About Us

Dr. Zamber is founder, Managing Director and Chairman of Visionary Private Equity Group. He brings more than 25 years of experience in corporate management and business development extending across the public, private and non-profit arenas. Dr. Zamber has helped build profitable companies in healthcare, private and public petroleum E&P, consumer products, entertainment and Internet technology industries. He is a Director with Victory Energy (public) and a Managing Director of Navitus Energy Group, Navitus Partners and James Capital Energy. He is a founding member of the acclaimed music video production company, Fifgen Films, and is an Executive Producer in association with Coronet Films.

Dr. Zamber is a Board Certified Ophthalmologist and founder of International Vision Quest, a non-profit organization that performs humanitarian medical and surgical missions, builds water treatment facilities and supports food delivery programs to impoverished communities around the world. He has served as an examiner with the American Board of Ophthalmologists and Secretariat for State Affairs with the American Academy of Ophthalmology.

He is the 2009 recipient of Notre Dame’s prestigious Harvey Foster Humanitarian Award. He now serves on the advisory board of Feed My Starving Children, one of the highest rated and fastest growing charities in the country. Dr. Zamber received his bachelor’s degree with high honors from the University of Notre Dame and his medical degree with honors from the University of Washington.

A graduate of St. Louis University School of Law and University of Missouri, Michael Cosby primarily focuses his practice in areas of mergers and acquisitions, private equity, corporate finance and commercial transactions. He advises privately and publicly held clients in structuring, negotiating and completing acquisitions, divestitures, equity offerings, loans and investments.

Mike, as an attorney with Husch Blackwell, LLP, not only provides counsel for companies who are obtaining venture capital financing but also for the sale of portfolio companies through private equity groups. He has prepared the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act Pre-Merger Notification in multiple merger and acquisition transactions in compliance with Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission guidelines.

Brigitte Bonetti brings with her 19 years of experience in healthcare, marketing and client relations. As an entrepreneur herself, she understands the drive and dedication required to operate a successful company and how to help investors find financial success. Brigitte has a unique understanding of private equity groups in both their operations and investment advantage. She is the founder of Whootol, a Visionary Private Equity potential portfolio company.

As a former employee of a corporation that was funded and managed by a private equity group and recently purchased by a Fortune 100 company, she understands what it takes to invest in and operate successful portfolio companies.

Mr. Ali has over 25 years of investment, portfolio management, business development, corporate finance and strategic advisory experience. Mr. Ali has worked in senior level positions at global financial institutions including UBS, Bank of Montreal, Guggenheim Partners and Northern Trust.

In addition, Mr. Ali worked as a Managing Director and Senior Portfolio Manager at Deerfield Capital Management. For over a decade, he played a pivotal role over in growing the firm from $50MM AUM with 10 employees to over $15BB AUM with 120 employees encompassing portfolio management, structured products, technology, market research, risk control, sales, marketing, and operations.

Mr. Ali has worked with a global clientele including Central Banks, private equity firms, commercial and investment banks, family offices, fund of funds, wealth management offices, pension funds, and insurance companies. Mr. Ali’s responsibilities included managing multi-billion dollar investment portfolios, analyzing macro-economic trends, executing strategic relationships, developing institutional relationships, and enhancing franchise value.

Mr. Ali received an M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in Economics from DePauw University. Mr. Ali is Series 7 and Series 63 licensed.

Mr. DeLeon has spent the last twenty-five years in global finance, both on the buy and sell side, in New York, London, and Tokyo, and has built an enviable track record of value creation, along the way. For the past decade, his focus has been in natural resources; most recently as Senior Advisor to Victory Energy, a VPEG portfolio oil and gas exploration and production company. He has orchestrated the placement of a $75MM credit facility to acquire assets and take full advantage of the pressured commodities market. Prior to Victory, he served in the same capacity at Miller Energy; a NYSE-listed Alaska focused oil and gas exploration and production company.  At Miller, Mr. Deleon was responsible for overseeing corporate strategy, with particular focus on financing the company’s drilling program and acquisitions, as well as, investor relations and corporate governance. He identified and recruited three high profile, exceptionally pedigreed independent board members for the company, including the former CEO of Lyondell Petrochemicals. During his tenure, Miller more than doubled production and revenues, raised more than $400MM in financing, and announced several transformational acquisitions.

Prior to Miller, Mr. DeLeon spent approximately six years spearheading the U.S. operations for a boutique U.K. investment bank, with a strong focus in E&P and metals & mining. He was recruited for his extensive corporate finance and capital markets experience, both in the U.S. and U.K. Early in his career; he worked for Yamaichi, one of the Big Four Japanese securities houses, where he received the Chairman’s award for his consistent revenue contributions.

Mr. DeLeon was also a founding partner of a London-based corporate finance advisory and fund management firm with particular focus on the U.K. private equity markets, called Bracken Partners. He has served as both a senior executive and non-executive director of numerous public and private U.K. and U.S. companies.

Mr. DeLeon is a 1990 graduate of Yale University, with a B.A in Economics.

Robert Grenley has over 25 years of experience in financial management, business development, and entrepreneurial experience, including corporate development and investor relations. This financial experience includes managing and growing early stage organizations with equity capital. Mr. Grenley’s broader financial management experience includes over 10 years of direct portfolio management and investment expertise including common and preferred stock, stock options, corporate and municipal bonds as well as syndicated investments and private placements.  Mr. Grenley joined the VPEG in 2015 and has organized both equity finance and credit facilities on behalf of VPEG portfolio companies, and has been responsible for the provision of a significant portion of the invested dollars into the Fund itself. Mr. Grenley holds a BA in Economics From Duke University.

Mr. Bonetti brings over a decade of experience as a Senior Executive for top medical biologics and device technologies within privately held and publicly traded companies, including a top 3-ranked medical device company worldwide. Mr. Bonetti’s continued success and strong business acumen has allowed him to hold various leadership positions throughout his career. His skill set includes management, corporate growth strategies, business development, contracting, training, and commercialization of various medical biologics and device technologies.

Mr. Bonetti’s high level of business acumen, strategies, adaptability, and robust entrepreneurial drive makes him a tremendous asset.

Mr. Bonetti is a graduate from Missouri State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Business Management with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship.

A graduate of Missouri Baptist University with a BS in Business Administration, David Barr brings nearly 20 years of experience in the financial services industry.  During his career with Edward Jones, his main focus was managing broker relations, fund and cash management and developing customer service and training standards for departments.  With this experience, David excels at managing client relationships and capital development.

David lives in Weldon Spring, MO with his wife and two children. A former collegiate pitcher and semi pro athlete, David coaches a premier select St. Louis baseball team in his free time.

Jaime Shelton brings 19 years of experience in the financial services industry. While a Limited Partner at Edward Jones, Jaime worked with fraud protection, banking services, and created written supervisory procedures for internal audits. He was also responsible for training and development of associates along with project management for system enhancements. As a Risk Manager in his division he was responsible for reclaiming losses from clients or Financial Advisors.

Jaime is a licensed General Securities Representative. Jaime received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Business Management from Missouri Baptist University. He and his wife reside in Wentzville, MO with their two kids.

Patrick Lepski is a graduate Civil Engineer from the Missouri University of Science & Technology.  For the past 25 years, Patrick has focused on serving the needs of his clients and staff in the electrical field.  He most recently worked for Schneider Electric, a $25B global electrical manufacturer where he served as a National Sales Manager reporting to the Vice-President of Sales where he won several top awards for excellence including the President’s Award given to the top 1% of the entire North American sales team as well as People Who Make a Difference for his dedication to excellence to his clients and to Schneider Electric.  He brings his experiences of managing and developing a large team as well as developing business-to-business relationships to our organization.  Patrick also has experience in working for a major brokerage firm and being a partner in a mortgage company. Patrick supports several Charities for the Hungry including chairman for “Scouting for Food” with the Boy Scouts and is a Board member for Foster Adoption Support Team that supplies food to families with foster and adopted children.

Patrick and his wife Christine are the proud parents of two Eagle Scouts, Ryan and Jacob, with a third son Daniel who is on the same path for success as his brothers.  Patrick and his family reside in Saint Peters, Missouri.

Jake graduated from the University of Missouri’s Trulaske College of Business where he earned his BSBA in Finance & Banking before earning his JD/MBA from Saint Louis University.  Prior to joining the VPEG team, Jake spent time in the entertainment industry, working at ICM Partners Talent Agency in Beverly Hills where we worked directly with high level talent in the areas of motion picture and television.  Aside from his experience in the entertainment industry, Jake is well skilled in the areas of international business, corporate finance, and transactional law.

Jeff Fried has been involved in the areas of sports & entertainment and corporate finance for over 25 years. Jeff serves as President and Chief Energizing Officer of Fried & Company PC (established 1994) and its affiliate All In Entertainment LLC, with offices in Washington, DC and La Jolla, CA. The firm specializes in the representation of sports and media interests, the promotion and commercial aspects of worldwide sports and entertainment events and strategically aligned entrepreneurial ventures.

Nick Sciorra is a digital media, emerging technology and entertainment rights attorney and strategist with over 20 years of business and legal affairs and digital revenue strategy expertise advising digital media, app development, social media and mobility executives and creators in the development, procurement of profit-defined global growth objectives. Founder of Sciorra Media Group, Nick has in-depth entertainment and digital media transactional deal experience for acquisition, license and distribution of content assets; negotiation, drafting and deal analysis across multiple digital and mobile distribution platforms and in respect of various advanced digital revenue structures.

Mr. McCall has over 35 years of experience in the oil and gas industry, and is currently a partner in The McCall Firm in Austin, Texas. Mr. McCall’s law practice has centered on the upstream, midstream and downstream activities of major and independent oil companies.

His expertise encompasses all aspects of oil and gas operations. He has been instrumental in negotiating operating leases and agreements; production purchase and sale agreements; pipeline and exploration agreements.

He has been lead counsel on complex oil and gas litigation matters including disputes between interest holders in producing properties; contract and lease disputes; title controversies and other traditional oil and gas matters. He has represented clients in federal royalty valuation disputes and Minerals Management Service (MMS) administrative proceedings.

Mr. McCall is also experienced in the preparation of drilling title opinions, loan opinions, division order title opinions, and acquisition opinions. He is board-certified in oil, gas and mineral law. Mr. McCall is an author and has served as an expert witness in title matters involving oil and gas properties. Mr. McCall was one of the 5 original founders of the highly acclaimed “Wellkeepers” technology platform.

In 1971, Mr. McCall received a Bachelor of Arts in marketing from McMurry University, Abilene, Texas. He graduated from Texas Tech School of Law, Lubbock, Texas in 1974. He is a Member of the Bar, State of Texas; a Life Fellow, Texas Bar Foundation; and a Founding Fellow, Austin Bar Foundation.

Don brings over seventeen years of extensive experience in management, operations, quality assurance and maintenance of complex technological systems with a number of Fortune 500 companies including Boeing, Ford, Mitsubishi, Henkel and several others. His expertise in manufacturing technologies and communication improved processes and customer satisfaction.

Louis A. Bevilacqua is the founder and managing member of Bevilacqua PLLC, a boutique corporate and securities transactional law firm. Previously, Mr. Bevilacqua was a partner at the law firms of Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman and Thelen LLP.  As a lawyer and trusted advisor, Mr. Bevilacqua counsels companies of every size ranging from entrepreneurs with just an idea to established companies whose securities trade on the NYSE or NASDAQ. He has broad experience representing issuers in public offerings and private placements of securities (including private placements under Rule 506(c) of the Securities Act, crowdfunding offerings under Regulation CF and Title III of the JOBS Act, and Regulation A offerings), Exchange Act compliance, angel and venture capital financings, other areas of equity and debt financing and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Bevilacqua has several years of experience working with microcap public companies whose securities are quoted on the over-the-counter markets, and he understands the special needs of these companies. Mr. Bevilacqua is also a partner at Cambria Capital LLC, a full-service securities brokerage, registered investment advisor and technology driven investment banking firm.  Mr. Bevilacqua also serves on the board of directors of the Mid Atlantic Angels and is a founding board member of the board of directors of the International Executive Council.  Mr. Bevilacqua graduated Cum Laude from Fordham University and obtained a Juris Doctor from Fordham University School of law where he was a member of the Order of the Coif.  Mr. Bevilacqua is Chambers Ranked under Capital Markets (International Firms) and Capital Markets: Debt and Equity (Foreign Experts).

Karen is in the business of guiding conscious companies in their quest to turn visions into reality. She promotes the business paradigm that focuses on people, planet, purpose and prosperity. She has over 20 years’ experience working with global brands including managing projects for celebrity brands such as George Foreman, Bob Marley and Akon. She is recognized as a super connector and a trusted advisor. She is an MBA graduate of Thunderbird School of Global Management.

In 2014, she launched her own consulting company to support organizations with business development, marketing, events, sustainability strategies and strategic partnerships. One of her first projects included a C-suite position at Akon Lighting Africa, which brought solar energy solutions to over 1 million rural households in over 10 countries.

Karen is a founding member of the House of Marley consumer electronics leadership team and launched the first eco-friendly headphone brand in over 20 countries, developing and executing marketing plans and managing agency relationships and events to support Bob Marley’s vision of creating a better world through eco-friendly products.

One of Karen’s many skills is her ability to foster strategic partnerships between like-minded organizations. Her efforts connecting the right strategic partners with Akon led to the first African-made solar street light assembly plant in Mali. Most recently, she was an advisor and head of strategic partnerships for the Khemka Family Office foundation and entrepreneurship contest and in four months brought over 20 strategic partners across Africa and Latin America.

Karen is an Ambassador for the Global Blockchain Business Council where she has spoken on panels hosted on Sr. Richard Branson’s Necker Island and home in Morocco. She is a Founding Member of 100 Woman@Davos and an Advisory Council Member of Thunderbird School of Global Management. She is a Board Advisor and Director of Social Impact and Sustainability for the Skopje Technology Park (STP Capital) in the Balkans.

Ed Martin is the Managing Partner and Co-Founder of the  5^th Element Group. Ed is the former CEO of GoodX.com.

Ed was elected to the Board of the Peace Research Endowment focused on academic and policy research and implementation to mitigate global conflict and was Senior Advisor to the Nobel Peace Prize Forum.

Martin is also Chair Emeritus to Association of National Advertisers Research and Measurement Council – an organization whose members spend over $250 billion each year in advertising.

Mr. Martin has held key positions in top Fortune 500 organizations including The Kellogg Company helping to lead new products innovation, Coca-Cola running insights for all youth brands, Citigroup heading the Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty Research Process connecting all consumer metrics to in-market financial results, Ford Motor Company as Director of Global Consumer Insights and head of Mobile Marketing for the Hershey Company.

Ed has served as Executive in Residence at Georgetown University, and has been an advisor to the Millennium Project and to the Ambassador from Uganda to the US.

Additional prior Board/Advisory roles include: Health Store Foundation, Malaria Foundation, Health People in the South Bronx, Harvard AIDS Prevention Project, Look To The Stars (www.looktothestars.org), Chamber of Commerce BCLC, and Co-chair of the Parade All American Volunteering Initiative at the White House.

Tekitha Washington shot to worldwide fame as the featured female vocalist of Wu Tang Clan in addition to other high-profile collaborations with artists such as KRS ONE & Armand Van Helden. With over 25 years of experience as a creative in the entertainment industry, Tekitha brings multicultural competence, superior social and interpersonal skills, hands-on-experience working in international and multi-ethnic settings and, simply, a vision for a better tomorrow. In her new role as Senior Advisor to VPEG, while providing them with reputable resources nationwide to facilitate their philanthropic work, she enlightens the group on how best to support underserved communities.

Prior to Religion Studio, Pete was Director of Product of Big Human, a digital studio most known for incubating Vine and HQ Trivia. At Big Human, Pete supported clients of all sizes and industries, including MetLife, TD Ameritrade, Blue Bottle, and Checkr.
Before joining Big Human, Pete was VP of Product at LiveLike. His product team pushed the limits of digital fan experiences by launching the world’s first live streaming social experience in Virtual Reality. As product lead, Pete launched dozens of live and on-demand experiences supporting millions of users, including The Super Bowl (NFL), FIFA World Cup (HBS), and college football and basketball tournaments (FOX). In addition, he helped establish product and technology partnerships with Facebook, Google, and Magic Leap.
Prior to joining LiveLike, Pete led mobile enterprise efforts at Booz Allen Hamilton for the Department of Defense and National Institute of Health.  
Pete holds an MS from Georgetown University and a BS in Computer Science from Stony Brook University.

Ky O’Keefe is a multidisciplinary designer & director, working at the intersection of brand strategy & storytelling. With a BS in Interior Design and over 10+ years of experience working with emerging & recognized brands, Ky excels in building creative worlds & content from the ground up. Ky’s experience in immersive entertainment spans experiential activations, branded environments, and digital media for clients including Amazon, Nike, & WarnerMedia.

Using nothing more than her charisma, drive, business savvy, and her vision for the Company, Dawn Kamerling built The Press House into a successful PR powerhouse that employs a staff of passionate and talented people located throughout the country.  In addition to her work with Press House clients, Dawn has taken part in music industry panels, penned articles on the art of publicity and self-promotion, consulted for various record labels and start-up PR firms, and led self-promotion workshops for CD Baby and The Kaui Music Festival. In recent years, The Press House has expanded from its music roots into the world of film and restaurant publicity, as well as event planning.

Dr. Johnson brings over 30 years of health care experience to the VPEG team. He most recently served as the CEO of Foundation Health Partners (FHP) which operates Tanana Valley Clinic, a primary care and multi-specialty clinic made up of more than 50 health care providers, Fairbanks Memorial Hospital, a 152-bed acute care hospital and Denali Center, a 92-bed long and short-term skilled nursing facility all of which are located in Fairbanks, Alaska. In addition to helping orchestrate the transition from Banner Health to a locally owned and operated health system his primary role was to improve overall health system effectiveness during this transformational change for the organization; all with an emphasis on medical staff and employee engagement, quality and patient safety.

Prior Experience

Prior to his role with Foundation Health Partners Dr. Johnson served as CEO and Chief Medical Officer for Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and Denali Center when those facilities were operated by Phoenix-based Banner Health. As a member of the FMH/DC Medical Staff Dr. Johnson held a number of elected positions; including President and Chief of Staff. During this same period of time Dr. Johnson was the principal owner of a multi-provider pediatric dental practice located in Fairbanks, Alaska. Dr. Johnson has served as chair of the Medical Care Advisory Committee for Alaska’s Medicaid program and had also served as a board member and Vice-President of the Interior Community Health Center Board of Directors in Fairbanks. For more than 30 years Dr. Johnson also partnered in a variety of residential and commercial real estate developments and investments.

Education, Awards and Professional Affiliations

Dr. Johnson graduated from the University of Wisconsin – Green Bay with a B.S. in Human Biology, magna cum laude, and received his Doctor of Dental Surgery from Marquette University. He completed his pediatric dental residency at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin and has received a certificate in Clinical Bioethics from the Medical College of Wisconsin and a certificate in Business Ethics from the University of New Mexico. His professional affiliations include the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, American Dental Association and Alaska Dental Society. In February of 2017 Dr. Johnson was inducted to the Fairbanks Hockey Hall of Fame.