George Arison co-founded Shift in 2013, when he saw an opportunity to use technology, machine learning, and operational excellence to create a transformative way for how cars are sold built around an exceptional customer experience.

George is passionate about building companies and technology products because they allow him to prove out his strongly held view that impossible things are actually possible. In addition to Shift, George co-founded Taxi Magic (now known as Curb), which invented the use of mobile devices for on-demand services. He is an investor and mentor to numerous startups and founders, including Zero, Shipper, Carrot, TravelBank, Eden, Fathom, and Pulsar AI. He has twice been named to Goldman Sachs’ 100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs, and has worked at Google and the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

Born in Georgia, a republic in the Soviet Union, at the height of Communism, George came to the United States on his own in 1992, fortunate to receive a scholarship to attend a prep school in Maine. Afterwards, he studied political philosophy at Middlebury College. In addition to entrepreneurship, George has a deep interest in politics and policy-making. He has started a think tank and ran a political campaign in his native Georgia, and authored a book about Georgia’s democratic transition. George lives in Palo Alto with his husband and their children.

Toby Russell co-founded Shift with a passion for building companies that leverage user-centered technology to respond to consumers’ needs. A seasoned startup founder, he co-founded pioneering ride-hailing app Taxi Magic (now known as Curb) in 2007, which invented the use of native mobile applications for on-demand services in one of the first and most popular travel applications in the iPhone ecosystem. As Managing Vice President at Capital One, he led a digital transformation across the company and the industry, including developing new technology to enable retail mobile payments and creating a completely new consumer mobile and desktop banking experience. And during his tenure as Project Leader at the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), he set strategic direction for the world’s leading companies.

In addition to his work in the private sector, Russell has spent time in public service, leading a $12 billion renewable energy and efficiency investment program for the U.S. Department of Energy, one of the largest CleanTech deployment programs in the nation’s history. He also served as the Director of Research on U.S. Senator James Jeffords’ re-election campaign in 2000. Fluent in Russian and Spanish, he holds a Doctorate in International Relations from the University of Oxford, as well as a BA in Political Science, Russian and Economics from Middlebury College. He is the proud father of two girls and enjoys surfing in California, where he lives.

Manish Patel is a student of human behavior. As a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley he likes to invest at the intersection of technology, business, and the human experience. He is a General Partner for Highland Capital Partners - a US based venture capital firm. Prior to investing, Manish was an early employee at Google where we worked on the product team helping create several of the company's foundational products.

An accomplished inventor holding more than a dozen patents, Patel has taught in the School of Engineering at Stanford since 2015 and also served as a Fellow at Creative Destruction Lab at the University of Toronto since 2018. Previously, he was an Advisory Board Member for the MIT/Stanford Venture Lab. He holds a Bachelor of Art in Economics and a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Stanford University.

Emily Melton is a co-founder of Threshold Ventures and has served on the board of directors for Shift since 2014. In addition to Shift, her portfolio includes BetterUp, Brightline, Elation Health, Imagen, Livongo (NASDAQ: LVGO), Ooda Health, Redfin (NASDAQ: RDFN), Tia, Verge Genomics, Vineti, Vital, Viz, and Wellframe. She has also invested and advised a number of early-stage companies including Pulse Network (LinkedIn), Notion and Poshmark.

In 2019, Forbes recognized Emily on the Midas Brink List as an investor destined for success based on her reputation and momentum in the industry. Emily is an active founding member of All Raise, a non-profit dedicated to improving access for women and others to start and invest in companies. She also serves on the board of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA).

A Stanford grad with a BA in political philosophy with honors and an MBA, Emily is drawn to disruptive ideas and technologies that have the potential to radically change consumer, enterprise and healthcare markets.

Jason Krikorian has served on the board of directors for Shift since 2018. He is currently a General Partner for DCM, an international venture capital firm, as well as a board member and/or investor in Matterport, Life360, FloSports, FuboTV, PLAYSTUDIOS, ART19, UJET, and Siren, among others. Previously, he was a co-founder of Sling Media, Inc., the pioneering digital media company and creator of the Slingbox, where he led the establishment of partnerships with global MSOs and mobile operators, as well as the international expansion of the company. Prior to Sling Media, Krikorian was a Partner at id8 Group where he advised leading global brands on product and business strategy focusing on digital media and mobile device platforms. He also spent time at the Boston Consulting Group, where he advised Fortune 500 clients in the retail, automotive, and utilities sectors. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley and both a Master of Business Administration and Juris Doctorate from the University of Virginia.

Adam Nash has been an investor in Shift since 2014 and joined the Board of Directors in 2020. He also currently serves on the Board of Directors of Acorns, a financial technology & services company that specializes in micro-investing, and is an adjunct lecturer in Computer Science at Stanford University. From 2018 to 2020, he served as the Vice President of Product & Growth at Dropbox, a leading provider of cloud-based storage and collaboration applications. Prior to Dropbox, Nash was the President and Chief Executive Officer of consumer investing platform Wealthfront, and Vice President of Product at LinkedIn. In addition, he has held strategic and technical roles at eBay, Preview Systems, and Apple. He holds both Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in Computer Science from Stanford University, and a Master of Business Administration from Harvard University.

Victoria McInnis is a retired financial veteran of the automotive retail industry. She served as an independent board member and audit committee chair for VectoIQ Acquisition Company, a special purpose acquisition company, which merged with Nikola Corporation in 2020. Prior to VectoIQ, McInnis held various positions with General Motors Corporation prior to her retirement in August 2017, including Vice President, Tax and Audit March 2015 to August 2017, Chief Tax Officer from 2009 to March 2015 and, prior to that, Executive Director, Tax Counsel, General Tax Director, Europe, Director of Federal Tax Audits, and Senior Tax Counsel, GM Canada. She holds a Bachelor of Arts and Juris Doctorate from University of Wester Ontario, Canada, as well as a Masters in Business Administration from University of Windsor, Canada.

Kellyn Smith Kenny has been recognized by Fortune, Adweek, Brand Innovators, and HotTopics for marketing innovation, effectiveness, and leadership, where she is featured as a Top 100 Most Innovative CMOs in the World, Top 50 CMO, Top 20 Most Tech Savvy CMOs, Top 100 Women in Brand Marketing, and Working Mother of the Year. Most recently she served as the global Chief Marketing Officer at Hilton Worldwide, where she led a 700-person team responsible for the multi-billion dollar company’s 18 brands, from January 2018 to June 2020. Prior to Hilton, she served as Vice President of Marketing at Uber, and before that held senior positions at Capital One and Microsoft. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Colgate University and a Master of Business Administration from Northwestern University.