Gary Brode brings over 30 years of experience in the securities industry, most recently serving as Managing Partner and Senior Portfolio Manager at Silver Arrow Investment Management, a concentrated long-only hedge fund with a strategic focus on options-based hedging.
Gary began his career in the Mergers & Acquisitions department at Morgan Stanley. He later worked alongside Doug Hirsch at Smith New Court before helping Hirsch co-found Seneca Capital. Following this, Gary spent three years honing his expertise in long/short equity investing at Brahman Capital. He then joined John A. Levin & Co., where he had full investment discretion and delivered consistent returns, generating profits on all 15 investments he managed.
As a founding partner of Akita Capital Management, Gary expanded his entrepreneurial endeavors, culminating in the launch of Silver Arrow Investment Management in 2012 with Raji Khabbaz.
After more than 25 years as a high-tech leader and executive, Dr. Steven Kirch now focuses his passion for people, process, and organizations to help entrepreneurs and CEOs take their businesses to the next level. His Profit MindsTM Growth System is a unique blend of enhancing profit, accelerating productivity, and building scale – all with the goal of helping his clients expand their businesses and reap the rewards of their hard work that they expected when they started out. With his daughter as AI Guru, Profit Minds is offering guaranteed, game-changing results as every role deliverable can be produced faster and easier by leveraging AI. As a certified Rhythm Maker, he helps companies with the Catipult RazorTM Program, implementing the Rockefeller Habits, building world-class companies with AI-driven KPIs, allowing the leader to focus on what really matters to drive business improvements.
He serves on the Board of Directors for The Gratitude Network (www.gratitude-network.org) – a leadership development organization working with social entrepreneurs around the world to enable growth of these innovative companies that are changing the lives of children and youth everywhere.
Dr Kirch has a passion for music and sings with a world-class San Francisco-based a cappella chorus, the Fog City Singers. He has appeared on stage in local theater company productions and, when not busy with music, you can find him running, biking, or golfing. He has been married to his wife, Donna, for more than 40 years and they have two wonderfully intelligent and talented daughters who are making their own way in the world.
While working on her Master’s in Mathematics, Suzanne Kirch discovered her fascination with AI. She worked for a small AI start-up named Cognizer, first as an intern and then as an employee upon completion of her Masters. During this time, she became an inventor on six pending patents, serving as the primary inventor on two of them. Suzanne's fascination with AI stems partly from its unique combination of fields: applied mathematics, computer science theory, and linguistics, particularly in the realm of Natural Language Processing (NLP).
Now working with her father, Dr. Steven Kirch, at Profit Minds, Suzanne aims to bring a variety of new tools and capabilities to their work. Her focus areas include AI training and consulting, implementing the AI Transformation Method™ in conjunction with Simple Academy, where we enable every employee to produce every deliverable faster, better, cheaper, and easier using AI with a guaranteed ROI. In addition, Suzanne works in a consulting role: developing custom AI chatbots, conducting research, and problem-solving.
Suzanne's superpower lies in her ability to take complex technical concepts and explain them to people who are not particularly technically minded. At Profit Minds, she leverages this special ability to enhance her training and consulting services, helping others better understand and implement AI solutions. Despite her extensive knowledge of AI theory, she strives to ensure that her explanations are understandable by everyone, believing that AI should be for all.
In her spare time, she loves crocheting, watching TV and movies, listening to music, reading/listening to audiobooks, and playing games with family and friends. Some of her current favorite games are cribbage, backgammon, Villainous, Dungeons and Dragons, and Commander format of Magic the Gathering. She always wants more time to travel, both to see new places and revisit her favorites, like Budapest, Hungary.
Dr. Nancy Zare is a sales psychologist, holding an MSW in Organizational Planning and Development and a Ph.D. in Social Work and Organizational Development from Boston College. She is also a founder of multiple ventures, including Rapport Builderz, which helps salespeople develop relationships with prospects that lead to new business, and the author of several books.
She helps her clients learn the right words and know the right approach to attract new businesses without appearing “sales-y.”
