Susan Preston
General Partner, CalCEF Clean Energy Angel Fund
http://www.calcefangelfund.com
Panelist
Session 1: Technology Development and Clean Tech Investments
Monday, October, 27, 2008
Ms. Preston is General Partner for the new CalCEF Clean Energy Angel Fund, as well as CalCEF Clean Energy Angel Network. The Angel Fund is focused on seed/start-up stage investments in clean energy technology. Ms. Preston was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation for six years and continues as a consultant, specifically focusing on initiatives related to angel investing and angel organizations. Ms. Preston is also a consultant to the Angel Capital Education Foundation, teaching seminars on angel investing and angel organizations.
Ms. Preston is the author of Angel Financing for Entrepreneurs: Early-stage Funding for Long-term Success released by Wiley Publishing in March 2007 and Angel Investment Groups, Networks and Funds: A Guidebook to Developing the Right Angel Organization for Your Community, a comprehensive guidebook on the establishment and operation of angel investment groups published by Kauffman Foundation. She was also a contributing author to State of the Art: An Executive Briefing on the Cutting-Edge Practices in American Angel Investing. Ms. Preston has been profiled in Red Herring, Inc. Magazine, USA Today and Business Week and other local and national publications and has contributed to numerous nationally published articles on women’s entrepreneurship and angel investing.
Ms. Preston is a founder and past-president of Seraph Capital Forum, an all-women's accredited investor angel investment organization. She testified at a United States Congressional hearing in support for the $4 Billion Small Business Investment Company (SBIC) program as the national expert on angel financing, and most recently regarding H.R. 5198 (and S. 3950), a Federal income tax credit for private equity investments. Ms. Preston is the architect of H.R. 5198 and S. 3950, with the bill concept originating from Ms. Preston’s discussions and interactions with the House Small Business Committee on solutions to the loss of the SBIC participating equity program. Ms. Preston continues to actively participate in the promotion and furtherance of the bill on Capital Hill and elsewhere.
Ms. Preston received her JD, cum laude, from Seattle University School of Law and her BS, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, in Microbiology and Public Health from Washington State University.