Steph Argentine is a top exec at one of Buffalo's hottest startups and an active angel investor. She spoke with Series B about her vision of the future.
Litigator. Law clerk. Corporate HR exec.
University department head. Management consultant. Independent board director.
JD. MBA.
Stephanie Argentine had already been all of these things when she was working the room at the Buffalo Club during a WNY Venture Association meeting seven years ago. The WNYVA meetings are an entry point for angel investing in Buffalo.
She pulled out her cell phone and texted husband David Reading, a longtime Buffalo banking exec, who often attended the meetings separately and was across the room
“I texted Dave during the meeting, ‘You realize we’re accredited investors, right?” Argentine recalled. “Why aren't we doing this?”
Thus launched the latest iteration of Argentine’s impact on Buffalo – a place she never planned to stay when she arrived in the late 80s as a University at Buffalo mathematics undergrad (she graduated speech pathology).
Argentine has become one of the most visible female angel investors in Buffalo, backing a portfolio over the years that includes Viridi Parente, CleanFiber, Circuit Clinical, braidbabes and PostProcess Technologies, in addition to her position in Buffalo Angels Fund II. Now she is throwing her support behind a new startup, female-led Heron.AI, a growing financial dashboard software firm that moved to Buffalo earlier this year after winning a 43North investment (Reading is also supporting Heron).
Argentine has also embarked on perhaps the greatest act of her career. As the chief people officer (and chief legal officer and chief privacy officer) of Centivo, she plays a key role in one of the hottest startups in Buffalo.
Centivo has raised $225 million since it was launched in 2018 by entrepreneur Ashok Subramanian, who hails from Buffalo. The company, which builds health plans for self-funded employers, was at 50 employees when Argentine joined in 2020.
Now it’s at 350, including 130 in Buffalo. That local workforce quietly took up space in the Fairmont Creamery building about a year ago, investing in downtown Buffalo at a time when it is struggling to return to its pre-pandemic vibrancy.
Argentine spoke to Series B recently about her own career, Centivo’s growth and being an angel investor in Buffalo.
Ok, so before you joined Centivo, you had this successful career spanning law, corporate HR and consulting. I know this is a little simplistic but what lessons did you draw out of all that experience?
A few things. One was that after I got my MBA and was recruited for a number of fast-track HR executive development roles, I decided to take a new role at ECMC. The only problem was by the time I started, the CEO had already announced he was leaving. It took the new administration about six weeks to eliminate the chief HR officer and corporate compliance officer position.
So I just started networking to find my next role. At the time there was a healthcare industry association that was active, and my first morning unemployed, there was breakfast at 7 a.m. I commit to going and then panic as I think about introducing myself ‘Hi, I’m Stephanie Argentine.’ The next question is ‘Where are you?’ I’d have to say, ‘I’m nowhere. I’m not any place. That’s what I’m trying to figure out.’
However across the table from me that morning was the chief HR officer at Catholic Health who apparently had an HR need. It took a few months but eventually she created a labor relations-focused role for me. It was very cool stuff and great work, but I never stopped networking. The branching effect of those conversations led me to building a decent network and an ethos of connecting and paying it forward.”
Talk to me about joining Centivo?
I’d been consulting for several years and felt like it had run its course. I was feeling the itch to do something different. Ashok and I knew of each other from a few years ago, and he sent me a LinkedIn request. It said, ‘We're in the market for a head of people. Do you know anyone?’ And I’m like, ‘Well, what about me?’ He said, ‘Good answer.'
I was in discussions with a couple other startups at the time and they were all great opportunities too. But I was really drawn to Ashok’s decisiveness and the fact the company really wanted me, all of me, even my quirks. I got a sense this was a place I was going to be able to have a really broad business impact.
We had 50 employees. One client. Minimal revenue. COVID was going on and there was unrest around the country after George Floyd. Between COVID and DEI, it was the beginning of what I think of as ‘peak HR’ and chief people officers were a hot commodity.
How has your role evolved in the past five years?
It’s a great company and a great team. The executive team is smart, dedicated, mission-driven and experienced. And the company culture and dynamic is humble, low hierarchy, approachable and transparent. The work and product is hard …. which to me, makes it more fun. I like challenge.
Two years ago, we had just lost our first general counsel and I was with Ashok in Philadelphia interviewing for chief sales officers when we started talking about needing to launch a GC search as well. He said, ‘What if we double you up?’ I said, ‘Ashok, I haven’t practiced in 20 years.” I was so stunned that I have no idea how he even replied …. But essentially he didn't care and said something like "You can do it.” I also became our chief privacy officer, which is a role that a health plan has to have.
Finally, I’m the co-executive sponsor of AI at Centivo along with our CTO - at least for now. When considering AI in an industry like ours, it’s very important to tie the business case to both an ROI as well as a risk analysis around privacy, legal and infosec so that we assess the opportunity. Then it has to go through governance and steering committees so I helped us stand up a lightweight governance process so we can vet opportunities.
That sounds…weighty.
We were joking the other day, ‘Who the f*** decides to build a health plan from scratch?” It’s the hardest thing I can think of building, but it is deeply necessary and important work.
I should mention that I have to be the single most frequent utterer of f bombs at the office. There was a sign at my desk for a while that said ‘Today is an f bomb day.’ A team member made it for me - it had another side that said "Today is not an f bomb day. I don't think it ever got flipped over.
You invest in local startups, as well.
I got into the scene pre-pandemic when there was a lot of community energy going into the startup space in Buffalo. In thinking back, my first start up engagement was with Infonaut way back in 2015. In addition to that, there was a ton of start-up scene activity at d!g (in the Innovation Center on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus) and big crowds were showing up at Buffalo OpenCoffee Club. I remember attending a Startup Grind event at d!g event where Ashok spoke.
And then at some point, I also got asked to serve as a 43N judge.
As Dave and I think about where to invest, it’s a combo of our individual passions - Dave has a passion for sustainability-related companies and I’m drawn to high potential companies with female founders.
That’s what led you to Heron?
In part. It isn't enough to be a female founder. The product needs to work. And in HeronAI, I saw the opportunity for an investment that combined (1) business need around tying together systems and data into dashboards and analytics; (2) AI and (3) a very exciting founder, Daphne Pariser. I had already made my investment, when 43North reached out because they were assisting in helping Daphne build an advisory panel . The idea was to pull together a group of people who could help them on a couple dimensions - I'm more focused on the operating muscle building, while others are focused on the connections to opportunities. Although I hope I am pulling my weight on both. It’s great to see young founders who see the value of building out their ambitions in our city.
So looking forward, what’s your crystal ball for Buffalo?
I’m excited that we’ve kept our momentum – that we’re taking the things we’ve already built and amplifying and accelerating the movement. We don’t have all the answers, no one does, but we have some great community champions and thinkers who are working on this.
I feel that Buffalo has a huge advantage. We are the City of Good Neighbors for all kinds of good reasons. One of which is that we have a generosity of spirit that we can tap into. We can be a product of that amazing natural character.
