Meet the Team In Your Corner
Maria Malavenda
As Founder & Managing Director of KOL Ventures, Maria leads the firm’s Principal Investors & Private Equity practice, blending board-level strategy with hands-on operator execution to drive value through M&A, product innovation, and go-to-market acceleration. She advises private equity firms, family offices, and mid-to-large enterprises across Europe, North America, and Asia, directing diligence, strategy and transformation initiatives in B2B technology, healthcare, and financial services. She has deep experience in AI and digital transformation. Previously, Maria served as SVP of Strategy & Corporate Development at ZoomInfo, where she architected the company’s first exit and helped shape the platform through strategic partnerships and acquisitions. She has held senior leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson and Deloitte and has founded four venture-backed companies that exited to Microsoft, Bosch, IMG, and a global strategy consultancy. Maria currently serves on multiple boards spanning investment, healthcare innovation and emerging technology. She holds an Executive MBA from Harvard Business School and an A.B. in Economics from Brown University.
Evan Silberhorn
Evan drives transformation and growth at the intersection of AI and product, strategy and execution. He has led multi-year value creation programs for private equity, built and scaled digital products that unlocked new revenue streams, reorganized product and tech teams for high-performance delivery and partnered on go-to-market strategies that accelerated customer acquisition and retention. His work spans enterprise, mid-market and start up environments across industries. Evan brings a blend of hands-on operating experience, startup leadership, and boardroom strategy. He has served as a Principal in Portfolio Operations at Five Arrows (Rothschild & Co), where he partnered with portfolio leadership to deliver EBITDA growth and product innovation. Prior to that, he was a Principal at Boston Consulting Group (BCG), leading new product incubation and technology-enabled business building for Fortune 500 clients. Earlier, he co-founded EVVEMI, a digital health and wellness platform, where he served as Chief Product Officer. Evan holds a Bachelor of Science and MBA from Northeastern University and studied Aerospace Engineering at Georgia Institute of Technology.
Chris Maresca
Chris is a deep-tech operator and strategic advisor with nine successful exits totaling $1.5B+, including the $1B sale of Nokia's firewall division to Check Point. He has served as CEO, COO, and CTO across technology businesses, bringing hands-on technical depth combined with cross-functional business acumen spanning engineering, finance, go-to-market, and organizational design. He advises private equity firms, corporate M&A teams, and venture-backed companies on technical diligence, post-acquisition transformation, and fractional executive leadership across SaaS, data analytics, healthcare technology, IoT, and AI/ML platforms. He has led 50+ enterprise transformations generating $500M in investor value, with platforms adopted by Fortune 500 companies including HP, Microsoft, and Clorox. Previously, Chris co-founded Olliance Group, an open-source IP and technology strategy consultancy, and co-authored the CDDL license while contributing to GPLv3 development. He has served in executive roles at multiple acquired companies and currently sits on the advisory board of Autobound.ai, with prior board positions across SaaS, IoT, fintech, and geospatial analytics companies.
Jessica Sanford
Jessica Sanford, Ph.D., brings executive leadership at the convergence of AI, engineering, and enterprise security. Formerly a CISO and VP of Engineering, she has scaled high-performing teams and architected secure, compliant systems across data-rich, regulated environments. At Amazon and BCG, she led initiatives that apply machine learning and AI to transform the delivery of customer value—driving both innovation and trust through deeply integrated compliance frameworks. Her background in data governance, platform engineering, and risk management positions her as a strategic partner for organizations navigating complex digital transformations. Jessica combines boardroom fluency with technical rigor to help companies operationalize AI safely and effectively at scale.
Contact us