The members of the OCA Ventures team have a passion for building
early-stage companies into market leaders, have long histories working
with one another, and share common core personal and professional
beliefs, while at the same time contributing different skills and
perspectives.
This cohesive group has close business and personal relationships
dating back more than 25 years. John Dugan, Peter Ianello and Marc
Berman were partners in the 1980s when they led O’Connor &
Associates. Jim Dugan is John Dugan’s third son and Eddie Lou and Jason
Heltzer both joined the team in 2001.
Biju Kulathaka -
Biju Kulathakal is a serial entrepreneur and active angel
investor. He is currently Chairman and CEO of Trading Block Holdings
Inc, a retail broker-dealer in Chicago. He was an early investor and
partner at GetAMovie which was later sold to McDonalds and is now
RedBox. Redbox is one of the largest movie rental companies in the
United States and the fastest growing in terms of revenue.
Previously, he was a founder of Enterprise Logic Systems, which is a
software development firm that specialized in the financial services
and trading industry. He is a board member of the Beck Foundation. He
has previously served on the board of the Chicago Charter School
foundation, Civitas Schools, Leap Learning Systems and the Heartland
Institute. Biju received a BS in Aerospace Engineering from Illinois
Institute of Technology.