Catherine Witt Email & Phone Number

Chicago, Il, Us

I work with start-up founders to chart their growth over a 6 month period with an array of platform services. The starts-ups have typically already raised $100,000 before working with Mobius Ventures. We set the founders up on a clear path, take items off their to-do list and optimize relationships with service providers, investors, lenders and in strategic partnerships.My individual specialty as an advisor is utilizing my decade of design expertise in the creative end with pitch decks, product, and UX/UI, as well and leveraging my operator experience streamlining operations, training new staff, and filling fractional CXO needs. My domain expertise is in built-world technologies (mobility, infrastructure, project management SaaS, construction labor, material design, and smart homes/cities IoT), however Mobius clients span an array of industries to which i lend my services.

Chicago, Illinois, United States

Prior Roles: Product Advisor, Chief of Staff, Co-Founder, Chief of Sustainability, Director of Operations; support in Investor Relations• With 4 reporting managers and 25+ employees for a seed stage company, surpassed expectations as FT Interim Chief of Staff and right hand to the CEO; conducted process design, modeling, monitoring, optimization and compliance.• Was awarded additional responsibility progressively on a trans-Atlantic start-up team: advisor, then Chief of Operations, and ultimately Co-founder to create a 2-sided prop-tech/fin-tech marketplace platform connecting construction service providers with local or international property owners. • Reviewed the investment focus and ticket size of over 900 PE/VC firms to create a database of 100 fin-tech, and 50 CRE or agri-tech investors in frontier markets, providing significant assistance with fundraising efforts. • Competed amongst MBA students to join a private equity advisory for an investment board; assisted with deal flow, supporting the M&A of business valued between $2M and $15M; leveraged knowledge of solar photovoltaics and Federal legislative expertise to unlock investment opportunities for a group of underrepresented investors. • Collaborated on a food-tech start-up in the New Venture Challenge at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, earning a Top 5 Finalists out of 60 teams, the People’s Choice Winner award, and $155K of investment.• Includes roles such as Chief of Staff, Dir. of Operations, Dir. of Sustainability, Advisor, Product Designer, Investor Relations Support

260 professionals selected from 1700 applicants from around the world in 9-week competitive fellowship program. Completed the program as a top performer with 40 fellows considered for 2-month residency with emerging funds.

Chicago, Illinois, United States

• Joined the PE firm with its latest fund of $2.7Billion - one of the highest AUMs of its class in the US; monitored US legislature as it unfolded and utilized data to alert deal and platform teams of risks/opportunities within US regulations.• Provided support to create the 80-page 2021 Investors Report concerning value added in quality, access, scale, qualitative and quantitative outcomes for the firm’s 26 middle-market portfolio companies spanning the Educational, Financial, and Healthcare domains. • Interpreted survey results to support the firm’s participation in the Carbon Disclosures Project’s Private Markets Pilot program. • Developed and launched a dashboard for partners to compare gender and racial diversity of portfolio company employees and management utilizing US Census and Bureau of Labor employment data.

Kenya

"• Bypassed the established prerequisites of a graduate degree and 5-10 years of related experience, to be recruited and hired for management and leadership roles among staff with decades of seniority. • Served as primary program representative, articulating requirements and benefits of an integrated spatial and socio-economic plan for a community of 200K residents to senior stakeholders, international partners and donors, interdisciplinary governance assemblies, local business owners, and beneficiaries from 7 East African nations. • Collaborated with 35 other organizations in the implementation of 16 projects including: economic and legislative development, qualitative and quantitative surveys and research, energy, and built-world tech (biofuel, photovoltaics), shelter design prototyping, waste management, infrastructure development, capacity building, livelihoods, host community engagement and sensitization, public space and physical marketplace design and construction. • Oversaw the management of $1M in program finance and a staff upwards of 10 while establishing the newest program field office, assets, staff, projects, and programs in a remote location. Results were presented at 2018 Structures of Protection Conference on Refugee Housing at Oxford University Refugee Studies Centre and in the Future of Cities journal.• Integral author of a publication outlining the relevance of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the New Urban Agenda on an urban planning project’s efficacy of emergency response, host community engagement, and partner-stakeholder coordination, delivering proposed monitoring and evaluation methods and indicators.

Washington, Dc

• Functioned as a Design and Construction Consultant and Architect, working for 3 internationally known “star architects”' (Rem Koolhaas, Helmut Jahn, Shigeru Ban) to create various projects documented as a book and in journals, including the 2015 cover of Architectural Record, a top design innovation publication.• Provided support and direction for 41 projects through all phases – schematic design, design development, permitting, and construction - concerning residential projects valued at $500K to $3.5M, and as team member for Lurie Children’s Hospital, O’Hare Airport, MGM Mirage Tower, Doha Convention Center, St. Petersburg Hermitage Museum, Prada Foundation Museum, the US Embassy in Reykjavik, diplomatic housing in India, and others.• Developed strategic plans supporting project scope and ensured the achievement of goals and deliverables on budget while coordinating property developers, investors, technical professionals, and officials on a $60M multi-family development.• As the building and construction industry exploded with 3D modeling and graphic presentation SaaS in the early 2000s, gained faculty in 13 software programs with notable capacity to rapidly master new tools, and hired multiple times for this aptitude. • Created a custom user interface integrating the spatial guidelines and design standards for diplomatic structures of the U.S. State Department’s Office of Overseas Building Operations to broaden competition for federal contracts.

Chicago, Il

• Generated marketing data of companies within corporate America and the advertising, publishing, and design industries through research with library, online, and human sources • Conducted phone interviews regarding company staffing and management• More information at http://www.creativeaccess.com/

Washington D.C. Metro Area

• Designed a training manual on the Development Department’s work, including grant-writing, budget management, prospect research, donor relations, and membership programs• Collaborated with curators and installation team to create visual and concept flow of five exhibits Other museum experience includes: • National Building Museum (visitor services) 2015-2016• School of the Chicago Art Institute (exhibition research) 2010• Extension Gallery for Architecture (installation team) 2008-2010

Rotterdam, Holland

• Created a conceptual design proposal for Foundazione Prada Museum in Italy, a project recently published in Architectural Record• Assembled and analyzed data for rebranding of the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Chicago, Il

Prepared design competition entries and produced presentations and construction documents for projects including Doha Convention Center, O’Hare Airport Expansion, and towers in NYC and DC

Ithaca, New York, United States

Ithaca, New York, United States

• Served in the highly-sought role of Cornell “face” at the university administrative headquarters on campus to make all varieties of university visitors feel comfortably oriented.• Responded to inbound inquiries via phone and email and logged requests into CRM to ensure continuity between shift workers handling extended inquiries• Handled cash transactions at campus entry points to central accounting system

Master Of Public Policy, Certificates In Finance, Energy & Environment

Entrepreneurship, Esg, Finance

Activities and Societies: Booth 2022 New Venture Challenge - placed 5th of 60 teamsCourses in Entrepreneurial Finance and Private Equity.

Mitx Micromasters Credential In Supply Chain Management

Modules on Corporate Finance, Accounting, and Market Evaluation

Bachelor, Architecture

10 semesters of design studio in the top US-ranked BA program since 1998; Chair of the American Institute of Architecture Students Cornell.

Education record

Activities and Societies: Edmund James Scholar, Illinois State Program Scholarship, Women's Rugby Team

Teamwork, Leadership & Management

Activities and Societies: Academic and Physical Fitness Award for all semesters, Field Training Superior Performer and Ironman Runner-Up.

Fellowship - Cohort 3, Ethical Venture Capital Investing

10-15 hours weekly networking and reinforcing knowledge on: the VC industry, key documents, fund management, capital calls.