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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:

SHARED EQUITY INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT

Private Equity Investment Fund Manager
Building a new form of alternative mortgage product based on patent-pending real estate investment methods.

Hilliard EQUITIES (San Francisco & Philadelphia)

Consultant and Private Investor (ANGELS FORUM, BAND OF ANGELS, ROBIN HOOD VENTURES, L.O.R.E ASSOCIATES)
Co-manage deal sourcing and diligence activities for four early-stage venture capital partnerships in the following business areas: Cleantech, Specialty Finance, IT, internet infrastructure, semiconductors, hardware, and businesses involving OEM marketing channels and/or international sales. Negotiate term sheets, determine valuations, mentor entrepreneurs, and assist in operating roles as requested.

• Member of the deal pre-screening committees for Band of Angels and Angels Forum

• Serve as one of the “go to” guy for negotiating terms sheets

• Co-led syndication of an investment in Aereon Solutions (Co-investors include Intel Venture Capital, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, Tri-State Private Investors Network, New York Angels and others). Assisted in attaining local government investment support for the company (see: http://www.sep.benfranklin.org/news/040617.html)

• Board seats: Aereon Solutions, Clairvoyante (observer)

Haas School of business, Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and innovation
Wharton Business school, sol snider entrepreneurial research center

Visiting Scholar/Executive-in-Residence.  Mentor entrepreneurs. Judge business plan competitions. Published article detailing strategies for improving venture capital portfolio returns building on principles of financial engineering and behavioral economics (in press, Journal of Business Venturing). Identified an optimal deal structure for maximizing returns from early stage investments (see: Publications). Trained in securities valuation techniques for private equity transactions.

E-Color, Inc., Formerly Sonnetech, Ltd.

President and Founder. Bootstrapped company from inception to profitability without outside investment. Products were sold on an OEM basis to computer makers including: IBM, HP, Samsung, NEC, Viewsonic, Creative Labs, and LG Electronics.

• Raised over $33M of venture capital to adapt company into an internet infrastructure ASP in 1997.

• Managed an M&A process selling the company to LightSurf Technologies (headed by Philippe Kahn, founder of Borland), which provided an investor exit at a higher than expected valuation

• Built a global sales presence and brand-name recognition for our Colorific® products in the United States, Europe, Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. Initiated China OEM sales channel for LightSurf after acquisition.

• E-Color sold over 60M copies of its software worldwide at the time of its acquisition; making it one of the top 100 programs ever produced in unit sales terms. 

• Created a new market segment in the PC industry.

• Negotiated technology deals with Microsoft to add enabling technology into Microsoft’s DirectX platform.

• Managed development of the company’s patent portfolio which played a large factor in the acquisition valuation.

E-Color Investors included: Reuters Greenhouse Fund, The Invus Group, Enterprise Partners Venture Capital, 2M Invest and others. Board members included: Phil Schlein, Hon Wong, Francis Chen, Ron Taylor, Richard Sorkin, and Michael Hudes. Advisors included: Peter Danzig of Akamai and others.

MicroTouch Systems, Inc., NOW 3M Touch Systems

General Manager OEM Products, General Manager Asia Pacific. Launched a business unit for MicroTouch that marketed touch screens and pen digitizers to personal computer and display makers.

• Participated as part of the management team that took the company public.

• Led OEM sales efforts quadrupling business unit revenue in less than two years, growing to 13% of total company revenue. Key OEM Customers included NEC, Grid, Dell, and others.

• Managed product management of OEM touch screen products, shrinking a “board-based” touch screen technology into an ASIC-based chipset.

• Built and managed an Asian sales representative network.

Phoenix Technologies, Ltd.

Director of Product Management. Launched a division that grew to $11 million in annual OEM sales, comprising 20% of corporate revenues. Managed product managers responsible for 7 software and/or hardware product lines and 20+ engineering services projects. Customers included Toshiba, Seiko Epson, IBM/Lexmark, and Canon.

• Personally closed the first $8M in OEM sales before completion of product development.

• Served as part of the management team that took the company public.

• Initiated one of the first OEM ingredient branding programs in 1987; a marketing strategy which emulated in later programs such as: “Powered by Adobe” and “Intel Inside.”

mass logic, Addison-Wesley Publishing, Ten point systems, Johnson & Johnson, unionbanc computer corporation

Various Product Management, Sales Management, Sales, and Human Resources Positions.

PATENTS:

·   Eleven US and Two European patents issued: US5638117, US6392657, US6654493, US 6693647, US6744448, US6847376,
US6895113, US6963668, US7092008, US7177466, 7,339,595, EP1131788, EP1133722

    Inventor or co-inventor on 3 additional patent applications worldwide.

EDUCATION:   

2005         Haas school of business Visiting Scholar, Sol Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center,
                  University of California, Berkeley

2004         Wharton Visiting Scholar, Sol Snider Entrepreneurial Research Center,
                  University of Pennsylvania

1984         Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Sloan School)              

S.M. Management, 1984. General management curriculum emphasized entrepreneurship and management of technological innovation.

1979         Pomona College

B.A. Mathematical Economics, 1979. Graduated in 3½ years. Self-financed education.

OTHER ACTIVITIES:

·   San Francisco Program Chair, Wharton Private Equity Alumni Partners, 2004-2006.

·   Reviewer for peer-reviewed journal Long Range Planning, International Journal of Strategic Management, 2005

·   Invited speaker at Said School of Business at Oxford University, June 2003.

·   Invited speaker at fall term Proseminar in Entrepreneurship, MIT Sloan School, 1996-2002.

·   Invited speaker at Carlson Business School, University of Minnesota, 1998.

·   Invited speaker at Haas Business School for Partners for Entrepreneurial Leadership (PEL), University
of California Berkeley, 1998.

·   Amateur Triathlete, Completed 5 triathlons 1999-2004

MEMBERSHIPS:

·   Wharton PENN Real Estate Group

·   Wharton Private Equity Alumni Partners

·   IEEE

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