FEATURED & PAST MEMBERS

Jeffrey Lang

Member & Chairman

Jeffrey Lang is the Chairman of the Board and an active member of the Desert Angels. His career includes more than 30 years in roles including executive management experience as CEO, COO, CFO & CTO of companies from $10MM to $200MM turnover. For more than 10 years, Jeff has been actively involved in startup to mid-level angel and private equity investment, board level and advisory efforts. As a member of Desert Angels he has invested in more than 35 businesses involved with industries ranging across consumer products, medical instrumentation, software development and healthcare research and product development.

Joann MacMaster - CEO

Joann MacMaster

Member & CEO

Prior to taking on the CEO role with Desert Angels, MacMaster served as the Sr. Director of Venture Development for the University of Arizona’s TLA team, focused on the commercialization of university research through the development of startup companies. She’s served as a startup founder, mentor, investor, and educator, and is a recipient of the Larry Hecker and Sherry Hoskinson Lasting Community Builder Award. She is an AUTM board member and UA Academic Leadership Institute Fellow and previously served as President of the Arizona Business Incubation Association. She returned home to Tucson in 2000 after living and working in Europe for over a decade and holds an MBA from Edinburgh University Scotland.

Base Horner

Secretary / Treasurer

Mr. Horner serves as Treasurer for the Desert Angels. Previously, he was the Screening Panel Chairman for ten years until 2020. He is a co-founder of Arch Partners LLC, a seed capital fund investing in very early-stage entrepreneurial ventures. Mr. Horner was a co-founder of US Capital Partners LLC, a boutique investment banking firm. Prior to founding USCP, he was a senior member of the Corporate Finance Division of EVEREN Securities, Inc. and Smith Barney, Inc. Mr. Horner received his B.A. from the University of California at Santa Barbara and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Harry George

Harry George

Emeritus Board Member

Harry has more than 35 years’ experience in founding, operating, and investing in successful rapid growth technology‐related companies. He co‐founded Solstice Capital. Previously, from 1981 to 1989, Mr. George was co‐founder, Director, and Vice‐President of Finance for Interleaf Inc. During this time, Interleaf, a pioneer in electronic publishing, grew to be a publicly-traded company with $100 million in annual revenue. From 1996 to 2003, he was a Trustee of the Arizona‐Sonora Desert Museum, and he currently serves as its Vice-Chair of Treasure the Desert Capital Campaign. He is also a Trustee of the Tucson Museum of Art and serves as secretary‐treasurer for the museum. He received an AB from Bowdoin College. Harry has served as a member of the Board of Directors for the Desert Angels for more than 10 years.

Curtis Gunn

Emeritus Board Member and Ex-Chairman

Curtis Gunn is a member of the Desert Angels. Curtis served as the Chairman and principle operating officer of Desert Angels for 10 years through the end of 2019. The group is a very active angel investment group of accredited investors in Tucson, AZ that review presentations from early stage startup companies looking for potential funding. Prior to this role, Curtis traveled the world competing as a professional cyclist riding for both US and Australian-based Professional Cycling teams. Previous to competing as a professional athlete, he was an entrepreneur founding & operating companies based in retail, Internet, healthcare and real estate. As an angel investor, Curtis has invested in over 40 different companies across a broad spectrum of industries, technologies, and geographies. Curtis served on the board of Startup Tucson and was formerly on the board of the Angel Capital Association.

Calline Sanchez

Calline Sanchez

Past Board Member

Paul Winandy Board Member

Paul Winandy

Past Board Member