About
the Committee Members
Jim
Andelman, Rincon Venture Partners
Jim Andelman is a co-founder and General Partner of Rincon Venture
Partners, an early stage venture capital firm focused on IT investments
in Southern California. Jim has more than fifteen years of experience
in venture capital investing, technology investment banking and
advisory services and strategic business consulting. Before founding
Rincon, he led software and services investing for Broadview Capital
Partners, a $250 million expansion-stage venture capital firm and
also was a member of the Technology Investment Banking Group at
Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown. Jim serves on the Boards of Directors
of Cadforce, Campus Explorer, Digital Performance, Iconix Video
and Packet Island. He received an MBA (1st in his class) from the
Tuck School at Dartmouth and a BS from the Wharton School at the
University of Pennsylvania (magna cum laude). www.rinconvp.com
Uri
Blackman, GIDEON Informatics
Uri serves as founder and CEO of GIDEON Informatics, which produces
GIDEON, a web-based medical decision support and information product
deployed at hundreds of institutions. Previously, Uri served as
Vice President of Corporate Development at Speedbit, creators of
Download Accelerator. Uri also founded Oloop, a VC backed online
insurance brokerage firm. Prior to Oloop, Uri was a Product Manager
at Netscape for two generations of the Netscape browser and closed
computing channel deals in AOL's Business Development. Uri served
on the advisory board of a number of technology companies in the
Silicon Valley and Israel. Uri was a commander in the Israel Defense
Forces Intelligence Corp. He received his BA in Computer Science
and Philosophy from Tel Aviv University and his MBA from Stanford.
www.gideononline.com
Jeff
Cohn, MHS Capital
Jeff Cohn is a venture consultant to MHS Capital, a boutique venture
fund focused on bootstrapped technology companies in Southern California.
Jeff has deep network of investors and has played an active role
shaping Southern California's entrepreneur ecosystem since 1999.
Jeff previously held positions as a venture consultant for Hunt
Ventures and spent 8 years as the investment screening director
for the Tech Coast Angels. Jeff is particularly focused on finding
investment opportunities in the following three areas: online marketing
services, mobile and software infrastructure.
Jeff
is also an entrepreneur and the founder of two nationally recognized
crowd sourcing web sites DeadCellZones.com and PhotoEnforced.com.
His technology career includes corporate development consulting
for the largest direct navigation and domain services company Oversee.net,
web services firm iXL and the enterprise software company Computer
Associates International, Inc.. Jeff has a B.S. in Business Administration,
Finance from the University of Colorado.
Daniel
Docter, Intel Capital
Daniel
Docter is a Director with Intel Capital where he has worked since
2001. Daniel focuses on investments in infrastructure for data centers,
enterprises, and communications networks. He invests in equipment,
software, and semiconductor companies covering areas such as data
center networking, power and thermal solutions, wireless and telecommunications
infrastructure, embedded processor applications, broadband access
and networking solutions, and alternative energy solutions. 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 (acq by Espial), Stratalight
Communications (acq by Opnext), Vativ Technologies (acq by Entropic),
Cortina Systems, Expand Networks, Ceterus Networks (acq by Overture
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 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,
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 and M&A transactions. Daniel
lives in Los Angeles and is active in supporting the southern California
entrepreneur 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
Shivbir
S. Grewal, Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth
Shivbir Grewal is a partner in the corporate and securities practice
group at Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth.
He represents emerging growth, technology, life science, manufacturing
and health care entities in matters relating to corporate and
securities law, including general corporate representation, venture
capital financings, initial public offerings, corporate reorganizations,
joint ventures, private placements and public company representation.
He also advises corporate entities on governance and structure
issues, and sits on the boards of various companies. He has chaired
or participated in various panels and seminars on corporate finance
issues and mergers and acquisitions. Shiv is also a member of
the Global Board of Trustees of TiE, one of the largest organizations
in the world focused on fostering entrepreneurship. www.sycr.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
Beau
Laskey, Steamboat Ventures
Beau Laskey is a Managing Director of Steamboat Ventures. He has
spent the last 15 years in technology, finance and operational leadership
roles where he focused on media, entertainment and consumer infrastructure
technologies. Beau currently serves on the boards of Kapow Technologies
and Ontela, and his prior investments include Zyray Wireless, acquired
by Broadcom (NASDAQ: BRCM), Clarity Technologies, acquired by Cambridge
Silicon Radio (LSE: CSR), Sircon, acquired by Vertafore, Arbor Networks,
Alfalight, Arxan Technologies, IntelePeer, RockeTalk, Greenplum,
and Xtera Communications.
Early
in his career, Beau was a Managing Director of EDF Ventures in San
Diego, an early stage venture capital fund. Beau started his career
as an officer in the SEAL Teams and completed deployments with SEAL
Team One and Eight to Southeast Asia, the Middle East and the Mediterranean.
He received a BS in Economics and General Engineering with Merit
as a graduate of the US Naval Academy, and received an MBA with
Distinction in Entrepreneurship and Corporate Strategy from The
University of Michigan Business School. www.steamboatvc.com
Peter
Lee, Baroda Ventures
Peter Lee is a Partner at Baroda Ventures and was previously
an investor at Clearstone Ventures and Prism Ventures. Prior
to entering venture capital, he was the Vice President of Operations
and Product Management at Goldpocket (acquired by TandbergTV), a
startup developing a platform for creating, distributing and managing
interactive TV digital media systems.
Earlier,
Peter was a manager with McKinsey, where he focused on the digital
media, consumer electronics, and internet industries. He also worked
as a product manager at Microsoft in their wireless device group
as well as at Virtual Ink (acquired by Newell Rubbermaid), a venture-backed
startup in the consumer electronics and internet space. Peter earned
his BS and MS in engineering from MIT where he was elected into
the Tau Beta Pi Honor Society and was awarded a full-tuition graduate
fellowship. He also holds an MBA, with Honors, from Harvard Business
School. www.barodaventures.com
Al
Schneider, Tech Coast Angels
Al Schneider
is President of Tech Coast Angels/Los Angeles and a co-founder and
Vice Chairman of Pasadena Angels. Tech Coast Angels has funded over
$104 million into 160 companies over the last 12 years, and Pasadena
Angels has funded approximately $20 million into over 55 companies
since 2001. Al is also past Chairman of Entretech, a non-profit
focused on empowering entrepreneurs to build their businesses through
capital, education, people and strategic partners.
As
an active angel investor in the Los Angeles area for over 9 years,
Al has been a start-up board member and mentor to many early stage
companies. Al served on the board of Pictage, a complete digital
proofing, marketing and production solution for professional photographers
acquired by an affiliate of Apax Partners; is currently Chairman
of H2Scan, a leader in hydrogen sensing products for area monitoring
and process control; and was earlier Chairman of Unified Dispatch,
a software company serving the ground transportation industry.
Most
of Al Schneider's career was spent in the real estate and healthcare
property investment, finance and development industries. He was
Vice President of the B.F. Saul Company, a diversified real estate
organization which then advised the public REIT now known as Saul
Centers (NYSE-BFS). Later, he was the COO of The Canterbury Group,
a private real estate company which developed rental apartments,
condominiums, and other residential and healthcare properties. His
earliest private equity investments outside the real estate field,
in the mid 1990's, included Clifton Mining (NASDAQ-CFTN). Al has
a B.A. and M.B.A. www.techcoastangels.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 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
Rick
Smith, Crosscut Ventures
Rick is the co-founder of Crosscut Ventures, an early-stage venture
fund located in Los Angeles. He has been an active participant in
all areas of private equity for over two decades, including venture
capital since 1997. He help grow Palomar Ventures from $80 million
to over $500 million. He co-founded the $750 million venture group
at SunAmerica, where he led several investments that went public
or were acquired. Rick was part of a small firm that bought Steinway
Piano Company and Selmer Instruments. He graduated from the University
of Illinois and Harvard Law School.
Mark
Suster, GRP Partners
Mark joined as a General Partner of GRP Partners in 2007 after having
worked with GRP for 8 years as a two-time entrepreneur. Most recently
Mark was Vice President, Product Management at Salesforce.com following
its acquisition of Koral, where Mark was Founder and CEO. Prior
to Koral, Mark was Founder and CEO of BuildOnline, the largest independent
global content collaboration company focused on the engineering
and construction sectors, which was acquired by The Sword Group.
Earlier in his career, Mark spent nearly ten years working for Accenture
in Europe, Japan and the U.S. Mark received a BA in Economics from
the University of California, San Diego, and an MBA from the University
of Chicago. He is a dual citizen of the US and the UK. www.grpvc.com.
Mark keeps a blog on entrepreneurship & venture capital at www.BothSidesoftheTable.com.
Samit
Varma, Anthem Venture Partners
Samit
is a partner with Anthem Venture Partners. He currently serves on
the board of Viewdle and AdventureLink and is a board observer at
Siperian. Samit also works closely with Wavestream, ThisNext, and
Zag. Samit earned his MBA from the Marshall School of Business at
the University of Southern California. He concentrated on Finance,
Entrepreneurship and Technology Commercialization while at USC.
www.anthemvp.com
Andy
Wilson, Momentum Venture Management, LLC
Andy
is founder and Managing Director of Momentum Venture Management
(MVM). MVM helps entrepreneurs transform innovative technologies
into sustainable, successful businesses. Prior to founding MVM,
he served in senior executive positions at Yahoo!/Overture Services,
RiverOne and Bowne & Co. While with MVM, Andy spearheaded the
raising of Momentums two bridge funds and has led various
portfolio companies through early commercialization and next rounds
of venture funding. Andy currently services as the CEO of Digital
Performance Inc (DPI) and Vantage ILM. He is on the boards of nQueue,
Blue Lava, DPI and Thermark. He also serves on the Executive Committee
of CalTech Enterprise. www.mvmpartners.com