AURORA ANGEL NETWORK
Our Values
CURIOSITY
Continually study smart practices and new methodologies for investing for success and growing successful companies.
INTEGRITY
High ethical standards and honesty in all activities and relationships.
DIVERSITY
Ensure diversity and inclusion of people and ideas throughout the angel community.
Board of Directors
Liana O’Drobinak
Managing Director
Liana has launched and cultivated six successful business ventures throughout her career. Liana was President, CEO and founder of Acclaris LLC, a Tampa based, venture backed benefits and technology company which was profitably sold in 2010 and is now part of Willis Towers Watson. Previously, Liana founded several consulting and outsourcing practices while a partner at Arthur Andersen, where she began her career as a financial auditor. As a financial auditor, she performed audits of for profit and not for profit organizations, including major hospital systems and several other not for profit institutions. She currently devotes part of her time to the MCS Foundation, the philanthropic organization funded by MCS which she helped build in the aftermath of Hurricanes Maria and Irma in Puerto Rico. Liana is a nationally recognized Certified Public Accountant and Certified Internal Auditor, a naturalized US citizen, born in Cuba, and fluent in Spanish. She has a degree in Accounting and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from the University of South Florida. She and her husband Jim have four children.
Alberto Estrella
Founding Director
Alberto is Managing member and majority shareholder at Estrella, LLC, one of the oldest law firms in Puerto Rico, with a history dating back to the early 1900’s. Trusted legal advisor to industry-leading companies. Trial lawyer and counsel to business clients on diverse variety of matters, including, commercial and contract disputes, complex litigation, premises liability and insurance defense, antitrust and business regulation, federal laws and litigation, trademarks and copyrights, administrative law, health law, oil and energy law, corporate law, franchise law, among others. He is an enthusiastic supporter of entrepreneurs and private investors.
Ross Finlay
Founding Director
Ross Finlay, a Co-founder and Director of the First Angel Network Association has been an angel investor since 2000. He has assisted many companies in raising private equity, is a Board Member of the National Angel Capital Organization (NACO), Director of the Angel Capital Association (ACA), and a Trustee of the Angel Resource Institute. Mr. Finlay is a recognized facilitator, senior business consulting professional and strategic change consultant who has an extensive background in public, private and not-for-profit sectors. He has implemented major business changes in a number of organizations and has experience in conducting organizational reviews in the public/private and the not-for-profit sectors. He has extensive business networks throughout Atlantic Canada. He has been Executive Director of a provincial professional association and President of a national consulting company working with scientific, engineering and technical areas. Since his move home to Nova Scotia, Ross has managed his own successful consulting practice. He returned to the corporate world for a time with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and SolutionInc Ltd. – a Halifax based software development company. In 2002 Ross was a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Medal for outstanding community service through his efforts in numerous charities.
Emilio Fuentes
Founding Director
Emilio Fuentes is now the Chief Business Development Officer at Akcelita, a Puerto Rico based innovation lab tailored to transform companies thru the magic of Customer Experience. Before Akcelita, he served as Sr. Director of Citrix leading its world-wide Managed Services organization . Emilio joined Citrix as part of an M&A process in 2012. He was founder and president of Knowlity; as president he was responsible for building a team and giving it strategic direction in sales and operations. The acquisition of Knowlity by Citrix represents the first time a local IT consulting firm is acquired by a public company listed in the NASDAQ. In his tenure at Knowlity, Emilio worked tirelessly to build a culture of exporting services and creating long-lasting customer relationships.
Before Knowlity, Emilio was Manager of Consulting Services at Citrix, the same company that acquired Knowlity in 2012. As Manager, he worked on jump starting the services business throughout Latin America. He joined Citrix from Innovex Group, a custom software development firm where he led back-end system development. Emilio’s first technology related job was Andersen Consulting, now Accenture.
Emilio graduated in 1997 from the Chemical Engineering department at EL COLEGIO. In addition to his work-life he deeply believes in social responsibility and paying it forward. Emilio is a board member of Light The Night, a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and mentor for several programs at Grupo Guayacán and Endeavor. He is happily married to Yilma Quiñonez since 1999, they have two kids, Martín Emilio 15 years old and Amanda Lucía 11 years old.
Ricky López
Founding Director
Jesús “Ricky” López is the General Manager for Mars Wrigley Confectionery Caribbean and Central America. He oversees all Confectionary, Pet Care and Foods portfolios in this rich, diverse, cultural heritage while seeking and building opportunities to develop innovative route to market strategies and to drive growth. He is a strong supporter of social causes, a proud Boricua, and a vocal champion of Puerto Rico’s rebuilding after hurricane Maria, where he supports initiatives to bring better lives to pets and families. Ricky holds a Bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Puerto Rico – Río Piedra Campus and a Master’s in Business Administration in international finance from Indiana University – Kelly School of Business.
Eugenio Torres
Founding Director
Eugenio Torres is a managing member at Ferraiouli LLC where he serves as Chair of the Intellectual Property Practice group. He is very active member of Puerto Rico’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. He is also an adjunct professor at the University of Puerto Rico Law School where he teaches clinical elective courses on intellectual property and entrepreneurship. Eugenio holds a Bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Juris Doctor from the University of Puerto Rico Law School.
