On January 27, the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) and Global Business Angels Network (GBAN) will host its first GEN Exchange: Conversations With Angels event – a series dedicated to unraveling the misnomers of angel investing and making it easier for anyone, anywhere to invest in startups. As part of GEN's #RoadtoGEC programming, a series of events taking place in the lead-up to the Global Entrepreneurship Congress in March, Conversations with Angels will explore a key topic of the GEC – connectivity and cross-border collaboration – from an investor lens.
The event will feature Dr. Bethann Kassman, Chairman of the Board and Co-Founder of Go Beyond Investing (GBI), a global business angel network headquartered in Switzerland that includes 884 early-stage investors from 45 countries.
Dr. Kassman will join GEN's Pauly Suchy to share her experiences leading cross-border deals in the United States. Europe and beyond, the opportunities facing angel investors thanks to cross-border investing, as well as the risks that come with it - and how to manage them.
About Dr. Bethann Kassman
Bethann Kassman is the Chair of Go Beyond Investing, a global business angel network headquartered in Switzerland and CEO of Go Beyond Network located in Naples, Florida. She sits on the Boards of EBella Magazine, Collier Senior Resources Center, Go Beyond Investing, Next Wave Foundation and the advisory Board of Portfolia.
Dr. Kassman has been a cross-border business angel for many years, investing in companies in Europe and the US. Currently her portfolio consists of 42 early stage companies and 6 funds whose focus is ‘women investing in women’. She serves on a number of committees in the angel community including the Advisory Board of AngelPool, the Board of Sustainatopia and is a Deal Leader for 3 of the Portfolia funds. She has given speeches on early stage investing, has served on early stage juries and works with start-up companies in areas of strategic positioning, management and marketing. In 2018 Bethann was honored with the Bridging the Global World of Investing award by Portfolia.
Following a successful executive career in the United States, primarily in the field of health care, Bethann has been employed as a consultant focusing on global expansion issues, strategy, competitive marketing and acquisition strategies for companies located in Europe, Asia and the U.S. Bethann has also been a professor of marketing, strategy and entrepreneurship at Webster University in Geneva, The Open University in England and adjunct professor of marketing at IMD in Lausanne.. She has had opportunities to work in a number of countries throughout the world: Thailand, Ethiopia, Romania, Russia, Cambodia, France, Italy, Norway, Germany, Columbia, Indonesia, Australia, England. She has a B.S. in Psychology from Iowa State University, a Masters degree from Virginia Commonwealth University and a Doctorate in Business from Business School Lausanne, Switzerland.
About GBAN
The Global Business Angels Network (GBAN) is a global community of angel investor networks focused on increasing access to private capital to where it’s needed most, amplifying the angel “voice” on regulatory issues, facilitating cross-border investments and removing policy barriers. Learn more here.