The Team
Carl H. Novotny
Managing Director
Carl Novotny oversees the fund’s investments in all direct marketing related investments made by VCFNE in early stage companies. He currently serves as a member of the board of four VCFNE-related portfolio companies: Saylent Technologies, NextMark/Bionic Advertising Systems, First Equity Card Corporation, and Bindable. Prior to helping found VCFNE’s fourth and fifth funds, Mr. Novotny was the co-founder of First USA Partners, a leading affinity marketing company during the 1990’s, and eventually a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bank One and JP Morgan Chase. He also co-founded Trans National Financial Services in 1982, a pioneering company in the development of affinity marketing of financial services, most notable affinity credit card services, where he served as its COO until 1988. Mr. Novotny is active in numerous non-profit groups including the Philanthropic Council of Boston Children’s Hospital DMC, The Cure Alzheimers Fund, and The Boston Foundation. He received his BA degree from Rice University and his MBA from Harvard Business School.
Gordon R. Penman
Managing Director
Gordon Penman has more than 35 years of experience as a corporate attorney with Brown Rudnick LLP.. In his practice Mr. Penman has extensive experience representing both investors and companies in venture finance transactions. He is admitted to practice law in Massachusetts and Rhode Island, and is a member of the Boston Bar Association. Mr. Penman received a BA from The College of William and Mary and his JD from the University of Virginia Law School.
E. Jack Stewart
Managing Director
Jack Stewart has been involved in early stage New England venture capital for over 30 years, first as a partner of Corning Venture Management for over 19 years, followed by his forming Kestrel Venture Management in 1995, and currently as a founding partner of VCFNE V. Individually, Mr. Stewart has had an active and successful turn-around career with numerous New England-based industrial and broadcast companies. In addition to his full-time capacity with VCFNE, Jack has been an active advisor to other venture capital groups in the Boston area. Mr. Stewart holds a BS degree from Yale and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.
Chad Novotny
Managing Director
Chad Novotny leads VCFNE's new early-stage investments, with a focus on software companies involved in data science- and AI-driven marketing solutions. Prior to joining VCFNE, for fifteen years Mr. Novotny was a principal stock holder and CTO of The Support Group, Inc, a software firm providing solutions for small-to-medium enterprises in the financial services, media/entertainment, medical/biotech, retail, and technology sectors, as well as higher education and K-12 institutions. He received his BA degree from Amherst College and his MBA in entrepreneurship and business analytics/marketing from Babson College's F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business.