Merged into Heliogen, ticker now HLGN
ATHN

Completed

Heliogen

HLGN
First $9.61
Merger $13.57
41%
Merger +6mo $1.95
80%
Merger +1yr $0.68
93%
Recent $2.07
78%

Athena Technology Acquisition Corp.

Raised
$250M
CIK
1840292
SPAC Ticker
ATHN
Merger
Heliogen
Merged Ticker
HLGN
Focus
Technology, Ecommerce, FinTech
External link: SEC Filings

SPAC Team

Leadership

Isabelle Freidheim has served as the Chairman of our Board since inception. Since May 2018, Ms. Freidheim has been co-founder and managing partner of Starwood VC, a firm making investments in technology businesses, where she has led investments in both early-stage and late-stage, pre-IPO companies and is engaged in deal sourcing, due diligence and assisting portfolio companies. Ms. Freidheim is the co-founder of Magnifi, an investment platform powered by a financial industry natural language search engine, which was acquired by the Tifin Group in December 2020 and she also acted as its Chief Executive Officer from 2018 to 2019 and led the company’s early growth and multiple rounds of financing. From 2015 to 2016, Ms. Freidheim was a venture partner with MissionOG, a venture capital firm, where she invested in high-growth technology companies. From 2012 to 2015, she was a co-founder and partner of The London Fund, an investment firm that specializes in early-stage venture capital and growth capital investments. From 2006 to 2007, Ms. Freidheim worked in the private equity department of Invesco, an independent investment management company. Prior to that, she worked in the investment banking department of Lehman Brothers from 2004 to 2005. Ms. Freidheim received her B.A. in Economics from Columbia University and received her M.B.A from Columbia Business School. Ms. Freidheim is well-qualified to serve on our Board due to her extensive investment and corporate finance experience.

Phyllis W. Newhouse has served as our Chief Executive Officer and Director since inception. Ms. Newhouse is the founder of XtremeSolutions, Inc., an Atlanta-based cybersecurity firm that offers service in both the federal and private sectors (“XSI”). Since founding XSI in June 2002, Ms. Newhouse has served as XSI’s Chief Executive Officer and has led the company in offering a wide range of IT and cybersecurity services. Prior to founding XSI, Ms. Newhouse served as a member of the United States Army for more than 22 years of, where her work focused on national security issues and included a project that outlined the Cyber Espionage Task Force. In July 2019, Ms. Newhouse founded ShoulderUp, a nonprofit organization dedicated to connecting and supporting women on their entrepreneurial journeys, alongside Academy Award-winning actress Viola Davis. Ms. Newhouse has served on the board of directors of the Technology Association of Georgia, a nonprofit organization committed to connect, promote, influence and educate Georgia’s technology ecosystem, since September 2019. Ms. Newhouse is also currently a member of the Business Executives for National Security, a nonprofit organization comprised of senior business and industry executives working to address the national security community’s pressing challenges. Ms. Newhouse also serves on the executive board of the Women President Organization, a nonprofit organization for women presidents of multimillion-dollar companies whose mission is to improve business conditions and promote the acceptance and advancement of women entrepreneurs. Ms. Newhouse serves on the board of directors of Girls Inc., a non-profit organization with the goal of empowering and inspiring girls and young women. Ms. Newhouse received her A.A. in Liberal Arts Science from Saint Leo College and her Honorary Doctor of Philosophy from CICA International University. Ms. Newhouse is well-qualified to serve on our Board due to her extensive experience in the IT industry along with her leadership experience.

Grace Vandecruze has served as our Chief Financial Officer of the Company since inception. Since November 2006, Ms. Vandecuze has served as the founder and managing director of Grace Global Capital LLC, a consulting firm providing M&A financial advisory, restructuring, and valuation services to insurance companies and financial regulators. From April 1999 to October 2006, Ms. Vandecruze worked as a managing director of Swiss Re (OTCMKTS: SSREF), a Swiss reinsurance company. While at Swiss Re, Ms. Vandecruze was responsible for M&A advisory services and capital raising for middle market insurance companies, and providing advisory services for large public offerings of insurance companies. From September 1996 to April 1999, Ms. Vandecruze was vice president of Head and Company, a global private equity firm specializing in the insurance industry where she was responsible for all aspects of the investment banking process in the insurance and financial service industries. Since September 2020, Ms. Vandecruze has served as a member of the board of directors of The Doctors Company, a medical malpractice insurance company (“TDC”), and is a member of the TDC’s investment committee. Since July 2015, Ms. Vandecruze has served as a member of the board of directors of M Financial Group, a Portland-based life insurance company (“MFG”), and is a member of the MFG’s audit committee and wealth solutions’ committee. From June 2015 to December 2019, Ms. Vandecruze served as a board member of Resolution Life Holdings, Inc., a life insurance group focusing on the acquisition and management of portfolios of life insurance policies (“Resolution”), and was a member of Resolutions investment and risk committee. From December 2015 to December 2018, Ms. Vandecruze served as a director of SBLI USA (“SBLI”), a life insurance provider, where she was a member of the SBLI’s audit committee. Ms. Vandecruze received her B.B.A in Accounting from Pace University and her M.B.A. in Finance from the University of Pennsylvania. Ms. Vandecruze obtained her CPA license in May 1998.

Kay Koplovitz will serve as one of our directors as of the effective date of the registration statement. Since March 2000, Ms. Koplovitz has served as the co-founder and chairman of Springboard Enterprises, a non-profit accelerator that has trained women entrepreneurs of technology and life sciences companies to raise capital. Since April 2016, Ms. Koplovitz has served as the co-founder and managing partner of Springboard Growth Capital, an investment partnership supporting entrepreneurs and companies positioned to be market leaders. Previously, Ms. Koplovitz was the founder and former chairman & chief executive officer of USA Networks, the SyFy Channel (formerly Sci-Fi Channel) and USA Networks International, a television cable network. Since May 2010, Ms. Loplovitz has served on the board of directors of ION Media Networks (“ION”), where she was a member of the ION’s compensation and audit committees. Since March 2018, Ms. Koplovitz has served on the board of directors of Veniam, a technology startup focused on building wifi networks using moving vehicles, and has served as a member of the compensation committee of Veniam’s board. Previously, from April 2014 to February 2018, Ms. Koplovitz served as a director on the board of Time Inc., a media corporation (“Time”), and served on the Time’s compensation committee and governance and nominating committee. From May 1992 to May 2015, Ms. Koplovitz served on the board of Liz Claiborne, which was sold in November 2011, the name of the remaining brands in the company were rebranded to Fifth & Pacific and later became Kate Spade, where she served on the board until May 2015. During that period, she served as the non-executive chairman of the company from December 2006 to May 2013. Ms. Koplovitz received her B.S. in Communications & Biology from the University of Wisconsin and her M.S. in Communications from Michigan State University. Ms. Koplovitz is well-qualified to serve on our Board because of her extensive experience in communications and media industries.

Annette Nazareth will serve as one of our directors as of the effective date of the registration statement. Ms. Nazareth is a Senior Counsel at the law firm of Davis Polk and Wardell. From September 2008 to December 2020, Ms. Nazareth was a partner at Davis Polk and headed the firm’s Trading and Markets practice. From 1998 to 2008, Ms. Nazareth served at the SEC in various roles. Ms. Nazareth was a Commissioner of the SEC from 2005 to 2008, and was a Director in the Division of Market Regulation (now the Division of Trading and Markets) from 1998 until 2005. Prior to joining the SEC, Ms. Nazareth held senior legal positions at Solomon Smith Barney, Lehman Brothers, and Mabon Securities. Ms. Nazareth currently serves on the board of directors for several not-for-profit organizations, including the Urban Institute, the Protestant Episcopal Cathedral Foundation, the St. Albans School of Public Service, the Board of Visitors of Columbia Law School and the SEC Historical Society. She was recently a key contributor to two G30 reports. Ms. Nazareth previously served on the board of Brown University, the National Cathedral School and Bishop John T. Walker School for Boys. Ms. Nazareth received her A.B. in History and Economics from Brown University and received her J.D. from Columbia Law School. Ms. Nazareth is well-qualified to serve on our Board due to her extensive legal experience, as well as her extensive involvement with non-profits.

Judith Rodin will serve as one of our directors as of the effective date of the registration statement. Dr. Rodin served as the President of The Rockefeller Foundation, which supports efforts to combat global social, economic, health and environmental challenges, from March 2005 to January 2017. From 1994 to 2004, Dr. Rodin served as the President of the University of Pennsylvania, as well as a professor of psychology and of medicine and psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania. Before that, Dr. Rodin chaired the Department of Psychology at Yale University, and also served as the dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and provost, and served as a faculty member at the university for 22 years. Dr. Rodin has served as the chair of the board of Prodigy Services Limited, a fintech platform, since 2019, a member of the board of Portfolia, a venture investing firm, since 2018 and a member of the board and a member of the nominating and governance committee of Laureate Education, a higher education institution, since 2013. From 2002 to 2018, Dr. Rodin served as a member of the board of directors and a member of the audit and compensation committees of Comcast Corporation (Nasdaq: CMCSA). From 1997 to 2013, Dr. Rodin served as a member of the board of directors and a member of the audit committee of American Airlines Group (formerly known as AMR Corporation) (Nasdaq: AAL). From 2004 to 2017, Dr. Rodin served as a member of the board of directors and a member of both the nominating and governance and the compensation committees of Citigroup Inc. Dr. Rodin earned a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Pennsylvania and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Columbia University. Dr. Rodin is well-qualified to serve on our Board due to her extensive experience in higher education and philanthropy.

Janice Bryant Howroyd will serve as one of our directors as of the effective date of the registration statement. Since September 1978, Ms. Howroyd has served as the founder and chief executive officer of the ActOne Group, an international talent and technology enterprise focusing on employment and talent management solutions. Ms. Howroyd has served as a board member of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, as well as the Women’s Business Enterprise National Counsel Global Business Committee, where she works to promote opportunities for women-owned businesses. Ms. Howroyd previously served on the Board of Advisors for the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities during the Obama Administration. Ms. Howroyd also served on the Federal Communications Commission’s Advisory Committee on diversity and digital empowerment to encourage women and minorities to create digital enterprises. Ms. Howroyd received a B.A. in English from North Carolina A&T State University. Ms. Howroyd is well-qualified to serve on our Board because of her employment and talent management experience, as well as her extensive leadership roles within government entities.

Advisors

Nina G. Vaca has been chairman and chief executive officer of Pinnacle Technical Resources, Inc., a global workforce solutions provider offering staffing, managed services, payrolling and independent contractor compliance and a proprietary talent platform, since she founded the company in October 1996. She also has been chairman and chief executive officer of Vaca Industries Inc., a privately-held management company, since April 1999. She has been a director of Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CNK), an American movie theater chain, since November 2014, a director of Comerica Incorporated (NYSE: CMA), a national financial services company, since 2008 and also served as a director of Kohl’s Corporation (NYSE: KSS) from March 2010 to May 2019. In 2014, the Obama Administration appointed Ms. Vaca as a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship. Ms. Vaca won the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year award and Goldman Sachs most intriguing entrepreneur award. Ms. Vaca is also a Henry Crown Fellow at the Aspen Institute and a lifetime member of the Council on Foreign Relations. Ms. Vaca received her B.A. in Communications from Texas State University, and has been awarded three honorary doctorates from distinguished universities.

Minneola Ingersoll has worked as partner at TenOneTen, a Los Angeles venture capital fund investing in early stage technology and enterprise software, since February 2019. Prior to that, from July 2017 to December 2018 Ms. Ingersoll was the chief operating officer at Code for America, a nonprofit organization whose goal is to address the gap between the public and private sectors in their effective use of technology and design. From January 2014 to July 2017, Ms. Ingersoll was the chief operating officer at Shift Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: SFT), an online platform for buying and selling automobiles. Since November 2019, Ms. Ingersoll has served as a director of Strattic, a website hosting platform that optimizes WordPress websites for speed and security. Ms. Ingersoll received her B.S. in computer science from Stanford University and her M.B.A from Harvard University.

Ciara Anne Burnham is an experienced operator, investor and board director, with over two decades of success building growth businesses. Ms. Burnham was a partner and member of the Management Committee of QED Investors, an early stage fintech venture capital firm, from January 2019 to December 2020. While at QED Investors, Ms. Burnham provided portfolio company leadership and advised on investments in investment management, banking and capital markets. Prior to that, from 1997 until January 2019, Ms. Burnham was a senior managing director with Evercore (NYSE: EVR), a global investment bank. Ms. Burnham has served on the board of directors of Fortitude Re, a reinsurance portfolio manager, since July 2020, where she chairs the risk & capital committee and serves on the audit committee. Since March 2019, Ms. Burnham has served on the board of directors of OpenInvest, a public benefit corporation that focuses on delivering technology to help value-based investing. Ms. Burnham has also served on the board of directors of Blooom, an online retirement investment adviser, since March 2019. Since July 2019, Ms. Burnham has served as the chair of the investment committee on the board of directors of True Link Financial. Ms. Burnham received her B.A. in Public Policy from Princeton University and her M.B.A. from Columbia Business School.

Kristen Dickey is the managing partner for Seaview Capital, LLC, an investment fund that works with early stage venture capital funds and seed stage companies. From 1996 to 2017, Ms. Dickey worked at BlackRock, Inc. (NYSE: BLK), a multinational investment management corporation, where she held various roles including managing director and global head of Financial Institutions Group, a role that she held from 1996 to 2011. Ms. Dickey has served as a director on the board of BNY Mellon (NYSE: BK), an investment banking services company, since January 2020. Ms. Dickey also serves as lead director at Aperture Investors LLC, an investment management firm. In addition, Ms. Dickey is a board member and advisor to Marstone Inc., a digital wealth platform, and is a board advisor to Bite, a Hong Kong based digital alternative investment distribution company. Ms. Dickey received her B.A. in Political Studies from Pitzer College and received her M.B.A. in Finance from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Sandra Campos is a Chief Executive Officer, entrepreneur, and operating partner at the intersection of direct to consumer and tech sectors. Ms. Campos has been the Chief Executive Officer of Project Verte, a full-circle e-commerce platform, since November 2020. She is the founder of Fashion Launchpad, a digital continuing education platform for the fashion and retail industries. Ms. Campos was Chief Executive Officer of Diane Von Furstenberg, a luxury fashion brand, and was instrumental in restructuring Juicy Couture, Bebe, Herve Leger and BCBG with a focus on driving digital innovation and fueling international expansion in China and Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe. She was an executive with Oscar de la Renta, Ralph Lauren and Nautica. Ms. Campos received a B.S. in Fashion Merchandising from Texas Tech University.

Valerie Mosley is the founder of BrightUp, a mission-driven wealth-tech platform providing universal access to wealth-building resources and well-being reminders. Ms. Mosley was a Partner, Portfolio Manager and Investment Strategist at Wellington Management Company, a global money management firm. During her 20-year tenure at the firm, she also chaired the firm’s Industry Strategy Group. Ms. Mosley was also treasurer and on the investment committee of Mass Ventures, a venture tech fund intent on fueling Massachusetts’s innovation economy. She serves on the corporate boards of DraftKings, Envestnet, Groupon and Eaton Vance��s family of mutual funds. Ms. Mosley advises New York State Common’s Retirement Fund as an Investment Committee Advisor to the Comptroller, one of the country’s sole trustees. Ms. Mosley received her B.A. in History and Computer Science from Duke University and an M.B.A. in Finance from Wharton School of Business.

Devon Pike is a leader and advisor with expertise in launching and accelerating iconic consumer brands, omni-channel customer engagement, e-commerce, international and merchandising. Ms. Pike was Chief Merchandising Officer of The Gap, Chief Executive Officer of De Beers Diamond Jewellers US, President of Givenchy North America, Senior Vice President Juicy Couture Digital of Juicy Couture, and Vice President and General Merchandise Manager, Rugby Ralph Lauren, of Ralph Lauren. Ms. Pike received a B.A. in Literature from Brown University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.