Meet Our Management

Vestopia levels the playing field for self-directed investors. The proposition is game changing and sure to razzle Wall Street.

As chairman and CEO, my job is to lead this charge.

My career has prepared me for the task at hand.

I have primarily been investing my own money (and beating the market) for the past seven years. Prior, I was founding chairman and CEO of MyPoints.com, the membership marketing company that I took public on NASDAQ in 1999. During my tenure, I led MyPoints in growing membership to 16MM consumers and annual revenue to $64MM. Before MyPoints, I worked as a securities analyst at Fidelity Investments and as a financial journalist at Dow Jones & Co.

I have a strong Blue and Gold allegiance: I earned my MBA from UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business and my A.B. in East Asian Languages (high honors) also from UC Berkeley. To boot, I am a guest lecturer in the Entrepreneurship and New Venture Finance classes at Haas.

I have two business passions: investments and membership. They converge here at Vestopia. The goal is to build the world's best platform for self-directed investors; that means an experience 100% tailored to the needs and wants of our members. I seek and welcome your input!

Email me anytime at .

Someone coined the term 'entrepreneur-in-action', which is what I strive to be.

When we first discussed the idea of Vestopia, we realized that nobody had wrapped-up this business model with the quality, depth and transparency that we envisioned. I just knew we were right; I believe we can take you to places that you've never been.

As President, I oversee every aspect of the business, and worry about keeping us focused on our goals. Fortunately, I'm surrounded by fabulously-talented people. If it wasn't for them, I would get even less sleep than I already do.

Before Vestopia, I co-founded Patus, a homeland security company. I led the company from concept to sales, secured capital injections and, eventually, sold the business. Much of my experience in the financial industry comes from my years of heading the marketing department of the Economic Savings Company, a financial consulting boutique, where I helped increase the company's revenue by over 100%.

At Vestopia, we're always reminding ourselves to strike a balance in life, and devote some of our time and resources to those in greater need. My personal dedication is to endangered species. I've traveled as far as China to volunteer at the Panda Breeding Center. Working so closely with these fascinating creatures was one of the most rewarding things I've ever done, and really helps put life in perspective.

You can always feel free to reach me at .

Without question, I immediately saw the vision of Vestopia and jumped at the opportunity to help build a great and innovative company. I've been here since Day 1. I'm responsible for all efforts around our Investment Directors - recruiting, retention and orchestration. Having come up the ranks myself in the business, this post really seemed like a natural fit. Here, I bring to bear all my experience, skills and passions ... and then some.

Before Vestopia, I was a vice president at Deutsche Asset Management (Investment Management), where I was responsible for getting my best ideas into sector and diversified funds. It was only bottom-line results that mattered and, fortunately, I stood up to the test. I cut my teeth in the business at Morgan Stanley (Equity Research), Lehman Brothers (Investment Banking) and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York (Statistics). I'm not quite sure how it happened, but I've always had a passion for the financial space, and followed banks, thrifts, commercial and consumer finance companies at all these shops. All told: challenging work, important skills, great folks - wouldn't do it much differently. I earned my M.B.A. (Finance) from Columbia Business School, and my B.A. (Economics) from Yeshiva University.

Feel free to contact me at .

Hi, I'm Itzik Paz. I am a software developer, researcher and critic, as well as overseeing Vestopia's Tech Team. My goal in Vestopia is to continue evolving the exciting investment management platform we've created (I take great pride in seeing how our own developers are using the platform for their own investment interests), while promoting a healthy workplace philosophy that I hold very dearly.

In the past I've worked in web services companies, heading Tech teams dealing with complex projects involving graphic design, advertising, technology, business consulting, and entertainment. I started as a programmer in MSN, Israel and was quickly moving up the ladder to become one of MSN's Senior Team Leaders, helping to accelerate the growth the company was experiencing.

I am a certified bar tender, so Vestopia's offices sometime turns into a pub - and yet, no (significant...) bugs!

Ping me at .