Every member of the Nexus Partners team has over twenty-five years of operating and executive experience. They have worked in companies of all sizes from start-ups to Fortune 500 companies. The Nexus Partners’ team’s experience is focused in the technology, telecommunications & broadcast networks and financial services sectors.
Steve Adelman is the founder and Managing Director of Nexus Partners. He is an expert in marketing strategy, strategic planning, and partnerships & alliances. Over the last decade with Nexus Partners Steve has worked with clients including Palm, Hitachi, the US Secret Service and numerous startups. Steve was a Senior Managing Partner at Gartner Consulting and was also at Booz & Co. and the MAC Group/Gemini Consulting. Prior to founding Nexus Partners, Steve was VP of Corporate Development at Novell, responsible for investments, acquisitions and strategic partnerships. His career includes AT&T Bell Labs; COO of Trademark Research Corporation; EVP at Reuters NewMedia, where he managed investments and partnerships with companies including Yahoo!, Verisign, Wired, Digimarc, Intertrust and Infoseek; and President of GTS/Broadware (acquired by Cisco). Steve holds a BS in computer science from Columbia University (with honors), and an MBA from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania (with honors); he is currently an Adjunct Professor at Hult International Business School and The Wharton School, and was an Adjunct Professor at USF’s Graduate School of Business. Steve served as a paratrooper in the Israel Defense Forces.
Pamela Chuey specializes in strategic planning, business plan development, partnerships and revenue generation/expansion strategies. Her expertise includes competitive analysis, benchmarking and voice of the customer studies. She has extensive global experience in an array of industries. Most recently, Pam was engaged at Cisco on Innovation and Transformation projects, developing and driving revenue generation strategies and profitability improvement initiatives. Her background includes management consulting, working capital management and founding a variety of start-ups. Some of her clients have included Autodesk, Charles Schwab, Chevron, Hewlett Packard, Nike, Daily Mirror (UK), CBS Marketwatch, and Le Figaro (France). Pam holds a BS in business administration, marketing and advertising from San Francisco State University, and an MBA in finance from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.
Emily Garbe is an expert in business strategy, venture development, mergers and acquisition, and engineering. Over the past decades Emily has worked with companies in fund raising, business plan development, product marketing and business process optimization. She has also been an interim CEO or CFO for several startups. Previously, as a partner at McKenna Consulting she led the teams that launched DirecTV Japan and developed the business plan for IBM’s Global Network business unit. As Director of Corporate Development at MCI, she led the deal team for several alliance deals including the $4 billion acquisition of a minority stake of MCI by British Telecom and the $1 billion joint venture between MCI and British Telecom. She was a consultant at Booz, Allen & Hamilton and was involved in creating several new financial services products for companies including American Express and Travelers Insurance. Emily was a Member of the Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Labs where she was a network architect for a global data network. She holds a BS in computer science and applied math from the University of Rhode Island, an MEng in computer science from Cornell University and an MBA from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and has served as a finance commissioner for her local municipality.
Stephen Goodman is a global professional who works at the intersections of strategy, marketing and communications. His engagements have spanned financial services, healthcare, education and especially technology. Recently he was head of a strategy and research group at Sun Microsystems where he built multiple functions focused on global partnerships, influencer relations, executive thought leadership and communications strategy and market analysis for the executive leadership team. Prior to Sun, Stephen successfully launched and led for six years PowderHouse Partners, an international business and innovation consultancy. He has held positions with the Center for Applied Research (affiliated with Wharton), Mainspring/IBM Global Services and the California Bankers Association. Stephen served for three years as U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein's economic and technology policy aide. He has been an invited speaker on innovation, strategy, marketing and global issues at the Aspen Institute, Harvard University/R.C. Complutense Executive Program, Utrecht University and others along with guest lectures at Brandeis, Boston University, and the University of California. Stephen completed his graduate work in international business and economics at The Fletcher School, Tufts University.
Diane Meier-Phelps is a development and marketing strategist who is dedicated to using the power of business to promote environmentally, economically and socially resilient communities. Her focus is helping organizations make the business case for sustainability by aligning their CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) initiatives with their core values and business objectives, resulting in stronger, sustainable brands. During the last seven years Diane has held senior development management positions and secured millions of dollars for Bay Area not-for-profits with regional and national reach. She has provided strategic planning, partnership and fundraising consulting services to social sector and sustainability organizations. Previously, Diane spent twenty years in business development, marketing, finance and production with leading electronic media companies in the Silicon Valley, Hollywood and New York City, including Excite@Home, Organic, Infoseek, Tele-TV, Paramount and ABC-TV. In these roles she structured, negotiated and managed dozens of successful partnerships, and oversaw the design, production and distribution of early-stage, interactive consumer content products and services. Diane holds a BS in Television-Radio from Ithaca College, an MBA in marketing from the UCLA Anderson School of Management and an Executive Certificate in Sustainable Management from the Presidio Graduate School.
Barbara Rice is a marketing executive and strategist who leads cross-functional, integrated teams for high tech companies. She works with companies who need to cost effectively introduce or expand breakout products and programs. Barbara manages marketing organizations at both large companies and start-ups, with extensive launch experience and a passion for bringing new products to market. Barbara has worked with several innovative companies in the computer software, hardware and telecommunications industries. At Adobe Systems, she led the Digital Imaging marketing team that launched five versions of Photoshop and introduced Photoshop Elements and Photoshop Album to the hobbyist and consumer markets. During her tenure as Marketing Director of the Digital Content Business Unit at SanDisk, Barbara worked with music, movie and television studios to deliver digital content and services across SanDisk products. She led marketing strategy and programs at GridIron Software, a start-up that developed revolutionary workflow mapping software for creative professionals. Since 2010 she has been the interim VP, Marketing for multiple companies in Silicon Valley. Barbara holds a BS in psychology from San Francisco State University. She was a contributing author to the “42 Rules of Product Management,” a book that reached #1 on Amazon’s “movers and shakers” list in 2010.
Don Sanders brings extensive experience in business development and change management to the Nexus Partners team. For nearly two decades Don has worked with clients including public and private companies, non-profit entities and venture-backed startups. His engagements have included turnaround CEO, startup CFO and VP Products & Marketing. Don has been a founder of more than a dozen public and private ventures. He founded Sanders Associates and was a founder and Partner at RES CoVentures, a Silicon Valley investment banking firm acquired by Ventana Ventures. Don’s early career includes Pacific Telesis Group, where he was a founder of Pacific Telesis International and President of PTI Venture Development; and AT&T, where he was a founder of AT&T Business Services Education and served on the Chairman’s staff in the breakup of the Bell System. Don holds a BS in mechanical engineering from the University of Oklahoma; taught planning and engineering economics at the Bell System Center for Technical Education; and was a Member of Adjunct Staff at RAND Corp, the original “think tank” in Santa Monica, CA.
Wendy York-Fess is a versatile and results-oriented executive with a demonstrated track record of success across a broad range of industries and assignments. Her thirty-year career includes over twenty years of direct P&L responsibility and assignments in companies ranging from start-ups to mid-stage and Fortune 500 corporations. As General Partner for a private venture capital fund, Wendy managed profitable investments in internet, enterprise software, and financial services including Covad Communications, Infospace, WeSync, and Placeware. As VP with Bank of America’s Credit Services Division, she conceived and implemented credit card marketing programs, tracked and evaluated their results, and recommended strategic direction to Senior Management. She was a Security Systems Project Manager for Bechtel International’s Riyadh Airport project. Wendy founded and built MarketSmart, Inc. into a leading database-marketing company focused on strategic business support of direct-advertising agencies and their clients. In other media-technology experience, Wendy was founding COO for IMMI, a technology-based media research company. She has served in multiple interim senior executive roles. Wendy holds a BA with honors and distinction from Stanford University and an MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business, with an emphasis on strategy and operations.