Valerie S. Gaydos

Valerie is an Founder and President of Angel Venture Forum/Capital Growth, Inc/Pennsylvania House of Representatives as a Pennsylvania State Representative. She has been involved with many start-up companies in the areas of operational development and strategic planning for more than 20 years. She is the founder and president of Capital Growth, Inc. (CGI) which was founded in 1994 as a venture capital data and information publishing company. CGI currently specializes in business building and actively invests in early stage companies. She is also president of Fifty-First Associates, LLC, an association management and government relations firm in Pennsylvania. From 2004-2007 Valerie served as President of the Pennsylvania Angel Network. She also served as director of the Private Investors Forum (Philadelphia) and the annual Angel Venture Fair (AVF) - a consortium of angel investors from 2004-2010. She is a member of the Lancaster Angel Network, a founding director of the Center for New Technology Enterprise and serves on the Policy Committee of the Angel Capital Association (ACA). Additionally, she is a member of the PEG PAC Political Action Committee Board of the Pennsylvania Business Council and serves as Chairman & Treasurer PiPAC which is a Federal Political Action Committee established to preserve and encourage the stability and growth of American emerging businesses. Valerie previously served as an Analyst for the Pennsylvania State Senate and worked for Senate leadership. She also served as Staff Assistant for Pennsylvania U.S. Senator H. John Heinz,III.