About Athena

Company

Athena believes in taking mission-driven businesses to market with the support of our elite, women-led advisory board of founders, operators, investors, dealmakers, and CEOs

Athena by The Numbers

$3.9B+
Assets handled
15
CEO's
9
SPACs transactions in which Athena members have participated 
11
Fortune 100 board members

Athena Emereges

In the summer of 2020, fintech founder and venture capitalist Isabelle Freidheim reflected on the nascent special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) boom.

She visualized the typical story unfolding where women were left out of yet another male-dominated field — but she wouldn’t accept that.

Inspired by Athena, the embodiment of wisdom and strength in Greek mythology, Freidheim began assembling a formidable group of leaders to create the Athena Network, an organization of women-led SPACs brimming with advisory talent and experience that rival anyone else in the market.

The Athena Network

The Athena network includes more than 20 CXOs today. Having been operators and investors themselves, the women of the Athena network add expertise to further accelerate sourcing, diligence, and value-creation.

Each member understands the passion, dedication, and expertise needed to drive meaningful growth and transformation. They also maintain strong relationships with their companies even after the business combinations are complete. Together as a group we currently generate over $9 billion in revenues created from scratch as founders. Our sectors of expertise expand across areas of technology, with a particular focus on FinTech, cybersecurity and technology enabled DTC. In aggregate, we have been on a number of public boards, including Oracle, American Airlines, NBC, BNY Mellon, GroupOn, Draft Kings, Citi, Comcast among others and over 30 private company boards.

Isabelle Freidheim
Founder & Chairman of Athena SPACs

Founder of Athena, venture capitalist and entrepreneur, co-founder & former CEO of Magnifi (acquired by Tifin in 2020)

Isabelle Freidheim
Founder & Chairman of Athena SPACs
Kirthiga Reddy
President, Athena SPACS

First female partner at Softbank, former head of Facebook India, former board member of WeWork (NYSE: WE), has taken public four companies via SPAC transactions. Founder of Virtualness.

Kirthiga Reddy
President, Athena SPACS
Anna Apostolova
CFO, ATHENA II

Investment professional with 15 years of experience in investment banking and private equity at JP Morgan and Evercore.

Anna Apostolova
CFO, ATHENA II
Sharon Brown-Hruska
DIRECTOR, ATHENA TECH II

Economist and Regulator; Former Chief Economist U.S Department of State

Sharon Brown-Hruska
Director, ATHENA TECH II
Trier Bryant
DIRECTOR, ATHENA TECH II

Trier (tree-air) Bryant has 10 years of experience as an officer in the Air Force, formerly at Goldman Sachs. Currently the President of 82VS, the venture studio of Alloy Therapeutic. Co-founder of Just Work with Kim Scott.

Trier Bryant
DIRECTOR, ATHENA TECH II
Dolly Singh
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH II

Former head of talent at SpaceX, former head of talent at Oculus, former head of talent at Citadel, founder of Terra Talent.

Dolly Singh
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH II
Wei Zhang
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH II

Former head of corporate development at Alibaba, former CEO of Alibaba Pictures, board member of Ralph Lauren.

Wei Zhang
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH II
Minnie Ingersoll
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH, ATHENA CONSUMER, ATHENA TECH II

Co-Founder of Shift (NASDAQ: SFT); founding partner of TenOneTen venture; former Project Manager at Google; 

Minnie Ingersol
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH, ATHENA CONSUMER, ATHENA TECH II
Jane Park
CEO, ATHENA CONSUMER

CEO & Founder of Tokki and former CEO and Founder of Julep

Jane Park
CEO
Jennifer Carr-Smith
COO & President, ATHENA CONSUMER

Chair of the board of directors of Blue Apron, board member of The Woolworth Group. Former CEO/President of Peapod, Groupon and former COO of JCrew.

Jennifer Carr-Smith
COO & President, ATHENA CONSUMER
Angelina Smith
CFO, ATHENA CONSUMER

Executive roles at Inspo Network, Zulily (acquired by QVC), glassybaby, Thrive Causemetics, and aQuantive (acquired by Microsoft). Owner of Conta Consulting

Angelina Smith
CFO
Isabelle Freidheim
Founder & Chairman of Athena SPACs

Founder of Athena, venture capitalist and entrepreneur, co-founder & former CEO of Magnifi (acquired by Tifin in 2020)

Isabelle Freidheim
Founder & Chairman of Athena SPACs
Kay Koplovitz
Director

Chairman & CEO of Madison Square Garden Sports (now USA Network), Co-Founder & Chairman of Springboard Enterprises

Kay Koplovitz
Director
Dee M. Robinson
Director

CEO of Robinson Hill, Inc. and former Associate Product Director at Johnson & Johnson

Dee M. Robinson
Director
Sarah Kauss
Advisor

Founder and CEO of S’Well sits on the UNICEF USA New York Regional Board, is an Entrepreneur in Residence at Harvard Business School and a mentor in the Fortune-State Department Global Mentoring Program.

Sarah Kauss
Advisor
Dawn Robertson
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH & ATHENA CONSUMER

Board member at Apparel Group, former President of Old Navy, former CEO of SteinMart.

Dawn Robertson
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH & ATHENA CONSUMER
Lauren Maillian
Advisor

Lauren is the founder of LMB Group, a boutique marketing and strategic advisory firm that partners with innovative and high-growth consumer brands, helping founders and executives meet their strategic goals. She previously served as the Chief Executive Officer of digitalundivided, the leading nonprofit leveraging data, programs, and advocacy to catalyze economic growth for Black and Latina women entrepreneurs.

Lauren Maillian
Advisor
Alexandra Wilkis Wilson
ATHENA TECH, ATHENA CONSUMER

Co-founder of Gilt, GlamSquad, Fitz, and founding partner of growth investment fund Clerisy Capital.

Alexandra Wilkis Wilson
Advisor, ATHENA TECH, ATHENA CONSUMER
Lockie Andrews
Advisor

Chief Growth Officer for Pura Vida and Founder of Catalyst Consulting

Lockie Andrews
Advisor
Phyllis W. Newhouse
Chief Executive Officer and Director

Founder and CEO of XTreme Solutions, a cybersecurity training company with a state of the art proprietary ethical hacking technology.

Phyllis W. Newhouse
Chief Executive Officer and Director
Grace Vandecruze
CFO

Founder and Managing Director at Grace Global Capital, a boutique investment banking advisory firm providing M&A financial advisory, restructuring, and valuation services

Grace Vandecruze
CFO
Isabelle Freidheim
Founder & Chairman of Athena SPACs

Founder of Athena, venture capitalist and entrepreneur, co-founder & former CEO of Magnifi (acquired by Tifin in 2020)

Isabelle Freidheim
Founder & Chairman of Athena SPACs
Janice Howroyd
Director

Founder and Chief Executive Officer of The ActOne Group

Janice Howroyd
Director
Kay Koplovitz
Director

Chairman & CEO of Madison Square Garden Sports (now USA Network), Co-Founder & Chairman of Springboard Enterprises

Kay Koplovitz
Director
Annette Nazareth
Director

Head of the trading and markets practice within Davis Polk’s FIG group. Former SEC Commissioner.

Annette Nazareth
Director
Judith Rodin
Director

Co-Chair of the National Academy of Medicine Climate and Health Initiative

Judith Rodin
Director
Candice Beaumont
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH, ATHENA TECH II

Chairman of the Salsano Group and Chief Investment Officer and L Investments

Candice Beaumont
ADVISOR ATHENA TECH, ATHENA TECH II
Ciara Burnham
Advisor, ATHENA TECH

Board of Directors for Blend, Fortitude Re, AppHarvest. Former Senior Managing Director at Evercore. 

Ciara Burnham
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH
Jennifer Carr-Smith
Advisor

Former CEO of Diane Von Furstenberg and current Board Member for Big Lots Stores and Fabric

Sandra Campos
ADVISOR,  ATHENA TECH
Julie Cullivan
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH

Former Chief Technology and People Officer at Forescout, senior executive at FireEye, Autodesk, McAfee, and Oracle. Board member at Axon Enterprises, HeartFlow, Inc and AaDya Security.

Julie Cullivan
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH
Kristen Dickey
Advisor, Athena Tech, Advisor, Athena Tech II

20+ years as the Managing Director for BlackRock and current Board Member for Aperture Investors and Marston, Inc. 

Kristen Dickey
Advisor, Athena Tech, Advisor, Athena Tech II
Minnie Ingersoll
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH, ATHENA CONSUMER, ATHENA TECH II

Co-Founder of Shift (NASDAQ: SFT); founding partner of TenOneTen venture; former Project Manager at Google; 

Minnie Ingersol
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH, ATHENA CONSUMER, ATHENA TECH II
Abby Levy
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH

Managing Partner and Founder at Primetime Partners and Board Member at Thrive Global, Former Senior Vice President of Strategy and Growth for SoulCycle Inc.

Abby Levy
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH
Valerie Mosley
 ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH

Board member of DraftKings, Envestnet, Groupon, and Eaton Vance’s family of mutual funds. Former portfolio manager at Wellington. During her 20-year tenure, she served on the firm's industry strategy group.

Valerie Mosley
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH
Devon Pike
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH, ATHENA CONSUMER

Current president for Baggallini and former North American CEO of DeBeers Diamond Jewelers, former president of Givenchy and CMO of Gap.

Devon Pike
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH, ATHENA CONSUMER
Dawn Robertson
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH & ATHENA CONSUMER

Board member at Apparel Group, former President of Old Navy, former CEO of SteinMart.

Dawn Robertson
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH & ATHENA CONSUMER
Nina Vaca
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH

Chairman & CEO of Pinnacle Group, Inc. and founding member of Startup America Partnership

Nina Vaca
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH
Chenxi Wang
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH 

Managing General Partner at Rain Capital and Board Member of Fortune 500 Company MDU Resources Group (NYSE: MDU)

Chenxi Wang
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH 
Alexandra Wilkis Wilson
ATHENA TECH, ATHENA CONSUMER

Co-founder of Gilt, GlamSquad, Fitz, and founding partner of growth investment fund Clerisy Capital.

Alexandra Wilkis Wilson
Advisor, ATHENA TECH, ATHENA CONSUMER
Shelley Zhuang
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH

Founder and Managing Partner for 11.2 Capital also an Investor and Board Member at Passage AI

Shelley Zhuang
ADVISOR, ATHENA TECH

Athena Grows

Athena is a special purpose acquisition company where investments are made with wisdom and strength, and partners are empowered to reach their full potential.

Athena SPACs are architected with market-leading talent, access to capital, and transaction experience to facilitate access to the equity capital markets for leading companies. Athena views its potential partner companies as just that—partners. By blending their deep management and operational experience with high-quality investors who believe in the team and its mission, Athena SPACs set their potential partner companies up for long-term success.

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Athena, taking mission-driven companies to market

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