get to know us

we are visible ventures

Managing Partner

Lori Cashman

Lori is known as the firm’s visionary and master multi-tasker. In a world where “relevance is everything” and customers are looking to be delighted, Lori loves thinking about how a company’s differentiated value proposition can be leveraged to drive innovation.

Lori is always scanning emerging consumer and technology trends and finding opportunities from an investor perspective that will capitalize on these developments. She entered an accelerated M.B.A. program out of undergrad and got her CPA as she served clients in the private equity space. This quickly led to investing roles with The Seidler Company and Heritage Partners before she co-founded Lineage Capital, LLC. Lori’s investing background provides a well-rounded perspective on successful business models, operational and market issues and consumer trends. In her service as a board member for several of her portfolio companies, Lori also fine-tuned her skills as a partner to management and a champion of strong governance models.

Lori is a graduate of Duke University, Boston University’s Questrom School of Management (Accelerated MBA, CPA), and HBS Executive Education’s Women On Boards. She holds board positions at Duke University Sanford School of Public Policy, Babson Center for Women and Enterprising Leaders, Derby Academy, Camp Harbor View Foundation and The One Love Foundation. Within the Visible Ventures portfolio she holds board positions with Droplette, Rae, Standard Dose and previously The Nue Co.. Lori is a recipient of the Forever Duke Award given to select alumni who advance the Duke ideal of knowledge in service to society.

Lori and her husband live in Hingham on the south shore of Massachusetts with their four sons and daughter.

MANAGING PARTNER​

Suzanne Norris

Suzanne is our rock star expert in building consumer businesses as well as a self described data junkie and master connector.

Suzanne brings a unique skill set to the Visible Ventures team with both an investment and operating background. She started her career in investment banking at Robertson Stephens at the beginning of the Internet boom, which led to roles at CMGI where she evaluated acquisitions and investment opportunities. After CGMI, Suzanne joined The Parthenon Group, where she worked with clients on their corporate, customer segmentation and sales channel strategies as well as with private equity clients to due diligence their investment opportunities.

After Parthenon, Suzanne joined Liz Claiborne Inc., where she developed e-commerce strategies and led the e-commerce businesses for 7 portfolio brands including Kate Spade, Juicy Couture, and Lucky Brand. After leaving Liz Claiborne Inc., Suzanne started her own consulting practice to work with smaller consumer brands that wanted to develop e-commerce strategies that aligned brand and commerce goals.

Suzanne is a graduate of Harvard University and Harvard Business School and holds board positions at Derby Academy and Winsor School Alumnae Board. She and her husband live in Cohasset and enjoy life in a small seaside town with their three kids and dog.

Principal

Yuriy Dovzhansky

Yuriy has a depth of experience partnering with consumer companies. Prior to joining Visible Ventures, Yuriy worked at an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in high-growth consumer brands and at a multi-stage healthcare fund focused on digital health and healthcare technology.

Yuriy began his career as a management consultant at Deloitte, where he worked in the firm’s Strategy & Operations practice. At Deloitte, Yuriy drove the creation of go-to-market, growth, and customer strategies for consumer and life sciences companies and served clients in a variety of industries including retail, technology, and healthcare. Outside of client service, Yuriy worked on several entrepreneurial and social impact initiatives, including pro-bono consulting for a Zambian transportation provider and a Ghanaian social enterprise network.

Yuriy earned his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and his BBA from the University of Texas at Austin.

Associate

Connor Ling

Connor began his career as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, where he worked in the firm’s TMT group. At Goldman Sachs, Connor primarily partnered with consumer and prosumer technology companies such as Discord, Uber, Nuro, Gopuff, Airtable, Dropbox, and OpenSea on merger & acquisition transactions, private & public capital raises, and strategic advisory projects. Connor was also the lead analyst for the group’s consumer internet and digital health sector coverage efforts, as well as part of the firmwide junior banker advisory council. 
 
Connor has also worked with non-profit organizations such as Out for Undergrad, the Beijing LGBT Center, and Teach for China, helping with their growth initiatives, member recruitment, and business operations. 
 
Connor earned his BA in mathematical economics and political science from the University of Pennsylvania.
Head of Business Development

Molly Vaughan Sellers

As part of a large, entrepreneurial family, Molly gained her passion for business, her love of engaging in conversation and her natural ability to network and make connections early in life. With the energy and focus of a marathon runner (she’s run 4!) and an ability to make anyone laugh, Molly is a natural fit to lead the firm’s business development and social media programs.

Molly brings ten plus years of business development experience in research, sales, and finance to the Visible Ventures team. Her work at Forrester Research involved understanding the impact of technology on various aspects of small and large businesses. Previously she worked on the equity sales trading desk at The Jefferies Group. Molly is an active member of the Georgetown Alumni Association and as an avid runner has raised funds for several organizations including, Team in Training Cancer Research, Neurofibromatosis Research, and Every Mother Counts.

Operating Partner

Taryn Jones Laeben

Taryn joined Visible Ventures as an Operating Partner after collaborating with Lori and Suzanne for many years. As Lori likes to say, “Taryn adds the gasoline to the fire.” At Visible, Taryn is focused on empowering founder vision and unlocking hypergrowth for mission driven companies.

Before joining Visible, Taryn spent over a decade as an operator and held roles as Chief Operator Officer at SoulCycle, Chief Commercial Officer at Casper, and Senior Vice President of North America and International at Kate Spade.

She recently founded IRL Partners, an advisory firm that actively collaborates with a select portfolio of high potential start-ups, including Mirror, Parade, Daring, Getaway, and Real, to optimize for successful hypergrowth. Taryn continues to run IRL Partners alongside her role at Visible.

Taryn is a graduate of Columbia University and lives in Connecticut with her daughter.

Operating Partner

Abu Bakar

Abu is an Operating Partner at Visible Ventures.

Most recently, Abu was the Chief Information and Digital Officer at Summit Health and CityMD, where he was responsible for strategy, governance, and implementation of all technology and digital experiences. Summit Health was acquired by Walgreens in Q1 2023.

Prior to Summit Health, Abu was Chief Information Officer at Chobani, Senior Vice President of Information Technology at Barneys New York, and Chief Information Officer at Vineyard Vines. Abu started his career at Liz Claiborne, Inc., where he was Senior Director of Information Systems and managed the e-commerce team across all U.S. brands for nearly a decade.

Abu received his Bachelor’s of Science in Finance from New Jersey City University and his Master’s of Science in Management from the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

Advisor

Carolyn Everson

Carolyn is an Advisor to Visible Ventures, an early-stage consumer venture capital firm and a Senior Advisor at Permira, one of the world’s largest investment firms.
 
Carolyn has over 28 years of experience in senior operating roles in consumer facing technology and media companies. She most recently was President of Instacart. Prior to Instacart, she was the Vice President, Global Business Group at Facebook (Meta) where she led a team of over 4,000 people in over 55 countries and was responsible for over $60B in revenue.
 
Prior to Facebook, Carolyn was the Corporate Vice President of Microsoft’s Global Advertising Sales and Trade Marketing Teams. Carolyn also spent seven years at Viacom and her last role was Chief Operating Officer of MTVN Ad Sales. Prior to Viacom, Carolyn held roles at Primedia, Walt Disney Imagineering and Accenture Consulting.
 
She serves on the boards of The Coca Cola Company, The Walt Disney Company, Under Armour, Villanova University, the Humane Society of the United States and Columbia Medical School. Carolyn also serves on the International Advisory Board for Banco Santander. She sits on the private boards of The Knot Worldwide, Comment Sold, GWI and Unitary. Carolyn is also a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, as well as a member of the 2017 Class of Henry Crown Fellows within the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute.

Carolyn holds a bachelor’s degree in liberal arts and communications from Villanova University, from which she graduated Summa Cum Laude. She also obtained a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School, where she was a Baker Scholar. Carolyn also received an honorary doctorate from Mount Saint Mary’s University.
Advisor

Kyle Andrew

Kyle is an Advisor to Visible Ventures.

Most recently, she was the Chief Brand Officer at Athleta. Prior to Athleta, Kyle was the Chief Marketing Officer at American Eagle Outfitters, where she was responsible for global marketing for over 1,000 stores and multiple e-commerce sites. In her role, Kyle launched a new creative platform called AE x Me to capture the Gen-Z demographic.

Previously, Kyle was the Chief Marketing Officer at Kate Spade, where she managed a team of 50 and was responsible for marketing, design, merchandising, and buying globally. Kyle started her career at Gap, where she ultimately became the VP of Marketing and managed communication and creative across the Gap, GapKids, BabyGap, GapBody, and Gap Maternity brands.

Kyle is a graduate of Monash University.
Advisor

Frances Frei

In addition to her role with Visible, Frances is a Professor of Technology and Operations Management at Harvard Business School. Her research investigates how leaders create the conditions for organizations and individuals to thrive by designing for excellence in strategy, operations, and culture. She regularly advises senior executives embarking on large-scale change initiatives and organizational transformation, including embracing diversity and inclusion as a lever for significantly improving performance.
 

In 2017, Frances was tapped to be Uber’s first Senior Vice President of Leadership and Strategy. In addition to her work with technology companies, Frances is a best-selling author and TED leadership expert.

Frances holds a PhD in Operations and Information Management from the Wharton School and a BA in Computer Mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Advisor

Anne Morriss

Anne is a renowned subject matter expert on leadership and diversity.

She is the Executive Founder of The Leadership Consortium, a first-of-its-kind leadership accelerator that works to help leaders thrive and the host of the Fixable  Podcast at TED, where she frequently speaks on leadership topics.

Previously, Anne was the Founder and CEO of GenePeeks, a genetic information company with a mission to help families protect the health of future generations.
 
Anne earned her MBA from Harvard Business School and BA from Brown University.