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Lance Armstrong, a former professional cyclist, achieved early success in endurance sports and became the Road Race World Champion at the age of 21. More recently as a cancer survivor, he founded Livestrong and helped raise $500 million, serving over 3 million people. He also created the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas through a $3 billion bond initiative and made a $50 million donation to the Dell Medical School at the University of Texas, Austin. These contributions have had a significant impact on the fight against cancer.

In 2019, he co-founded Next Ventures. Prior to this he was an active angel investor and LP in funds that invested in companies such as Uber, DocuSign and Active.com. Through his creation of the media platform WEDU, he hosts two chart-topping podcasts, THEMOVE and The Forward, with over 10 million annual listeners.

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Melanie Strong is a Founding Partner of Next Ventures, where she focuses on innovative technology investments across health, wellness and sports. She is passionate about creating positive culture change through all her work. This includes contributing to the removal of the many barriers preventing communities, families, and individuals from accessing all they need to live healthy, fulfilled lives.

Since co-founding Next Ventures in 2019, Mel has led investments in Oura, Momentous and Outside and supports the rest of the portfolio with go-to-market strategy, marketing, talent planning and executive leadership. Mel recently served as interim Chief Marketing Officer for Oura ring, launching the Gen 3 ring while sourcing and onboarding the company’s first full-time CMO.

Prior to NV, she spent 17 years at Nike where she led several international businesses including Nike Women and Football/Soccer, and the launch of the Nike Running and Training Club apps and the Nike+ FuelBand. Mel started her career as a first grade teacher in Philadelphia, and a journalist working at both The Center for Public Integrity and Runner’s World magazine.

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Jordan Pascasio is a Partner at Next Ventures, where he focuses on innovation within healthcare. He is passionate about novel care models and the payment mechanisms and infrastructure that enable them. Since joining Next Ventures in 2021, Jordan has worked on investments in select companies such as Pair Team, Trial Library, Vital Bio, Mood Health, and Eternal. He also leads the content creation effort at the fund.

Prior to working at Next Ventures, Jordan worked on the Debt Capital Markets desk at Deutsche Bank & MUFG Securities, in a Financial Strategy role at venture-backed startup, Inspire (acq. by Shell), and as the founder of sports betting startup, TRNDS Sports, which sold to Fansure.

Jordan earned his BBA in Finance from the Villanova School of Business.

Based in NYC, he spends his free time running long-distance races and training at athletic training facility, Tonehouse.

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Shane Bates is the Head of Finance at NEXT VENTURES with over 12 years of experience in accounting and finance roles, specifically in the alternative investment industry.

Prior to joining NEXT VENTURES, Shane was a Vice President at Mainstream Fund Services where he was instrumental in the growth of their US private equity and venture capital business. He has extensive experience with end-to-end fund administration services and has worked with multiple industry-leading technology platforms and hundreds of alternative funds.

Shane is a graduate of the University of Southern Indiana where he obtained both his bachelor’s degree in accounting and MBA.

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R.J. is a seasoned healthcare strategist with expertise in operations and patient/member engagement, particularly in Social Determinants of Health (SDoH). As a Principal at Health Management Associates’ (HMA) Strategy & Transformation group, he advises healthcare and investment clients on strategy, growth, market entry, and transactional matters.

Formerly, R.J. led SDoH strategy at CVS Health across all CVS and Aetna divisions and directed Medicaid business development for Aetna’s East Region. He also held P&L leadership roles in Medicaid and Duals Operations at Anthem (now Elevance Health), with previous roles at Centene, the Georgia House of Representatives, and Delta Air Lines.

He holds a BS in Aeronautics from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

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Stacey Finerman is an Advisor at Next Ventures, a role she has played since the fund's inception. She has spent the last ten years of her career focusing on corporate finance at technology companies in the payments, SaaS, consumer internet, and telecom industries. Stacey has successfully completed three IPOs, most notably the IPO of Block (fka Square), where she also built out the Investor Relations function. She is currently the Vice President of Investor Relations at Marqeta. She is also an angel investor in early-stage health companies.

Prior to working on the Corporate side, Stacey spent the first ten years of her professional career working in Finance. Specifically, Stacey was a Vice President in the Global Investment Research Group at Goldman Sachs, where she covered companies in the broadcasting, advertising, and publishing industries. She also held positions at ING Investment Management, RBS, and Citigroup, focusing on the Telecom, Media, and Technology industries. Stacey is a single mom by choice to a young son and is passionate about the fertility industry. She is also an avid marathon runner and triathlete, having competed in the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.

Stacey earned her BS in Finance from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

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