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2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004

JOIN AN EXCLUSIVE NETWORK OF TODAY’S FOREMOST OPINION LEADERS

The 2009 Symposium featered a keynote address by T. Boone Pickens of BP Capital. Other distinguished speakers included:

The biographies of these and other speakers follow.


T. Boone PickensT. Boone Pickens, Founder and Chairman, BP Capital

Pickens, founder and chairman, BP Capital Management, is principally responsible for the formulation of the energy futures investment strategy of the BP Capital Commodity Fund and the BP Capital Equity Fund. With more than $4 billion under management, BP Capital manages one of the nation’s most successful energy-oriented investment funds. Through Mesa Water, Pickens is the largest private holder of permitted groundwater rights in the United States. Mesa Power is planning the world’s largest wind farm in the Texas Panhandle. Clean Energy, which went public in 2007, is advancing the use of natural gas as a cleaner burning and more cost-effective transportation fuel alternative to gasoline and diesel.

Thomas J. CampbellTom Campbell, Economic Advisor to Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, Visiting Professor, Chapman University. Former United States Congressman, former Dean of Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley
Tom Campbell, Tom Campbell served as Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition in the administration of President Ronald Reagan, as United States Congressman for five terms representing districts in the Silicon Valley, as California State Senator, and as Director of Finance for the State of California.  In Congress, Tom Campbell served on the Judiciary Committee, the Joint Economic Committee, and the International Relations Committee. He has served since 2004 on the Council of Economic Advisors to California Governor Schwarzenegger and was the Director of California’s Department of Finance from 2004-05.  Tom Campbell was a tenured Professor of Law at Stanford Law School from 1987 to 2002, and associate professor before that, teaching courses on antitrust, transnational litigation, regulated industries, international business transactions, microeconomics, public policy and the law, and European Union law. From 2002 until last July, Tom Campbell served as the Bank of America Dean of the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley. He is presently economic advisor to Gibson, Dunn  & Crutcher, and Visiting Professor at Chapman University in Orange, CA.

Steve Jurvetson
Steve Jurvetson, Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Steve Jurvetson is a Managing Director of Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a leading venture capital firm with affiliate offices around the world. He was the founding VC investor in Hotmail, Interwoven and Kana He also led the firm's investments in Tradex and Cyras, acquired for $8 billion. Current Board positions include Synthetic Genomics, IMMI, NeoPhotonics, and ZARS. Previously, Steve was an R&D Engineer at Hewlett-Packard, where seven of his communications chip designs were fabricated. His prior technical experience also includes programming, materials science research (TEM atomic imaging of GaAs), and computer design at HP's PC Division, the Center for Materials Research, and Mostek. He has also worked in product marketing at Apple and NeXT Software. (Crunch Base)

Sheryl SandbergSheryl Sandberg, C.O.O., Facebook
Named as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business by Fortune and one of the 50 Women to Watch by the Wall Street Journal, Sheryl Sandberg is Chief Operating Officer at Facebook. She oversees the firm's business operations including sales, marketing, business development, human resources, public policy and communications. Prior to Facebook, Sheryl was Vice President of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google, where she built and managed the online sales channels for advertising and publishing and operations for consumer products worldwide. She was also instrumental in launching Google.org, Google's philanthropic arm. Before Google, Sheryl served as Chief of Staff for the United States Treasury Department under President Bill Clinton where she helped lead the Treasury's work on forgiving debt in the developing world. Earlier, she was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company and an economist with the World Bank. Sheryl received a B.A. summa cum laude in Economics from Harvard University and was awarded the John H. Williams Prize for the top graduating student in economics. She received an MBA with highest distinction from the Harvard Business School. Sheryl serves on the boards of the Brookings Institution, Women for Women International, V-Day, and the Ad Council. Sheryl was named as one of the 50 Most Powerful Women in Business by Fortune and one of the 50 Women to Watch by the Wall Street Journal.

Tina Seelig PhD.Tina Seelig PhD., Executive Director, Stanford Technology Ventures Program
Tina Seelig, Ph.D. is the Executive Director for the Stanford Technology Ventures Program where she is responsible for strategic planning, operations, and outreach efforts of STVP. In addition, Tina is the Director of the Stanford Entrepreneurship Network and the co-Director of the Mayfield Fellows Program. Tina also teaches a course in the Department of Management Science & Engineering on Creativity and Innovation. Prior to joining STVP, Tina worked as an entrepreneur, management consultant, author, and scientist. Tina received her Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1985 where she studied Neuroscience. Her research focused on neurophysiology and neuropharmacology. While in school, Tina created and taught several new courses, including "The History and Philosophy of Brain Function". In addition, Tina has written several popular science books and has designed a series of educational games. Scientific American published her first book, The Epicurean Laboratory, on the science of cooking.

Lip-Bu TanLip-Bu Tan, C.E.O. of Cadence and Chairman of Walden International
Lip-Bu Tan is the founder and Chairman of Walden International, an international venture capital firm founded in 1987. Mr. Tan also serves as a director of Creative Technology Ltd., Flextronics International Ltd., Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation and SINA Corporation. Mr. Tan received an M.S. in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MBA from the University of San Francisco, and a B.S. from Nanyang University in Singapore. Lip-Bu Tan, a director of Cadence since 2004, who has been appointed Interim Vice Chairman of the Board. Effective as of January 8, 2009, the Board of Directors of Cadence Design Systems, Inc. appointed Lip-Bu Tan to serve as President and Chief Executive Officer of Cadence. Mr. Tan, who had been serving as Interim Vice Chairman of the Board and member of the Interim Office of the Chief Executive, will remain a member of the Board but will no longer be Interim Vice Chairman of the Board. (Forbes)

Spencer Ante, Associate Editor, BusinessWeek

Spencer E. Ante is an associate editor for BusinessWeek. Previously, Ante was computers department editor. Before joining BusinessWeek in February, 2000, he was a staff reporter for TheStreet.com. Prior to that, he was a contributing writer at Wired News, a columnist for Business 2.0, a producer for the Netscape NetCenter, and associate editor of The Web Magazine. He is the recipient of a 2007 Deadline Club Award from the Society of Professional Journalists and a 2006 award from the American Society of Business Publication Editors. Ante received a bachelor's degree from Indiana University and a master's from the University of California at Berkeley. His book Creative Capital: Georges Doriot and the Birth of Venture Capital was published by Harvard Business Press in April, 2008, and has been reviewed by the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and other top publications. Ante has also appeared on CNBC, Fox News, BBC and has given keynote addresses for various groups such as the National Venture Capital Association, IBM and Stanford University. He can be reached at http://creativecapital.wordpress.com.

Sergei BeloussovSergei Beloussov, C.E.O. and Founder, Parallels
Mr. Beloussov is a successful self-made entrepreneur and business executive with an outstanding 15-year track record in building, growing and leading high-performing, multi-national high tech companies in North America, Europe and Asia. Since 2003, he has been the Chairman and C.E.O. of Parallels, a global leader in virtualization and automation software for consumers, businesses and service providers. Under Mr. Beloussov’s leadership, Parallels has quickly grown to profitability and #1 market positions with its innovative desktop virtualization, OS containers and control panel product lines. He is also a Founder and major investor in Acronis, a global leader in storage management and disaster recovery software for consumers, SMBs and large enterprises. Previously, Mr. Beloussov co-founded and helped grow a PC manufacturing business to $150 million in revenue in less than 3 years, the S&W electronics company to over $500 million in only 8 years, and Solomon Software SEA — each of which has become profitable in the first year since inception. He holds a B.S. in Physics, an M.S. in Physics and Electrical Engineering with High Honors, and a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology. 

Dale E. Bonner, Secretary of the Business, Transportation & Housing Agency, State of California
In March 2007 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger appointed Dale E. Bonner to lead the State's Business, Transportation and Housing Agency (BT&H). As Secretary, he oversees 13 departments and several economic development programs and commissions consisting of more than 44,000 employees and a budget of $20 billion, a budget larger than that of almost half the states in the nation. The Agency's portfolio is one of the largest and most diverse in the State of California. Its operations address a myriad of issues that directly impact the state's economic vitality and quality of life including transportation, public safety, affordable housing, international trade, financial services, tourism, and managed health care. As the lead State Agency for economic development, BT&H strives to maintain and enhance California's leading role in the global economy through the Agency's programs. Since being appointed, Secretary Bonner has overseen the implementation of the voter-approved $19.9 billion transportation bond and the $2.85 billion housing bond (Propositions 1B and 1C).

Frank R. Caufield Jr., Managing General Partner, Darwin Ventures
Frank Caufield is co-founder and a Managing Partner at Darwin Ventures. Prior to co-founding the firm, Frank spent twelve years in high technology finance, business development, marketing and sales. Most recently, he founded MarkLogic, Inc. where he was responsible for the company's sales, marketing and business development activities. He left after he successfully secured venture funding from Sequoia Capital. Frank also worked at the Xerox Venture Lab where he was responsible for creating value from Xerox PARC technologies. While at Xerox, he engineered the spinout of Outride Corporation, the first Xerox PARC spinout in almost a decade. The company was sold to Google in 2000. Prior to that, Frank worked at America Online where he created the AOL@School service. Frank is an active angel investor, outdoor enthusiast and father. Frank received a B.A. from the University of San Francisco, and a M.B.A. from the Anderson School of Business, UCLA.

Matthew ClarkMatthew Clark, Senior Director, Strategic and Emerging Business Team, Microsoft

Matthew Clark is Senior Director of Emerging Markets and Local Software Economy for the Emerging Business Team (EBT). Matthew is responsible for creating and delivering Microsoft business enablement programs that accelerate the growth of the most promising startups in emerging markets and build a supporting community of incubators, seed and venture capital around them. Matthew has over 12 years of experience driving business strategy and building private-public partnerships in the developing world. Prior to joining EBT in July 2008, Matthew oversaw Microsoft’s worldwide relationships with international financial institutions like the World Bank, directing Microsoft’s marketing and engagement on commercial opportunities, corporate social responsibility programs and policy. He has a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Toronto and M.A. in Political Science from McMaster University.

Craig Criddle, Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Stanford University - Membrane bioreactors for water treatment
Dr. Craig Criddle is interested in the environmental engineering, science, and science literacy needed for clean water, clean energy, and healthy ecosystems. His research focus is environmental biotechnology.  He is best known for large interdisciplinary field projects, studies of microbial ecology in bioreactors, and work on microbial transformations of persistent contaminants. Some current projects include a field-scale evaluation of uranium remediation; DNA-monitoring of microbial community structure at full-scale biological wastewater treatment plants; development of membrane bioreactors for energy recovery and nutrient removal; and studies to elucidate the mechanisms and kinetics of microbial transformation of halogenated solvents. To promote science literacy, he worked with award-winning San Francisco cartoonist, Larry Gonick to write "The Cartoon Guide to Chemistry" described below.   "Cartoons can give us an intuitive feeling for the why, and deeper understanding can grow from that intuition". 

Isabel Davies, Senior Partner, Cameron McKenna

Isabel Davies is Senior Partner of the Intellectual Property team and chairman of the Technology, Media and Telecoms sector group. She is a noted expert and highly regarded as one of the UK and Europe's foremost IP lawyers specialising in all forms of dispute resolution including mediation. For over 25 years Isabel's practice has focused on all aspects of intellectual property including patents, trade marks, design, copyright, confidential information and trade libel. She has an extensive background in multi-jurisdiction litigation. Isabel deals in both contentious and transactional issues and advises on strategic issues in managing patent, trade mark and design portfolios and IP Audit. Isabel is particularly well known for dispute work and has a strong following in the technology, media and telecoms, consumer products and other brand focused industry sectors such as hotels and leisure. She is recognised as a leading patent and trade mark practitioner.   She was described by International Who’s Who of Business lawyers as “fantastic for IP dispute resolution”. She chairs the Law Society’s IP Working Party.

Reid DennisReid Dennis, Founder, Institutional Venture Partners

As the founder of IVP, Mr. Dennis has served as a General Partner or Managing Director of all of the IVP funds. Mr. Dennis was an early investor in and a Director of Exabyte Corporation, Seagate Technology, Sequent Computer Systems (acquired by IBM) and Stratus Computer (acquired by IBM). He has been actively involved with IVP’s investment in @Road (ARDI) and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Dust Networks. Mr. Dennis serves as a Managing Director of IVP on a part-time basis, sourcing and evaluating investment opportunities and providing strategic advice to portfolio companies. Mr. Dennis is a past Chairman and President of the National Venture Capital Association and a past President of the Western Association of Venture Capitalists. In April 2000, he received the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the NVCA. Mr. Dennis was also a founder and an original alumni investment manager of both the Stanford Business School Trust and the Stanford Engineering Venture Capital Fund. He has served on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Opera Association for 37 years, including 14 years as Chairman. (Stanford)

Kirk C. Dizon, Managing Director, Hall Capital Partners
Kirk C. Dizon is a Managing Director at Hall Capital Partners LLC and Co-Head of the Private Equity Group. Prior to joining the Firm in 2006, Mr. Dizon practiced law at Cooley Godward LLP where he was a partner in the Fund Formation Group. He joined Cooley Godward in 1996 where his practice was concentrated in the formation, representation, and review of both U.S. and non-U.S. venture capital, private equity, hedge, and other investment funds (including funds-of-funds). Mr. Dizon currently serves on the the Advisory Committee of several private equity funds and Limited Partner associations. He is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events and has served on the Boards of Directors for several non-profit organizations. Mr. Dizon received a LL.M. in Taxation, with distinction, in 1996 from Georgetown University Law Center. He received a J.D. in 1995 from Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, and a B.A. in Economics at Pepperdine University in 1990.

Bill DraperBill Draper, General Partner, Draper Richards L.P

With over forty years of experience, William H. Draper III is one of the West Coast's first venture capitalists. He is General Partner of Draper Richards L.P., a venture capital fund focusing on early-stage technology companies in the U.S., and Draper International, a venture capital fund investing in private companies with operations in the U.S. and India. Mr. Draper was founder of Sutter Hill Ventures in Palo Alto, California. During his twenty years as the senior partner of Sutter Hill, he helped to organize and finance several hundred high technology manufacturing companies. Mr. Draper served from 1981 to 1986 as President and Chairman of the Export-Import Bank of the United States. In 1986, he became the head of the world's largest source of multilateral development grant assistance, the United Nations Development Program. He is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the President's Council on International Activities at Yale University. In 2005, he received the Vision Award from SD Forum and was inducted into the Dow Jones Venture Capital Hall of Fame. In 2006, he received the Silicon Valley Fast 50 Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Distinguished Service Award from the Institute of International Education. Mr. Draper has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale University, and a Master of Business degree, with distinction, from the Harvard Graduate School of Business. 

Ben Dubin, Managing Partner, Asset Management Company

Ben Dubin joined as a partner in 1998 and heads the Information Technology venture capital team at Asset Management Company. Ben has over 20 years working in technology, primarily as an engineer and technologist. He started as a hardware and software engineer at Lockheed Martin in 1985 designing EDA tools for chip- and board-level systems. In 1987 he joined Sun Microsystems and helped design and release a state of the art parallel software development environment. He then co-founded two start-up Silicon Valley companies: Full Source Software, an open source application software firm, and Los Altos Technologies, an open systems software security business. At Los Altos, he also served as Chief Technology Officer and a board member until the sale of the company. Ben also worked as an engineer or consultant at Netscape, Sybase, Sandisk, Pittiglio Rabin Todd & McGrath (PRTM), Broadware and Vicinity. Ben was the senior manager for Enterprise Java at JavaSoft. His responsibilities included the introduction, management, and marketing of the EJB component technology as well as some other essential Java interfaces such as JNDI, JMS, RMI and JDBC technologies. He holds a patent on a technique for minimal information database restoration. Ben holds two Bachelor of Science degrees from the University of Michigan, in Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Lisa EdgarLisa Edgar, Managing Director, Paul Capital Partners

Lisa Edgar has been with Paul Capital since 2003 and is focused on all aspects of portfolio construction, manager selection, due diligence and investment monitoring for the Top Tier venture capital funds of funds offerings. Ms. Edgar currently serves on the Advisory Committees of four venture capital funds. Prior to joining Paul Capital, Ms. Edgar was part of the asset management team at WR Hambrecht + Co that focused on new and emerging private equity funds. Prior to WR Hambrecht, Ms. Edgar spent 10 years at Horsley Bridge Partners, where she was responsible for providing technology research assistance for the fund of funds program, co-managing the public portfolio of venture-backed distributions and buying and selling private equity partnership interests in the secondary market. She began her career as an Analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Ms. Edgar received a B.S. in Applied Economics from the University of San Francisco and an M.B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley.

Claudia Fan MunceClaudia Fan Munce, Vice President Corporate Strategy, IBM & Managing Director, IBM Ventures

Ms. Claudia Fan Munce is the Managing Director at IBM Venture Capital Group. She has held this position since March 2004. Ms. Munce is also Vice President at IBM Corporate Strategy. She joined IBM Research Division in 1985 and held many technical and business leadership positions. Ms. Munce has been the Head of IBM Venture Capital Group since March 2005. Previously, she was the Functional Manager at IBM Research overseeing technology transfer and licensing activities ... as well as defining new business opportunities with top IBM partners. Ms. Munce is also a Member of the Advisory Panel of Arcapita Bank, Venture Capital Arm and Arcapita Ventures I, L.P. She is the Chairman of NVCA Corporate Venture Advisory Board for 2007/2008 and also serves on the Board of Latin America Venture Capital Association. Ms. Munce has done a M.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Santa Clara University and an M.B.A. from Stanford University. (BusinessWeek) 

Alex Freedland, President and C.E.O., Mirantis, Inc
Alex Freedland’s vision and the ability to accomplish his goals is the foundation for the success of Mirantis. Believing that a company is only as good as its people, Freedland has put together an outstanding international Mirantis team that maintains the complex operations on both sides of the globe.
Freedland’s previous experience includes a wide range of technical and management positions with Tektronix, IBM, Edify and KLA-Tencor. He holds a Masters degree in Computer Engineering from Santa Clara University in California. Freedland sits on the boards of several hi-tech companies and is active in the investor community.

Mark GorenbergMark Gorenberg, Managing Director, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners

Mark Gorenberg joined Hummer Winblad Venture Partners in 1990. He has served as a board member for start-up and public software companies, including AdForce, HomeGrocer, NetDynamics and Scopus Technologies. Currently, he serves as a Director of Aria Systems, Cenzic, Infopia, Kwiry, ontheFRONTIER, Omniture Replay Solutions, and Sonatype. Mark is also a member of the Board of Trustees for Massachusetts Institute of Technology Corporation and The H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics and The Environment.Prior to joining Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, Mark managed a number of new media areas and was a member of the original SparcStation I team at Sun Microsystems. He received a BSEE from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, an MSEE from the University of Minnesota, and an MS in Engineering Management from Stanford University.
 
Howard Hartenbaum, Managing Director, August Capital

Howard Hartenbaum joined August Capital in 2008. Prior to joining, he served as a General Partner at Draper Richards LP where he was the founding investor in Skype and a former member of the board of directors where his achievement resulted in his joining the Forbes Midas List of top venture capitalists.
Before entering the venture capital field, Howard was at Hughes Electronics, where he was responsible for supporting business development, marketing and sales of satellite, information security and automotive technologies developed by HRL Laboratories. He also worked in engineering positions in ergonomics and user experience at Honda Motor Company and manufacturing at Teledyne Relays.
Howard has worked overseas for a total of ten years in Luxembourg and Japan. He is a graduate of M.I.T.
 
John I. Huhs, Special Counsel, Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP

John I. Huhs chaired the Firm’s International Practice for almost two decades and founded the Firm's practice in the former Soviet Union. He devotes his professional career to the international practice of law and teaches International Mergers & Acquisitions at Stanford Law School.  His clientele has included the largest multinational corporations, state enterprises and governments, as well as international organizations such as the United Nations, International Monetary Fund, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and International Olympic Committee.  Previously, Mr. Huhs was a partner in the multinational law firm Pisar & Huhs (Paris, New York and Washington) for over a decade. He served in the National Security and International Affairs area in the White House during the Nixon and Ford Administrations. Mr. Huhs served on the Governing Council of the American Bar Association’s International Section and chaired numerous ABA international committees.  He was graduated with honors from both the Stanford Graduate School of Business and Stanford Law School, where he served as Comment Editor of the Stanford Law Review and was awarded the Order of the Coif. He is an honors graduate of the University of Washington, where he majored in International Economics.
 
Alexandra Johnson, Managing Director, DFJ VTB Aurora

Alexandra Johnson is a Managing Director of DFJ VTB Aurora. She is a Silicon Valley-based partner and focuses on early stage companies in communications, media, and technology industries headquartered both inside and outside of Russia and CIS.
Prior to joining DFJ VTB Aurora, Alexandra was a founder and managing director of Landbridge Capital LLC, an investment firm targeting US-based companies commercializing Russian technology. For the past decade, she has provided executive management, investment, and corporate strategy services to multi-national companies. Prior to forming Landbridge Capital, Ms. Johnson was C.E.O. of Libritas, Inc. (acquired by Next Web), a venture-backed provider of IT products and managed telecom services for small, medium, and Fortune 500 corporations.

Reid DennisPitch Johnson, Founder, Asset Management Company

Mr. Franklin Pitcher ("Pitch") Johnson was co-founder in 1962 of Draper and Johnson Investment Company, venture capital company, and became an independent venture capitalist in 1965 as the founder of Asset Management Company, with which he is still associated. Asset Management Company has made over 200 venture investments during its more than 43 years of operation. He is also a past director of the National Venture Capital Association, a past president of the Western Association of Venture Capitalists, and was a trustee of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District for 12 years. He also taught a class in entrepreneurship and venture capital at Stanford Business School for 12 years and is still active on the faculty there. (Asset) 
 

David Lawee, Vice President of Corporate Development, Google

As vice president of corporate development, David manages a worldwide team responsible for all of the company's acquisitions and investments. Previously, David was vice president of marketing, where he managed all of Google's consumer, advertiser and partner marketing, globally. David brings significant entrepreneurial, general management, and investment experience to his role. Before joining Google, David co-founded Xfire, a leading online gaming community, where he led product development, marketing and international business development. Within 2 years of launch, Xfire became the fastest growing Internet gaming site with over 5 million registered users. Xfire was sold to Viacom in early 2006. David's prior experience includes co-founding 3 other start-ups including Mosaic Venture Partners, a leading Toronto-based venture capital firm. He also worked as a management consultant at McKinsey & Company where he served a wide variety of multi-national clients. David holds degrees in law and philosophy from McGill University and the University of Western Ontario respectively, as well as an MBA from University of Chicago.

Ray Levitt PhD.Ray Levitt PhD., Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering, Stanford University

Dr. Raymond E. Levitt is Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Stanford University and Directs Stanford’s Collaboratory for Research on Global Projects. His research has developed new theory and tools to design organizations and information systems for executing complex, fast-track projects without quality breakdowns. His current research develops theory to support the design of governance arrangements for multi-sectoral, multinational, global infrastructure projects to enhance their financial, social and environmental sustainability over their 30-50 year investment life cycles. He co-authored Executing Your Strategy: How to Break it Down and Get it Done, published by Harvard Business School Press in 2007.

Reid DennisDan'l Lewin, Corporate Vice President, Strategic and Emerging Business Development, Microsoft

Dan'l Lewin, corporate vice president for Strategic and Emerging Business Development, is responsible for Microsoft Corp.'s global relationships with startups, venture capitalists and the business relationships with industry partners such as Adobe Systems Inc., Sun Microsystems Inc. and IBM Corp. Based in Silicon Valley, Lewin also has executive and site responsibility for the company's operations in Mountain View, Calif., which currently employ 2,000 people. Lewin serves on the boards of the Churchill Club; Software Development Forum; American Electronics Association; Santa Clara University Center for Science, Technology and Society; and the Tech Museum of Innovation, where he serves as chairman of the Tech Museum Awards program. He is also on the Corporate Advisory Board of the National Venture Capital Association. He holds an AB in politics from Princeton University. 
 
Vinny Lingham, Endeavor Entrepreneur and C.E.O. of Synthasite

Vinny is a seasoned, globally-acclaimed entrepreneur who has founded a number of businesses, including the award-winning search engine marketing company, Clicks2Customers. He was just chosen as a Young Global Leader Honoree 2009 by the World Economic Forum. He's been recognized as a high-impact entrepreneur by Endeavor Global and awarded the 2006 Top Young IT Entrepreneur. He serves on numerous international advisory boards for search engine and affiliate marketing, including Commission Junction and Yahoo!, speaks at conferences around the world and is frequently cited on Web 2.0 trends. He studied Information Systems at the University of Cape Town and graduated with an honors degree in Electronic Commerce from the University of South Africa.
 

Victoria Livschitz, Founder and C.E.O., Grid Dynamics

Victoria Livschitz is the Founder and C.E.O. of Grid Dynamics. She is a serial entrepreneur, innovator and industry authority on Java, grid and cloud computing for over 15 years. Prior to founding Grid Dynamics in 2006, Victoria spent 10 years at Sun Microsystems, holding a variety of principal technical roles in systems engineering, professional services, product development and research labs. Victoria's passion is always focused on solving the challenges of extreme scalability, performance and reliability of large-scale enterprise systems for the world's largest corporations.  Her architectural achievements include several "industry-first", game-changing solutions in their respective fields, including the first Java-based plant-floor execution system for General Motors in 2000, the first real time fraud detection system for Visa in 2003, and the first commercial compute cloud offering for Sun in 2005. Victoria started her career at Ford in 1994 as a high-performance computing engineer in Ford Labs. Victoria holds a B.S. degree in Computer Science from Case Western Reserve University. She attended undergraduate schools at Vilnius University and Kharkov University, where she studied Applied Mathematics and graduate schools at Purdue University and Stanford University, where she studied Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.

Vish MakhijaniVishal Makhijani, C.E.O., Yandex Labs, Former SVP of Yahoo Search

Vish Makhijani is the President and C.E.O. of Yandex Labs based in Silicon Valley. He is a seasoned Search and Internet executive with over nine years in the industry leading consumer and advertiser search businesses on a global scale. Prior to joining Yandex in 2008, Vish was SVP and General Manager of the Yahoo Search Group which included complete business and product responsibility for the core Yahoo! Web Search products and vertical destinations - Yahoo! Travel, Local, Shopping and Personals. Prior to leading the Yahoo Search Group, Vish was the Vice President of Yahoo! Search Marketing International and International Monetization. Prior to that role he was Vice President and General Manager of Yahoo!’s consumer International Search business. Before joining Yahoo!, Vish served as Vice President and General Manager of Inktomi. He had been with the company since early 1999, and, prior to his role in Inktomi Web search, headed-up Inktomi's investor relations program. Before joining Inktomi, Mr. Makhijani worked at PricewaterhouseCoopers where he helped Fortune 500 clients and leading technology, media and start up companies with financial reporting, mergers, acquisitions, and public offering issuances. Mr. Makhijani earned a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Connecticut.

Brian Mesic, Partner, Anthem Venture Partners
Brian has been at Anthem since the first fund was formed in 2000. He currently serves on the board of directors of Blurb, Meez, and Viewdle.  He is an observer on the board of directors at Solarflare Communications and remains active in several other Anthem investments, including Axiom Microdevices Buzznet, and GridIron. Prior to its sale to Intersil, Brian was also on the board of directors of Planet A.T.E. Before their merger and subsequent IPO, Brian was an observer on the boards of RFMagic and Entropic Communications. Before Anthem, Brian worked at McKinsey & Company as an Engagement Manager.  At McKinsey, Brian specialized in corporate strategy and e-commerce and served C.E.O. level clients in healthcare, semiconductors, media, communications, entertainment, and construction in the U.S., South Africa, and Brazil.  He previously served as Manager of Technology Integration at The Prudential.  Brian earned his MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth and his undergraduate degrees in Biology and Economics from Occidental College.

Piotr Moncarz, Ph.D, P.E., SCPM, Exponent, USPTC

Dr. Moncarz is a Corporate Vice President and principal Engineer at Exponent, a Silicon Valley science and technology public corporation, a Consulting Professor at Stanford University, a co-founder and chairman of US-Polish Trade Council, a Board member of the Polish National Center for Research and Development, a foreign member of the Polish Academy of Science and of the Russian Academy of Technological Science, Fellow of American Society of Civil Engineers, an Advisory Board member of Forum Obywatelskiego Rozwoju, a Board member of San Francisco Global Trade Council. He is active in international business from power plant development projects, energy technologies and economics, to high-tech ventures.  For over 15 years Piotr has worked on projects associated with energy from development of power plants to the development of regional and national energy strategies. 

Herbert Moos, C.E.O., VTB Capital

Herbert Moos is responsible for developing Investment Business of VTB Group further in London as well in Asia and the Middle East. Herbert joined the Bank following a distinguished 14-year career at Lehman Brothers where he was most recently CFO, Asia-Pacific ex-Japan, and Treasurer, Asia-Pacific based in Tokyo and Hong Kong, having originally started his career at LB's London office. In his last six years with LB in Asia-Pacific, Hebert played a key role in building its Asia investment banking franchise from a satellite to an operation with over USD 3bn in annual net revenue.

Richard MullerRichard Muller, Professor, Department of Physics, University of California-Berkeley

Professor Muller is known for his broad range of achievements, in fields ranging from particle physics to geophysics, applied physics, and astrophysics.   His achievements have been honored by many awards, including a MacArthur Foundation "genius" prize, the Alan T. Waterman Award of the National Science Foundation, the Texas Instruments Founders Prize.  He was named by Newsweek Magazine in 1989 as one of the top 25 innovators in the United States in all fields.  Muller's primary work in recent years has been in climate change, energy independence, alternative energy, and high-tech innovation.  He is an active consultant to to many private companies on energy, technology, engineering and science.  His skill at explaining science to non-scientists was honed over decades of advising top business and government leaders. His course, titled "Physics for Future Presidents", was voted by the study body to be the "Best Class at Berkeley. "His most recent book, "Physics for Future Presidents," was published by Norton in 2008.
 
John Nogrady, Director of Strategic and Emerging Business Team, Microsoft

John Nogrady is Director of Business Development for Microsoft's Emerging Business Team. His team is responsible for fostering global partnerships between Microsoft, the venture investing community and startup companies. They focus on identifying areas of synergy with startup companies and working with them to develop and market offerings that complement the Microsoft platform and ecosystem. John has over 20 years of experience in the technology sector. John started his career at Digital Equipment Corporation, as a software engineer working on VMS operating system.
Throughout his career, John has been involved in founding and building several startups. His positions have included Chief Technology Officer and Vice President of Engineering at PrizePoint Entertainment, which was acquired by Uproar in 1999. John was Director of Engineering at PointCast, where he was responsible for building out the data center and distribution servers for the PointCast network including the management of the Development and Information System teams. Prior to that, he held the position of Senior Software Architect at BluePoint Technologies, which was acquired by Adobe Systems, where John held the position of Manager of Pacific Rim Display Products. Just before joining Microsoft in 2003, John was director of business technology at WebMethods, where his responsibilities included the technical relationship management of SAP AG.
 
Ryan Orr, Executive Director, Collaboratory for Research on Global Projects

Ryan Orr is executive director at the Collaboratory for Research on Global Projects at Stanford University, a multidisciplinary center that supports research, education, and industry outreach on the themes of Global Project Finance to engineering, law school, and MBA students and serves on the editorial review board of Journal of Structured Finance, Public Works Management and Policy, and Journal of International Business Studies. Dr. Orr has recently been involved in strategic planning for a new city in northern India, policy formation for a $300 billion dollar program of infrastructure renewal in California, and portfolio constructions for a $500 million globally diversified infrastructure fund of funds. Dr. Orr holds a Ph.D in Engineering from Stanford University and was advised by Nobel Laureate, Economics, Douglass North.
 
Marc Porat, Serial Entrepreneur, and Chairman, Serious Materials

Dr. Marc Porat has founded and led technology companies since 1983. Since 2002, he has created three companies focused on the built environment, concentrating on sustainable construction materials and methods to help reduce climate change. Prior to focusing his energies on the built environment, Marc initiated and led several notable ventures in information technology including Perfect Commerce (1998), General Magic (1991), and Private Satellite Network (1983). Early in his career, Marc was a senior economist at the U.S. Department of Commerce, and then Director of the Program on Communication and Society for the Aspen Institute, where he has remained an active member and participant for over 30 years. Marc graduated from Columbia College, and earned a double Masters and a Ph.D. from Stanford University.
 
John Raisian, Tad and Dianne Taube Director, Hoover Institution

John Raisian, the Tad and Dianne Taube Director of the Hoover Institution and a senior fellow, is a labor economist whose current interests include the application of economic principles to public policy formation and the appropriate role of government in society. He served as senior economist in the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and as special assistant for economic policy and director of research in the U.S. Department of Labor during the first term of the Reagan administration.
                                                                                                                                               

John RockwellJohn Rockwell, Managing Director, DFJ Element
John Rockwell has more than 18 years of experience investing in venture capital and developing companies commercializing applications of advanced materials and over 23 years of financial investment experience. Prior to Element, John was a Partner at Advent International Corporation and managed the firm's California office. John joined Advent in 1996 and participated in the direct investment activities of both Advent's EnviroTech and Advent Energy II funds. His primary areas of investment focus include advanced materials, energy storage, renewable energy, and supply chain management. Before Advent, John spent 7 years at Materia Ventures Associates, investing in and managing early-stage companies that were commercializing advanced material technologies. While at Materia, John also served as C.E.O. of Luxar Corporation, a manufacturer of CO2 lasers for the medical market and as President of SSC, Inc., a manufacturer of high-performance ceramic oxide materials used in superconductors, fuel cells, catalysts, and other applications. From 1984 to 1988, John held various positions at 3M Corporation in its Acquisitions and Business Development Department.    

Richard Sousa, Senior Associate Director and Research Fellow, Hoover Institute
Richard Sousa is senior associate director, director of the library and archives, and a research fellow. An economist specializing in human capital, discrimination, labor economics, and K–12 education, he coauthored School Figures: A Look at the Details behind the Debate (2003), and his op-eds have appeared in newspapers throughout the country. He works with the director to develop institutional policies, strategy, long-range planning, and external communications and oversees all operations at the library and archives: acquisitions, preservation, access, and publications. From 1990 to 1995, Sousa was the coordinator of Hoover’s Diplomat Training Program. Sousa was senior economist at Welch Associates and Unicon Research Corporation and an economist at RAND. He taught economics and statistics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He has testified in class action legal cases. Sousa holds degrees from Boston College and UCLA.  

Frederick W. Sroka, Tax Partner, Venture Capital and Private Equity Group, Price Waterhouse Coopers

Fred Sroka leads the San Jose Venture Capital and Private Equity tax practice. He is one of the firm’s leading partnership tax experts, with 30 years professional experience. Fred’s venture capital clients include Sequoia Capital, Vector Capital, Sevin Rosen Funds, Mayfield, Morgenthaler and Foundation Capital. Fred is a frequent speaker on private equity taxation. He has presented in the past year at the NVCA Annual Meeting, the VCBC, the annual Private Equity CFO Conference, and numerous other forums. Fred’s background includes 18 years’ experience as a tax attorney,. Fred was a certified tax specialist and served as tax chair of the Bar Association of San Francisco. Fred has served as legal and tax adviser to many technology companies, working with a number of firms from start-up through IPO. Fred also served as the global tax technical director for PricewaterhouseCoopers’ e-business team. In this capacity, he provided e-business transformation workshops and presentations to numerous Fortune 100 companies in fields ranging from technology to media. Fred is a California attorney, a CPA licensed in Colorado and has been on faculty at Golden Gate University Graduate School of Taxation since 1983. He received a B.S. degree in Economics from Santa Clara University and a J.D. from U.C.L.A.

Andreas Stavropoulos, Managing Director, Draper Fisher Jurvetson

Andreas Stavropoulos is a Managing Director at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, where he serves on the boards of a number of private companies. Past investments in companies that have been acquired include: Mobile 365 (Sybase), Centerpost (West Corp.), Everdream (Dell), and Appstream (Symantec). Andreas focuses primarily on software investments (consumer/internet and enterprise infrastructure), mobility, and technology-enabled services. Prior to joining DFJ, Andreas was with McKinsey & Company's San Francisco office, where he worked with senior management teams of corporate clients with an emphasis on information technology. Prior to McKinsey, he was a Senior Analyst at Cornerstone Research, a financial and economic consulting firm that helps resolve complex issues arising in high-profile business litigation. Andreas is a summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Harvard College in computer science. He also holds an MS degree in computer science from Harvard University and an MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was a Baker Scholar and graduated first in his class. 
 

Mark Sugarman, Founder and Managing Partner, MHS Capital

Mark is Founder & Managing Partner of MHS Capital, a new $35M early stage venture fund backed by an LP base of world class technology entrepreneurs and executives.   MHS Capital focuses on leading the first institutional rounds for bootstrapped software and Internet companies raising $500K-$2.5M and sponsors serial entrepreneurs to do small tech buyouts. Mark has invested in fifteen companies over the past twelve years with six exits, including two companies with market capitalizations of over a billion dollars, and seven active investments. Prior investments include Edusoft (acquired by Houghton Mifflin), Getsmart (acquired by Providian/IAC), Nutrisystem (NTRI), Savi Technology (acquired by Lockheed Martin), Verticalnet (VERT), and 1stup (acquired by CMGI). Mark currently sits on the boards of Fonality, iLike, magnify360 and Positive Energy, and is an investor and board observer at Courttrax and Venturebeat.  Mark has a B.A. from Stanford University.

James L. Sweeney, Professor, Stanford University and Director, Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency

James Sweeney is Director of the Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency; Professor of Management Science and Engineering; Senior Fellow of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research; Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace; and Senior Fellow of the Stanford Institute for International Studies.  His professional activities focus on economic policy and analysis, particularly in energy, natural resources, and the environment.
He holds a BS degree from MIT in Electrical Engineering and a PhD from Stanford University in Engineering-Economic Systems.

Sven Thesen, Utility Operations and Sustainability Strategy, Better Place

Sven Thesen, who joined Better Place in April 2008, is responsible for driving the company's sustainability vision and strategic relations with key utility companies. In his role, Thesen leverages his deep technical expertise in electric transportation and environmental engineering to help Better Place achieve its greater goal of global oil independence. Prior to joining Better Place, Thesen managed the Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E) sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) emission reduction team and assisted the United Nations in revising the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories. As a result of his contributions to the IPCC, he and other contributing engineers and scientists were awarded the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize. In his most recent post at PG&E, Thesen served as Electric Drive Supervisor within company's Clean Air Transportation Department. Under his direction, the Electric Drive Group secured its leadership position in utility-based EV initiatives by being the first utility to demonstrate Vehicle to Grid (V2G) technology. Thesen received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University and has been recognized by California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration with the 2006 Governor's Environmental and Economic Leadership Award. As an avid cyclist and zero emission activist, sets a good example for his two children and wife by biking to and from work and their residence in Palo Alto, California.

Ann Winblad, Co-Founder and Managing Director, Hummer Winblad Venture Partners
Ann Winblad is the co-founder and a Managing Director of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners.  Hummer Winblad Venture Partners (www.humwin.com ) is a leading venture capital firm focused on software investing and manages over $1 billion in cumulative capital.  Since Hummer Winblad Venture Partners’ inception in 1989 the firm has launched over 100  new software companies. Ann has over 30 years of experience in the software industry as a successful software entrepreneur, strategy advisor, technical author and venture capitalist. Her background and experience have been chronicled in many national business and trade publications.  Ann has a BA in Mathematics and in Business Administration.  She has an MA in Education with a focus in International Economics from the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota.  Ann also has an honorary Doctorate of Law degree from the University of St. Thomas. Ann served and serves as a Director of numerous start-up and public companies. She is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of St. Thomas, co-chair of SDForum and serves as an advisor to many entrepreneurial organizations.  

Richard Wolpert, Managing Director, Mail Room Fund

Richard has been a pioneer in the fields of consumer digital media and entertainment for more than 20 years with experience as an entrepreneur, an operating executive, and as an investor. Richard is currently the Managing Director of the Mail Room Fund.  The Mail Room Fund is backed by Accel Partners, AT&T, Venrock and the William Morris Agency and focuses on early state investments in the internet, technology, and digital media areas. In addition to his role as the Managing Director of the Mail Room Fund Richard also serves as a venture advisor to Accel Partners and an Executive Advisor to Rob Glaser, C.E.O. of RealNetworks. Throughout his career Richard has held senior executive positions at the Walt Disney Company, RealNetworks, Adobe, and Apple. Richard has also been a successful entrepreneur and investor having been part of numerous successful startups which have gone on to achieve long-term success as well as successful exits. Richard created and taught the first Macintosh Programming class at Stanford University in the mid 80’s and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from UCLA.  Richard is actively involved in numerous philanthropic organizations and serves on the board of the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America, the UCLA school of Theater, Film, and Television, and the Board of Governors of Cedars Sinai Hospital.

Nick Yang, Co-Founder and President, KongZhong Corporation

Nick Yang graduated from Stanford University, master’s degree in electrical engineering in 1999. Now, Nick Yang is President of KongZhong Corporation. Mr. Yang founded KongZhong with Mr. Zhou Yunfan in 2002 and listed the company on NASDAQ (KONG) in 2004. Before KongZhong, he co-founded ChinaRen.com in 1999, and merged it with Sohu.com Inc. in 2000. KongZhong Corporation is a leading provider of advanced second-generation (2.5G) wireless value-added services in China. KongZhong Corporation was founded by Mr. Zhou Yunfan and Nick Yang in 2002. In 2004, KongZhong was listed on NASDAQ (KONG). Partnering with China Mobile, China Unicom, China Telecom and China Netcom, KongZhong provides various wireless value-added services to China's mobile phone and fixed-line phone users.
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