Our Team

Emily Crume is a business leader with more than 18-years of executive-level sales/business development, sales management and operations leadership and a proven track record for architecting sales and go-to-market strategies that drive growth, achieve revenue objectives and generate profitability.

A consummate networker and professional 'closer,’ Emily has managed global sales teams and done business with world-class accounts such as HP, IBM, Dell, Toyota, Honda/Acura, Clorox, Old Navy and more.  Her consultative sales approach has garnered access to decision-makers in entertainment, automotive, technology, travel, retail, CPG, QFS and financial services segments.

Danny is also the the co-founder and chairman of FLF (Free Lunch Friday). . He is married to his lovely wife Sarah and they have a little boy named Daniel Raymond Beckett the III.

A professional motocross rider turned husband, father, and entrepreneur, Danny likes to make stuff and things happen. Family is first, and after that, he’s all startups and business. He is a statewide leader of California for Startup America Partnership and an early stage investor, advisor, and co-founder to several startupcompanies that include: Fundmypark, Think Tables, Citizenshirt, Startup Generation, and schwagon.

Nick Bergelt was born a leader, competitor and entrepreneur with ambition pumping through his veins. Nick co-founded Free Lunch Friday after being actively engaged with Startup America Partnership and witnessing first hand the long term potential in developing startup communities across the country and around the world.

Nick is currently an active startup advisor, co-founder and investor. Since graduating from business school, he has a successful history founding, advising and helping build companies that span a wide range of industries including real estate development, restaurant development, technology and higher education. Nick enjoys working with rockstar entrepreneurs and teams executing on game changing ideas that have potential to change the world for the better.

Nick spends his free time with his family and fiance and enjoys spending time on the ocean. He holds a business degree in Entrepreneurial Management in addition to Marketing and Hospitality Management.

Danielle Forsythe is the Director of Marketing and Communications for Free Lunch Friday.  She brings her years of marketing experience and love for startups to the team.

Danielle was previously the Director of Startup Engagement for the Startup America Partnership and is currently Co-Owner of Facelift Designs. Danielle has over 12 years of experience working with marketing projects from creative planning to launch and beyond.   She is the driving force behind Facelift Design's strategy team and helps structure each client's project plan and scope of work.  She is also fluent in all Adobe products, several CMS systems, as well html, css, php coding and more.

Kimmy Lappo, is CCO and a Community Activator for Free Lunch Friday, Business Development for Flocktag, and the Executive Assistant to Danny Beckett Jr. on several startup companies.  A graduate of the University of Michigan – College of Engineering, with a B.S.E. in Industrial and Operations Engineering, she has almost 20 years in sales and business development.  Her experience includes eight years with a civil engineering firm; operations leadership in automotive manufacturing; and the conceptualization and start-up of two retail and service businesses.

She has extensive background in print media sales and marketing, specializing in customer service and finding unique solutions to her customer’s challenges.    Ms. Lappo is an advisor to a number of Muskegon’s community action groups, and a recent graduate of the Michigan Shifting Gears program.

In addition to launching Balance Financial Management, Diana Pereira is also the Chief Financial and Compliance Officer at West Coast Asset Management (WCAM) where she provides oversight for accounting, finance and compliance with SEC rules and regulations. Prior to joining WCAM, Ms. Pereira was CFO at a local venture engineering firm where she was responsible for overall financial and operational management, including business development, legal agreements, grant budgets and proposals, annual audits, internal controls, and marketing initiatives for the firm. Previously, Ms. Pereira held several management positions at an investment firm which managed a Fund of Hedge Funds with over $100 million in client assets. Prior experience encompasses business and financial operations including investment banking, international trade, insurance, and technology start-ups. Ms. Pereira received her B.A. in Business Economics from UC Santa Barbara, her Juris Doctorate at the Santa Barbara College of Law, studied at the Universitá di Bologna in Italy and is fluent in Italian. Ms. Pereira is a member of the State Bar of California.

Abtin lives, works, and plays in San Francisco and is an avid technologist with a passion for making day-to-day things better through innovative ideas and solutions. Raised in a family of small-business owners, he caught the entrepreneurial bug at the age of 14 where he ran a small IT consulting operation with over 100 clients in the real estate industry. Throughout the years, he's started and advised numerous technology startups and has also developed several large-scale and mission-critical underwriting and calculation engines for some of the nation's leading financial institutions which are still actively being used today.

Abtin is also one of the leaders of the Startup America Partnership in the Bay Area which helps aspiring entrepreneurs bring their ideas to life. In his spare time, he loves to travel the world, meet new people, and experience different cultures. He's also a massive foodie and a pretty good photographer. Abtin holds a B.S. in Computer Science from UC San Diego and is a self-proclaimed full-time student of life.

David lives and works in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and is the Director of Storytelling for Free Lunch Friday. By developing raw creative ideas and organizing them into blueprints, he brings these ideas into reality. This process of understanding content development, or ideation, is guided by his constantly inspired vision, access to trusted resources and a proven track record for success.

After starting two separate storytelling companies, which created films, published materials, live presentations and interactive products, he is pleased to partner with Free Lunch Friday. He looks forward to developing the story that will feed our economy by creating educational and inspirational content for our partner entrepreneurs. 

For Jeremy Tremp, creativity is as essential as oxygen. Known for his skills in producing, directing and cinematography he has spent the last 5 years honing his craft, working on hollywood films to major label music videos. Jeremy has always dreamed and dared pushing the limit as an entrepreneur and artist. 

As Program Director Mike Brennan has been a professional communicator for more than three decades - as a reporter for six newspapers, an editor for a Pacific news service and a publisher of an Internet news site. Brennan also has developed content in video and audio that was delivered in podcasts and on a statewide radio show.