People

The researchers who do the work, and the board that governs it.

Journalists, conference programmers, and allocators reach our researchers directly. Each entry lists the areas each researcher works in and the questions they can answer on the record.

Research team

MS

Dr. Mariela Salasin

Co-founder

Mariela leads the Institute's qualitative empirical and policy work. Her research at Pepperdine University, where she is a Postdoctoral Fellow, focuses on leadership, identity, and long-term performance in venture capital. She brings more than twenty years across venture capital, finance, infrastructure, and technology, including leadership roles at JPMorgan, Verizon, and Ascendus, and served as Executive Director of SomosVC and Partner at ALMA Fund.

Speaks to

Capital allocation policy and technology policy. Access barriers in institutional fundraising and what the evidence supports. Ecosystem convening and multi-stakeholder coordination.

Contact

mariela@colibristrategies.com

IM

Dr. Itzel Moncadain

Co-founder

Itzel leads the Institute's quantitative empirical work. Her doctoral research at Pepperdine University examines venture capital fund configuration and the structural drivers of performance and risk-return efficiency. She previously worked in fund investing, portfolio analysis, and institutional capital strategy as an investor at Reinventure Capital and a Private Equity Associate at Cebron Group.

Speaks to

Risk-adjusted performance measurement in venture capital. Portfolio configuration and its relationship to returns. What institutional screens select for and against. Reading fund dispersion directionally.

Contact

itzel@colibristrategies.com

For media

What we will and will not comment on.

We supply exhibits at print resolution on request. We speak to our own findings, to method, and to market structure. We do not comment on individual firms, funds, or people, and we do not extemporize magnitudes that are not in a published paper.

Media contact

hello@colibri.institute

Advance copies

Available to press and analysts before publication, under embargo.

Coverage

Selected press coverage of our research.

See the list below

Coverage

Where our research has been written about.

Venture Capital Journal · 18 February 2026 · David Bogoslaw

Emerging managers outperform established firms: new research

Coverage of White Paper I, reporting the finding that emerging managers outperformed established managers on DPI, IRR, and TVPI across nearly 2,500 venture capital funds raised between 2000 and 2024.