Forum Organizers: 

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Maureen Berg

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Kevin Brannon

Kevin Brannon is an attorney at Preston, Gates & Ellis, working in the firm's corporate and emerging growth practice groups. His practice emphasizes business transactions; particularly private and public equity financings, mergers, acquisitions and other strategic transactions for emerging and growing companies. Kevin also has substantial experience with franchising, distributorships and dealerships, alcoholic beverage regulation, trademarks and trade secrets. Kevin has assisted private and public companies in obtaining financing by way of private offerings of common and preferred stock and convertible debt; SBA direct and guaranteed loans; industrial development bonds, and through innovative arrangements with vendors and customers. He has also advised corporations, their directors and shareholders in SEC reporting compliance, corporate governance, tender offers, mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures and trademark licensing. He has counseled both emerging and mature franchising companies in establishing and maintaining franchise systems as well as registration and disclosure issues and resolving disputes with franchisees.

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David Chen

David brings more than 20 years of operating experience in the software, Internet commerce, and wireless markets. He began his career as one of the early team members at Solectron, a $16 billion market leader in electronics manufacturing. Dave was also founder and managing partner of The Ascent Group: a strategy consult serving firms like Intel, Microsoft, Sun, Bell Atlantic, Fujitsu and Marimba. He is a co-founder at GeoTrust, and during his tenure as an OVP partner; he served on the board of @mobile prior to its acquisition by software.com.

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Joe Davis

The 30-year career of Joe Davis is one of combining imaginative technical innovation with sound business practices to set new industry standards. His areas of specialization have included magnetic and optical disk drives, as well as such related technologies as optical switches, micro-optics, and micro machining. Most recently, Joe was co-founder and interim COO of Iolon, a Seagate spin-off that focused on optical switches and tunable lasers for telecommunications. Before that, he was co-founder and CTO of Quinta Corporation, where he co-invented a multi-disk data-storage architecture that combined the best features of magnetic and optical technologies. Earlier, Joe held senior executive technical-management positions with several successful companies. Joe received his MS and Ph.D. degrees in aeronautics, with a Ph.D. minor in business economics, from the California Institute of Technology.

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John Gabbert

John Gabbert leads VentureOne's research and analysis efforts, and is responsible for the body of venture capital knowledge that is the foundation of VentureOne's products and services. Mr. Gabbert has held various positions within VentureOne, including Director of Operations and Research Operations Manager. In these capacities, he managed operational aspects related to the domestic and international growth of VentureOne and was responsible for ensuring the integrity of VentureOne's database as well as managing the research processes. Prior to joining VentureOne, he held positions at AT&T and John Hancock. Mr. Gabbert received his BA from the University of Washington, with concentrations in finance and marketing.

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Scott Gibson

A pioneer in Oregon's high-tech industry started his high-tech career at Intel, where he rose to general manager of its Memory Components Division. In 1983 he co-founded Sequent Computer Systems, where he served as president from 1988 to 1992, building a start-up venture into a $250 million business. Gibson has spent the last 9 years as an investor in, strategic consultant to, and Director of many high-technology companies and non-profits. He sits on the boards of TriQuint Semiconductor, Radisys, Integrated Measurement Systems, Webridge, etrieve, CenQuest, and Livebridge.

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Fadel Hamed

Lambda Optics, Inc. Founder, President and CEO - Fadel's industry experience, progressive leadership skills and senior-level experience in Business Development and Engineering at IBM and DiCon Fiberoptics has positioned him well to lead Lambda's team. Prior to founding Lambda Optics, Inc., he served as the COO for Interneer, Inc., an enterprise software engineering firm. Fadel holds both a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering and a Master of Engineering in Computer Integrated Manufacturing from UCLA. Fadel's doctoral studies in Mechanical Engineering at UC Berkeley focused on the use of Plasma Immersion Ion Implantation to create fiberoptic Wave Guides. While at UC Berkeley, Fadel has also completed Haas School of Business certificate program in Management of Technology.

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Jerry Keppler

Jerry Keppler is a managing director of AHVP, and a current director of Health Sense International, Myrio and NetUPDATE. Jerry was a founding partner of the Seattle-based accounting firm Clothier & Head. He has assumed finance roles with emerging growth companies in food products, manufacturing, retail and medical services. Recently Jerry facilitated mergers and acquisitions for Pet's Choice, Inc., a veterinary practice management consolidation company. He also worked with Phenneger & Morgan, a firm that performs and structures employee buy-outs and stock option programs. Previously, he was CFO of a local investment enterprise that acquires private companies. Jerry is also an early-stage investor in several Northwest companies.

      

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Keith Larson

Keith Larson manages Intel's minority equity investments in and identifies strategic acquisition opportunities of networking and communications building block-related companies. In 1996, Intel Corporation recruited Keith to its venture investing and acquisition group, now known as Intel Capital. In addition to several acquisitions, he and his team have invested in many successful companies including Berkeley networks (acquired by Fore Systems), Globespan (GSPN), Research in Motion (RIMM), Rocketchips (acquired by Xilinx), and XLNT Designs (acquired by Intel). Prior to joining Intel, Keith operated a strategy and financial advisory firm and was founding member of a consumer software company (PrintPaks, later sold to Mattel). In 1986, Keith co-founded a $51 million venture capital fund (InterVen II, L.P.) where he was a general partner for over 9 years. Keith's investments while at InterVen II included Protocol Systems, Inc. (PCOL), Northwest Pipe and Casing (NWPX), and Sports Incorporated (acquired by Adidas America). As a part of Intel Capital's role in helping grow Intel's business, Keith is actively engaged in the development of Intel's networking and communications strategies. He and Intel Capital were the focus of a Harvard Business School Case Study published in 2000 examining how Intel obtains strategic value from its investments. He is a CPA and has been an Adjunct Professor at the Oregon Graduate Institute and Portland State University where he has taught classes in financing emerging growth companies and technology commercialization. He regularly speaks at conferences and seminars such as Next Generations Networks and Networld + Interop.

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Bruce Lichorowic

Bruce has served as President and CEO since June 1999. He has over twenty years of diversified professional experience in startup operations, marketing, sales, and venture-capital fund raising within the Internet and LAN industries. From 1996 to 1999, Bruce was a General Partner at Lichorowic & DelGrosso where he was instrumental in developing and launching several startups and assisting with turnaround situations and market repositioning for Internet Service Providers (ISPs), most notably Best Internet Communications. In 1990, Bruce also started a venture-backed fiber optic enterprise company Raylan Corporation, which sold to AMP Corporation in 1996. Prior to Raylan, he was with Tiara Computer Systems, Xidex Corporation/Control Data, and Procter and Gamble. Bruce holds a BS in Marketing from the University of Dayton in Dayton, Ohio, and an MBA from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, MN.

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Frank Moscow

With over 19 years of executive search success, Frank's projects are exclusively at the Board of Directors, CEO, COO, General Manager, and VP level. As a limited partner in three venture funds and counsel to Venture Capitalists, Board of Directors and CEOs on senior executive searches, Frank is at the leading edge of executive search issues in high technology. He is a frequent author and speaker on executive search in the technology market. An Oregon native, Frank majored in Computer Science and Economics at University of Oregon in Eugene. Frank is married, has two children and enjoys most outdoor activities (especially golf!), good food, wine, and travel.

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Derek Ridgley

Derek Ridgley is a senior vice president and senior relationship manager of Silicon Valley Bank's Portland office. The office opened in 1991 and has since grown to 12 banking professionals serving over 150 clients in Oregon and Utah. The Portland regional office provides a full complement of banking, financing and investment services to emerging growth technology companies. Mr. Ridgley joined Silicon Valley Bank in 1997as a vice president and lender in the Portland office. He now shares the responsibility of management and strategic leadership for the office. Prior to joining the SVB, Mr. Ridgley served as vice president of U.S. Bank, a company he was with for 10 years. Mr. Ridgley serves on various boards and committees in the professional and civic arenas. He serves on the Board of Directors of the Oregon Entrepreneurs Forum for 2001 and will chair the organization in 2002. In addition, Mr. Ridgley serves on the Board of Directors of the Software Association of Oregon, the Entrepreneurs Foundation of Oregon and is a past president of The Oregon Forum. He is also a member of the Northwest Venture Group and the American Electronics Association. Mr. Ridgley earned a bachelor's degree from Cornell University College of Arts & Sciences with a focus on history and government. He has also been involved with the Library Foundation of Multnomah County, the United Way, and the Citizen's Education Commission.

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Dana Sands

Dana Sands is a Director in Salomon Smith Barney's Private Equity Direct Group. Prior to joining Salomon, Ms. Sands was a private equity banker at Chase H&Q. Prior to Chase, Ms. Sands held positions in private equity and high yield at PaineWebber. Previous experience includes the Utility Group at Morgan Stanley, the Asset-Backed Group at Lehman Brothers and Coopers and Lybrand. Ms. Sands holds a BA from Yale University and a Masters of Science in Accounting and an MBA from New York University's Stern School. Ms. Sands is also a CPA.

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Richard Strayer

With 20 years of organizational consulting experience in over 250 high technology companies, Dick has earned an excellent reputation with CEOs and the venture capital community. Dick's professional expertise lies in organization and executive development, particularly founder transitions, top-management team building, and CEO coaching. As a professional advisor or special limited partner to six venture capital firms, Dick has provided both pre-deal due diligence and post-funding consultation to startup teams. His consultation has included executive coaching and team building for over 100 pre-IPO companies. More than an advisor, Dick is an activist -- a catalyst for change. For this reason, he is known by the venture capital community as the person to call when tough people issues inhibit startup success. Dick also provides coaching and consultation to senior executives at larger corporations. In this capacity, he helps the executives diagnose organization and interpersonal issues and define change and development plans. His work often involves executive team building as well as planning for broader organizational change such as restructuring and acquisition integration. Dick maintains professional affiliations with the American Psychology Association and the Bay Area Organizational Development Network. He earned his MA and Ph.D. degrees in Psychology from Claremont Graduate School in 1971 and 1973, respectively. He completed a Post-Doctorate, with a focus on clinical and organizational behavior at the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute in 1973-74, and later earned an MBA in Marketing from Boston University in 1979.

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Jon Summers

Mr. Summers is an attorney and CPA who represents technology and emerging growth companies with respect to the formation, financing, securities, corporate governance, and transactional matters. He has handled complex venture capital financings, mergers and acquisitions, strategic alliances, and technology licensing arrangements for a variety of public and private company clients in a wide range of industries, including enterprise software applications, ecommerce, medical devices and services. Mr. Summers is active in bar and civic matters. He is Secretary of the Securities Section of the Oregon State Bar, and is active in the Oregon Entrepreneurs Forum. He also serves on the board of directors of two nonprofits corporations, Mentor Research Institute and Childswork, Inc. Prior to his legal career, Mr. Summers worked for four years with Arthur Andersen as a financial statement auditor where he earned his certified public accounting license in 1989. Mr. Summers graduated from Willamette University College of Law in 1994 and University of Oregon in 1987.

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Ron Swenson

Mr. Swenson has over 30 years experience in the high technology business both in operations and in the financing of start-up and emerging growth companies. Mr. Swenson was the founder of Western Technology Investment in 1980. Western Technology Investment is a specialist in venture lending to venture capital-backed start-up and emerging growth companies. Western Technology Investment has made commitments of $1.5 billion in asset-based financing transactions to start-up and emerging growth companies and currently has $1.0 billion under management. Mr. Swenson has a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering from St. Cloud State University and a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Minnesota.

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Paul Tomlinson

Paul is a Corporate Psychologist consulting on a full time basis with Alexander Hutton Venture Partners. He is the founder and principal of the Career/Life Institute beginning service in 1991. Paul's specialty is organizational and management process design, coaching and team building. He has provided services to a range of companies from Fortune 100 companies to small family owned businesses and much in between. Paul's experience includes assignments with most industry groups including high tech and internet startups, natural resources, banking, manufacturing, service, government and professional ports. Experience also includes interim operational roles for clients including Human Resources Director and Regional Manager for a construction company and COO for a medical software startup. Paul previously spent eight years with an international consulting firm, Right Associates, serving a variety of companies in the 5 NW states with outplacement, organizational and coaching assignments. He also served as the Manager of Administration and Planning at CRISTA Ministries and ten years with Seafirst Bank (now Bank of America). He has an M.A. in Psychology and is author of, How a Man Handles Conflict at Work.

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Mark Cameron White

Mr. White represents emerging growth companies and investment funds on all matters relating to the formation, financing, growth and liquidity of technology based enterprises. He represents and advises companies on a wide variety of transactional matters, including business and legal issues as they pertain to complex strategic and venture financings, acquisitions, and licensing and distribution arrangements. Mr. White's practice principally covers corporate, technology, financing and corporate partnering matters for a wide variety of private and public company clients in the ecommerce, internet infrastructure, internet services, enterprise networking, telecommunications, mobile computing, software and hardware peripherals industries. He regularly advises companies on strategic positioning, business model and revenue generation issues, the preparation of investment materials and presentations, and the structure of complex corporate reorganizations, consolidations and commercial partnerships. Mr. White also represents investment funds on formation issues, and regularly represents investors in making portfolio investments. Mr. White has represented recognized companies such as HotMail, Nuvomedia, Native Minds, 3ware, SurfMonkey.com, garageband.com, Betasphere, the EDA Consortium and AirFlash - and venture capital funds such as New Enterprise Associates, Nexit Ventures and Selby Ventures. Mr. White has written several papers on matters effecting emerging growth companies and has spoken on these topics in seminars organized by the Software Development Forum, the Northern California Association of Harvard Business School, the International Angels Institute, the Asian Business Association, the EDA Consortium and other groups. Mr. White has also spoken on these topics in Singapore, the Peoples Republic of China and Malaysia. He is the organizer of the "Soup to Nuts" seminar series which in 2000 was sponsored by Silicon Valley Bank, New Enterprise Associates, NASDAQ, Microsoft and Oracle. Prior to co-founding White & Lee in 1996, Mr. White formed two other law firms: White & Altman, and the firm of Carr, DeFilippo, White & Ferrell. Mr. White started his legal career as an attorney in the Silicon Valley offices of Cooley Godward and also Fenwick & West. Prior to his legal career, Mr. White worked as the Managing Director of the International Trade division of the Harper Group, a Fortune 500 company and was the founder of Campamericana–an international travel operator based in Brussels, Belgium. For fun, Mr. White is an avid golfer, runner and oarsmen. Mr. White received his law degree at the University of California at Berkeley - Boalt Hall School of Law in 1987, his M.B.A. at Harvard University, Graduate School of Business in 1979 and his Bachelor of Arts at Rutgers College, Rutgers University, in 1977, Phi Beta Kappa.

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Robert Winter

Robert is an experienced manager, private equity investor and consultant with wide ranging knowledge and interests. He acquired marketing, sales management and business development expertise with increasingly senior positions at IBM, Informatics General and Hewlett-Packard. He entered the venture capital industry as a senior associate with Canaan Partners and subsequently was a General Partner at Comdisco Ventures. Prior to co-founding Rocket Ventures, Robert was an independent consultant and individual investor, involved with start-ups in both roles. Robert also is a frequent speaker at entrepreneurial forums such as the San Jose based Software Development Forum and the Sun JavaOne Conference. He holds a BSEE from Rice University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

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John Zagula

At Ignition, John's focus includes assessment of prospective investments, providing marketing and business strategy counsel to Ignition investments and responsibility for marketing Ignition itself. Prior to joining Ignition, John spent over 8 years at Microsoft in various senior marketing and strategy positions. As GM of Global Campaigns he was responsible for Microsoft's overall business-to-business communications across all business targets, products and offerings. In previous positions he was responsible for the development of the Microsoft Office brand and marketing the desktop and server applications lines products. He contributed to the original competitive wins of Word and Excel and the re-positioning of desktop applications into Office. This included the launches of every version of Office and all of its component applications and its growth from a $50 MM to a nearly $10 billion business and from 20% to 85% market share. John's other contributions and responsibilities at Microsoft included the company's most successful online marketing campaigns; its first use of internet banners and email; the establishment of a database marketing practice; and the development of an ongoing marketing and business strategy curriculum and video series, "The Marketing Playbook: Meeting and Beating Customer Desires and Competitor Threats." Before Microsoft, John was a marketing manager at American Express in International Business Development, Customer Acquisition and Retention. John was also an associate at International Data Corporation where he wrote the first industry whitepaper on the Desktop Publishing Industry. John earned a Masters in International Economics and Monetary Theory from the Fletcher School (Harvard/Tufts). He is also a magna cum laude graduate of Marquette University and a Fulbright Scholar at Universität zu Köln.

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