Our Team

Investment Team

Our team has significant top-tier investment experience, coming from firms such as Viking, Silver Lake and The Carlyle Group.

Operating Partners

Operations Team

Advisors

Washington Harbour’s Advisors have extensive experience in founding, operating, and investing in products and services in a way that helps companies grow and flourish.

Some of the organizations at which our advisors have worked include the below.*

  • Crowdstrike
  • IBM
  • Intel
  • National Security Agency
  • Naval Sea Systems Command
  • Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command
  • Tanium Federal
  • Tenable
  • United States Air Force
  • United States Cyber Command
  • United States Navy

*None of the organizations listed have endorsed or recommended the services of Washington Harbour Partners LP. This list represents organizations with which our advisors were previously associated.

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Mina FaltasFounder and Chief Investment Officer

Mina Faltas is the Founder and CIO of Washington Harbour Partners LP. Mr. Faltas was previously the Co-Founder, Co-Managing Partner, Co-Portfolio Manager, and Head of Research at Nokota Management LP, which was a $2.7B opportunistic investment firm that invested across the capital structure.

Prior to founding Nokota Management, Mr. Faltas was a Senior Investment Analyst focused on the Technology sector at Viking Global Investors from 2008 to 2011 and, before that, held several positions at JPMorgan since 2000, most recently as a Vice President in the Property Positioning Business focused on the Technology sector.

Mr. Faltas has a B.S. in Commerce (Finance) from the University of Virginia. He serves on the Board of Advisors of the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia, the Advisory Board of Diameter Capital Partners, the Board of Directors of Groundswell, the Board of Directors at SIXGEN, the Board of Directors at RAFT, the Board of Directors of aXiomatic Gaming, and the Board of Directors of Reconext. He is also a member of the US Capital Chapter of YPO and the Board of Trustees at the Potomac School.

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Min AnInvestment Partner

Before joining Washington Harbour, Mr. An previously worked at JMI Equity, a growth equity firm focused on minority equity and majority buyouts of high-growth software companies. At JMI, he was responsible for sourcing and completing due diligence on potential investments. Prior to JMI, Mr. An was an investment banking analyst in the TMT group at Goldman Sachs, focusing on M&A and IPOs for technology clients. He worked on Amazon’s acquisition of iRobot, Applied Materials’ acquisition of Picosun, Informatica’s IPO, Marqeta’s IPO, and Lumentum’s acquisition of NeoPhotonics among other transactions. He also worked in the M&A group at RBC Capital Markets, primarily working on sponsor-led buy-side transactions. Mr. An graduated from the University of Richmond with a B.S. in Business Administration and Concentration in Finance.

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Joseph EnderInvestment Partner

Before joining Washington Harbour, Mr. Ender previously worked at Veritas Capital, where he focused primarily on investments across technology and regulated end markets. At Veritas Capital, he worked on several notable transactions, including the acquisitions of NCR Voyix's Digital Banking business (Candescent) and MetroStar Systems. Mr. Ender started his career at Goldman Sachs, where he worked on a variety of transactions across financial technology and asset management. He holds an MS and BS in Economics from the Texas A&M University.

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Frank LiInvestment Partner

Before joining Washington Harbour, Mr. Li previously worked at at Silver Lake Partners. He was a generalist within technology and technology-enabled sectors. He evaluated strategic raonale and financial viability of potential portfolio companies. He worked on convertible debt investment in AMC Entertainment, Motorola Solutions, and on equity investments in WordPress and Intelsat among other projects. He was a summer intern at Silverlake as well as P Schoenfeld Asset Management and QED Benchmark Fund. Mr. Li graduated from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Economics, and Concentration in Finance, Accounting and Statics.

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Daim MalikInvestment Partner

Before joining Washington Harbour, Mr. Malik previously worked at The Carlyle Group in Washington, D.C. He was a member of the Technology investing team focused on buyout and growth equity investments in enterprise software and tech-enabled services. He evaluated strategic rationale and financial viability of potential portfolio companies. Prior to Carlyle, he was a member of the Software and Services (S&S) investing team at Golden Gate Capital and as an investment banking analyst at Morgan Stanley. He was a summer intern at Houlihan Lokey. Mr. Malik graduated from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in Economics, and concentrations in Finance, Accounting and Business Analytics.

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Alexandra ZhangInvestment Partner

Before joining Washington Harbour, Ms. Zhang previously worked at Thoma Bravo, where she focused on cybersecurity investments out of the firm’s Flagship fund. At Thoma Bravo, she worked on several notable transactions, including the SailPoint IPO and Sophos’ acquisition of Secureworks. Beyond deal execution, she partnered closely with her portfolio companies on strategic M&A and value creation initiatives. Ms. Zhang started her career at Morgan Stanley, where she worked on a variety of transactions in the media and telecommunications space. She holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of Chicago.

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Brian SchulzePrincipal

Before joining Washington Harbour, Mr. Schulze previously worked at Manhattan Venture Partners, a growth stage primary and secondary investor in software, TMT, and tech enabled consumer companies. As part of their Bay Area based team, his role was focused on sourcing and vetting investments and maintaining relationships with strategic partners. Prior to joining Manhattan Venture Partners, Mr. Schulze worked on the Institutional Sales and Trading desk at B. Riley Financial, and then in the Liquidity Solutions group at Carta. Mr. Schulze remains based in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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Shirley WangInvestment Associate

Before joining Washington Harbour, Ms. Wang previously worked at Blackstone in their Strategic Partners group, where she evaluated generalist investment opportunities across GP- and LP-led secondaries and played a key role in closing several transactions. Previously, she interned with Eldridge Industries on their private equity team. Ms. Wang graduated from Yale University with a B.A. in Economics, where she was the captain of the Division I Fencing team.

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Zach DedasInvestment Associate

Before joining Washington Harbour, Mr. Dedas previously worked at Barclays in New York City. While at Barclays, he was a member of the Global Energy Transition Group where he focused on renewable energy and utility mergers and acquisitions. Additionally, he was an Analyst in the TMT Debt Capital Markets Group. Mr. Dedas graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.S. in Systems Engineering and a B.A. in Economics.

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George Batsakis

George Batsakis, as Chief Executive Officer of Groundswell/Washington Harbour Federal IT, leads strategic focus and direction, including day-to-day operations. With over 25 years of experience in large-scale government systems development, George possesses extensive expertise in supporting lifecycle management across multiple agencies and technology platforms. As an experienced business executive and a U.S. Army veteran, George is commited to fulfilling Groundswell’s mission to bring seismic change to the federal sector.

Before joining Groundswell, formerly CollabraLink Technologies, Inc., George worked in Operations at Electronic Data Systems and Northrop Grumman. He also headed the National Security Group at SRA International, Inc. Later, George served as the Chief Growth Officer at CSRA and as the Defense and Intelligence Portfolio Lead at Accenture. George worked at the 1901 Group as a Partner and Executive before transitioning to CollabraLink, now a Groundswell company, as CEO.

After graduating from Hillsdale College, Hillsdale, Mich., where he studied political science and history, Batsakis atended the U.S. Army Officer Candidate School and served as an Infantry Officer in the U.S. Army and in various command and staff positions at the Company and Field grades in the U.S. Army National Guard. He holds a master's degree in business from Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., with specialization in operations research and systems analysis, as well as program management certification in acquisition management from the Defense Systems Management College, Fort Belvoir, Va. He also has attended executive education programs at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business.

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Michael Ellis

Michael Ellis is an Operating Partner with Washington Harbour Partners, bringing nearly two decades of experience building and scaling mission-critical aerospace and national security organizations across government and commercial markets. His background spans engineering, operations, strategy, and corporate development, with a particular focus on space systems, national security missions, and emerging defense technologies. He is known for his ability to operate comfortably at both the strategic and executional levels—shaping direction while engaging directly to ensure results.

Michael began his career at Raytheon, working on advanced missile and space sensor programs before moving into senior leadership roles at SpaceX and Anduril Industries, where he was responsible for executing and scaling complex national security programs. At SpaceX, he spent nearly a decade leading national security space launch operations, overseeing some of the most complex and high-consequence missions for the U.S. Government. At Anduril, he played a key role in the growth of the company’s Space business, advising leadership on strategy, partnerships, M&A, organizational design, business development and execution across space domain awareness, earth sensing, command and control, and space control initiatives.

As an Operating Partner at Washington Harbour, Michael advises the firm and its portfolio companies on strategy, operations, and growth. He works closely with founders, executives, and investment teams—often embedding directly with leadership—to navigate critical decisions, strengthen execution, and turn advanced technology into operational capability. Michael is known for earning trust quickly, operating without pretense, and supporting capable founders by stepping in where needed to help scale organizations serving defense and intelligence customers.

Michael began his career as an aerospace engineer and holds a Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Michigan and a Master of Business Administration from UCLA.

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Ralph Kahn

Ralph Kahn has more than 25 years’ experience in the technology industry. He has held positions in systems engineering, product management, professional services, sales and business management. Mr. Kahn has spent the last ten years working in the cybersecurity industry.

As the Vice President for Intel and Emerging technologies at McAfee, Mr. Kahn was responsible for leading an advanced technology group chartered with forward-looking cyber research. Under his direction, this group discovered several new threat vectors and developed an information sharing and cyber system interaction model that is being used at the core of the McAfee products and is being extended to include other cybersecurity products. Mr. Kahn has held positions as the Vice President of Federal for Tanium. In this role, he delivered on the U.S. Government’s need for real-time situational awareness at scale. In his most recent role, Mr. Kahn is CEO of Blue Horizon Advisors, a lead advisory firm to help high tech profit startups optimize go to market functions to accelerate and maximize revenue growth. Ralph holds a BS in Computer Science and an MBA from Washington University in St. Louis.

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Egon Rinderer

Egon Rinderer is an Operating Partner at Washington Harbour, bringing more than 35 years of experience solving complex technology challenges across the Department of Defense, Intelligence Community, and private sector.

He currently serves as Senior Vice President of Federal and Enterprise Growth at NinjaOne, where he leads enterprise and federal strategy, partnering closely with product and engineering teams to deliver mission-critical technology solutions.

Prior to NinjaOne, Mr. Rinderer was Chief Technology Officer at Shift5, a defense technology company focused on cybersecurity and data analytics for operational systems. He previously served as Global Vice President of Technology and President of Federal Business at Tanium, where he helped scale the company’s presence across federal and enterprise markets.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Rinderer held senior technical and leadership roles across government and industry, including positions supporting the U.S. Navy, intelligence agencies, and leading technology firms.

In addition to his operating roles, Mr. Rinderer advises the U.S. government on national security matters, supports emerging defense technology companies, and mentors students and entrepreneurs through STEM-focused initiatives.

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Janelle Romano

Janelle Romano is an Operating Partner at Washington Harbour Partners and Executive Vice President at SIXGEN, where she focuses on accelerating growth and translating advanced technologies into operational cyber and national security capabilities. Janelle brings executive leadership experience across the Intelligence Community, Department of War, and the federal technology sector. Her background spans advanced cyber and Signals Intelligence operations, national security strategy, mission capability development, large-scale technology modernization, and portfolio-level business transformation.

Prior to joining Washington Harbour Partners and SIXGEN, Janelle served as Vice President of Cyber at CACI, where she led the company’s cyber strategy and line of business operations. She aligned technology investment, workforce strategy, and customer engagement to strengthen competitive positioning and drive sustained growth within the cyber market.

Janelle spent 27 years at the National Security Agency, serving as a member of the Senior Executive Service and leading organizations across the Cybersecurity, Operations, Research, and Capabilities Directorates. She directed teams responsible for protecting national security systems and advancing mission-enabling cyber capabilities across the defense and intelligence community, building the operational and strategic foundation she now brings to private-sector growth and portfolio leadership.

She currently serves on a corporate board and has served on several additional boards spanning the technology, financial services, and non-profit sectors. Her board experience includes advising executive teams on growth strategy, governance, enterprise risk oversight, and talent development, with a focus on aligning technology innovation to long-term enterprise value creation.

Janelle holds a Master of Science in Engineering from Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Valparaiso University.

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Stu Shea

Stu Shea is an Operating Partner with Washington Harbour Partners and is a seasoned Executive with four decades of experience in high-stakes National Security programs, including space, intelligence, cyber, special operations, and defense transformation. He has served as Chairman, Board member, CEO, and COO across Fortune 500 technology firms, startups, employee-owned businesses, and private equity-backed platforms. Renowned for his passionate and innovative leadership, Stu is noted for his resilience in tackling tough business challenges. His leadership philosophy emphasizes personal courage and a fearless approach to tackling the impossible.

Shea brings operational expertise in P&L and balance sheet accountability, strategic planning, corporate restructuring,  and merger & acquisition integration. His solid grasp of accounting and finance, HR and compensation, contracts and legal matters, supply chain and procurement, marketing and communications, business development, pricing, investor relations, and corporate governance uniquely positions him as a valuable contributor to any boardroom.

Stu recently served as the Chairman, President & CEO of Peraton, a $7B next generation national security company. Previously, he held the role of President & Chief Operating Officer of Leidos [NYSE: LDOS], another $7B solutions-focused company. Stu led the creation of Leidos during his tenure as COO of SAIC [NYSE: SAI], an $11B science & technology solutions company. Prior to his role as COO, Stu led SAIC’s support to the national security community as President, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Group and earlier as Director of Space & Intelligence at Northrop Grumman TASC.

In his capacity as Operating Partner at Washington Harbour, Stu brings deep technical knowledge across a broad spectrum of complex technologies and systems. His areas of expertise include cyber operations, space control, software development, artificial intelligence/machine learning, electronic warfare, 5G and mobile communications, sensors and spectrum operations, geospatial intelligence, autonomous systems, and satellite operations.

Stu holds an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from George Mason University, a Master of Arts from the University of Kansas, and a Bachelor of Science from the State University of New York at Albany. He has also completed executive education programs at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business, Harvard Business School, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and The George Washington University School of Business and Public Management.

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Jonathan Sholtis

Jonathan Sholtis, the Managing Director of Groundswell’s Department of Defense (DoD) and Intelligence Group, leading strategic growth across the DoD and Intelligence Community (IC) including federal and civilian sector agencies, state and local governments, and commercial markets.

As Managing Director, Jonathan thrives at growing and leading the business in new markets by harnessing emerging technology and digital practices. His team designs and delivers a full spectrum of digital service offerings for Groundswell’s DoD and IC customers. These service offerings include modern management practices and secure supply chain management capabilities using automation and data science.

Shaped by his experience as a Naval Officer, his leadership and management background include a strong focus on organizational culture. Influenced at a young age by his father, Jonathan honed his business background through a Master’s level education. He polished his background through his work experience with several of the leading consulting and professional services organizations.

Before joining Groundswell, Jonathan was the Senior Vice President of Security and Resilience (Cyber) for ICF [ticker: ICF] where he successfully led the business and its “go-to-market” strategy across ICF’s public sector. Jonathan holds a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Rochester, a master’s degree from Johns Hopkins University, and master’s certificates from the Yale School of Management and Columbia Business School.

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Jerad Speigel

Jerad Speigel, as the Chief Strategy and Corporate Development Officer of Groundswell/Washington Harbour Federal IT, is responsible for evaluating market trends and identifying critical areas for investment. Jerad’s purview includes organic and inorganic growth, designed to fast-track Groundswell’s capabilities and functional expertise. Federal customers have highly complex needs, and we designed our investments to meet those needs with world- class expertise. Jerad brings both entrepreneurship experience, as well as 20+ years of Federal technology experience, working across 30+ federal agencies.

Before joining Groundswell, formerly CollabraLink Technologies, Inc., Jerad was the founder and CEO of Phase One, a leading digital transformation firm specializing in low-code application development. Phase One was purchased in 2017 by Accenture. Jerad has an MBA and BBA in Finance from Texas Christian University.

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Irby Thompson

Irby Thompson is an Operating Partner with Washington Harbour Partners, bringing over two decades of experience as a national security executive and serial entrepreneur. He has a proven track record of launching and scaling cybersecurity companies from inception through successful acquisition, with multiple exits to strategic acquirers including Raytheon, Wind River Systems, and Leidos.

At Washington Harbour, Mr. Thompson advises the firm and its portfolio companies on strategy, organizational growth, and execution — helping translate advanced research into operational capability and integration-ready platforms. He also oversees strategy for SIXGEN, a portfolio company focused on delivering mission-aligned cyber capabilities, including applied research and development, cyber operations services, and security engineering.

Mr. Thompson is the founder of Containment AI, a secure control plane for enterprise and autonomous AI agents that applies NSA-certified security architectures to mitigate systemic risk from non-aligned or adversarial AI behavior. Previously, he co-founded and served as CEO of OP[4] (the "Opposing Force"), an offensive cybersecurity company built around DARPA automation technology, which was acquired by Kudu Dynamics in 2024. He subsequently served as SVP of Business Development & Strategy at Kudu through its acquisition by Leidos in 2025. He also founded and led Star Lab Corp. through its acquisition by Wind River Systems in 2020, where he continued as VP of Product Security. Earlier, he served as COO and VP of Operations at Pikewerks Corporation through its acquisition by Raytheon.

Mr. Thompson earned his Bachelor of Science in Computer Science and Mathematics, with a minor in Management of Technology, from Vanderbilt University, and a Master of Science in Information Security from the Georgia Institute of Technology. A recognized thought leader in the field, he has presented at numerous security conferences including Black Hat and DEFCON.

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Stephen GuffeyChief Financial Officer
Chief Compliance Officer

Before joining Washington Harbour, Mr. Guffey was the Director of Finance at Pennington Partners & Co. where he was responsible for the finance and accounting functions for multiple funds with different public and private market investment strategies. Prior to Pennington Partners, he was a Senior Manager at VMS Fund Administration where he managed a team that provided outsourced accounting support for private equity, venture capital and real estate investment firms. Prior to VMS, he served as the Chief Financial Officer of Global Environment Fund, a $1 billion global alternative asset manager investing in energy and environmental industries throughout the world. From 1998 – 2006, he was an Assistant Controller for The Carlyle Group where he was responsible for corporate financial reporting and accounting systems. Mr. Guffey graduated from James Madison University with a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting and is a Certified Public Accountant (Inactive).

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Claire SouhanDirector of Operations

Ms. Souhan is the Director of Operations at Washington Harbour Partners, LP, where she oversees regulatory compliance, trading operations, investor relations, and fund launches across public and private markets. She has successfully managed SEC filings, audits, and the execution of multiple private equity deals and co-investment opportunities. Before joining Washington Harbour, Ms. Souhan worked at Capital One in Commercial Loan Operations, where she earned recognition for excellence in risk management and client service. She also brings legislative and communications experience from the Maryland State Senate as Chief of Staff and Missouri House of Representatives as a Publications Specialist. Ms. Souhan holds a B.A. in English with a Business Minor from the University of Missouri and is a Certified Notary Public in Virginia.

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Trevor CarterController

Before joining Washington Harbour, Mr. Carter served as Controller at Design and Integration, a venture-backed specialty contractor, where he led the company’s accounting, treasury, and finance functions. Previously, he was an Audit Manager at Ellin & Tucker, managing teams that provided assurance and advisory services to private equity, venture capital, and real estate investment firms. Mr. Carter holds a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and a Bachelor of Arts in Finance from Elon University.

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Kent WellsInvestor Relations Manager

Mr. Wells currently serves as the Investor Relations Manager at Washington Harbour Partners LP, where he is responsible for leading investor communications, fundraising coordination, and relationship management across the firm’s platform.

Prior to joining Washington Harbour, Mr. Wells was an Investor Relations Associate at ROC USA Capital, where he led capital raising efforts and maintained relationships with institutional investors across multiple real estate funds. In this role, he was involved in investor reporting, due diligence processes, and strategic communications. Mr. Wells also served as a Post Closing Analyst at CapCenter, where he focused on financial documentation, transaction execution, and operational support within the residential mortgage sector. Mr. Wells received a bachelor’s degree in communications and economics and earned his Master of Business Administration from Longwood University.