I am a serial first mate - in sailing and in business. Not everyone has the risk profile to be an entrepreneur, but I love the fast paced world of the start-up and have built ground-up teams at Cranium, Burro (Ghana) and GoldieBlox in the last 15 years.

A background in consumer products consulting gave me a foundation in financial analysis, strategy, operations and management. This paved the way to building the big picture in supply chain, finance, customer service and IT to support rapid growth.

My secret ambition is to apprentice with a Canadian curling facility and then open a curling center in my hometown (the bavarian village of Leavenworth WA).