Team Category: Dragon Team
Bob Zangrillo is the Founder, Chairman, and Chief Investment Officer of Dragon Global, a leading, AI-powered, private investment firm focused on Consumer Tech, Deep Tech, Enterprise, and Sustainability. His talents are widely known for providing significant financial returns for his investors and building teams dedicated to delivering leading industry solutions. As Founder, Chairman, CEO, Board Member, investor, and / or Advisor in (17) Unicorn companies, including (8) Decacorns like Dick’s Sporting Goods, DiDi, Digital Turbine, Twitter, Ulta Beauty, Zynga, (2) Centicorns including Uber and (1) Trillion-Dollar Club member Facebook/Meta.
Over the last decade, Zangrillo has led investments in commercial real estate development projects in Miami, Florida. He is the founder and largest investor in the Magic City Innovation District, in Little Haiti, Miami, Florida. This emerging innovation district is approximately 8 million square feet of mixed-use development, including residential, commercial, retail, and hotel space with a mission to rewrite history on how we Live, Work, Learn, Play and Giveback. The Magic City Innovation District has four core pillars, including Technology, Sustainability, Health & Wellness, and Art, Entertainment, and Culture.
Zangrillo received his MBA from Stanford Graduate School and his bachelor’s degree in economics from University of Vermont. He also completed the Executive Program in Artificial Intelligence: Implications for Business Strategy at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management (MIT Management).
Zangrillo is also a well- known Philanthropist and the sponsor of The Zangrillo Family Foundation, which supports several charities dedicated to preserving the Amazon Rainforest and empowering indigenous peoples in the Amazon. Additionally, the Zangrillo Family Foundation is an active supporter of several Miami based projects, including the Tech Lab in Little Haiti, Miami, the Global Empowerment and Mentorship Backpack Project and the Little Lighthouse Foundation. Zangrillo has previously been a Member of the Council on Foreign Relations, where he served on the Budget and Finance Committee.
Steve Rattner
Partner and Portfolio Board Member
Steve currently serves on the boards of Crossroads.ai and Magic City Innovation District.
Steve Rattner is an accomplished finance executive with extensive experience in leveraged finance, private equity, and real estate development. He played a key role in building and managing DLJ’s Leveraged Finance business, which became one of the most profitable areas of the firm and on Wall Street overall. He later moved to London to help build out DLJ’s European fixed-income and investment banking operations.
After the DLJ merger with Credit Suisse, Rattner became a partner at DLJ Merchant Banking Partners (DLJMBP), where he continued to build on his credit, business, and managerial skills in helping the funds make numerous successful investments across various businesses, including in the hospitality and gaming industry. During his tenure, DLJMBP invested over $7 billion of equity in 78 different companies as the private equity business continued its history of providing their Limited Partners with top-quartile performance.
In addition to his finance expertise, Rattner has significant experience advising senior management teams on developing and executing business plans and financing acquisitions, expansions, start-ups, and buyouts. He has worked with some of the premier companies in the hospitality and gaming industry, including Hilton Hotels and Resorts, Marriott International Inc., Host Hotels and Resorts Inc., Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc., Caesars Entertainment Corp., and MGM Resorts International. He has also advised top real estate-focused private equity firms, including The Blackstone Group, Colony Capital, Starwood Capital Group, and Brookfield Asset Management.
Rattner is the Founder of JPE Enterprises LLC, a private investment company specializing in large ground-up real estate developments, small to mid-size private equity transactions, and growth capital investments. He invests where he can help the projects with more than just money, be it financial or strategic advice, mentoring, or providing access to people or markets that help dramatically accelerate growth. As an example, he was the co-lead developer of the just completed 1,000,000 square foot 800-room Loews Kansas City Hotel, where he negotiated and then securitized the tax incentives for the project that dramatically reduced the cost per key as well as bringing in Loews Hotels as the operator and equity partner.
Byron Vielehr
Founding Member of Dragon.ai and Advisor
Byron Vielehr is COO of Apollo and is responsible for aligning the strategic business and investment priorities of the firm with our operational capabilities while leading continuous improvement, innovation, and adoption of new technologies. Vielehr joined Apollo in 2022 and serves on the Firm’s Leadership Team.
Vielehr joins Apollo with over 30 years of technology and financial services experience and most recently served as Chief Growth Officer at Fiserv, an integrated financial technology provider. During his eight-year tenure at Fiserv, he led the Payment, Digital, and Account Processing businesses, and had responsibility for enterprise strategy, M&A, venturing and strategic intelligence. Prior to his time at Fiserv, he was a senior executive at Dun & Bradstreet, an information services provider, where he ultimately served as President of D&B International, President of D&B North America, and Head of Global Operations. Previously, Mr. Vielehr served as President and COO of Northstar Systems, and Chief Information Officer of Merrill Lynch Private Client and Merrill Lynch Asset Management.
Vielehr received a BS from Drexel University and MBA from the Wharton School of Business. He currently serves on the Advisory Board of the University of Wisconsin Lubar School of Business and the Greater Milwaukee Committee. Previously he was on the board of Directors of Checkfree, Sagent, Defi, REIS, Marketcore, and Level 8.
Jerome “Jerry” Letter
Portfolio Board Member and Advisor
Jerry currently sits on the board of directors for Crossroads.ai.
Jerry is currently Chief Financial Officer and Head of Corporate Development of Noventiq. Prior to Noventiq, Mr. Letter was Chief Financial Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Partner at Corner Ventures and Corner Capital Management, a global technology investment platform. Mr. Letter also served as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer of Corner Growth Acquisition Corp.
Prior to joining Corner Ventures in 2021, he served in various roles for Airbnb, Inc. (Nasdaq: ABNB) (“Airbnb”) from 2017 until 2021, including as a member of the company’s global leadership team as Director of Operations and Finance and as the Chief Operations and Financial Officer for Airbnb’s luxury business unit, where he was responsible for home supply and quality, service product design, guest experience/hospitality, strategy, finance, and business operations across Airbnb’s global footprint.
From 2005 to 2017, Mr. Letter served as a Partner and the Chief Financial Officer at InterMedia Partners, L.P. (“InterMedia”), a media and technology focused private equity fund. At InterMedia, he led the sourcing and execution of multiple buy-side transactions while also utilizing operational expertise by working closely with portfolio company management to drive value creation post investment. While at InterMedia, Jerry was also instrumental in executing a series of mergers creating Hemisphere Media Group, Inc. via Azteca Acquisition Corporation, a special purpose acquisition company. Prior to that, he was a member of the initial executive management team at the Yankees Entertainment & Sports Network (YES Network) holding senior-level finance and management roles, and before that, he was based in Silicon Valley and held senior finance positions at technology providers Exodus Communications, Inc. and GlobalCenter Inc. Mr. Letter began his career at Arthur Andersen LLP where he became a Certified Public Accountant (currently inactive).
Mr. Letter is a graduate of Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business and received his MBA from Columbia Business School.
Marcelo Andrade
Partner and Chief Sustainability Officer
Marcelo Carvalho de Andrade is considered a true visionary and leader of our time ( ” The true visionaries of our time” – Martin Haeusler, Time Magazine/CNN, Mitchel Prize, UN Earth Day International Award, etc.).
Andrade graduated in medicine, became an Olympic rowing athlete, but gained fame as a worldwide expeditionary, businessman and environmentalist as he decided to help bridge the gap between economic development and social / environmental wellness, harnessing financial and corporate know-how to the task of creating sustainable solutions for the development of human kind’s life quality.
During his expeditions to the highest mountains, most isolated forests and deserts in the world, Andrade discovered situations of extreme poverty and deforestation in regions of highest biological diversity. As a result, in 1985, he founded a non-profit sustainable development agency named Pro Natura as a contribution to solving these problems attacking its direct cause: the world’s outdated model of economic development. The strategy has always been to stimulate environmentally sound, socially just and inclusive economic integrated projects in disadvantaged regions around the world.
Later this approach would be known as “sustainability”, making him and the organization one of the pioneers of the area in the world.
Andrade also co-founded Terra Capital in the mid-90s, the first Venture Capital Fund with full environmental guidelines and in 2008 Earth Capital Partners: a responsible investor, part of a global group of investment managers with a focus on sustainability. Since then, Andrade Marcelo has dedicated his life to the crusade of combining human dignity, nature, and business in over 60 countries in the creation of a worldwide model of sustainable development.
Andrade holds board positions at Shell, BHP, DuPont, and Proctor & Gamble.
Bob Hoff
Operating Partner and Advisor
Bob Hoff, former General Partner at Crosspoint Venture Partners (1983-2015), led influential investments in sectors like software, internet technology, telecommunications, and healthcare.
His portfolio includes pioneering companies such as STAC Electronics, PairGain Technologies, and Efficient Networks. Recognized for shaping the venture landscape, Hoff received a Lifetime Achievement award from the Los Angeles Venture Association for his contributions to entrepreneurship, particularly in Orange County.
Bob is also on the Advisory Board for Encore Properties which developed Miami World Center
Bob is an alumnus of Bucknell University, where he earned a Bachelor of Science in 1974, and Harvard University, where he completed his MBA in 1978.
Bob Bellack
Portfolio Board Member and Advisor
Bob Bellack brings 25+ years of operating and financial experience as an executive, Founder and board member of venture and late stage private equity backed companies. His experience spans digital media & advertising, eCommerce and SaaS businesses. Bellack was a Founder and CFO of both Cars.com and Apartments.com, a $3b+ market cap. He also held senior executive roles including, CFO of LA Times & President of Digital Media, CEO of Newegg, COO of Tillster and Board Member for KKR owned Scout24.ch. Bob brings a strong discipline in business transformation and scaling of early stage companies. Bellack is a CPA and holds an MBA from Northwestern University.
Winston Ma
Founding Member of Dragon.ai and Advisor
Winston Ma, CFA & Esq., is an investor, attorney, author, and adjunct professor in the global AI-digital economy. He is a partner of Dragon Global (founding member: Dragon.AI), and he is also the Executive Director of Global Public Investment Funds Forum and an Adjunct Professor (on Sovereign Investors) at New York University (NYU) School of Law.
Most recently for 10 years, he was Managing Director and Head of North America Office for China Investment Corporation (CIC), China’s sovereign wealth fund. Prior to that, Mr. Ma served as the deputy head of equity capital markets at Barclays Capital, a vice president at J.P. Morgan investment banking, and a corporate lawyer at Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP.
Mr. Ma is the author of more than 10 books on SWF funds, digital economy, and global geopolitics, including The Hunt for Unicorns: How Sovereign Funds are Reshaping Investment in the Digital Economy and most recently“Blockchain and Web3” (among 2024 “six must-read blockchain books” by TechTarget). He has been frequently interviewed by CNBC and Bloomberg TV and quoted by major financial media including WSJ, Reuters, and Financial Times. He was selected a 2013 Young Global Leader at the World Economic Forum (WEF), and in 2014 he received the NYU Distinguished Alumni Award.
Mr. Ma earned his MBA from the University of Michigan Ross Business School (Beta Gamma Sigma) and his master of law from the New York University School of Law (Hauser Global Scholar). He earned bachelor of science and bachelor of law degrees from Fudan University in Shanghai, China.
Dede Loftus
Director of Operations
Loftus is the Director of Operations and has been with Dragon Global for the past 10+ years overseeing operations for the Company’s Investments. Loftus brought her expertise to Dragon Global from the 17 years of experience in Silicon Valley’s Software Industry specializing in early stage Start-Up Companies resulting in over 1 billion in value. Prior to Dragon Global she worked as a Financial Analyst & Operations Director including successful companies such as DemandTec (IBM Acquired after IPO) and Trading Dynamics (Ariba Acquired) and Stanford’s SSE BOD team. Loftus has a keen eye for success in this booming industry and has been a valuable asset to the continuing success of Dragon Global.
Molly O’Shea
Principal
Molly is a Principal at Dragon Global where she focuses on AI and Deep Tech investments. She has deployed over $150M in capital across direct multi-stage venture capital investments as well as fund of fund opportunities. Prior to Dragon Global she was an investor at Upfront Ventures in Los Angeles, where she spent the past couple of years investing in enterprise software & marketplaces across early and growth stages. Prior to that, she was based in NYC, investing at NYL Ventures, the corporate venture fund of NYL Insurance, focused on enterprise software, fintech, and healthtech. Molly earned her undergraduate degree in Design and Entrepreneurship, at NYU, graduating early, Bachelor’s cum laude and an Honors Scholar. She also founded a company during her time there. Molly writes a popular VC & technology newsletter, Sourcery, covering the top deal announcements and insights into the latest disruptions in the tech industry.