Good ideas do not
respect boundaries.
MDCA Venture Studio is a founder-led practice connecting invention, applications, commercial development and selected creative disciplines.
Founder / Architect / Creative
A direct relationship with the work.
Markus Drew Powell creates original mathematics and inventions and builds software applications around practical problems.
His work spans operating systems for business, workforce technology, data infrastructure, commerce and creative-production software. The practice connects invention, applications and commercial development while preserving the wider creative perspective.
A studio built on
clear thinking.
Creative direction, technical development and commercial perspective come together across the MDCA portfolio.
Kristi Bernick
Portfolio & Commercialization
Kristi advises MDCA on portfolio strategy and commercialization, connecting software, AI-enabled applications and research with practical paths to market.
Read Kristi’s full biography
Kristi Bernick advises MDCA Venture Studio on portfolio strategy and commercialization, helping translate its software platforms, AI-enabled applications and proprietary research into focused business opportunities. She works across the portfolio to establish priorities, coordinate progress and evaluate pathways to customer revenue, licensing, strategic partnerships and asset sales.
Her role connects MDCA’s product development with its commercial direction: identifying where each venture fits, what it needs to move forward and which opportunities warrant attention and resources. She brings experience in family office stewardship, real estate asset management and venture development to these decisions.
Kristi also co-founded Keystone OS, a software suite rooted in real estate with broader business applications. She is co-founder and CEO of The Bernick-Powell Company and founder and CEO of KBE, her own venture studio. She holds a Master of Science from Pratt Institute.
Rachel Welke
Business Development & Strategic Partnerships
Rachel advances MDCA’s business development and partnerships, with a current focus on taking IntelSeek through customer outreach and commercialization.
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Rachel Welke advises MDCA Venture Studio on business development, strategic partnerships and technology commercialization. Working with studio leadership, she helps advance opportunities through introductions, customer outreach, proposal development and follow-through, supporting pathways to adoption, licensing and collaboration.
Rachel is also the founder of IntelSeek, a workforce platform in development designed to connect talent acquisition with the broader employee lifecycle. Her background in corporate talent acquisition informs its focus on organizational needs, connected workflows and continuity across the workforce journey. IntelSeek is the initial focus of her commercialization work with MDCA.
She brings a practical understanding of corporate environments, workforce technology and relationship development. Her approach emphasizes identifying business needs, engaging prospective customers and partners, and translating commercial discussions into clear next steps. This execution-focused role complements MDCA’s portfolio strategy by helping move individual opportunities forward as products and priorities evolve.
Miz Rahman
Software Development & Technical Implementation
Miz works with Markus across the software portfolio, bringing eight years of context to application development, integrations and technical delivery.
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Miz has worked alongside Markus Drew for eight years, growing from marketing into software development and technical implementation. That experience gives him a valuable perspective on both how products are built and how they connect with customers.
At MDCA Venture Studio, he supports application development, integrations, deployment, and ongoing product improvement. Working closely with Markus, he helps translate product vision into practical functionality across the studio’s software portfolio.
His longstanding collaboration brings continuity to MDCA’s work, connecting an understanding of its brands and business goals with the technical execution needed to bring products to market.