Saad has spent his career innovating. From R&D to entrepreneurship, from Hollywood to Silicon Valley, Saad has always sought the bleeding edge of technology and creativity. “I’m happiest when I am surrounded by whiteboards and thought provoking people.”

His pursuit of innovation often takes him to unexpected places. Saad grew up between Pakistan and the Bay Area, and attended an American high school in Karachi where his soccer tournaments and theater performances were often played out in locations including Kathmandu, Delhi, and Islamabad.

After moving back to the Bay Area, Saad launched his first Internet Startup while still a student at Stanford. Those early lessons were subsequently put to use at the Walt Disney Company, where Saad helped launch their Internet Strategy across their media properties, and then at IBM alphaWorks, one of the first corporate crowd-sourcing initiatives for IBM research.

Saad then spent years building companies, advising entrepreneurs, and investing in Silicon Valley startups at Garage Technology Ventures where he worked closely with early stage entrepreneurs across the Garage portfolio including Pandora, cFares, and TripleHop (ORCL). Saad led Garage’s software and media investments, and spun-out (and subsequently sold) the Garage advisory business.

“Whenever I’m considering an investment, I ask ‘Would I want to work on that team?’ If the answer is yes, then I know I’m on the right path.”

In addition to his activities at CMEA, Saad also co-founded the Film Angels, an angel network for indie film where recent presenters have included Carlos Santana, Steve Wozniak, and many Academy award winning actors, directors and producers. Saad is an advisor to peer-to-peer internet lending platform Lending Club and is a Charter member of TIE.