Ms. Kussmaul is a founder and general partner of Castile Ventures. Her nearly twenty years of active involvement in the telecommunications and Internet industry include research, investment banking, consulting and venture capital. Working closely with portfolio company management teams Ms. Kussmaul provides seasoned positioning, product planning, partnering, recruiting and liquidity planning assistance. Ms. Kussmaul currently is a member of the board of directors of Conducent and GeoTrust. She provides value in drawing upon the insight gleaned as a highly respected and authoritative Wall Street analyst, covering the Telecommunications Equipment, Data Networking and Internet sectors from their very inception as well as her business development experience in creating and sustaining Cowen & Company’s national research and investment banking franchise in these sectors.

Prior to establishing Castile, Ms. Kussmaul garnered nearly 18 years of research, finance and investment banking experience. In a research career spanning three firms – Smith Barney, Shearson Lehman and Cowen & Co. – Ms. Kussmaul was named to the prestigious Institutional Investor All American Research Team for 13 consecutive years from 1983 through 1995. In 1991, Ms. Kussmaul led first Cowen’s research, and later its investment banking teams, providing high caliber industry coverage and equity underwriting, M&A, private placement and advisory services to such industry leaders as AOL, Cisco, CMGI, Ericsson, Newbridge Networks, Open Market, PSINet, RSA Security and 3Com.

Ms. Kussmaul holds a BA in Economics from Rutgers College and an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She is a Chartered Financial Analyst.