Board of Directors
James A. Kaplan, Chairman
A leader in the finance and investment industry for more than 30 years, James
Kaplan is chairman and co-founder of Luxury Link, LLC, the world’s leading
luxury travel website. Mr. Kaplan is a successful entrepreneur and the creator
of several best-in-class businesses. Most recently, he co-founded Audit
Integrity, Inc., which provides the investment industry with a forensic measure
of the transparency and statistical reliability of the financial reporting and
governance practices of public corporations worldwide.
He was a founding
partner of Capital Management Sciences [CMS], the world’s top purveyor of fixed
income portfolio analytics, and served as president from 1979 to 1999. During
his tenure at CMS, the firm introduced CMS BondEdge, a recognized leader in
investment technology and an independent source of research, analytics and
valuation tools for more than 500 clients across the financial services
industry. In 1994, CMS merged with Data Broadcasting Corporation, now a
division of Interactive Data Corporation, and Mr. Kaplan was named vice chairman
and director of DBC.
He was also a
founding director of DBC’s CBS Marketwatch. Prior to CMS, Mr. Kaplan was a vice
president at the investment firm Gifford Fong Associates where he developed
Modern Portfolio Theory analytics. He began his career as a portfolio manager
for Bank of America, a position he left to become vice president and officer at
the Title Insurance and Trust Company. Mr. Kaplan earned his BA in anthropology
from the
Drew Marich, CEO
Prior to joining Luxury Link, Mr. Marich served in several key executive positions at eBay Inc. from 2001 to 2007. Most recently, Mr. Marich was the general manager of eBay’s Rent.com subsidiary, the leading online apartment listing site with nearly four million unique visitors monthly. In addition, Mr. Marich oversaw the management of several multi-billion dollar eBay businesses, such as Sports, Collectibles and Toys. Prior to his tenure with eBay, Mr. Marich was an early employee of MVP.com, cofounded a catalog/Internet food company and has held positions with McKinsey & Company, Del Monte Foods and Citigroup’s Smith Barney. Mr. Marich received a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley, and a MBA from the Wharton School, at the University of Pennsylvania.
Diane McDavitt, President
Ms. McDavitt was a member of the Luxury Link launch team, bringing more than 20 years of experience in the luxury travel industry to the Company. Prior to joining Luxury Link, she held senior sales and marketing roles with prominent luxury travel companies including Rosewood Hotels & Resorts, a leading 5-star hotel owner/operator. As part of the initial team selected to grow Rosewood’s worldwide sales infrastructure, she personally led the regional sales and marketing efforts for the western United States for seven years. Ms. McDavitt has a keen understanding of the primary disciplines within the travel industry, having held key roles with Air New Zealand, Aloha Pacific Cruises and Pacific Dateline Tours. Ms. McDavitt has been a regular guest speaker at numerous industry events including the annual Association of Travel Marketing Executives meeting, the Leading Hotels of the World annual congress, and the annual e-Tourism Summit. She was named one of the Los Angeles Business Journal’s “Women Making a Difference” finalists in 2003. Ms. McDavitt received her Bachelors degree in sociology with minor studies in history from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Scott Potter, San Francisco Equity Partners
Scott Potter is the founding Managing Partner of San Francisco Equity Partners. He currently serves as Chairman of The Guild, and serves on the boards of directors of Method Products, Luxury Link, Yes To, Inc., Penguin Computing and Rave Motion Pictures. Mr. Potter is a frequent speaker at private equity and venture capital industry events and is a sought after authority on high growth consumer brands, both online and offline. Prior to founding SFEP, he served as a Managing Director of LMS Capital (LSE:LMS.L), where he oversaw LMS Capital's North American Private Equity and Venture Capital portfolio. Before joining LMS Capital, Mr. Potter served as a Senior Vice President at Inktomi Corporation, where he had responsibility for Inktomi's sales force, business development, consulting services, and field offices.
From 1999-2002, Mr. Potter served as President and CEO of Quiver, Inc., a software company focused on enterprise content management and backed by several leading Venture Capital firms. He oversaw all aspects of Quiver's growth, including its acquisition of Global 2000 customers such as Federal Express, Pepsi Bottling Group, and Northwestern Mutual Life. Quiver was acquired by Inktomi in August 2002. Prior to Quiver, Mr. Potter served as Executive Vice President at Worldres, Inc., one of the first venture-backed online travel companies.
Mr. Potter's career began as a corporate finance attorney for leading Silicon Valley law firm Venture Law Group, where his practice focused on private and public financings, mergers & acquisitions, and corporate partnering transactions. His client list included industry leaders such as Yahoo!, Intel, and WebTV Networks, as well as several venture capital and private equity firms. Mr. Potter holds a JD from UC Berkley's Boalt Hall School of Law and a BA from the University of California at Berkeley, where he was a member of Cal’s Division I soccer team. He lives in Mill Valley with his wife Dara, and their two children and enjoys spending time at their home in Lake Tahoe, where he is a volunteer at the Tahoe Adaptive Ski School at Alpine Meadows.
Charles Beeler, El Dorado Ventures
Mr. Beeler is an accomplished venture capital investor who has been with El Dorado Ventures since 1999. His primary focus is on companies with the potential to radically change the capabilities, cost/performance and energy efficiency of datacenters and enterprise computing environments. This includes companies in the systems, storage and cloud computing sectors.
Prior to joining EDV, Mr. Beeler served as a partner at Piper Jaffray Ventures, where he helped manage the firm’s technology venture capital funds. He gained early venture capital experience at Scripps Ventures, where he helped design and implement an early-stage investment strategy for a newly formed venture fund. Early in his career, Charles was involved with the design and implementation of healthcare IT systems at the Mayo Clinic, including Mayo’s first radiology information system.
In addition to his for-profit boards, Mr. Beeler serves as the Chairman of the Board of the Camp Chippewa Foundation, and works actively with several other education-based non-profits. Mr. Beeler received a Bachelor’s degree in economics from Colby College and an MBA from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School.
