. Over his career, Tyrone has helped advance more than $7 billion in utility-scale clean energy projects, advising on legal, compliance, risk, and crisis management at the highest levels. Beyond his professional work, Tyrone is a devoted father and an anti-hunger advocate, serving as a founding member and board leader of Beyond Hunger, which supports over 70,000 individuals and families annually across the Chicago region.

Nick Moran is a venture capitalist, entrepreneur, and the Founder & General Partner of New Stack Ventures, a Chicago-based fund backing early-stage, often first-time founders building in emerging markets and overlooked categories. He’s also the creator and host of The Full Ratchet, one of the industry’s longest-running and most respected venture capital podcasts, where he’s interviewed hundreds of top investors and operators. Before launching New Stack, Nick led product management for a Fortune 500 company and created The Firehose, a patented IoT product that was later acquired. His operator background heavily shapes his hands-on approach to supporting founders. Today, Nick is known for championing underrepresented geographies and unconventional entrepreneurs, blending sharp investment judgment with deep empathy for builders navigating the earliest stages.

Michael Roytman is a cybersecurity data scientist and entrepreneur. Born in East Germany and raised between Ukraine and Russia, he immigrated to the U.S. and studied industrial engineering at UIUC and operations research at Georgia Tech. A lifelong builder, he founded TruckSpotting and Dharma Platform—a data tool used by WHO, MSF, and Save the Children—earning him a spot on Forbes 30 Under 30. He spent nearly a decade at Kenna Security, co-creating the Exploit Prediction Scoring System (EPSS), then became a Distinguished Engineer at Cisco. Today, Michael is Co-Founder & CTO of Empirical Security, developing enterprise-specific AI models for cybersecurity. He also co-founded Sputnik Coffee in Chicago and serves on the Forbes Technology Council.

Betsy Fore is the first Native American (Turtle Mountain Chippewa) woman to raise a Series A and is now the Founding Partner of Velveteen Ventures, investing in children and the planet for the next seven generations. A three-time founder, she built two multi-million dollar brands — including Tiny Organics, which she grew from $0 to $13M+ — and WonderWoof, featured on Oprah’s Favorite Things and sold globally. She’s an investor with XFactor Ventures and LongJump, serves on multiple boards, and co-founded Natives Rising, one of the largest Indigenous tech and founder communities. Betsy’s debut book, Built on Purpose, launches in 2025 with HarperCollins.

Rola Dagher is one of the most influential leaders in global technology — having served as Global Channel Chief at Dell Technologies and President & CEO of Cisco Canada. Born in war-torn Lebanon, Rola’s journey from rebuilding her life in Canada to leading multibillion-dollar organizations is a masterclass in resilience, reinvention, and purpose-driven leadership. Today, she advises executives and founders on how to lead with courage and clarity in the AI era — helping them shift from survival to significance. Recognized among Canada’s Most Powerful Women, CRN’s 50 Most Influential Channel Chiefs, and appointed to the Order of Canada, Rola lives by her philosophy: “Learn it. Earn it. Return it.”

In this episode of the Let’s Grab Coffee Podcast, George Khalife sits down with Terry Graunke, Founder and Chairman of Erie Street Growth Partners, to unpack lessons from more than 30 years of building, leading, and investing in high-growth companies.From founding and selling his first company to taking one public and later running a private equity firm, Terry has experienced every stage of the business-building journey. Terry has led more than $1.8 billion in investments, served as Chairman, CEO, or Director of over 36 companies, and now guides Erie Street’s mission to help founders grow in a rapidly changing world.

Brian Wolfe is Managing Partner at Funded Ventures, a private investment firm, and is a retired partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP. In addition to his teaching at Booth, Wolfe also teaches courses on private equity and entrepreneurship at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Washington University in St. Louis and the University of North Carolina, and previously co-led a SaaS “buy and build” with sale to private equity.Wolfe is on the board and audit committee of Chicago Public Media, the boards of Intersect Illinois, Breakthrough T1D (f/k/a JDRF) Illinois, the Greater Chicago Legal Clinic and the Skandalaris Center at Washington University in St. Louis, and is a member of the Illinois Courts Commission and the Economic Club of Chicago.

Pablo Srugo is a Partner at Mistral, based in Toronto. Prior to Mistral, Pablo was the co-founder and COO of Gymtrack– a VC-backed startup in the FitTech space. Before starting Gymtrack, Pablo co-founded an online tutoring platform, which was acquired in 2014.

Vijen Patel is the Founding Partner of The 81 Collection, a $41 million early-stage venture fund that invests in founders building across "hard industries" like manufacturing, real estate, retail, and construction—sectors often overlooked by traditional VCs.Before becoming an investor, Vijen co-founded Pressbox in 2013 with his Notre Dame classmate Drew McKenna. Starting from a 600 sq ft Chicago office, they revolutionized dry cleaning through proprietary lockers in high-end residential buildings, eliminating traditional storefronts. In just 5 years, Pressbox scaled to 1,200 locations, becoming the world's largest dry cleaner before being acquired by Procter & Gamble in 2018 for an undisclosed sum. Post-acquisition, Vijen led the company's rebranding as Tide Cleaners.Prior to entrepreneurship, Vijen worked in private equity after graduating from the University of Notre Dame. Today, through The 81 Collection—which he calls "The Founders Fund for Hard Industries"—he backs entrepreneurs using automation and AI to transform traditional, capital-intensive businesses that others find "boring" or difficult to scale.Based in Chicago, Vijen brings decades of operating experience to identifying high-margin opportunities hidden within low-margin industries, focusing on founders tackling structural inequities and unsexy but essential work.

Harry Kraemer, Jr. is the former Chairman and CEO of Baxter International, a $12 billion global healthcare company. He is currently a Clinical Professor of Leadership at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, where he teaches values-based leadership and has been named Professor of the Year multiple times. Harry is also the author of four bestselling books on leadership, including From Values to Action and Your 168. He serves on numerous corporate and nonprofit boards and is widely respected for his work on leadership, ethics, and purpose.

Michael Fassnacht is President of the Chicagoland Region and Chief Growth Officer at Clayco, where he drives business development, marketing, and sales while mentoring the team. Before Clayco, he was the first-ever Chief Marketing Officer for the City of Chicago and CEO of World Business Chicago, where he led more than 400 corporate expansions and doubled the size of the economic development agency. A German native with over 20 years in Chicago, Michael also spent a decade as CEO of advertising giant FCB, launching their creative and business growth globally. Throughout his career — from Lufthansa in Germany to Silicon Valley to Chicago — he has been a passionate advocate for innovation, creativity, and the city of Chicago.

Landon W. Campbell is the General Manager for Drive Capital in Chicago, a $2.3B venture capital firm committed to investing in exceptional founders who are shaping the future of market-defining companies between the Hudson River and the Rocky Mountains. Landon oversees the firm’s $80M pre-seed fund in Chicago.

Edward Woodford is the Co-Founder and CEO of Zero Hash, a leading crypto and stablecoin infrastructure platform based in Chicago. Since founding the company in 2017, Edward has been at the forefront of transforming the global financial landscape, enabling seamless access to digital assets for companies across industries. Under his leadership, Zero Hash has raised over $170M in funding, settled over $20 billion in transactions, and onboarded more than 6 million customers globally.

TTT is the CEO of Teragonia, specializing in AI-driven analytics and value creation for PE-backed and founder-led middle-market companies. A seasoned M&A strategist with deep expertise in data science, he previously built and led Houlihan Lokey’s financial due diligence and data analytics practices. He has advised corporations, financial sponsors, and sovereign wealth funds across the transaction lifecycle, driving 8-figure EBITDA improvements through enterprise-wide analytics and AI enablement.

Duane is the Founder & Managing Partner of Author Capital Partners with 20 years of experience advising and investing in public and private companies. He serves on the boards of SilverIP Communications and ESD Global. Previously, Duane was an investment professional at BDT Capital Partners, focusing on founder- and family-led businesses, and a Private Equity Fellow at Vista Equity Partners. His career spans roles at Fireman Capital, Manasota Capital, the U.S. Treasury (TARP), and Merrill Lynch. Duane holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BBA from George Washington University. He is an Investor-in-Residence at the University of Chicago Booth School and a Board Trustee at Lake Forest Academy.