Technologists, Entrepreneurs and Seasoned Investors...all in one place

Eric Manlunas

Eric is the Founder and Managing Director of Frontera Group, LLC, a boutique venture capital firm focused on investing in early-stage emerging companies.  He also served in a concurrent capacity as a principal of an LA-based value hedge fund until mid-2006. Eric is an experienced entrepreneur turned private investor/venture capitalist with a strong passion for early-stage investing.  Eric has a proven track record as a direct investor in 32 early-stage ventures --- 9 successful exits (8 M&A and I IPO) with 20 ventures remaining active.  Additionally, those portfolio companies have received close to $300m in capital. 

Prior to Frontera, Eric was the founding Chairman and CEO of Sitestar; a publicly traded technology company focused on the consolidation of independent and privately owned Internet service providers in the rural markets of the mid-Atlantic region of the US.  During his tenure, Sitestar completed seven acquisitions and became one of the largest independent ISPs in the region. 

Eric started his career as an associate in Arthur Andersen’s retail management consulting division from 1991-1995.  Eric earned an M.B.A from Pepperdine University and a B.S. in Communications from Florida International University.  He is and was previously a member of the Board of Directors of Exist Global, Mobile Content Networks, Morph Labs, Opposing Views, Small World Kids, Brentwood Media Group, Sitestar, Sierra Madre Foods, Menu Direct and Xcel Healthcare. 

Federico C. “Dickie” Gonzalez

Since he left corporate life 9 years ago, Dickie has been actively engaged in a number of technology-entrepreneurship activities, as President/CEO of the Philippine Emerging Start-ups Open, Inc. (PESO), which runs the PESO Challenge, a technology business plan competition;

1. Lecturer on Technopreneurship, AIM, De La Salle University, UP;
   

2. Consultant on technopreneurship workshops and business plan competitions;
   

3. Project Director of the Tech Boot Camp of Ayala Foundation, PESO and Brain Gain Network (October 2007);
   

4. Mentor and advisor to technology start-ups;
   

5. Columnist on tech ventures (Jumping the Curve), Business World;
   

6. Entrepreneur.
   

His last corporate involvements were as the President/CEO of San Miguel Properties and as corporate rehabilitation receiver.  He has also served at De La Salle University, his alma mater, as EVP, Professional Schools, Chairman, IE Dept., and Dean, Graduate School of Business.

Studies in Mechanical Engineering at the De La Salle College and Industrial Management at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are Dickie’s engineering and technology foundations for his current passion in technopreneurship.

Guillermo M. Luz

Guillermo M. Luz is Executive Vice President of Ayala Foundation, a foundation which manages projects in education, arts and culture, environment, social development, and entrepreneurship.

He was Executive Director of the Makati Business Club from 1987 to 2006, after joining its staff in 1983. While at MBC, he concurrently served as executive director of Philippines-United States Business Council, Philippine-British Business Council, Philippines-France Business Council, Philippines-Singapore Business Council, and Philippines-Malaysia Business Council.

As MBC executive director, Mr. Luz participated in the government’s E-Commerce Council and was a member of the NEDA Medium Term Development Plan committee. He has served as the private sector representative on the Legislative-Executive Development Advisory Council and the Secretary of Agriculture’s Technical Working Group.

He was also Managing Director of the Knowledge Institute (an affiliate of SGV & Co.) from 1999 to 2005.  He is currently a member of the Philippine Coffee Board as well as a member of the National Advisory Council of WWF-Philippines.  Mr. Luz was the Secretary-General of NAMFREL from 1992 to 2006, overseeing preparations for its Operation Quick Count and pollwatching in the 1992, 1995, 1998, 2001, and 2004 elections.

Mr. Luz graduated from Ateneo de Manila University with a bachelor’s degree in social sciences (sociology and political science).  He was selected as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Men (TOYM) and an Aquino Fellow for Public Service in 1999. He was conferred the Chino Roces Freedom Award in 2002.

Martin Lichauco

Mr. Lichauco is Managing Director of AO Tholons Capital. He is also Senior Vice-President of American Orient Capital Partners (AO Capital), an investment and financial advisory services firm, covering the Asia Pacific region. Prior to AO Capital, he was Country Manager of the Philippine operations of Walden International (Walden), a leading global venture capital firm. He also served in a concurrent capacity as Vice-President of the firm’s South/Southeast Asia operations, identifying cross-border investment opportunities between the US and the region (with particular focus on India, Korea and the Philippines) in the semiconductor, software, IT-Enabled Services and telecommunication industries.

Mr. Lichauco had been with Walden International for 11 years and continues to be a Consultant for the group. Mr. Lichauco has over 14 years of private equity and venture capital experience and started this career with Hambrecht & Quist Philippines, Inc. (H&Q) where he served as Associate Director. Mr. Lichauco also worked with the Project Finance division of ING Bank, in between his stints with Walden and H&Q. Mr. Lichauco is a member of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) in the US. He is also a Graduate of the NVCA Venture Capital Institute Graduate (2004) and Undergraduate (2003) Management Programs (2003). In 2003, he was a Venture Panelist in the 8th Kauffman Fellows Program, the only formal post-graduate venture capital education program in the world. Mr. Lichauco serves as Director and/or Observer in a number of private and public companies in the Philippines and the US.

Mr. Lichauco received his Masters in Business Administration (MBA) with Honors from the Arthur D. Little School of Management in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. He also holds a Bachelor of Arts degree, Major in Economics from the Ateneo de Manila University in Manila, Philippines.

Winston Damarillo

Winston Damarillo is currently the Managing Director of Global Gateway Venture Capital, an investment fund focused on global-facing Asian start-ups. Winston is a proven serial entrepreneur with a track record of building innovative technology start-ups that includes DevZuz, an open source marketplace company based in Marina Del Rey, California and Exist Global, a Strategic Engineering Services company based in Manila, Philippines. Morph Labs, Winston's latest venture, is currently focused on enabling the first SaaS ecosystem in Asia.

In addition, Winston has founded multiple disruptive open source companies that had successfully resulted in venture caliber returns to investors. These include Gluecode Software, which was acquired by IBM in 2005, and Logicblaze, acquired by Iona Technologies. Prior to his entrepreneurial endeavors, Winston was among the highest performing venture capital professionals at Intel, having led the majority of his investments to either a successful IPO or a profitable corporate acquisition. Winston's Intel career also included leadership roles in managing strategic software relationships, channel development, product engineering and new business development.