Meet the team

One of the founders of Exponential Impact, Vance has over 25 years of experience as the CEO of both public and private software technology innovation companies. Most recently, Vance was CEO of the National Cybersecurity Center. Previously, Vance was Co-founder and CEO of Cherwell Software from its inception in 2004 until 2016. In 2015, Cherwell was recognized as the top software company in all of Colorado. Formerly, Vance was President and CEO of GoldMine® Software, which at the time was rated as one of the top 100 software companies in the United States.

Through the years, Vance has gained much experience in all types of venture funding and has raised hundreds of millions of dollars from organizations such as Insight Venture Partners and KKR.

Among other honors, Goldman Sachs honored Vance by naming him one of the top 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs. Additionally, Vance was named EY Entrepreneur of The Year™ 2014 Award Winner and then served as EY national judge for 3 years in the technology category.

Vance graduated summa cum laude and a member of Phi Beta Kappa from Wake Forest University, with degrees in Economics and Computer Science, and then from the University of North Carolina School of Law with honors. Vance serves on the board for charitable organizations such as Parents Challenge, Foundation of the Heart, and the Legacy Institute. He also is a lifetime Honorary Commander Emeritus for the US Air Force Academy.

Vance is passionate about mentoring entrepreneurs who want to thrive and make positive change in the world.  Vance actively mentors all the startups in XI programs.

Betsy is Co-Founder of The Classical Academy, the largest Colorado charter school with over 3,500 students K-12. She then became the Director of Character and Culture for this school, which has been rated as the top high school in Colorado. Betsy specialized in developing character curriculum for students and teachers, overseeing mentorship programs, and creating a healthy culture for students and teachers using a positive psychology framework. Formerly, Betsy was a therapist in private practice, and has expertise in how to create healthy and positive team dynamics.

Betsy is passionate about helping people thrive and flourish in life. Betsy is a regular mentor at Exponential Impact.  During the Accelerator program, Betsy leads a Mindfulness Monday for the startups.

Betsy graduated cum laude from Wake Forest University with a degree in English, and then from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a M.Ed. in counseling. Through the years, Betsy has completed conflict resolution and mediation training from the Colorado Bar Association, Restorative Justice training through the RJ Council of Colorado, The Science of Happiness course through Berkeley’s Greater Good Science center, Birkman assessment certification, Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) training, Myers-Briggs certification, StrengthsFinder, and is in the process of completing yoga teacher certification through Yogafit.

Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers appointed Jeff Greene Chief of Staff and Chief Administrative
Officer for the City of Colorado Springs in May 2015.

Jeff is originally from Thomaston, Georgia. He attended the University of Tennessee where he studied economics and finance, and received a commission in the United Stated Army upon graduation. Military service brought him to Colorado where he remained, working in the banking and health insurance industries after separating from the Army.

In 2001 Jeff began his career in local government service at El Paso County. During his 14 years there he served as the County Administrator from 2006-2015, and was honored in 2011 as the Pikes Peak region Public Official of the Year by the Chamber of Commerce & Economic Development Corporation.

Jeff is currently serving on the boards of directors for the National Cybersecurity Center, the Colorado
Springs Sports Corporation, the Pikes Peak Workforce Development Board, the Chamber and EDC, and the United Way of the Pikes Peak Region. He is a member of the Regional Leadership Forum and University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Ambassadors.

Jeff has lived in Colorado Springs since 1995. He enjoys golf, reading, history and the quality of life in Pikes Peak Region with his wife, Nancy.

Kyle Hybl currently serves as President and Chief Executive Officer for El Pomar Foundation and General Counsel for The Garden City Company.   He joined El Pomar Foundation in 2000, and served as Chief Operating Officer from 2013 – 2019. Kyle is Chairman Emeritus of the University of Colorado System, a board he served on from 2007-2018. In 2018, Kyle was appointed as a member of the Air Force Civic Leaders Program.  Kyle currently serves as Chairman of Police Foundation of Colorado Springs and Corporate Secretary for Junior Achievement, USA.  He also serves on the Boards of Directors for American Council of Young Political Leaders, Broadmoor World Arena, Employers Council, Exponential Impact and National Cybersecurity Center. 

Kyle earned a B.A. and Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Colorado, Boulder.  He is a former Air Force Captain and Judge Advocate.

Chris Jenkins is President at Nor’wood Development Group. With more than 40 years of experience in real estate and land development in the Pikes Peak Region, Nor’wood is the largest locally owned development firm in Southern Colorado. They have successfully created a variety of notable places and destinations including the Nor’wood, Wolf Ranch and Mesa Ridge master planned communities, First & Main Town Center, Interquest Marketplace, four new apartment communities and most recently the purchase of the Banning Lewis Ranch east of Colorado Springs. In downtown Colorado Springs, Plaza of the Rockies and Alamo Corporate Center are two of their more prominent assets. Chris led the effort “City for Champions”, an ambitious $250M revitalization and economic development project for the City of Colorado Springs that includes developing the United States Olympic Museum, a Downtown Stadium and Event Center, a Sports Medicine and Performance Center at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs and a new visitor center at the United States Air Force Academy.

More than a developer, Chris is a builder of community. He dedicates much of his energy to leading and supporting a Downtown Renaissance where the heart of the city realizes its potential as a thriving urban neighborhood with dense living, unique retail, entertainment venues and places of employment that are essential to elevate the entire vitality of the city. The cornerstone to Chris’ business philosophy is to engage in community organizations with the aim of elevating our community’s “pride quotient”. He wholeheartedly believes that a community enriched with the arts, active young professionals and a strong local government will ensure a prosperous future for generations to come.

Chris is also President of the Nor’wood Foundation, which serves as the company’s philanthropic organization focusing on youth, the elderly, arts and culture in the Pikes Peak region.

Prior to joining Nor’wood, Chris was Director of Finance for a Denver real estate investment firm where he managed the ongoing financing for retail properties in multiple states. He earned his Bachelors of Science degree in Business Administration, Finance and Real Estate from the University of Denver.

He is married to Sharon and has two teenage boys, Nicholas and Nolan. The Jenkins family can often be found on foot, bikes and skis, enjoying Colorado’s great outdoors.

Lisa co-founded Intelligent Software Solutions, an international software analytics company that is headquartered in Colorado Springs and now called Polaris Alpha, a Parsons Company. She earned bachelor’s of science and master’s in science in computer science at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. Lisa has more than 25 years of experience in applied research in artificial intelligence, data analysis and visualization.

Sarah Jane (SJ) Maxted is a Principal at ADL Ventures, focused on energy venture development. Most recently, she served as Director of Strategic Initiatives at MIT’s spin-out The Engine, a $250 million dollar venture capital fund focused on advanced tough tech, breakthrough technology. She directed and scaled the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program across 40+ global regions to develop their regional innovation ecosystems. SJ also spent time in the private sector working for two different consulting firms including Deloitte’s Federal Energy and Emerging Markets practices where she focused on innovation, strategy and operational opportunities across public and private sector clients including National Labs and utilities. SJ served in President Obama’s Administration at the United States Department of Energy (U.S. DOE), where she served as Special Assistant to Secretary Dr. Steven Chu and worked on special projects and was detailed to the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy to manage a tech transfer and commercialization portfolio. Earlier in her career she also worked for former MA-Senator John Kerry under his Senior Advisor for Energy.

SJ sits on the Advisory Council for Chain Reaction Innovation and the Board for Forge Mass. She served as Senior Advisor to Greentown Labs, Anderson Cabot Center for Ocean Life at the New England Aquarium and LA Cleantech Incubator (current). She also sits on the World Economic Forum Global Future Council on Innovation Ecosystems. She graduated from Duke University with continued coursework at Harvard.

Hannah is a perpetual starter, builder and grower of business. She is a natural connector with a strong commitment to the entrepreneurial community. She has worked in financial services, real estate, community and economic development. Hannah served as CEO for XI from 2017-2019, and is currently Chief Revenue Officer for Barnowl, and XI Alum. Barnowl participated in the 2018 XI Accelerator, as well as XI Amplify. Hannah also co-founded Epicentral Coworking in Downtown Colorado Springs and has served the startup community in numerous volunteer roles.

Hannah earned her BSBA in international business and management and her MBA with a concentration in entrepreneurship. She is an avid reader, sun lover and paddle boarder. XI is a mashup of Hannah’s diverse career history and interests. It perpetuates her passion for business and community, and fuels her love of learning. Hannah is a newly minted cryptocurrency hobbyist and student of new technologies.

Dr. Emily L. Spratt is an arts and AI academic and consultant based in Manhattan. Currently a fellow in the Data Science Institute at Columbia University, Emily is examining the philosophical, ethical, and legal implications of AI-enhanced technologies—particularly from the field of computer vision—for the analysis and curation of art and architecture, and the corporate use of digital images more broadly. With international experience as a strategic advisor in the art market and the museum and cultural heritage sector, Emily combines her love of art, culture, and emergent technologies with her honed business world instincts, and brings humanities-rooted perspectives to corporate governance. Emily completed a Ph.D. and an M.A. at Princeton University and also holds an M.A. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and a B.A. from Cornell University. Trained as a Byzantine and Renaissance art specialist, Emily has lived and traveled all over Europe for her research, and has taught undergraduate and graduate art history in addition to cultural heritage and technology courses.

Emily has been the recipient of numerous fellowships and awards from the Onassis Foundation, the Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, the Cini Foundation in Venice, the Cyprus American Archaeological Research Institution, the American Research Center in Sofia, Bulgaria, the Hellenic Ministry of Culture, The Frick Collection and Art Reference Library, and the universities from where she holds degrees. She is on the digital and multimedia advisory board of the Renaissance Society of America, and is a consultant for The Frick Collection and Art Reference Library and a steering committee member of the museum’s Scholars’ Advisory Group. Additionally, Emily is on the advisory board of the Artificial Intelligence Finance Institute (AIFI) of New York, is the ethics advisor of Iconem, and is the art and AI advisor of Ethical Tech at Duke University. Emily is an advisor for the Defense Innovation Accelerator, which is part of the National Security Innovation Network under the United States Department of Defense. Emily is also on the ICOMOS committee readdressing the ethical principles for the recording of cultural heritage sites and monuments for UNESCO, and is on a cybersecurity committee for the IEEE Standards Association. Previously, Emily was the strategic advisor for the Berlin- and New York-based art market firm Artory, which she helped pivot into a blockchain-based company. In New York, Emily is actively involved with the investment community.

At age 16, Emily created her first business, Java Woman’s, a successful to-go coffee and muffin shop in rural Connecticut; today, her insights on art, AI, ethics, and society are sought internationally, and by news outlets such as the Washington Post and CBS News.