ABOUT THE COMPANY


VRGL is named after Virgil, the ghost of the Roman poet who guided Dante through the Inferno. As a result, Virgil came to be known as a symbol of human reason that guides and protects others on their journey. Today, VRGL helps advisors guide clients with clear-eyed quantitative views of their portfolios, leading them to smarter investment strategies.

MEET THE SENIOR TEAM

JOSH SMITH

Co-founder & CEO

Josh Smith is Co-founder and CEO of VRGL. Josh has spent his entire career in software, institutional finance, and investment management. Most recently, Josh co-founded and was CEO of Solovis, Inc., an industry pioneer in multi-asset class analytics for institutional investors. Solovis is the system of record for established institutions, including many of the largest family and multi-family offices throughout the world. Josh successfully led the company from day one to its eventual sale to Nasdaq, Inc. in 2020.

Before Solovis, Josh was an investment banker at RBC Capital Markets and an investment associate for Investure, a $10 billion OCIO in Virginia where he made investment recommendations across public and private assets globally.

Josh graduated with highest honors from Georgia Tech and lives with his family in Dallas, TX.

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JOSH ZIMMERMAN

Co-founder & COO

Josh Zimmerman ("JZ") is Co-founder and COO of VRGL. Having spent his career at the intersection of investments and technology, JZ has leveraged data and automation to deliver insight, improve accuracy, and reduce operational burdens. Prior to VRGL, JZ built the Solovis Research and Development group, a data science team that brings multi-asset class risk analytics to institutional investors. JZ has held buy-side and sell-side trading as well as portfolio management roles. He is adept at developing technology to identify and capture opportunity and navigating complex portfolios through diverse market cycles, including the 2008 Financial Crisis. With VRGL, JZ leads a team to develop impactful, flexible, and intuitive investment analytics to bring leading edge tools to the advisory space.

JZ graduated from UC Berkeley and holds a masters degree from City University of New York. He lives in San Francisco with his wife, three kids, and pandemic puppy.

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Whitney Weaver

Chief Technology Officer 

Whitney Weaver is the CTO at VGRL. He has led teams that pushed the envelope of technology while supporting many of the largest enterprises in the world. Previously, Whitney led a multi-national team at Cardlytics, Inc. supporting 175 million active users for financial institutions such as JP Morgan Chase and Bank of America.

Before Cardlytics, Whitney was CTO of MLevel, an enterprise training platform supporting 25 million monthly active users for brands such as AT&T and Chick-fil-a. At Kabbage, Whitney led the creation of their data platform and drove international expansion of the business to nine countries spanning three continents.

In order to prepare for his technology career, Whitney wisely pursued a degree in ceramics — and graduated from Shorter University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Atlanta, GA.

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Shane Hopkins

SVP, Head of Business Development

Shane Hopkins is SVP & Head of Business Development of VRGL. Shane has over a decade of experience in software sales and the financial services industry. Prior to joining VRGL, Shane served as SVP, Head of Sales for Backstop Solutions Group. Backstop is a technology solution that helps institutional investors collaborate, share, and prioritize both quantitative and qualitative data. At Backstop, he played a significant role in aligning the sales organization to most effectively address clients' needs and optimizing revenue and helped lead the company through successful acquisition. Before Backstop, Shane led the family office sales team at Solovis.

Throughout his career, Shane has also held senior business development roles with SaaS companies and investment management firms.

Shane graduated from The University of Texas at Arlington where he was a student-athlete and twice named to the SLC Academic All-American. He lives with his family in Dallas, TX.

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Madisen Bauman

Director, Marketing

Madisen Bauman is the Director of Marketing at VRGL. Madisen oversees VRGL's marketing strategy, including brand positioning, messaging, content creation, sales enablement, and social media management. Prior to joining VRGL, Madisen was a key account marketing operations specialist for an Amazon Marketing Agency where she helped Amazon account sellers optimize brand awareness on Amazon's online platform. With her past entrepreneurial experience, Madisen brings a "multiple hats mindset." She graduated top of her class from the University of Texas Arlington with an MBA in Marketing.

Madisen lives in the North Dallas area where she enjoys working out, traveling, and hanging out with her two fur babies.

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Jesse Gurevich

Chief of Staff

Jesse Gurevich is the Chief of Staff at VRGL.  Jesse brings over 24 years of capital markets and fintech experience to the team. Most recently, Jesse served as the Chief of Staff at Solovis, an industry pioneer in multi-asset class analytics for institutional investors which was sold to Nasdaq in 2020. Solovis is the system of record for many of the top tier pension funds, most prestigious universities and the largest family offices throughout the world. Jesse had joined Josh & his Co-founder at Solovis as the first employee and helped ramp the business to a team size of 150 by the time of the exit.


Prior to Solovis, he spent stints at eFront (exited to BlackRock) Vision Capital Advisors (hedge fund) UNX (agency trading shop) BRUT ECN (part of Nasdaq), and UBS. Jesse resides in Dallas, TX.

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