Q&A: Meet Zack Willis, Alpine’s Chief Information Officer

Zack joined Alpine Investors as CIO to lead technology, security, AI, and engineering for the firm and to partner with our portfolio companies in those same areas. With more than 20 years of experience at leading venture capital and private equity firms, he has built the tools and teams that help investors move faster. We sat down with him to talk about his path, his philosophy on AI, and what he’s focused on first.

Tell us about your background.

I’ve spent more than 20 years in private markets technology, and Alpine is my fourth firm. I started at Essex, a biotech venture firm, then spent nine years at IVP, where I built the firm’s technology stack: our sourcing tools, talent tools, and portfolio tools. Most recently, I was at Insight Partners, where I grew the AI program from the ground up into something the whole firm used. We automated as much as we could across portfolio reporting, sourcing, IT, and security, and we were early to roll out tools like Claude Code, GitHub, and Vercel so people could build, share, and fold good ideas back into the firm’s everyday workflows.

What’s the most impactful thing you’ve built?

The sourcing platform at IVP. When I started, the ask was essentially “We need a sourcing tool; figure it out.” One partner described his dream as opening a dashboard that finds companies, does diligence, reaches out to founders, and handles the whole process. I took that as our North Star and spent the next nine years building toward it. It began with basic machine learning, and as AI matured we layered it into sourcing, diligence, and outreach. It grew into a database of millions of companies and people, and teams across the firm, from investing to finance to marketing, used it every day. Everyone worked from the same data, and that shared view is what made it so powerful.

What is your role at Alpine?

IT, security, AI, data, and supporting our portfolio companies. Right now, I’m in listening mode, getting to know the team, and understanding where the biggest opportunities are. I want to find where I can embed myself and be most useful, whether that’s diligence, sourcing, or helping a portfolio company with a technology challenge. Two things I’m genuinely passionate about are AI and helping portfolio companies succeed, so I expect those to be a big focus.

Are you optimistic or worried about AI?

I’m optimistic. I believe AI will make people better and more efficient. But I also think it deserves serious, thoughtful oversight. The pace of development and the global race to lead can push safety concerns to the background, and with this much at stake, independent governance and careful review of powerful models matter. I don’t expect the extreme scenarios, whether science-fiction doom or a world with no jobs, but I’d rather we plan for good outcomes deliberately than assume them. I’m optimistic about the people working on these problems, and I hope we end up in a future where AI and people work together productively.

Which AI models do you prefer: frontier labs or open source?

Today, I want the best tools available, and those are the frontier models. Open source models are improving quickly, and I expect the gap to narrow over time. The key is knowing which model to use for which job and being willing to bring in different options where they make sense.

Any practical AI tips for professionals?

Point an AI assistant at your own writing, such as your emails, documents, and public profiles, and ask it to build a persona describing how you communicate. You can then reuse that persona to draft emails and other work in your own voice. It’s simple, and it makes the tools feel far more personal and useful.

How often do you use AI outside of work?

Constantly. When my family moved from New York back to California, we used AI agents to plan and coordinate nearly everything: scheduling, comparing options, negotiating, and logistics. On a day-to-day basis I use it for grocery lists, transit checks, and managing my schedule. I also like to build things on the side to keep learning. I made a small food-only review app, because I care whether the food is good, not how fast the waiter arrived, and I’m working on a custom watch face app for my running watch.

What excites you most about joining Alpine, and what do you hope to learn from your new colleagues?

The scope and the culture. It’s clear that Alpine lives its culture. Everyone I’ve met is genuinely invested in helping people grow into leaders, and they always put people first, which is exactly how I’ve always built and led teams. I’m also excited to bring technology, security, and AI to both the firm and the portfolio, and the chance to make an impact at that scale is what motivates me.

As for what I hope to learn: everything. I’ve been a tech leader in venture capital and private equity for more than 20 years, and every firm has its own way of operating, winning, and growing. I’m eager to learn what has made Alpine so successful and how I can help it keep growing. The best way for me to help is to understand how everyone here thinks, from the investment team to the portfolio leaders to the operations team and everyone in between.

Zack holds a B.S. in Computer Information Systems from Cal Poly Humboldt. Outside the office, you’ll find him running, working on cars, or planning his next trip with his wife and their two dogs, Floki and Freya.