About
the Committee Members
Jim
Andelman, Rincon Venture Partners
Jim is a co-founder and General Partner of Rincon Venture Partners.
In this capacity, he is responsible for driving the funds
investment activities, as well as the firms operations. Jim
has more than fifteen years of experience in venture capital investing,
technology investment banking and advisory services and strategic
business consulting. Jim serves on the Boards of Directors of CADFORCE,
Inc. and Packet Island, Inc., and has Board oversight responsibility
at Iconix Video, Inc. In addition, he serves on the Board of Directors
of Friends of Yosemite Search and Rescue and on the Advisory Boards
of the Douglas Family Preserve and the California Coast Venture
Forum. www.rinconvp.com
Teymour
Boutros-Ghali, Monitor Ventures
Teymour Boutros-Ghali is co-founder and Managing Partner of Monitor
Ventures an early-stage venture firm with offices in Palo Alto and
Santa Monica. Teymour brings over twenty years of experience as
an entrepreneur, investor and management executive. As a partner
of Monitor Ventures, he focuses on information technology with particular
emphasis on media and technology. He sits on the board of several
private and public companies including Hydropoint Data Systems,
IVT and TeeBeeDee. www.monitorventures.com
Jeff
Carmody, Agility Capital
Jeff has an extensive background in venture debt financing through
his years of experience at Sand Hill Capital and his current managing
role at Agility Capital. Jeff is a founding board member of the
Westlake Village/Santa Barbara Chapter of the Tech Coast Angels,
a southern California-based angel investment capital group. He has
been a member of the Board of Directors of the Central Coast MIT
Enterprise Forum, Chaired the Advisory Committee for the Technology
Council for the Santa Barbara Region Chamber of Commerce, and was
a member of the Central Coast Venture Forum Steering Committee.
He also chairs the Selection Committee for the South Coast Business
& Technology Awards Dinner and is a panelist at many business
plan competitions. He is a graduate of UCSB and is most proud of
his accomplishments as a loving husband and father of two young
sons. www.agilitycap.com
Jeff
Cohn, Hunt Ventures
Jeff currently is a venture consultant to firms who have an investment
interest in Southern California technology companies. Jeff currently
is a venture consultant with Oversee.net, Hunt Ventures, MHS Capital
and the Tech Coast Angels. Jeff has been the Investment Screening
Director for the Tech Coast Angels for the past 8 years and has
built as substantial rolodex of entrepreneurs, angel investors and
venture capital fund managers. Since 1999 Jeff has managed the growth
of the Tech Coast Angels membership from 70 to 300 investors and
32 venture capital affiliates and has helped sourced the private
financing of more than 130+ Southern California based technology
companies. Jeff is also a hobbyist internet entrepreneur who founded
two nationally recognized web sites DeadCellZones.com and PhotoEnforced.com.
Jeffs technology career includes consulting for ebusiness
development firm iXL (Former NASDAQ: IIXL), and the enterprise software
company Computer Associates International, Inc. (NYSE: CA). Jeff
has a B.S. in Business Administration, Finance from the University
of Colorado.
Bill
Collins, Starboard Venture Partners
Starboard Venture Partners is a seed and early stage venture capital
fund in formation based in Santa Monica, CA. The fund will be focused
primarily in southern California on emerging companies with computing,
communications, materials, new media and Internet technologies.
Starboard invests earlier in the life cycle than most traditional
early stage funds with lead investment positions of $250 thousand
to $1 million. The fund managers, with strong track records at Clearstone
Ventures and the Tech Coast Angels, will provide extensive mentoring
to help guide portfolio companies to successful commercialization
and launch. Starboard will syndicate and participate in follow-on
funding rounds as warranted, reserving up to $8 million per company.
The fund size is targeted at $100 million.
David
Cremin, Draper Fisher Jurvetson Frontier
Draper Fisher Jurvetson Frontier is a seed and early stage venture
capital fund investing in California technology companies. DFJ Frontier
invests in start-ups with the opportunity to change the world. We
seek out entrepreneurs who have the energy, discipline, and courage
to create something from nothing and the desire to work with investment
partners who have the experience to help them get there. We are
particularly interested in emerging technologies and will consider
any market driven technology opportunity including software, information
services, biotechnology, nanotechnology, and alternative energy.
Our philosophy is to provide support to help entrepreneurs turn
their idea or technology into a self-sustaining business with real
value. For more information, our web address is www.DFJFrontier.com.
Steve
Dietz, GRP Partners
Steven joined GRP Partners upon its founding in 1996. Formerly,
Steven was a Senior Vice President of Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette
in the Investment Banking Division and a member of DLJ's Retailing
Group for 14 years, where he provided advisory and capital raising
services to more than 30 different retailers and numerous information
technology companies. He has participated in early stage private
equity investments as well as provided later stage financing and
advisory services. In our current portfolio, Steven sits on the
Boards of DealerTrack Holdings, eAssist Global Solutions, EMN8,
Evant, and UGO Networks. www.grpvc.com
Daniel
Docter, Intel Capital
Daniel Docter is a Senior Investment Manager with Intel Capital
where he has worked for nearly seven years. Daniel focuses on
communication infrastructure and enterprise server infrastructure
investments, covering areas such as broadband access, Enterprise
and Telecommunications networking, semiconductors, and novel system
architectures and designs. He also covers the southern California
region for Intel Capital (San Diego to Santa Barbara). Daniel
is responsible for Intel Capital investments in Passave (acq.
by PMCS), E2O Communications (acq by JDSU), Apogee Photonics (acq
by Cyoptics), Kasenna, Stratalight Communications, Cortina Systems,
Ceterus Networks, and Bridgewave Communications. Daniel received
his PhD. from the University of Bradford, England in 1993 in solid
state physics, and spent more than 11 years working on components
and systems for optical and RF communications applications at
AT&T Bell Labs (6 yrs) and Hughes Research Labs (5 ½
yrs). He has more than 50 journal publications and more than 10
patents to his credit in areas of material science, semiconductor
fabrication, optoelectronic integration, and microwave device
and circuit applications. Prior to joining Intel Capital, Daniel
worked for Merrill Lynch in the Private Wealth Management Group
where he advised clients involved in initial public offerings,
mergers and acquisitions. Daniel lives in Los Angeles and is active
in supporting the southern California entrepeneurial and venture
capital communities. www.intel.com
Erik
Ekstrom, Deloitte & Touche
Deloitte
& Touche LLP is a trusted business advisor to some of Southern
California's most vibrant and emerging companies in the information
technology industry. Venture-backed and growth-oriented companies
are among this next generation of market leaders and face unique
business challenges that can be addressed with Deloitte &
Touche Venture Capital Services. Based on years of experience
with fast growing companies, our Venture Capital Services Group
offers end-to-end solutions that combine our tax, accounting,
human capital, financial advisory and information technology expertise
to help growth companies optimize performance, manage and strategize
on key early-stage company issues and prepare for liquidity events.
www.deloitte.com
Brian
Flucht, Blade Capital Management
Brian Flucht is currently an Associate of the venture arm of Blade
Capital Management, investing in privately held, early stage emerging
growth companies. Brian has over 10 years of strategic, operating,
and engineering experience including digital media, wireless technologies,
GPS, and venture capital. Prior to joining Blade he worked as
a Senior Analyst for Shepherd Ventures. Prior to that, Brian was
the Business Manager for the second generation Engineering, Analysis,
Design and Development program at Science Applications International
Corporations (SAIC) National Security and Space business
unit. Formerly Brian served as a Systems Engineer at SAIC where
he worked on the research and development of the next generation
of GPS user equipment. Earlier in his career, Brian worked for
the National Security Agency, researching and evaluating advanced
microelectronic packaging technologies and managing high priority
signals intelligence projects. Brian holds an MBA from the University
of Southern California, with a concentration in corporate finance,
and a degree in Material Science and Engineering, from Northwestern
University.
Mike
Hedge, Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth
Mike Hedge is a partner in the Corporate and Securities Practice
Group at Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth. His practice focuses
on representing both public and private companies with respect
to venture capital financings, public offerings, mergers and acquisitions,
corporate governance and technology transfer arrangements. His
clients, which range from early stage start-ups to multi-billion
dollar public companies, operate in various industries including
enterprise software, encryption technology, medical device and
pharmaceutical. He has also worked with many leading venture capital
and private equity firms. www.sycr.com
Bob
Holmen, Miramar Venture Partners
Bob Holmen is a Managing Director and co-founder of Miramar Venture
Partners. Formed in 2001, Miramar invests in early-stage information
technology companies, with an emphasis on Southern California
opportunities. Bob's career experience encompasses hardware and
software engineering at Hughes Aircraft to senior management in
three technology companies. Most recently, Bob served as Vice
President & General Counsel of First Consulting Group, Inc.
(Nasdaq: FCGI), which provides information technology consulting,
integration and management services to health care, pharmaceutical
and other life science organizations. He currently serves on the
Boards of Get Lower and SiliconSystems; he is also an observer
on the Board of SolarFlare Communications. Bob received his B.S.
in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and J.D. from
UC Berkeley (Boalt Hall). www.miramarvp.com
Kris
Kaufmann, Deloitte & Touche LLP
Deloitte & Touche LLP is a trusted business advisor to some
of Southern California's most vibrant and emerging companies in
the information technology industry. Venture-backed and growth-oriented
companies are among this next generation of market leaders and face
unique business challenges that can be addressed with Deloitte &
Touche Venture Capital Services. Based on years of experience with
fast growing companies, our Venture Capital Services Group offers
end-to-end solutions that combine our tax, accounting, human capital,
financial advisory and information technology expertise to help
growth companies optimize performance, manage and strategize on
key early-stage company issues and prepare for liquidity events.
www.deloitte.com
Bong
Koh, Prism VentureWorks
Bong focuses on digital media and consumer Internet investments
out of Prisms Santa Monica office. Prior
to joining Prism, he was with Advanced Technology Ventures in Palo
Alto, where he helped launch the firms consumer practice.
Before ATV, Bong was Co-founder of Mobilocity, a mobile solutions
provider to companies such as HP, Merrill Lynch, Autodesk, and BP.
At Mobilocity he secured over $20 million in private equity from
J.P. Morgan Partners, Morgan Stanley Venture Partners, Siemens and
Samsung. He led Mobilocity in the acquisition of interactive agency
KPE and later sold Mobilocity to Wireless Knowledge (Qualcomm's
Enterprise Software and Services Group) and Omnicom's Agency.com.
Prior
to Mobilocity, Bong was with interactive agency, Organic (an Omnicom
company), assisting both start-ups and large enterprises, such as
HP, Tommy Hilfiger and Lucent, craft technology and digital media
strategies. Bong previously worked as an investment banker with
Salomon Smith Barney's Mergers and Acquisitions Group where he announced
over $1 billion in transactions. He also served as a management
consultant in the High Tech Practice at McKinsey & Company in
Palo Alto and Los Angeles. Bong
holds a B.A. from Yale University and an M.B.A. from the Sloan School
of Management at MIT. www.prismventure.com
Kevin
Jacques, Palomar Ventures
Kevin brings 16 years of experience to Palomar Ventures. His
career has traversed widely across the information technology sector,
including operating and investing experience in enterprise software,
wireless applications and services, consumer internet, and new media.
Palomar Ventures is a SoCal based, early stage venture firm with
an interest in abroad range of enterprise and consumer facing technologies.
Kevin represents Palomar Ventures at several portfolio companies
including Gamma Technologies, SkyeTek, StorSpeed, and Zannel. Prior
to joining Palomar, Kevin was the CEO of GlobeRanger, a leading
RFID middleware company based in Texas. Previously, Kevin spent
nearly six years as a partner with Sevin Rosen Funds. While at SRF,
Kevin led investments or played an active role with several companies,
including TruLogica (acquired by Hewlett Packard), Fuego (acquired
by BEA), InnerWireless, Traq Wireless, ExtaNet (fka Clearlinx),
and MetaCarta. www.palomarventures.com
Ben
Kuo, socalTECH.com
Benjamin F. Kuo is the founder of socalTECH.com, a widely read
newsletter and web site focused on Southern California's high tech
industry. socalTECH.com tracks venture capital funding, high tech
news, events, and runs frequent interviews with local entrepreneurs
and venture capitalists. The site also features a venture database
with lists of local high tech companies, venture capital firms,
executive bios, and more. www.socaltech.com
Jef
Kurfess, Tech Coast Angels
Jef Kurfess has almost 30 years of consulting, operating and investing
experience across a wide variety of industries in several countries.
His 20 years of consulting experience was with Booz Allen, A.T.
Kearney, Deloitte and several of his own firms. He held client side
positions as Geophysical Crew Manager with several oil and gas exploration
contractors, Director of Planning with the Dole Food Company and
SVP Operations and Business Development with B3, an internet services
firm spun out of AOL Time Warner. Jef is a member of the Tech Coast
Angels and their deal pre-screening committee. He holds a BA from
the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA in Finance from
UCLA. www.techcoastangels.com
Peter
Lee, Prism VentureWorks
Peter
is with Prism Venture, an early stage venture capital firm, where
he is focused on consumer internet and digital media investments.
Prior to joining Prism, he was an associate at Clearstone Venture
Partners, an early stage Santa Monica based venture firm with a
focus on consumer and enterprise technologies. Peter has more than
ten years of experience in strategic, engineering, and operating
roles in both start-ups and large companies. His experience spans
technology operations and product development in startups such as
Goldpocket Interactive and Virtual Ink as well as larger firms such
as Microsoft. Peter has also worked as a consultant at McKinsey
& Company and in engineering design roles at IDEO Product Development.
He received his BS and MS in Engineering from M.I.T. and an MBA
from Harvard Business School where he graduated with honors. www.prismventure.com
Eric
Manlunas, Frontera Group
Eric is the Managing Director of Frontera Capital, a boutique venture
capital firm he founded in 2002 thats focused on investing
in early-stage emerging companies. Previously, along with his Frontera
role, he was concurrently a principal of a hedge fund until mid-2006.
Eric is an experienced entrepreneur turned venture capitalist with
a passion for early-stage investing. Prior to Frontera, Eric was
the founding CEO of Sitestar; a publicly traded technology company
focused on the consolidation of independently owned Internet service
providers in the rural markets of the mid-Atlantic region of the
US. During his tenure Sitestar became one of the largest independent
ISPs in the region. Eric started his career with Arthur Andersens
retail management consulting division in 1991. Eric has an MBA from
Pepperdine University and sits on the board of a number of early-stage
technology companies. www.fronteracapital.com
Greg
Martin , RedPoint Ventures
Greg Martin is a Partner with Redpoint Ventures in Los Angeles,
focusing on information technology, communications and digital media
investments in Southern California. Prior to joining Redpoint, Greg
was an Associate with Brentwood Venture Capital, a firm he joined
in 1999. Greg is a Director/Board Observer of the following Redpoint
portfolio companies: Leadpoint, WebVisible, Networks-in-Motion,
TelASIC Communications, SOA Software, Simula Labs, and Lead Technology
Solutions. Greg currently serves on the Board of the Los Angeles
Venture Association (LAVA) and is an Advisory Board member of the
Tech Coast Angels and the San Diego Venture Group. www.redpoint.com
Brian
Mesic, Anthem Venture Partners
Brian joined Anthem from McKinsey & Company where he was an
Engagement Manager. At McKinsey, Brian specialized in corporate
strategy and technology and served CEO level clients in healthcare,
semiconductors, media, communications, entertainment, and construction
in the U.S., South Africa, and Brazil. Brian is on the boards of
Blurb, Buzznet, and Planet A.T.E. and an observer on the boards
of RFMagic and Entropic Communications. He also manages the progress
of SolarFlare Communications and Axiom Microdevices. www.anthemvp.com
Sid
Mohasseb, Tech Coast Angels
Sid Mohasseb is the managing director of Venture Farm LLC, an early
stage execution and funding organization. He is also an executive
member of the Tech Coast Angels. Formerly, he was the Chief Executive
Officer of Vital Source, Inc. a global distributor of electronic
components with offices in United States, Europe and Asia. Sid has
also served as the Chairman / CEO of Competitive Knowledge Inc (CKI)
- a VC backed Internet Company. After his career as a partner of
a management consulting firm, Sid founded the national management
consulting firm of Anabasis-Straub, focusing on strategy & operations
and serving the fortune 500. Sid has also been instrumental in a
number of corporate acquisitions and turnarounds both as an investor
/ advisor and as an executive operator. He has served on numerous
corporate and advisory boards. Mohasseb has authored several publications,
he is also the architect for the award-winning software solutions
such as the Resource Allocation model (RAM) and is co-credited for
two pending business process patents. He is a graduate of the University
of Southern California (USC) with a B.S. and an M.S. degrees in
Industrial Engineering/Operations Research and Technical Economic
Planning. www.techcoastangels.com
Joe
Platnick, Pasadena Angels
Joe Platnick is a Director of the Pasadena Angels and a Southern
California-based angel investor, senior executive and board member
with over 20 years experience with software, Internet, and wireless
companies in the US and overseas. The Pasadena Angels is a group
of leading private investors that provide long-term human and financial
capital to build successful early-stage technology companies in
Southern California. Members of the Pasadena Angels work closely
with companies, in concert with a vast network of venture capital
firms, incubators and professional services organizations, to build
successful profitable companies. Since 2000, Pasadena Angels members
have provided tens of millions of dollars of early stage capital
to over 45 companies. www.pasadenaangels.com
Anders
Richardson, Palisades Ventures
Mr. Richardson Co-Founder, Managing Director of Palisades Ventures.
He is active in all aspects of deal sourcing, due diligence and
execution. Prior to co-founding Palisades Ventures, Mr. Richardson
worked in the Investment Banking Division of DLJ and focused on
public and private placements of debt and equity securities and
buy-side and sell-side M&A advisory services in a variety of
industries. Mr. Richardson sits on the boards of SOA Software and
V-Enable and is a board observer for Lucix Corporation and Language
Weaver. Mr. Richardson received a B.A. from Harvard College and
an M.B.A from Harvard Business School. www.palisadesventures.com
Alain
Rothstein, Kline Hawkes & Co.
Alain
Rothstein is a Principal with Kline Hawkes. He began his career with
Interlaken Capital, a middle market buyout firm in Greenwich, CT.
While at Interlaken, he focused on investments in a variety of industries
including specialty chemical manufacturing, financial services and
procurement outsourcing. Selected investments include: Master Protection
Corporation, Strategic Distribution and First Marblehead. He currently
focuses on a broad range of investment opportunities including logistics,
healthcare and environmental services companies. He is a board member
of CaseStack, Inc., Rayne Corporation and Environmental Services Group.
Mr. Rothstein serves on the Association for Corporate Growth (ACG)
Los Angeles private equity roundtable committee. www.klinehawkes.com
Ali
Saleh, Deloitte Services LP
Ali's primary focus is building upon the core venture capital relationships
and working with venture capital funds and their portfolio companies
to provide innovative service offerings and quality professional
services. Ali has over 20 years of experience providing audit and
consulting services to growth and venture-backed companies. He advises
clients with start-up operational, financial and financing issues.
www.deloitte.com
Rick
Sharga, CJ Patrick Company
Rick founded CJ Patrick Company to help companies develop business
and brand strategies that clearly communicate a unique value proposition,
create a position of competitive advantage, and leverage the strength
of the brand in the marketplace. The practice is based on Rick's
20+ years experience developing brand strategies and sales and marketing
programs for technology start-up companies and international corporations
such as DuPont, Fujitsu, Hitachi, Toshiba, JD Edwards and Cox Communications.
Rick currently serves as the VP of Marketing for RealtyTrac, the
nation's largest online marketplace for foreclosure properties.
As a company spokesman, Rick has been quoted extensively in the
press on foreclosure, mortgage and real estate trends, and appeared
on NBC Nightly News, CNN, ABC World News, CBS Evening News, CNBC
and MSNBC. www.cjpatrickcompany.com
Mark
Skaist, Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth
Mark Skaist is a partner in the Corporate and Securities Practice
Group at Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth.
His practice focuses on public and private securities offerings,
venture capital transactions, mergers and acquisitions and intellectual
property (including technology licensing, development and distribution
transactions), primarily in the high technology/information technology
industries. He also advises clients on matters involving corporate
governance and employee compensation. His clients, who range from
early stage start-ups to large publicly traded companies, include
those involved in network infrastructure technology, enterprise
software, telecommunications and new media, as well as a number
of venture capital and private equity firms. www.sycr.com
Mike
Stuhley, Tech Coast Angels
Mike Stuhley is the current President of Tech Coast Angels (TCA)
in Orange County. TCA is helping fuel the growth of the most innovative
companies and entrepreneurs in Southern California. TCAs 270
members devote time, expertise and capital to help companies grow
and succeed. Companies benefit from working with a group of seasoned,
well-connected advisors. TCA is the largest angel network in the
U.S. and the number one source of startup funding in Southern California.
TCA members have invested more than $85 million in more than 128
companies and have helped attract more than $850 million of additional
capital, mostly from venture capital firms. Mike is also the current
CEO of two software companies, Formtran, Inc. and GoScan®, Inc.
He has over 17 years of experience in the software industry, including
executive positions with Scantron and Cardiff Software. Mr. Stuhley
also serves on the board of Vigilistics, a TCA portfolio company.
www.techcoastangels.com
Stephen
Watkins, Arcturus Capital
Stephen Watkins is Managing Director of Arcturus Capital Venture
Fund, LP an early stage venture capital firm focused on the southern
California venture market. Arcturus is not limited to certain technology
areas in which we invest. Stephen currently serves on the board
as director or advisor to several technology companies, including
Ondax, Inc. and Prolacta Biosciences, Inc and a board observer for
SupplyFrame. Stephen earned an MBA from the Anderson School at UCLA
and received his undergraduate degree at the University of California
at Berkeley. www.arcturusvc.com