Who's Behind It?
Zina Spezakis, Principal & CEO
Zina is an Ivy League educated money management professional and Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). She has over 16 years of professional experience at some of the largest financial institutions in the country. Zina left her post as COO of a large money manager and Director of Risk Management and Operations at its Funds complex in June 2008 to re-direct her career toward women–focused financial issues.
After hearing several stories from friends on their dealings with financial institutions and brokers and growing increasingly frustrated at Wall Street’s lack of transparency and honesty with women, ZIna and Thierry began to germinate the idea for Tonka Beans. The company was born in November 2008.
It goes without saying that Zina is a student of financial markets and an avid actor in the stock market. She believes most TV market commentators bring little to the table other than “entertainment value”. She loves science fiction, astronomy, Christian Louboutin shoes and Narciso Rodriguez fashions. She enjoys adventure travel, crochet and her most prized possession is her Soshu Ju Tsunahiro Samurai sword.
Thierry Zamora, Principal
Thierry is a consulting and marketing services professional with a strong entrepreneurial background. He spent close to 20 years in prominent advertising, direct marketing and online marketing agencies where he has worked with various Fortune 100 and startup clients in multiple industries including: financial services, technology, automotive and many others.
Thierry was a founding partner in a leading San Francisco-based online marketing agency that was sold to a prominent global advertising network in 2001. After co-running the San Francisco branch of that company as COO for 3 ½ years, Thierry left to start a lifestyle clothing company that was subsequently sold to Chinese interests. Prior to focusing on Tonka Beans, he was an independent consultant working in the U.S. and China.
Thierry is passionate about cars and world politics. He’s a fan of all sports (except Cricket) and even indulges in a few like skiing, running, mountain biking and diving. He’s a self-described “Japanophile” but still prefers a glass of wine over sake. He’s always in search of a good meal and after his latest trip around the world, considers adventure travel to be his favorite activity.
John Palacio, Producer
John is an award-winning producer and director who spent over a decade as a senior producer for Good Morning America, overseeing broadcasts from war zones to the trenches of Hollywood. He managed and was New-York's Studio Director for the syndicated shows "Entertainment Tonight" and "The Insider".
As co-producer, director and chief editor on all Tonka Beans videos, John and his team are an essential part of Tonka Beans'success. In his spare time he also runs "And Now Productions", a video entertainment production company and is Vice President of Dirt Alert, Inc. John is a member of the Director's Guild of America.
As a father to two young kids, John has taken a liking to having meaningful monosyllabic conversations with them. He counts playing the piano for an audience of 0 among one his favorite activities.
Luz Montez, Producer
Luz is a veteran, Emmy and Peabody award-winning TV news journalist. She has over 20 years of experience in all facets of broadcast from project management and editorial to pre- and post- production. Among her many assignments, Luz was a Producer for ABC News in New York. She is also co-founder of "And Now Productions" and the President of Dirt Alert, Inc.
For Tonka Beans, Luz is the omnipresent motivator, creative voice, project manager and co-producer. She works closely with Zina to direct her on camera, coordinates shoot details and collaborates with John on just about all aspects of production. Her creative opinions and attention to detail are a tremendous asset to Tonka Beans.
Luz is a mother to two lovely kids who keep her plenty busy. Besides being a "foodie" and great cook, Luz enjoys painting and keeping busy in her vast garden.
Our Advisors
Steve Treadway
Steve is the former CEO of PIMCO Funds. Before retiring, he spent 30 years in the asset management and brokerage industries. His experience spans a variety of financial services and asset management roles including head of asset management at Smith Barney and CEO of PIMCO’s retail asset management business.
Steve has held numerous fund raising positions and is a member of several committees. Among others, he is an active member of the Council of Foreign Relations and the Cornell University Council. He is instrumental to Tonka beans as the company's voice of reason and reality check.
Over the years Steve has been involved in numerous investment company and security industry organizations including the Securities Industry Association (SIA) and National Association of Securities Dealers, NASD (now Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, FINRA). He was also a Governor of the Investment Company Institute (ICI).
Shoba Purushothaman
Shoba is Chairman and Co-founder of The NewsMarket - an online marketing and news video marketplace that leverages emerging digital technologies - which she started in 2000. She has 20 years of global experience in the News and Public Relations industries in Europe, Asia and North America.
Shoba has spent nine years as a business journalist for the Wall Street Journal and Dow Jones Newswire among others. She co-founded her first company in 1989: an international broadcasting public relations consultancy which was sold in 2001 to a marketing services group. A seasoned entrepreneur, Shoba has a successful track record of fund raising from both the angel and the venture capitalist communities.
In her spare time Shoba likes to watch people valiantly trying to pronounce her last name, cook Malaysian chocolate ribs and set the record for how many house guests she can fit into one New York City apartment at one time.
Evan Rich
Evan is Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer for a $25 billion asset management firm. His securities regulatory career started as a Securities Regulator at the industry's self-regulatory group, NASD (now FINRA), which oversees all securities firms in the US. Evan went on to work as a Regulatory Liaison for one of the largest and most prestigious investment banks in the nation. He has since worked for several registered investment advisors.
Evan keeps a close eye on developments in the financial industry and markets. He actually enjoys pondering over such issues as "the current regulatory structure in the US" and "how its evolution could hopefully one day better inform and protect the average investor". Somebody's got to it...
In his non-pondering moments, Evan can usually be found snowboarding, mountain biking, hiking, or working on his surfing form. Evan loves to travel, national parks and wildlife, and would like to reach Antarctica someday. Someday.
