Our Team
Investment Team
Ross Barrett
Managing Partner
Jaime Aguirre
Partner
Jonathan Fassberg
Partner
Jennifer Pou
Associate
Hector Alila, D.V.M., Ph.D.
Venture Partner for Industry Diligence
Ross is the Managing General Partner of the Cancer Focus Fund, LP, a venture capital partnership financing Phase I/II oncology clinical trials with MD Anderson Cancer Center, Ochsner Health System New Orleans and the LSU Feist Weiller Cancer Center. Prior to this, he managed multiple health-care related venture capital funds, including Louisiana Ventures LP, Themelios Ventures LP and TransBio Ventures LP. He is the co-founder and Executive Chairman for the software and data analytics company Lagniappe Labs, LLC and active in the development of the Prime Unicorn Index, a market-cap weighted index tracking the performance of US-based, venture backed companies. Previously, Ross worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative aide to U.S. Senator J. Bennett Johnston and specialized in appropriations, risk assessment and regulatory reform.
Ross has been an adviser to or investor in over 20 early-stage privately held companies. He served as an appointed Commissioner of the statewide Louisiana Airport Authority from 2005 to 2008. In 2007, he was named to Governor Jindal’s Small Business and Entrepreneurship transition team. He is a Trustee of Centenary College of Louisiana and a visiting professor for innovation and entrepreneurship at Louisiana Tech University. He currently sits on the Advisory Board of Hope for New York, an umbrella organization of 30 Christian charities associated with Redeemer Presbyterian Church. He received his law degree from Louisiana State University School of Law, his LLM in Taxation from New York University School of Law and his bachelor’s degree in Political Science from Southern Methodist University. Ross and his wife Allison proudly reside in Shreveport, LA with their four daughters.
Jaime was the former Investment Director of Private Equity and Venture Capital for Rice Management Company. Prior to his work at Rice, Jaime was a Principal at Austin Ventures. He is also a former Vice President in the TMT investment banking group at Goldman Sachs and also worked in the investment banking division of Merrill Lynch’s energy group in Houston and the Latin America group in Mexico City. Jaime holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BBA and MPA for The University of Texas at Austin.
Jonathan is the Co-Chief Executive Officer of Solebury Trout. Jonathan recognized early in his career that small-cap biotechnology companies were underserved in the investor relations capacity. To fill this void, Jonathan founded The Trout Group in 1996, and he grew it to become the leading investor relations firm in the life sciences industry. Trout has served over 750 public and private companies, both domestically and internationally. In 2017, Trout was acquired by Solebury Communications, and the combined firm became known as Solebury Trout.
Highlights of Jonathan’s career include guiding Pharmasset, Pharmacyclics and GW Pharma from inception to IPOs to product launches and ultimate acquisitions. Prior to Trout’s founding, Jonathan was a sell-side analyst at a healthcare-focused investment bank. Before his career on Wall Street, Jonathan spent four years at DuPont Pharma in various sales and marketing positions.
Jonathan holds a B.S. in Biology and Chemistry from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and an MBA in finance from New York University’s Stern School of Business. He also holds Series 7, 24, 79 and 63 securities licenses.
Jonathan has been an active member of Young Presidents Organization since joining the Manhattan Chapter in 2007, and he is currently serving as Chapter Chair. He also sits on the Board of Directors for the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies at UNC. Jonathan played water polo at UNC and for the NYAC after college.
Jennifer is an Associate for the Cancer Focus Fund. Her responsibilities include performing financial modeling and analysis, assisting the Investment Committee with their due diligence process and managing communication with investors. Prior to joining the team, Jennifer was an Associate at Newstone Capital Partners, a Dallas-based mezzanine fund with approximately $2 billion in assets under management. Before joining Newstone, Jennifer was an Analyst in J.P. Morgan’s investment bank, where she focused on mergers and acquisitions, debt and equity offerings.
Jennifer currently serves on the Due Diligence Committee for the New Louisiana Angel Fund and is an active member of the Junior League of Shreveport-Bossier. She has a BBA in finance and accounting from The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business.
Dr. Alila has more than 30 years of senior management experience in drug development in large pharmaceutical and biotech companies and academic research. Prior to his role as President and CEO of Esperance Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Dr. Alila served as Senior Vice President of Drug Development at Protalex, Inc. in New Hope, PA, Vice President of Product Development at Cell Pathways, Inc. in Horsham, PA, (later acquired by OSI Pharmaceuticals, which was acquired by Astellas Pharma Inc.), Director of Biology/Pharmacology at GeneMedicine, Inc. in The Woodlands, TX, (which merged with Megabios to become Valentis, Inc.) and several research, development and management positions at SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline) in Pennsylvania. He obtained his veterinary degree from the University of Nairobi (Kenya) and continued his training at University of Pennsylvania to become a licensed veterinarian to practice in Pennsylvania and New York.
Dr. Alila obtained his Ph.D. in physiology and immunology from Cornell University (Ithaca, NY), where he also held a faculty position as Senior Research Associate in Physiology at the Veterinary College. Dr. Alila has published over 40 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals, two book chapters and holds 12 issued patents. He serves on the boards of several companies, state and philanthropic organizations. He is a recipient of several awards for his pioneering work in reproduction, anti-infective agents, autoimmune diseases and cancer.