We’re investors, but we’re entrepreneurs first.

Cole is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Elysian Park. He has been operating, advising, and investing in start-up and growth-stage companies for over twenty years and continues to see the world through the eyes of an entrepreneur. When he’s not on an airplane, you can usually find him working with entrepreneurs in front of a whiteboard.

Prior to Elysian Park, Cole served as an Advisor to Guggenheim Baseball Management where he helped shape the investment and innovation strategy for the Los Angeles Dodgers following the purchase of the team in 2012. Before that, Cole was a co-founder and CEO of Flyby Media, a venture-backed company that developed mobile computer vision technology. Flyby was acquired by Apple in 2016 and its core technology is now inside every iPhone.

Previously, Cole was a Partner with Chart Venture Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm started after 9/11 that focused on military, intelligence, and defense technologies that had dual-use applications in commercial markets. Prior to Chart, Cole was a cofounder of Darby Technology Ventures, the venture capital arm of Darby Overseas Investments, a global emerging markets private equity firm founded by the former U.S. Secretary of Treasury Nicholas Brady and later acquired by Franklin Templeton. He began his career in telecom, media, and technology investment banking at Santander Investments in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Cole has a B.A. in English Literature from Washington & Lee University, grew up in the suburbs of Washington DC and currently resides in Rumson NJ with his wife Tiffany, daughter Elliott, and sons Tanner and Holden. He currently coaches his two sons’ lacrosse teams and is experiencing firsthand how much energy and money is being spent on youth sports!

Jay Adya is a Managing Partner of Elysian Park, and an operator, advisor and investor in sports, media, and technology since 1999. Prior to joining Elysian Park, Jay was a Managing Director at Iconica Partners, where he invested in startup sports leagues, social media technologies, and sport-focused data platforms and served as CFO for Iconica’s controlled company Universal Tennis, an innovative rating and technology solution for the world’s 4th most popular sport.

Prior to joining Iconica, Jay was a Managing Director at Evolution Media Capital, a sports and media-focused merchant bank affiliated with Creative Artists Agency (CAA) and TPG. While at Evolution, Jay negotiated over $30 billion in global media deals, including the LA Dodgers, the Pac-12 Conference, Riot Games, Olympics, NHL, and Boston Celtics, amongst others. In addition, Jay spearheaded Evolution’s investments in OTT content and distribution, autonomous video, and VR/AR.

Jay has also had several startup experiences — as a co-founder of Takkle.com, a leading networking and recruiting platform for high school athletes (sold to Alloy Media), an early employee of Kozmo.com, a ecommerce delivery startup (think Instacart, circa 1999!), and angel investor (in pre-seed, seed, and Series A companies).

At the start of his career, Jay was a management consultant at the Mitchell Madison Group and Deloitte Consulting, where he advised private equity and media clients on restructurings and new business opportunities.

Mr. Adya received a BA, cum laude, from Columbia University, an MBA from Columbia Business School. Jay is a recipient of Sports Business Journal’s 40 Under 40 and Power Player awards. Originally from Western Massachusetts, Jay now lives in the Bay Area with his wife Sireesha and two boys.

Nikhil is a Managing Partner of Elysian Park. He has been an advisor, investor and operator in the sports, media, entertainment and technology space since 1998. He previously headed Corporate Development for Discovery Communications across EMEA and Asia Pacific, where he was also responsible for all sports and digital related activities and investments. He sourced, evaluated and executed investments, acquisitions and strategic partnerships, deploying over $7bn in capital. Nikhil served on the Management and Operating Committees for Eurosport and Discovery’s EMEA and India businesses, providing operating and strategic oversight, while also collaborating on commercial initiatives across the operational hubs. During this time, he also served as a Board Director at Formula E Holdings and UKTV. At Formula E, he was instrumental in the development of the Series into a long-term, sustainable business, driving significant stakeholder value.

Prior to Discovery, Nikhil spent over 15 years as an investment banker with Goldman Sachs and Salomon Brothers (Citi) across the US, Europe and Asia. He has advised and executed on over $60bn in strategic advisory transactions and capital raisings for clients. While at Goldman, Nikhil was a member of the senior management team sent from New York to Mumbai to establish the company’s India business.

He studied Finance at the Stern School of Business at NYU and Economics at the University of Delhi in India. Originally from Delhi, Nikhil currently lives in London with his wife Anvita, and their two boys. He is a passionate sports fan and wildlife enthusiast.

Pete Vlastelica is a Managing Partner at Elysian Park. Pete has been a successful entrepreneur, executive, and investor in sports, technology, and entertainment for over 20 years. Most recently prior to joining Elysian Park, Pete was President and CEO of Activision Blizzard Esports, building and leading the team responsible for creating the Call of Duty League and Overwatch League, the world’s first global, franchised esports leagues.

Prior to Activision Blizzard, Pete was EVP of Digital at FOX Sports, where he ran a business focused on content and product development, social media, and development of multi-platform content properties, including the Emmy-award winning Garbage Time with Katie Nolan. He directed the growth of FOXSports.com and the creation of the mobile app FOX Sports Go, and oversaw the streaming of thousands of live sporting events, including Super Bowl XLVIII, which set a record for streaming viewership of a sporting event.

Pete joined FOX Sports in 2010, after FOX acquired the sports blog and advertising network Yardbarker, where Pete was co-founder and CEO. Founded at a time before social media made user-generated content commonplace, Yardbarker was home to thousands of sports bloggers, including hundreds of professional athletes, who used their blogs to regularly connect directly with fans for the first time in history.

Pete is a member of Sports Business Journal’s “Forty Under 40” Class of 2014. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy from Stanford and an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two daughters, and can often be found in the mountains or ocean in Malibu.

Ami Galani is a Venture Partner at Elysian Park. Ami comes from the retail industry as a solutions-oriented executive experienced in corporate development, strategy, governance and communications. She is recognized as a “jack of all trades” leader, working closely with executive and functional teams, weaving details and big picture to incubate new ideas, strategies and business solutions. Throughout her career Ami has been involved in transactions representing over $11B in value, spanning opportunities with early stage to mature companies.

Prior to joining Elysian Park, Ami served as Vice President of Business Development at DICK’S Sporting Goods, where she led M&A, investment and other strategic or non-traditional transactions to enhance the DICK’S athlete experience and drive DICK’S long-term strategy. Ami also served as Chief of Staff to the Chairman and CEO during a time of immense retail disruption. As Chief of Staff, Ami worked hand-in-hand with the Chairman & CEO and executive team to develop DICK’S transformation strategy, positioning DICK’S for significant multi-year growth as a leading US omni-channel retailer.

Before shifting to a business role, Ami was an M&A, capital markets and corporate governance attorney, serving as Associate General Counsel and Assistant Corporate Secretary at DICK’S. Prior to joining DICK’S, Ami practiced with the international law firms of Hogan Lovells and Jenner & Block. She earned her JD from Washington University in St. Louis and her BA from Denison University.

Ami is passionate about challenging teams to exceed their own expectations and creatively problem- solve. She is a committed mentor, having served as a mentor with AlphaLab Gear, a nationally ranked hardware accelerator in Pittsburgh and Techstars Sports Accelerator. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband and daughter and serves as a (first time!) cheer coach.

Nihar Singhal is a Venture Partner at Elysian Park. He brings 20 years of experience across sports, startups, and finance as a successful entrepreneur and executive. Nihar is passionate about building and mentoring teams, ideating and creating businesses from 0-1, and executing commercial deals that drive scale for a business. Nihar is excited to work with entrepreneurs on challenges ranging from growth to operations, and serving as a mentor to support the psychological challenges of entrepreneurship.

Prior to joining Elysian Park, Nihar was the Vice President of Marketing and Business Development at Digit, a consumer fintech app that was recently acquired by the Oportun Network, where he was responsible for all the go-to-market functions for the launch of Digit’s consumer bank account. Before Digit, Nihar was hired as the first entrepreneur-in-residence at Eventbrite, where he successfully launched and ran the Consumer Subscription business.

Nihar’s first venture in the startup world was as the first employee at SeatGeek, where he was an integral part of growing SeatGeek into one of the largest ticketing companies in the world. As the Executive Vice President of Business Development & Strategy, Nihar oversaw SeatGeek’s largest partnerships and was a driving force behind SeatGeek’s move into the primary ticket market.

Nihar began his career working in sports marketing for two years followed by four years in finance, one of which consisted of representing buyers and sellers of sports teams. Additionally, he has worked as an advisor on sports M&A deals, advised and invested in sports/health/wellness related startups, and even launched his own denim jeans line through Kickstarter.

Nihar received his B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University of Michigan, and spent his junior year abroad at the London School of Economics, where he was a member of the Men’s soccer team that won their division championship. He received his M.S. in Sports Business from NYU. Originally from Ann Arbor, MI (Go Blue!), Nihar lives in Brooklyn and is an avid soccer and tennis fan.

Royce Cohen is in his ninth season in the Dodgers organization and 13th season in the baseball industry.

Cohen built and manages the organization’s Business Strategy and Analytics department, which advances the organization by making and helping others make informed strategic decisions across business units by using all potentially available data and advanced analytics techniques. Additionally, he manages strategic planning for various revenue streams, directs the building of internal data systems and processes, drives the organization’s marketing priorities, and negotiates contracts with several club partners.

Beginning in 2022, Cohen also leads the creation of the Business Enterprises department, which manages all of the Dodgers’ non-baseball revenue streams, including stadium events and initiatives outside of Dodger Stadium.

Cohen also plays an integral role with Elysian Park Ventures. Through EPV, Cohen led the creation of Demand Analytics, a SaaS platform that integrates and automates dynamic pricing, sales forecasting, and market mix modeling for tickets to live events.

A native of Bensalem, Pennsylvania, Cohen graduated summa cum laude from The Wharton School in 2012 and was valedictorian at Bensalem High School in 2008. He and his wife, Cole, and daughter, Leighton, live in Marina del Rey.

Max Feldstein is a Vice President at Elysian Park and has been with the firm since 2017. In his current role, Max supports all aspects of the investment process and provides ongoing strategic and operational guidance to the companies across the portfolio.

Max joined Elysian Park from Guggenheim Partners, where he worked as an Investment Banking Analyst in their Technology, Media and Telecommunications group. At the firm, he worked on buy-side transactions for several multi-national public companies.

Max graduated summa cum laude from New York University with a bachelor’s degree in Business Management and a concentration in Sports Media. Prior to enrolling in NYU, he spent a gap year in Tel Aviv, Israel where he enrolled in college-accredited courses and volunteered teaching Math and English to young students.

Sports Trivia: In high school, Max played all four years with a cumulative record of 60 wins, 3 losses, and three championships. When it became clear that Max did not have a career path with the Knicks, he decided to leverage his skills towards his aspirations in business, finance and entrepreneurship.

Erin joined Elysian Park after graduating summa cum laude from Sacred Heart University with a Bachelor of Science in business marketing and a Master of Business Administration. At Sacred Heart, she was captain of the Division I women’s basketball program leading her team to three WNIT appearances.

Erin earned experience as an intern at Worldwide Axcess, a company specializing in high-end product merchandising, project development and international distribution. She also worked with Homes for the Brave, a nonprofit that provides services for veterans experiencing homelessness to help improve the organization’s business operations.

Erin is passionate about sports — especially women’s sports — and is an advocate for growing female platforms. She credits her athletic career for providing opportunities to pursue higher education, travel the world and meet incredible people.

Brendan Bilko leads Robin, our strategic marketing initiative. He’s a three-time founder from Brooklyn, NY, a generalist in nature, and multi-disciplinary designer by trade.

Prior to working with Elysian Park, Brendan was the co-founder and CEO at Dexter, a SaaS tool for creating and managing automations. He led in the experience design of the Dexter platform, developed the feature set for its users, and created engaging products with brand partners.

Dexter was born out of the Hacker in Residence program at betaworks, a start-up platform founded in New York. Brendan led product design efforts within that program, eventually incorporating the company with his technical co-founder. In addition to product work, Brendan designed brand systems and provided UX guidance for studio companies.

Before Dexter, Brendan co-founded Mayday, a boutique creative agency in NY. As partner and production director, he worked on everything from UX design and technical direction to creative production and account management. He led projects that spanned both vertical and client size, including award-winning digital campaigns for Comedy Central, brand showcases for Marriott and Levi’s, and product design for idea-stage entrepreneurs.

Brendan received his Master of Science degree from Northwestern University and a BA from New York University. He lives in Los Angeles with his partner Katie and their son Jack, and is eagerly awaiting his opportunity to coach youth baseball.

Ilse Paanakker is Director of Strategy at Robin and a former founder and entrepreneur in the wellness tech space. Prior to Robin she worked at Techstars advising multiple early stage start-ups on their go to market strategy. She developed her marketing chops at L’Oréal where she worked in product innovation and consumer marketing and later refined them as brand marketing consultant.

Erica Annon is the Director of Communications at Robin. A seasoned brand communications strategist specializing in early to mid stage startups, Erica has worked as a communications adviser for companies including Universal Tennis, The Sill, Minibar Delivery and more. She has also worked both in house and on the agency side with Creative Artists Agency, Rue La La and Dan Klores Communications.

Ben Ziffren is a sports industry vet who leads Robin’s operations and strategic partnership efforts. He previously led the strategy and operations of Wasserman’s Athlete Marketing division, and contributed to over $50MM in sales and marketing revenue for their clients.

Luke joined Elysian Park from Manhattan West, where he worked as an Associate in the Venture Department. At the firm, he worked on primary and secondary transactions, including Epic Games and 100 Thieves.

Luke graduated from Tufts University with a bachelor’s degree in International Relations. At Tufts, Luke was a four-year member of the lacrosse program. He was also a Team Impact participant, a non-profit that matches children facing serious illness and disability with college sports teams. Today, Luke continues his connection to athletics by coaching youth and high school teams in Los Angeles.

Luke is excited about working with companies operating at the intersection of sports, media, and health. In his free time, he enjoys reading and (slowly) improving at beach volleyball.