Team - Urban Capital Network

Heath Butler

Texas Southern University, MBA
University of New Orleans, B.S. Finance

Heath Butler is a Network Partner at Mercury Fund, where he manages the organization’s network platform, including corporate, service provider, and startup community relationships. Heath’s investments focus on themes within B2B SaaS, Marketplaces, and Tech-Enabled Services.

Prior to joining Mercury, Heath co-founded Gestalt Theory Venture Partners, a venture studio and angel investing group. Prior to Gestalt, Heath held leadership roles as a seasoned go-to-market and corporate development executive at Insperity (NYSE: NSP), the nation’s leading HR outsourcing services provider. Prior to Insperity, Heath led business development for EnergyWorkspace.com, founded a fin-tech startup, and developed his foundational management skills at UPS.

Outside of Mercury, Heath is an active angel investor and mentor in the Houston innovation community and was a founding investor in Station Houston, the programming partner of The Ion. Heath enjoys traveling with family and likes to read, golf, cycle and is an avid poker player.

Lenny Saizan Jr.

Managing Director

Tulane University, MBA
Louisiana State University, B.S. Electrical Engineering

In the early years of his career and after receiving his Electrical Engineering degree from L.S.U., Lenny worked as an Electrical Engineer, specializing in automation and controls, and systems integration.

After 10 years of working as an employee, his interest in entrepreneurship eventually led him to launch a technology consulting firm based in New Orleans, LA and enrolling in an MBA program to hone his business skills. Unfortunately, the first stint in his entrepreneurial journey and MBA was short lived due to the impact of Hurricane Katrina.

Lenny suddenly found himself homeless, jobless, and living in a hotel room with a family of 5 and a couple of days’ worth of clothing for each. After initially evacuating to Beaumont, TX, he eventually landed in Houston. Determined and desperate to start rebuilding, Lenny returned to Corporate America, landing a job in Oil and Gas. This was the beginning of a career transition from engineering and technology to management and finance, which prompted him to re-enroll in an MBA program.

Lenny earned his MBA from Tulane University Freeman School of Business. He spent the next 10 years working in Oil and Gas in various roles in accounting, finance, audit, and operations. After experiencing several layoffs, Lenny decided it was time to give entrepreneurship another go.

During his MBA program, he developed a strong interest in Mergers and Acquisitions, so he decided to buy a Business Brokerage Franchise. In addition to his Managing Director role at Urban Capital Network, Lenny is the owner of Murphy Business Brokerage – West Houston where he helps business owners exit plan, maximize value, and sell their businesses. He also helps buyers with the assessment and purchase of businesses. His work as a business broker led him to investment opportunities and eventually becoming the co-founder of Urban Capital Network.

The two businesses are highly complementary, and Lenny enjoys the opportunity it provides to participate in all phases of the business life cycle, from start-up to exit. More importantly, he enjoys helping people achieve their goals and dreams, whether it’s starting, buying, selling, or investing in a business. For fun, Lenny enjoys working out, sports, and spending time with family.

Eric S. Tait

Investor Relations

Rice University, MBA
Baylor College of Medicine, Doctor of Medicine
Morehouse College, B.S.

Eric S. Tait brings over 17 years of work in direct investments and advisory services. His experience includes capital raising and fund creation, operations management, content marketing and lead generation.

Concurrent to co-founding UCN, Eric serves as President of Vernonville Asset Management (VAM), an alternative investment firm that helps high net worth individuals and institutions diversify their portfolios into private markets. With a primary focus on income-producing real estate and early-stage startup firms, VAM currently has over $250M of assets under management. In his free time, Eric likes to relax by the water reading, listening to music and spending time with his family.

Felix Chevalier

Strategic Partnerships

St. John’s University School of Law, J.D.
State University of New York, B.A.
Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, Executive Education Program

Felix Chevalier has worked with emerging enterprises, governmental agencies, and Fortune 500 companies in the U.S. and internationally in a cross-section of industries including energy, transportation, agriculture, engineering, and technology. Past and present clients include AT&T, Southwest Airlines, United States Gypsum Corp., Aramark, HDR, and UnitedHealthcare.

Felix is adept at facilitating business development and structuring public-private partnerships by leveraging his business and legal experience. His work includes public finance transactions in excess of $4 billion.

The son of Cuban immigrants, Felix is fluent in Spanish. He enjoys traveling, golf, and coaching his kids’ sports teams.

Partners

UCN’s partners include leading VC firms, Innovation Accelerators, like-minded Angel Groups and industry leading Service Providers.