NSTC

Failed

Northern Star Investment Corp. III

Underwriter: Citigroup
Raised
$300M
CIK
1835817
SPAC Ticker
NSTC.U
Focus
Ecommerce, Software
External link: SEC Filings

SPAC Team

Leadership

Joanna Coles has served as our Chairperson of the Board of Directors and as our Chief Executive Officer since our inception. She has also served as Chairperson of the Board of Directors of Northern Star I since July 2020 and as its Chief Executive Officer since September 2020 and has served as the Chairperson of the Board of Directors and Chief Executive Officer of Northern Star II since November 2020 and of Northern Star IV since November 2020. Ms. Coles is a creative media and technology entrepreneur who in her previous roles as editor of two leading magazines and Chief Content Officer of Hearst Magazines developed an extensive network of relationships at the intersection of technology, fashion and beauty. Ms. Coles is on the board of Snap Inc. (NYSE: SNAP), a leading digital media company that utilizes technology to combine mobile phone photos with Snapchat, a leading communications platform. Its chat services include creating and watching stories, chatting with groups, and making voice and video calls while also communicating through stickers and Bitmojis. She is also on the board of directors of Sonos, Inc. (NASDAQ: SONO), a designer, developer, manufacturer and seller of audio products and services. Ms. Coles has been the Executive Producer for ABC Freeform’s highly acclaimed The Bold Type since 2016 and in 2019 entered into a production development deal at ABC Studios creating TV shows across Disney’s streaming platforms. Since January 2019, she has also been a special advisor to Cornell Capital, a $3.5 billion private investment firm founded in 2013 by Henry Cornell, the former Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division. She was appointed Chief Content Officer of Hearst Magazines in September 2016, overseeing editorial for Hearst’s 300 titles globally, and served until August 2018. Prior to that, she was Editor-in-Chief of Cosmopolitan, a role she started in September 2012. She edited Marie Claire magazine from April 2006 to September 2012. Ms. Coles was New York columnist for The Times of London from September 1998 to September 2001 and served as New York Bureau Chief for The Guardian from 1997 to 1998. She is on the board of Women Entrepreneurs New York City, an initiative to encourage female entrepreneurship, with a focus on underserved communities. She is also a member of the board of directors of Density Software, a company that utilizes hardware systems and software solutions to manage safety and security in physical spaces including retail stores, hotels, restaurants, office buildings, public facilities such as airports and universities and home environments, Blue Mistral, a clean beauty company, and an advisor to several private companies. She holds a B.A. in English and American literature from the University of East Anglia.

We believe that Ms. Coles is qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors due to her extensive experience and contacts and relationships.

Jonathan J. Ledecky has served as our President and Chief Operating Officer since our inception. He has also served as President and Chief Operating Officer of Northern Star I since September 2020 and served as its Chief Executive Officer from July 2020 until September 2020 and has served as the President and Chief Operating Officer of Northern Star II since November 2020 and of Northern Star IV since November 2020. He has also served as Chairman of the Board of Pivotal III since October 2020. Mr. Ledecky has been a co-owner of the National Hockey League’s New York Islanders franchise since October 2014. He also serves as an Alternate Governor on the Board of Governors of the NHL and as President of NY Hockey Holdings LLC. Mr. Ledecky has served as chairman of Ironbound Partners Fund LLC, a private investment management fund, since March 1999. He was also the Chief Executive Officer and chairman of the board of directors of Pivotal II, a blank check company like our company that raised $230,000,000 in its initial public offering in July 2019 and consummated its initial business combination with XL, a leading provider of fleet electrification solutions for Class 2-6 commercial vehicles in North America, in December 2020. Mr. Ledecky has continued to serve on the board of directors of XL following the merger. Mr. Ledecky was also Chief Executive Officer and chairman of the board of directors of Pivotal I, a blank check company like our company that raised $230,000,000 in its initial public offering in February 2019. In December 2019, Pivotal I consummated its initial business combination with KLDiscovery, a provider of software and services that help protect corporations from a range of information governance, compliance and data issues. Mr. Ledecky has also served as President and a director of Newtown Lane Holdings, Incorporated, a blank check company, since October 2015. Mr. Ledecky also served as a member of the board of directors of Propel Media, Inc., a digital media holding company, from January 2015 to January 2019. From July 2005 to December 2007, Mr. Ledecky served as president, secretary and a director of Endeavor Acquisition Corp., a blank check company that completed its initial business combination with American Apparel, Inc. From January 2007 to May 2009, he served as president, secretary and a director of Victory Acquisition Corp., a blank check company that was unable to consummate an initial business combination. He also served as president, secretary and a director of Triplecrown Acquisition Corp., a blank check company, from June 2007 until it completed its initial business combination with Cullen Agricultural Technologies, Inc. in October 2009. During 2007, he also served as president, secretary and director of Grand Slam Acquisition Corp., Performance Acquisition Corp. and Endeavour International Acquisition Corp., three similarly structured blank check companies that never completed their initial public offerings due to market conditions at the time. Mr. Ledecky founded U.S. Office Products in October 1994 and served as its chief executive officer until November 1997 and as its chairman until its sale in June 1998. U.S. Office Products was one of the fastest start-up entrants in the history of the Fortune 500 with sales in excess of $3 billion within its first three years of operation. From 1999 to 2001, Mr. Ledecky was vice chairman of Lincoln Holdings, owners of the Washington sports franchises in the NBA, NHL and WNBA. In addition to the foregoing, Mr. Ledecky served as chairman of the board and chief executive officer of Consolidation Capital Corporation from its formation in February 1997 until March 2000 when it merged with Group Maintenance America Corporation. Mr. Ledecky also has served as a trustee of George Washington University, a director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a commissioner on the National Commission on Entrepreneurship and currently serves as a trustee of the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Foundation. In 2004, Mr. Ledecky was elected the Chief Marshal of the 2004 Harvard University Commencement, an honor bestowed by his alumni peers for a 25th reunion graduate deemed to have made exceptional contributions to Harvard and the greater society while achieving outstanding professional success. Mr. Ledecky received a B.A. (cum laude) from Harvard University in 1979 and a M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School in 1983.

We believe Mr. Ledecky is well-qualified to serve as a member of the board due to his public company experience, including with other similarly structured blank check companies, business leadership, operational experience and contacts.

James H.R. Brady has served as our Chief Financial Officer since our inception. He has also served as Chief Financial Officer of Northern Star I since July 2020 and of Northern Star II since November 2020 and of Northern Star IV since November 2020. He has also served as Chief Financial Officer of Pivotal III since October 2020. He also served as Chief Financial Officer of Pivotal II from its inception until its merger with XL and served as Chief Financial Officer of Pivotal I from September 2018 until its merger with KLDiscovery. Since 2014, Mr. Brady has provided financial and strategic services to growth companies. Since 2017, he has served as Chief Financial Officer of Airside Mobile, a technology company. From 2014 to 2017, he was Vice President for VSL Pharmaceuticals, a probiotic company. From 2013 to 2014, Mr. Brady was the Chief Financial Officer and General Counsel of Sweetgreen, a high-growth healthy, fast casual restaurant chain. From 2011 to 2013, Mr. Brady was Executive Vice President – Finance and Legal for Audax Health Solutions, a digital health/social media company. From 2009 to 2011, he was Executive Counsel of ODIN Technologies, a RFID software company. Mr. Brady previously served as a corporate and securities attorney with the firms of Hogan & Hartson and Hunton & Williams. Mr. Brady received a BA from the College of William and Mary, a JD from the George Washington National Law Center and a MBA from Darden Graduate School of Business at the University of Virginia.

Justine Cheng has served as a member of our board of directors since February 2021. She has also served as a member of the board of directors of Northern Star I since September 2020. She has over 20 years of private equity and finance experience. Ms. Cheng has served as a Founding Partner of Cornell Capital, a $3.5 billion private investment firm founded in 2013 by Henry Cornell, the former Vice Chairman of Goldman Sachs’ Merchant Banking Division, since 2016. Prior to joining Cornell Capital, Ms. Cheng worked with the Private Equity Group at Fortress Investment Group from 2004 to 2016, where she was most recently a Managing Director. While at Fortress, she also served as the Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer for New Senior Investment Group (NYSE:SNR) from 2014 to 2016 and Newcastle Investment Corp. (NYSE: NCT) from 2014 to 2016. Ms. Cheng previously held various private equity and investment banking positions at UBS, Credit Suisse and Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette. Ms. Cheng was recognized as one of the Wall Street Journal’s Women to Watch in Private Equity in 2018, and profiled in The Deal’s article Private Equity’s Better Half in 2019. She is Chairperson of the Board of Knowlton Development Corporation, the largest global custom formulator and manufacturer serving the prestige beauty, personal care and household sectors. She is also on the board of directors of Corelle Brands, a leading global manufacturer and marketer of dinnerware, cookware, storage and food prepware under iconic brands including Instant Pot, Pyrex, Corelle, Snapware and CorningWare, and of Blue Mistral, a holding company with investments in Frédéric Fekkai Brands and Bastide, two beauty and personal care companies. She received a Bachelors Degree in Economics and a Masters in International and Public Affairs from Columbia University.

We believe Ms. Cheng is well-qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors due to her experience, relationships and contacts.

Dasha Smith has served as a member of our board of directors since February 2021. Since November 2019, Ms. Smith has served as the Chief People Officer for the National Football League, where she is responsible for all human resources activities. During 2018, Ms. Smith was Executive Vice President, Global Chief Human Resources Officer for Sony Music Entertainment, a leading music, entertainment, and technology company. From 2011 to 2018, she served as Managing Director and Global Chief Human Resources Officer at GCM Grosvenor, a global alternatives investment firm. Before joining GCM Grosvenor in 2011, Ms. Smith spent 10 years at Time Inc., most recently as Global Head of Employee Relations and Chief Labor & Employment Counsel. Ms. Smith serves on the board of directors of Cohen & Steers, Inc. (NYSE: CNS), CAPTRUST, and Beautycounter. Ms. Smith serves on the Georgetown University Board of Regents, as well as the Advisory Board for the Georgetown University McDonough School of Business. She is also a trustee of the Dalton School in New York City and a member of the board of the National Museum of African American Music in Nashville. Ms. Smith received a BA degree from Georgetown University and a JD from the University of Virginia.

We believe Ms. Smith is well-qualified to serve as a member of our board of directors due to her experience, relationships and contacts.

James Vincent has served as a member of our board of directors since February 2021. Mr. Vincent has advised founders of some of the world’s most transformative companies. Since February 2017, he has been the Chief Executive Officer of FNDR, a firm he founded to help founders of high-growth start ups build human-centric narratives for the next generation of culture-defining companies, such as Brex, Airtable, GoodRx, Sonos, Roblox, Bumble, Vice and ScaleAI. He has personally advised several highly influential founders and chief executive officers, such as Brian Chesky at Airbnb, Evan Spiegel at Snap, Jose Neves at Farfetch and Emily Weiss at Glossier. From 2014 to 2017, he was the Global President of Brands at TBWA, an Omnicom company. From 2006 to 2014, he was Chief Executive Officer of Media Arts Lab, which he founded as Apple’s exclusive agency partner, and where he worked directly with Steve Jobs, including on the launch of the iPhone in 2007. From 2001 to 2012, he was a member of the Apple Top 100 Leadership Team. Mr. Vincent received a BSc in Economics from the London School of Economics.

We believe Mr. Vincent is well-qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his experience, relationships and contacts.