Phillip Graham

Phillip Graham

Phill joined Pappas Capital in 2023.  Prior to joining Pappas, he was Senior Associate Director at Duke Capital Partners where he helped lead the team’s deal sourcing, screening, diligence, and execution efforts, closing $50M+ in invested capital across 50+ transactions.  Prior to Duke Capital Partners, he worked as a strategy consultant for Promontory Financial Group, focused on implementation of board governance, operations, and risk management best practices for institutional financial services firms.  Before joining Promontory, he was a Sr. Analyst at Treliant Risk Advisors, where he led large-scale reviews on credit and mortgage products for financial services clients. He began his career as a consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton, developing requirements and test cases for the USDA’s $2B+ e-procurement system.

Education:

Washington and Lee University (BS in Business Administration and BA in Music)
The Fuqua School of Business at Duke University (MBA)

Catherine Yue, PhD

Catherine joined Pappas Capital in 2022 as an Associate (Asia), covering deal sourcing, investment opportunity evaluation, due diligence and network building in Singapore, Hong Kong and Mainland China. She brings to the Pappas team a strong understanding of the start-up ecosystem in Asia based on her deep tech experience as an entrepreneur, start-up ecosystem builder, and angel investor. Catherine started her career as an engineering specialist for a state-owned utilities company, supporting technical and commercial operations and cross-border transactions in both Singapore- and China-based companies. Catherine is an ESG advocate and received a Certificate in ESG Investing from the CFA Institute.

Education:
National University of Singapore (B.Eng in Environmental Engineering)
National University of Singapore (PhD in Environmental Engineering)

Brian Gibbs, PhD

Brian joined Pappas Capital in September 2022 as an Investment Analyst and Deal Flow Manager where he participates actively in deal flow management, investment opportunity evaluation, management of key strategic partnerships and identification of opportunities of strategic interest.

Prior to joining Pappas Capital, he was a Venture Analyst at Kineticos Ventures where he participated in investment opportunity evaluation and due diligence, and led the technology transfer outreach program to identify early-stage life science technologies from academic institutions. Prior to Kineticos, Brian worked as a Business Analyst at Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures in Baltimore, MD, where he managed a portfolio of technologies in oncology, neurology, research tools and stem cells for licensing, and assisted faculty in startup formation. Earlier in his career, he was a scientific advisor at Wilson Sonsini where he drafted patent applications and conducted patent landscape and freedom to operate analyses.

Brian completed his doctorate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was involved in research projects in genetics, congenital heart diseases and regenerative medicine. Brian also completed postdoctoral fellowships at the University of Pittsburgh, and at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in the Department of Cardiology where he studied cardiac regeneration and renewal during heart formation.

Education:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Ph.D.)
Stillman College (BS in Biology)

Drew Cutshaw, MD

Drew joined Pappas Capital in January 2020 as a Venture Fellow where he participated actively in investment opportunity evaluation, due diligence and deal flow management. Prior to joining Pappas Capital full-time, he worked as a resident physician in surgery at Washington University in St. Louis. He completed his medical degree at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was involved in research projects in otolaryngology, neurosurgery and medical education, and was elected to Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society. He also completed his MBA at UNC, earning concentrations in both Healthcare and Entrepreneurship/Venture Capital. He previously completed a research fellowship with Duke University Neurosurgery focusing on development of novel treatments for meningitis and neurologic cancers before medical school. He was a recipient of the Howard Hughes Summer Research Fellowship while at Duke University, with his research focusing on neurobiological basis of drug sensitization.

Drew currently serves as a board observer for CuraSen Therapeutics and Veralox Therapeutics.

Education:
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (MD)
Kenan-Flagler Business School at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (MBA)
Duke University (BS in Neuroscience)

Elizabeth Kelly

Elizabeth re-joined Pappas Capital in 2021 and works across funds, including Pappas Ventures and Asia Innovation Ventures (AIV), the firm’s newest specialized fund. She led AIV’s investments in Horizon Quantum Computing, NuProbe, RoboCT, Us2.ai, and VFlowTech, and serves as a board observer for Horizon and VFlowTech.

Prior to Pappas, she invested in digital health and healthcare technology companies at Echo Health Ventures, and its predecessor, Mosaic Health Solutions, both subsidiaries of Blue Cross NC. Prior to Mosaic, Elizabeth had a variety of cross-functional responsibilities at Chimerix (NASDAQ: CMRX), a biopharmaceutical company developing antiviral therapies for immunocompromised transplant patients. In addition to playing a leadership role in the company’s 2013 IPO, she spearheaded activities in corporate development, finance, marketing, IR, and PR. She began her career as an Analyst at Pappas Ventures, where she managed the deal flow process, supported portfolio companies, and contributed to fundraising efforts for a new venture fund.

Education:

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill – Kenan-Flagler Business School (MBA in Finance, Entrepreneurship)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (BA in Management, Spanish)