Javier Saade is a principled leader with three decades of broad, global experience as an investor, board member, founder, operating executive and policymaker. His multicultural roots, operating foundation, deep leadership capability and change-making disposition have been assets throughout his career.
He is Founder & Managing Partner of Impact Master Holdings, Venture Partner at Fenway Summer and Operating Partner at Presidio Investors. Fenway Summer is a venture capital firm that has backed 60+ enterprises innovating at the intersection of technology & finance, several of them worth billions of dollars. Presidio is a leading middle-market private equity firm that acquires technology, media and financial services companies. Impact Master builds, governs and invests in companies creating values-driven value. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of GP Funding, Inc. (a private equity-owned financial services company), Member of the Board of Advisors of Harvard University’s Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, Candidate Member of the New York Stock Exchange’s (NYSE) Board Advisory Council, CNBC Contributor, and Executive Fellow at Harvard Business School during Fall 2023.
Until recently, Javier was Audit Committee Chair of the Board of Directors of SoftBank Vision Fund Investment Corp. (NASDAQ: SVFA), Lead Independent Director and Nominations & Governance Committee Chair of the Board of
Directors of Porch Group, Inc. (NASDAQ: PRCH). He also held leadership roles on the Boards of Trustees Pan American Development Foundation and The Nature Conservancy, and served on the Global Advisory Board of DocuSign, Inc. (NASDAQ: DOCU) and Board of Advisors of Univision Communications. He is an SEC Qualified Financial Expert (QFE).
Javier is privileged to have served in high-level positions of public trust, all centered around the economic, financial and commercial enterprise policy of the United States. In 2013, he was appointed by President Obama to serve as Associate Administrator, Chief of Investment & Innovation of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The programs he led have invested $120+ billion in 300,000+ companies, one of the largest capital pools in the world investing billions of dollars a year in high growth companies and cutting-edge technologies in every innovative field of human endeavor. He concurrently served in the Committee for Small and Emerging Companies at the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC), subsequently served on the Presidential Transition at the Department of Treasury, and currently serves on the White House’s Advisory Committee for Trade Policy and Negotiations.
Prior to public service he spent over 20 years years in investing, entrepreneurial, operating and C-suite advisory roles at organizations that include McKinsey & Company, Booz Allen & Hamilton (NYSE: BAH), Bridgewater Associates (world’s largest hedge fund managing $160 billion), Abbott Laboratories (NYSE: ABT), Paradigm Ventures (a growth capital fund), and Air America, a media & entertainment company he co-founded. Throughout his career, Javier has served on several PE-owned, VC-backed and nonprofit boards and is a Founding Member of Fast Company’s Impact Council and a Member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, Latino Corporate Directors Association, and Aspen Institute’s Latinos & Society. He also served as a Mentor at Techstars, Kauffman Foundation, and Stanford University’s Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative, Senior Fellow at Georgetown University’s Beeck Center for Innovation & Impact, and Executive in Residence at Columbia University’s Columbia Technology Ventures.
Javier frequently writes and speaks about technology, financial services, digital inclusion, venture capital and private equity, entrepreneurship, innovation, economic policy, small business, corporate leadership and capital stewardship. Links to some of his work including media appearances, podcasts, interviews, profiles, congressional testimonies, thought leadership pieces and other endeavors can be found at https://linktr.ee/javiersaade.
He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, an MS in Operations & Technology from Illinois Institute of Technology and a BS in Industrial Management from Purdue University.
Presidio Board Seats: Golden Pear Funding (Chairman)