| 2 | Meeting Scheduled— 0 |
| 3 | No meetings currently scheduled. |
| 4 | Engaged— 5 |
| 5 | inEvan Vanderbyl | Senior FP&A Analyst | AEVEX Aerospace | MBA from Point Loma Nazarene, B.S. Finance & Economics. ~31. Strongest fit on age + profile in the FP&A batch. | FP&A 28–32 | 08/17/26 | Re-engaged 08/18 Passed 08/17 (new AEVEX role, new baby, values pay + stability) — then texted John 08/18 asking to meet for coffee about the role. John emailed back: "What changed your mind?" Awaiting Evan's answer. |
| 6 | inCris Calsada | Chief Financial Officer | Regulus Therapeutics | Clinical-stage biotech — technically public but small-cap, startup-scale. Mutuals include Killu Sanborn. | Finance Leaders | 08/16/26 | Accepted 08/21 Accepted today. Awaiting reply to peer note. |
| 7 | inAndrew Davidson | Senior FP&A Analyst | Qdoba (corporate) | B.S. Finance '15 (Eastern Illinois). Financial services background, statistical data analysis. ~32–33. | FP&A 28–32 | 08/16/26 | Accepted 08/19 Awaiting reply to note. |
| 8 | inSophie Wang | Data Analyst | — | UCSD double major Data Science + Economics, 3.9 GPA. SQL, Python, Tableau, ETL, predictive modeling. New grad — youngest in pool. | Econ + SQL | 08/16/26 | Accepted 08/19 Awaiting reply to note. |
| 9 | inJosee Farmer | Senior Economic Analyst | Experian | B.A. Economics (Pepperdine) w/ CS + applied math minors; M.S. Applied Economics in progress at Johns Hopkins. SQL not listed but near-certain. | Econ + SQL | 08/16/26 | Accepted 08/20 Awaiting reply to note. |
| 10 | Cold Outreach— 8 invites pending |
| 11 | inTyler Meyers, CPA | Senior FP&A Analyst | DDC Solutions | UCSB Economics & Accounting '16, CPA. SaaS, manufacturing, and investment-sector FP&A — modeling, automation, performance optimization. ~32. | FP&A 28–32 | 08/17/26 | Re-invited 08/17 First invite ignored/expired (note may not have attached). New invite sent 08/17 with the z@brightzen.com note. |
| 12 | inUdayan Saha | Senior FP&A Analyst | General Atomics Aero | USD MBA (Corporate Finance), UCSD B.S. Biochem. Forecasting, reporting, financial strategy — aerospace + biotech. ~33–34, slightly over band. | FP&A 28–32 | 08/16/26 | Pending |
| 13 | inRana ElSayed | Financial & Data Analyst | Axos Bank | M.A. Economics, Sorbonne — ranked 2nd in class. SQL, Python, Stata, Power BI. Strongest econ+SQL fit on paper. | Econ + SQL | 08/16/26 | Pending |
| 14 | inDan Ciraolo | Business Data Analyst | Intuit | B.S. Mathematics (Maryland). Strong SQL, Stata, SAS, statistical modeling. Math not econ — near-miss included at John's call. ~34. | Econ + SQL | 08/16/26 | Pending |
| 15 | inMaryann Berron | VP Finance / Head of Finance & HR | Blooma | 20+ years in venture-backed startups. Runs all finance, HR, compliance, ops at a CRE fintech SaaS. Best pure "head of finance at a startup" fit. | Finance Leaders | 08/16/26 | Pending Peer note |
| 16 | inAgatha Martindale, CPA | Chief Financial Officer | Clockwork Bio | Recently hired CFO at biotech startup. Perplexity AI Business Fellow, UCSF Innovation Ventures advisor — AI-forward finance leader. | Finance Leaders | 08/16/26 | Pending Peer note |
| 17 | inElicia Ritter | Head of Finance | Wildfire Systems | Carlsbad fintech/rewards-platform startup. Background spans small private companies to large public ones with international operations. | Finance Leaders | 08/16/26 | Pending Peer note |
| 18 | inJudy Zhang | VP Finance | Nexthink | Vista-owned growth SaaS — later-stage, "startup" is a stretch, but senior finance at a growth tech company. | Finance Leaders | 08/16/26 | Pending Peer note |
| 19 | Keep Warm / Nurture— 2 |
| 20 | inLiam Makagiansar | Senior Analyst, FP&A | GC AI | USD Knauss B.B.A. Finance, summa cum laude. FP&A at a legal-AI startup — startup-native. Likely late 20s. | FP&A 28–32 | 08/17/26 | Accepted 08/17 Replied on LinkedIn: recently relocated to the Bay Area, not looking to move now, "happy to stay in touch in case that changes." Nurture — SD relocation or remote could reopen it. |
| 21 | inBernadette Maciel, CPA | Interim Finance & Accounting Executive | The Maciel Group | CPA. SVP Finance & Accounting at C.M. Capital (multi-billion-dollar family investment platform), CFO-level mandate reporting to CEO. Now independent interim/advisory while seeking a long-term enterprise finance seat. SF Bay Area. 1st-degree — knows John. | Finance Leaders | — | Nurture Met with John 08/18 — not a fit for the seat. Keeping the relationship warm; no active follow-up. |
| 22 | Further— 2 · on the sheet, no active pursuit |
| 23 | inRameh Mehrjou | Data & Financial Analyst | Earth Economics | PhD Economics (Concordia) — microeconometrics, labor econ. SQL confirmed. Likely mid-30s; deepest quant background in the pool. | Econ + SQL | 08/16/26 | Not a fit John spoke with him 08/21 — not a fit. Stays on the sheet; no further outreach. Resume (PDF) on file. |
| 24 | inLinghui He | Supply Chain Analyst | Hyundai Mobis | UCSD B.S. Business Economics + Master of Professional Accountancy. SQL confirmed (passed LinkedIn assessment). Younger — mid-20s. | Econ + SQL | 08/16/26 | No reply Accepted 08/16, no reply to the note. Moved to Further 08/21 — no nudges. |