Roger Biscay
Mr. Roger Biscay serves as Vice President in Finance and Treasurer at Cisco Systems. Mr. Biscay is also the investment advisor for the Cisco Foundation and a member of its 401k committee. Prior to joining Cisco in 1999, he held senior trading and sales positions in the areas of fixed income, foreign exchange and equity capital markets with major global financial institutions including Lehman Brothers, Paribas Capital Markets and Royal Bank of Canada. He serves as Member of Advisory Board of DataDirect Networks Inc. He served as Director of The Orchard Enterprises Inc. and Digital Music Group Inc. since 2006. Mr. Biscay holds a B.S. in Finance and an MBA from the University of San Francisco.
Marx L. Cazenave, II
Marx L. Cazenave, II is a founding partner of Busara. Mr. Cazenave has devoted his professional career to expanding business opportunities for minorities, women and start-up companies. He is the co-founder, former CEO and a current board member of Progress Investment Management Company (“Progress Investment”), a San Francisco-based manager of managers, focusing on emerging firms (small, minority, and women-owned investment companies). Since its inception in 1990, Progress Investment has funded more than 100 emerging firms across a broad range of public and private asset classes. The firm currently manages more than $5 billion in assets for some of the world’s largest public and corporate pension funds. After a 2005 management-led buyout, the company is 100% owned by its employees.
Mr. Cazenave was appointed by President Carter to serve as Regional Administrator of the Small Business Administration (SBA), and he also has served as Director of Business Development for the state of California and as a Principal Consultant to the State Assembly Office of Research.
Today he serves on advisory boards for Vicente Capital Partners, the UCLA Anderson’s Price Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, Making Waves Education Program in Richmond, California and the Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos, California. He also volunteers regularly at San Quentin Prison.
Mr. Cazenave received his BA in Political Science from California State University, Los Angeles, and completed Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business Executive Program for Smaller Companies.
Ronnie Lott
Ronnie Lott has been a champion and a leader his entire life. Over 15 years since his retirement from professional football, he continues to be revered by coaches and players of all levels for his superb dedication, constant all-out effort, incredible tackling ability, and his genuine heart and soul. He is also highly respected within the community for his long history of off-the-field philanthropic involvement.
After graduating high school in 1977, Ronnie went on to the University of Southern California where he helped his team win the 1978 national championship as well as Pac-10 titles in 1979 and 1980. He was a unanimous All-American and team captain in 1980 and graduated in 1981 with a degree in public administration. Shortly thereafter, he became the first-round draft pick of the San Francisco 49ers. As a 6-foot-1, 203 pound rookie, Lott amazed coaches and fans alike by starting all 16 games, helping the 49ers win the Super Bowl and earning All-Pro and runner up Rookie of the Year honors (behind Lawrence Taylor).
Ronnie Lott’s legendary career included four Super Bowl titles and 10 Pro-Bowl appearances. He is one of only five 49ers to play on all of the team’s 1980s Super Bowl wins. He retired from professional football in 1994 after having played 10 seasons with the 49ers, plus additional years with the Oakland Raiders and New York Jets. In 1994, he was selected as the Safety for the NFL’s 75th Anniversary Team He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2000, and in 2002 he was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame.
In 1999, Ronnie, along with former team-mate Harris Barton, co-founded HRJ Capital, a private equity investment manager which was recently acquired by Capital Dynamics. In 1998, prior to founding HRJ Capital, Ronnie and former teammate, Keena Turner, partnered to purchase Stan Morris Chrysler in Tracy. Ronnie and Keena sold the Chrysler dealership and then in June 2000, they were awarded a Toyota dealership (Tracy Toyota). Tracy Toyota has been awarded the prestigious Toyota President’s Award in 2002 and 2003; the highest honor a Toyota dealership can receive for demonstrating a commitment to maintaining Toyota’s highest standards for customer satisfaction. In November 2004, Ronnie acquired Mercedes-Benz of Medford.
In 1989, while still playing for the 49ers, Ronnie made a commitment to give back to his community by founding All Stars Helping Kids, which supports disadvantaged youth in the Bay Area and throughout the nation. What began as a passion to better the lives of at-risk kids in the San Francisco Bay Area has grown into a movement aimed at leveling the playing field for children in low-income communities nationwide. To date, All Stars Helping Kids has raised over $20 million dollars for disadvantaged youth. In 2008, All Stars was named outstanding charity by Catholic Charities. Ronnie also serves on several non-profit boards including the Tipping Point Community and Champion Charities, the latter of which he co-founded with Harris Barton in 2004. In July 2002, Ronnie was voted into the Golden Gate Chapter of the Young Presidents Organization.
Ronnie currently resides in Cupertino, California with his wife, Karen, and three children. His eldest son, Ryan Nece, recently retired after a successful career in the NFL.
Clifford C. Swint
Clifford C. Swint, CFA, is an Advisor to Busara. Mr. Swint has over twenty years of experience in financial markets, most recently at MFR Capital Markets as Executive Vice President. Prior to MFR, he was head of investment banking at Blaylock Robert Van where he directly managed the relationships of many of the firm’s largest corporate clients, comprised of Fortune 200 companies. Mr. Swint has substantial advisory and execution expertise in debt/equity capital markets, share repurchase and hybrid equity. Notable mandates included a book-running lead role in a $250mm debt issue for a major west coast utility as well as co-manager roles in two of the largest follow-on equity offerings since the recent financial crisis. In 2009, Mr. Swint personally was awarded a patent on a unique form of hybrid equity that continues to draw substantial interest from ratings agencies and potential issuers.
Prior to his five years at Blaylock Robert Van, Mr. Swint spent ten years as a senior member of a proprietary trading and derivatives team at RBC Capital Markets, where he ran a partially hedged portfolio of private investments in public companies, in addition to other duties. Prior to that experience, Mr. Swint spent two years reporting to the Chief Risk Officer at a well-known boutique investment bank where he was responsible for managing firm-wide balance sheet risk from derivative products.
Mr. Swint’s first Wall Street experience was as an associate on a private placement deal team for an institution that was one of the nation’s largest investors in long-term private debt and mezzanine funding. Prior to Wall Street, Mr. Swint was an aerospace defense engineer working on F-16 fighter and B-1 bomber programs.
Mr. Swint holds a BS Mechanical Engineering degree from Lafayette College, a MS Computer Science degree from The Johns Hopkins University and a Masters in Business Administration from Harvard Business School.
Issac Vaughn
Issac Vaughn is the Managing Director of SC Investments Consulting, LLC, a sport, media and technology focused consulting company founded by NFL Hall of Famer Ronnie Lott in 2007. SC’s business activities include consulting and advisory services, investing and corporate partnering.
SC’s investments include Yardbarker, Inc., operator of the largest network of sports blogs and pro athlete blogs on the web, which was acquired by Fox Sports Interactive Media in 2010 and PlayMaker Mobile, LLC, a focused media company co-founded by SC in 2008 that distributes and monetizes “Athlete” generated text, video, and photo content through digital channels, including mobile and online.
Prior to joining SC, Issac was a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, the leading law firm servicing the technology industry, where he co-led a group that worked with technology, education, internet and life sciences companies through all stages of their growth, and venture capitalists and investment bankers. Issac specialized in the areas of corporate and securities law, including general corporate representations, venture capital financings, public offerings and mergers and acquisitions.
As a strategic business partner, Issac and his group offered focused resources and capabilities to meet the most critical needs of startup and emerging growth companies, including making introductions to angel investors, financiers, venture capitalists and corporate partners. He was frequently called upon to structure and negotiate mergers and acquisitions, licensing arrangements and strategic corporate alliances, as well as other innovative financing arrangements.
While practicing, Issac received many honors and awards, including being named as one of the top 20 lawyers under the age of 40 by California Law Business, a Super Lawyer by San Francisco Magazine and one of America’s Top Black Lawyers by Black Enterprise Magazine. Issac received his law degree from the University of Michigan in 1991.