Diane Chime is the senior Manager for Early Stage Investments at the Ohio Development Services Agency (DSA). In her role, she directs a $37 MM venture debt portfolio and serves as the fund of Funds manager for the $247 MM Ohio Third Frontier seed and seed+ portfolios that co-invest with angel and venture funds around the state. She is DSA’s staff designee to the Ohio Venture Capital Authority, a $150 MM commitment by Ohio General Assembly to expand access to capital to startup companies. Her direct investment experience not only includes financial, business and technical due diligence, but also underwriting and structuring transactions from pre-revenue to growth and expansion stage firms. Her primary specialization includes MedTech and SaaS/ IT based platforms, but her personal interests presently are Etherium-focused. Within a three-year period, she has reviewed over 350 early stage companies and secured $50 MM of loan approvals at an average deal size of $1.2 MM. And which, to date, 99% percent of closed transactions remain active. Prior to managing DSA’s early stage initiatives, Diane managed the state of Ohio’s $1.1 billon (480+ investments) economic development loan and bond portfolios. As Operations Manager at the Ohio Treasury, she coordinated activities among operational departments that annually collect and process revenue exceeding $50 MM and invest more than $11 billion. While serving as a financial analyst at a Midwest-based investment bank, she structured notes, bonds and various other debt vehicles for sale to the public and private markets and credits her non-traditional funding models to the experience gained from the position. She has held multiple marketing and communications positions and is noted for her ability to translate difficult financial concepts into digestible media opportunities. Formally, she earned and previously held the General Representative Securities License 7 issued by the National Association of Securities Dealers, now FINRA, and is recognized by the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP) as an active Certified Treasury Professional (CTP). Fundamental to the CTP designation is a foundation that resides upon the financial and regulatory knowledgebase necessary to manage a corporation’s cash operations, including daily cash flow and forecasting, and its debt and investing activities. Diane holds undergraduate degrees in Liberal Arts and Economics and a Master’s Degree from the University of Cincinnati, The Ohio State University, and Ohio Dominican University, respectively.