Global Technology Symposium Silicon Valley

Dixon Doll

For more than 35 years, Dixon Doll has influenced and guided entrepreneurs, investors and executives in the computer and communications industries. In recognition of his accomplishments in venture capital, Dixon was named by Forbes Magazine as one of the top 100 venture investors on its Midas List for four years in a row. In April, 2005, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) in Washington, D.C. He also served as NVCA Chairman from 2008-2009 and as a member of their Executive Committee from 2007-2009. Under Dixon's leadership and direction as Chairman, the NVCA developed a widely recognized set of recommendations (NVCA 4-Pillar Plan) to help restore liquidity in the U.S. venture capital industry.

Dixon has led DCM's investments in About.com (Acquired by The New York Times Co.), @Motion (Acquired by Openwave), Clearwire (Nasdaq: CLWR), Foundry Networks (Nasdaq: FDRY), Internap (Nasdaq: INAP), Ipivot (Acquired by Intel) and Neutral Tandem (Nasdaq: TNDM) among others.

In the mid-1980's, Dixon co-founded the venture capital industry's first fund focused exclusively on telecommunications opportunities. Those funds launched such noteworthy companies as Alantec, Bridge Communication, Centillion Networks, Network Equipment Technologies, Optilink, Picturetel, Polycom and UUNet.
Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, Dixon was the founder and CEO of an internationally recognized strategic consulting firm focused on telecommunications and computer networking. From 1972 to 1980, Dixon also served as a faculty member of the IBM Systems Research Institute in New York City. He authored the seminal text Data Communications published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1978.

Dixon has traveled extensively to six continents to give highly sought after lectures and conference presentations. Through their family foundation, he and his wife Carol give generously to numerous educational and philanthropic organizations, including the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco (where he serves as Chair of the museum's dual governing boards), San Francisco Symphony, Kansas State University, the University of Michigan Business School, the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco, the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR), the Hoover Institution at Stanford and the University of San Francisco where he has served as the Investment Committee Chair. He also has served as a trustee or advisory board member for each of these organizations.

He received his B.S.E.E. degree (cum laude) from Kansas State University as well as M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, where he was a National Science Foundation scholar.

 

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