Manny Duran

Emmanuel (Manny) Duran is Dominican-American with a background in language acquisition, public policy, and all things early stage startups. Manny studied American Sign Language throughout high school, leading him to explore accessible technologies and policy. He holds a BA from Middlebury College in International Studies and French, where he also completed coursework in Arabic and Disability Studies. His research abroad includes residency at Yaoundé’s School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Cameroon and a Fulbright grant in Morocco. Here, he explored technologies and policies to support language acquisition for Deaf students in multilingual societies. As a Senior Associate at Silicon Valley Bank he worked with early stage startups with a niche interest in his portfolio for edtech, accessibility tech, and global tech companies. In 2023, Manny joined Mohammed VI Polytechnic University and UM6P Ventures.