thomas-whiteaker-100.gif

Thomas Whiteaker

Executive Director

Tom is an experienced strategic business development executive with broad-based expertise in corporate venture capital, strategic partnerships, open innovation, financial services and technology. Tom has a proven track record building and leading top tier corporate venture programs. With over 15 years of business development experience, Tom brings an exceptional record of identifying strategic partnership opportunities and adding both strategic and financial value to all parties involved. Tom's experience ranges from work with startups to industry leading Fortune 100 organizations. In 2012, Tom joined BBVA to help develop and lead their corporate venture arm, BBVA Ventures. Prior to BBVA, Tom spent four years where he led a small team to rebuild Hartford Ventures for The Hartford. In this role, Tom positioned The Hartford as the go-to player in the insurance industry for venture capitalists and entrepreneurs with strategically relevant technology, business models and ideas. Under Tom's leadership, Hartford Ventures benefited from being in the information flow of emerging trends and technologies driven by startups around the world. These efforts provided The Hartford with strategic access to critical knowledge and technology for new growth and thought leadership opportunities while at the same time providing strategic partners with strategic validation and access to The Hartford's industry expertise and distribution network. Prior to The Hartford, Tom focused on delivering innovation to Visa, the world's largest payments company, through venture capital investments and global partnerships with emerging technology companies. Tom's investments and partnerships at Visa provided critical knowledge and technology to enable new payment solutions and more secure transactions.