Pejman Makhfi
Founder and Managing Director
Pejman Makhfi is a Silicon Valley technology
veteran, serial entrepreneur and angel investor
in the high-tech industry. Pejman has more than
eighteen years of progressive experience in
providing consultancy services and best practices
to entrepreneurs, technology investors, and
forward-thinking Startups.
Widely known as a leader in the field of Business
Process Management and Knowledge
Modeling, Pejman has an extensive background
in the software and financial industries and
has been the key architect for several award-winning
industry leaders such as FinancialCircuit and
Savvion.
His background includes:
CTO position at FinancialCircuit,
a company recognized as the technological innovator
for financial industry and awarded as Silicon
Valley's Ninth Fastest-Growing Private Company
in 2003. (Acquired by LPL)
CTO position at TEN (The Enterprise
Network), a top Silicon Valley technology incubator
hosting more than fifty Start-ups. Pejman managed
TEN’s R&D as well as advised startups
on the issues and trends affecting early stage
and emerging growth companies. TEN has helped
launch of many companies, including eBay, iPrint,
Xros, Vertical Networks, Right Works, and Intruvert
Networks.
VP of Solutions at Savvion,
where he defines the roadmap and manages all
solution development activities for Telecom,
Financial Services and Life Sciences industries.
Director of Venture Development
at Singularity
Institute, Managing Director of a private
angel group and a member of Venture Mentoring
Team where he provides assistance and guidance
to several early-stage companies.
Mr. Makhfi holds a B.S./M.S.
degree in Computer Science from Dortmund University
in Germany and is a Scrum Master (CSM), an internationally
licensed Project Manager (PMP) as well as a
certified Lean Six Sigma Black Belt (SSBB) in
continuous business improvement. He has authored
multiple Patents and standards and is an active
contributor to organizations such as "IEEE
Neural Networks Society", "American
Association for Artificial Intelligence"
and “American Society for Quality”.
Mr. Makhfi is the author of
numerous articles, including Heptalysis
– A Methodic Approach to Venture Management
and NPDI
Processes (to manage New Product Development
and Introduction).
Chutta Ratnathicam
Managing Director
Having served as CFO, Chutta has twenty seven
years experience in Finance and Executive management
with Conway (NYSE CNW) a $4+ billion publicly
traded global transportation and logistics company
headquartered in Palo Alto, California. He held
several positions in its subsidiaries and the
corporate office. Experience in CFO functions,
Finance, Strategic Planning, Investor relations,
International Operations and sales, Internal
Audit and Financial Accounting and Information
Technology.
Chutta currently serves on the Board of Directors
of Franklin Resources Inc, a $3+ billion Financial
Services Company headquartered in San Mateo,
California and is on Advisory Board of California
State University, School of Business.
Chutta holds an MBA from University of Portland
and has been a Member, Council of Financial
Executives, the Conference Board.
Cirrus
Shakeri
Managing Director
Cirrus Shakeri has been in the forefront of
applying Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies
to building enterprise software for more than
15 years. His focus has been on process automation,
information management, and big data analytics
in a wide range of domains and industries. He
has deep technical know-how in many areas of
AI including semantic technologies, machine
learning, knowledge graphs, natural language
processing (NLP), recommendation systems, automated
sense making, and multi-agent systems. He has
applied AI technologies in enterprise software
including engineering design automation, supply
chain optimization, enterprise performance management,
customer support optimization, enterprise recruiting,
eLearning systems, situational awareness for
first responders, enterprise social networks,
enterprise knowledge management and many more.
Previously, Cirrus was a senior director at
the office of the CTO at SAP working on technology
trend analysis and technology scouting, building
prototypes and frontrunner applications, putting
together technology strategy for legacy systems
and platform renewal, co-developing products
with customers, and technical/scientific research.
Cirrus has also worked for small and medium
size companies and because of that he is of
the opinion that startup and small companies
should leverage their speed and agility to innovate
fast while large corporations should rely on
their strength in scaling up (and out) the innovative
products that small companies build.
Cirrus has a bachelor's degree in mechanical
engineering, a master’s degree in control
systems, and a Ph.D. in the applications of
artificial intelligence in engineering. He is
a US patent holder and has published in academic
journals and has given talks at industry conferences.
Fernando
Garcia
Managing Director
Fernando Garcia has a rich business background
combining entrepreneurial and managerial experience
with business school research & teaching.
Mr. Garcia began his business career in the
mergers & acquisitions department of Kidder
Peabody & Company and worked on major M&A
client engagements including General Electric,
DuPont, and Honeywell, among others, advising
them on potential acquisitions, divestures,
and other corporate finance issues. At that
time, Kidder was a major Wall Street firm representing
Fortune 500 companies.
He has served as president of First Venture
Securities Corporation and Cambridge Venture
Partners, where he identified and structured
transactions for middle market privately held
companies seeking financing for "roll-ups"
via acquisition or merger, including $100 million
equity investment for businesses in the global
power supply manufacturing industry. In addition,
Mr. Garcia advised small and middle market companies
on operational issues as well as financing acquisitions
and business expansion.
Since 2004, Mr. Garcia has been the chief investment
advisor to a global private equity fund, reviewing
investment opportunities in Asia, and Latin
America.
Mr. Garcia has taught corporate finance and
entrepreneurship courses at Haas School of Business
at UC Berkeley, and the Graduate School of Management
at UC Davis. Mr. Garcia was born in Los Angeles,
California, and received his M.B.A. degree from
Harvard Business School, and B.A. and law degrees
from UC Berkeley.
Dr. W. Keith Kennedy
Jr.
Managing Director
W. Keith Kennedy Jr. is Chairman of the Board
of Con-way, a publicly traded global supply-chain
management company.
Dr. Kennedy has served as Chair of Joint Venture:
Silicon Valley Network and has served on the
board of that organization for over ten years.
At the present time he serves on two boards
of organizations sponsored by Joint Venture:
Silicon Valley: Smart Valley which deals in
Information Technology and Smart Health.
He has lectured at Stanford University in both
the School of Engineering and the Graduate School
of Business and he was a visiting professor
at U.C. Davis' Graduate School of Management.
He has also lectured at Cornell University,
Southern
Methodist University and Santa Clara University.
Other organizations for which he as served
as a member of the board include the California
Chamber of Commerce, New California Network,
Lytton Gardens, Superschools Foundation of the
Fremont High School District, Pacific Skyline
Council
of the Boy Scouts of America, Silicon Valley
Defense/Space Consortium, Center for Quality
Management (West) and the Bay Area Council of
the American Electronics Association.
Dr. Kennedy earned a B.S.E.E., M.S. and a Ph.D.
from Cornell University. He continues to support
Cornell University as a member of the Engineering
College Council and is also a member of the
University Council.
Robert Schweikher
Managing Director
Mr. Schweikher has over 30 years of Chairman,
CEO, COO and Executive management experience
managing companies and businesses that have
spanned from the early start-up stage to over
$700 million in size. These companies have been
in the aerospace, agricultural biotechnology,
electronic materials & devices, advanced
materials, agricultural chemical and wireless
communication sectors. He has been actively
involved as a principal, advisor, or director
with early and late stage companies within these
sectors. His most recent startups have been
Terra Access, Comtier, TerraMeth Industries
and Calgene.
His experience and expertise is in finance,
strategic and tactical planning, operations,
marketing, product development, business development,
chaos & change management, acquisitions
and divestitures, restructuring, and turnarounds.
He has successfully led significant company
acquisitions, company divestures, joint ventures,
and numerous licenses for product and technology.
He has served on the boards of Nitragin Company,
Nippon Amorphous Metals Company, Biologicals,
Conductimer Corporation, Calgene Inc., and TerraMeth
Industries. Mr. Schweikher also has served on
the U.S. Feed Grains Council and Board of the
Semiconductor Equipment & Materials Institute
(SEMI). He has also served as an advisor to
TEN, the Silicon Valley Incubator, and De Anza
– San Jose Business Incubator as a mentor.
Currently Mr. Schweikher is the founder and
chairman of a private consulting practice, founded
in 1985, providing chaos and change management
services to investors and management of start
up through medium sized business faced with
major strategic and tactical operational issues.
John West
Managing Director
John has a broad business and technical background
that includes International Business Development,
Direct/Indirect Sales, and Marketing on top
of solid Product Development and Engineering
foundation for a wide variety of enterprise-level
software products.
John was a Channel and Alliance Sales executive
at NetManage having joined them when they acquired
Librados, a highly successful open-source software
vendor where he had been an advisor from the
start of the company.
As a Business Development specialist at BEA
for 6 years, John drove revenue growth through
worldwide channel programs and major accounts
sales initiatives leveraging strategic ISV and
SI partners and spearheading new technology
introductions. In this role he lived in Tokyo
for two years helping them to become the fastest
growing region in the world growing over 200%.
Before that John ran Product Marketing and
Product Development in global systems vendors
ICL, Fujitsu, and Sperry Univac driving breakthrough
developments in fault tolerant computer systems.
John is known best for his exceptional strategic
planning and product positioning skills due
to his technology plus business background on
top of Math/Economics education. He has a Bachelors
degree in Math and Economics from Augsburg College
in Minneapolis, Minnesota and attended University
of Minnesota MBA program.
Ali Bassir
Managing Director
Ali has over 16 years of leadership experience
in the High Tech industry, with principal focus
in Telecom, M&A, Competitive Research, Due
Diligence and Social Media.
He has proven leader with extensive operations
and management experience in line, staff and
consulting roles with budget management responsibility
for up to $50M. His background includes:
Maintaining and Dealing with local and multi-national
facilities demands in a seamless fashion. Managing
vendor negotiations, including development of
RFP, proposal review, Global vendor selection,
and contract negotiations. Managing clients’
Web Hosting development to enable B2B, B2C e-Commerce,
Social Media, and SEO.
Enabling extranet infrastructure, storage, and
product development.
Managing projects deploying global WAN/VPN using
ATM, IPL, Frame Relay, Ethernet, DSL, &
WiFi. Vendor Management. Vendors included: AT&T,
Verizon, Level 3, & Time Warner.
Clients include: Sun Microsystems, Cisco, DirecTV,
Megapath, Litton, Nestle, Western Financial,
SCE, Blue Cross, Kaiser, Blue Shield, Polycom,
Wepex, American
Saving Bank, Winstar, Toyota, Wells Fargo, BofA,
SGI, Disney, Samsung, Pioneer
as well as a number of small to medium businesses.
Stephen
Gertz
Managing Director
Stephen Gertz is President of Sage Associates,
providing management consulting and investment
banking services to early stage technology companies.
He currently lectures in the MBA program at
the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation,
within the Haas School of Business, University
of California at Berkeley. Additionally, he
is an adjunct professor and advisory board member
for both Entrepreneurship and Interactive Media
Studies at Miami University (Oxford, OH) teaching
Entrepreneurship.
Steve has more than thirty years of senior
operating management and strategic consulting
experience (at C-level positions) at both start-up
and established technology-application companies,
domestically and in Europe and Asia. Steve has
served as CEO, President and board member of
several venture-backed early stage companies
where he defined and developed strategic direction
for these companies. Steve is a former Senior
Partner with Diamond Management & Technology
Consultants (Nasdaq:DTPI), a global management
consulting firm. Steve’s background also
includes technology investment banking where
he specialized in venture financing for Internet
start-ups during the Internet’s breakout
stage.
Steve holds a Master of Business Administration
degree with a concentration in Finance from
Long Island University, and a Bachelor of Science
degree in Physics from Miami University (Oxford,
Ohio).
Robert
Walstra, PhD
Managing Director
Bob brings to VentureChoice
a 20-year track record in new-business creation,
market development, and technology sales serving
in executive positions in the start-up and enterprise
sectors.
Prior to VentureChoice, he
headed sales, marketing, and business development
for one of the leading enterprise software companies
in Identity and Access Management, which was
acquired by IBM. Before that he established
a database-as-a-service start-up as the leading
vendor in the online-media sector. As a co-founder,
he created an entirely new business in Tax Technologies
and delivered global tax compliance systems
to public companies in the high-tech sector.
He established European sales operations with
offices in Amsterdam, London, and Rome for his
first start-up.
Before joining start-up community,
Bob launched Hewlett-Packard's early and successful
presence in electronic banking and electronic
commerce delivering installations with banking
and telecom conglomerates in the US, Japan,
and Europe. He started with HP as an R&D
project manager in parallel system design, followed
by an assignment to create HP's software factory.
Bob holds a Ph.D. in Computer
Science from the University of Toronto, and
an engineering degree in Applied Mathematics
from the Twente University in The Netherlands.
Dr. Marc R. Hannah
Co-Founder Silicon Graphics, Angel
Investor
Dr. Hannah co-founded Silicon Graphics, Inc.
(SGI) and spent 16 years there helping grow
the company from a small startup to a multi-billion
dollar computer hardware and software company
with products from desktop workstations to large,
multiprocessor supercomputers. When Dr. Hannah
left the company in 1997, he was Vice President
and Chief Scientist.
At SGI, Dr. Hannah was chief architect for most
of the company’s low-end and mid-range
graphics systems. His duties also included evaluating
technologies and markets in the 2-5 year time
frame to propose new products and strategies.
He worked closely with Jim Clark to initiate
projects to deliver SGI technologies into consumer
applications, including the Nintendo-64 game
machine for Nintendo and Orlando Interactive
TV trial for Time-Warner.
Since leaving SGI, Dr. Hannah has done consulting
projects for SGI and other companies, and participated
in a few start-ups, including Omniverse Digital
Solutions, a minority focused, web-based media
company (as VP of Technology), Pulsent Corporation,
a technology company developing compression
technology for video delivery over the Internet
(as VP of Product Architecture), and SongPro,
a consumer electronics company focused on offering
portable media players cartridges and content
for the Nintendo Game Boy (as Chief Technology
Officer). Dr. Hannah has also served on several
corporate Boards.
Dr. Hannah received a BS in Electrical Engineering
from Illinois Institute of Technology, and an
MS and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from
Stanford University.
Dr. Hannah has been granted 13 patents, and
received numerous awards & honors, including:
Kilby Young Innovator Award; Black Engineer
of the Year Technical Contribution Award; IIT
Alumni Association Professional Achievement
Award; NTA Professional Achievement Award; San
Francisco Black Chamber of Commerce Front Runner
Award; M.E.N.T.O.R. Network Technology Award;
M.O.B.E Influencers & Innovators Award.
Blake Escudier,
PhD, MBA
CEO, Entrepreneur, Business Owner Counselor
Blake has a diverse business
background with 20 years of start-up, small/medium
enterprise (SME) experience. Most recently Blake
was the Director of Small Business Development
for Northern California with San Jose State
University where he managed a federally contracted
program with an annual average of five thousand
small business clients in counseling and more
than fifteen thousand in training seminars.
Prior to this nationally recognized
position, he was the Director of the Small Business
Development Center in Southeastern Washington
State with over 400 direct business clients
including start-ups from the Dept of Energy
Hanford Nuclear site.
Blake's specialty areas include
counseling with business owners, marketing strategies
and has been teaching college level marketing
courses and public short courses for the past
14 years. As an entrepreneur he has started
businesses ranging from a sports agency to online
retail. He is CEO of Entrepanalysis LLC, a business
counseling firm.
Blake has been an instructor
with Washington State University and San Jose
State University. He has a BBA and MBA from
Loyola University New Orleans and served in
the United States Navy's nuclear program. In
January 2009 he completed a PhD in Organization
and Management from Capella University.
Blake resides in Melbourne, Australia and has
branch offices in California and Louisiana.
Sam Pullara
CEO, Venture Capitalist, Angel Investor
Sam provides valuable experience in the Private
Equity business from many perspectives, especially
working inside a leading Silicon Valley Venture
Capital firm, but also being an active Angel
investor working with many Angel groups, and
having worked in corporate development evaluating
strategic investment opportunities.
As an EIR (Entrepreneur In Residence) at Accel
Partners, a highly successful VC, Sam evaluates
possible investments and consults for portfolio
companies. Currently founder and CEO at Gauntlet
Systems, an early stage software startup, he
has also worked as Technical Advisor at 3Tera,
Angel Investor at Gene Network Sciences, Angel
Investor at 4charity.com, Private Equity Investor
at Kenamea, Inc., Private Equity Investor at
NextMonet.com, and in Corporate Development
at BEA where he was one of the architects of
the WebLogic Server.
Sam has a Masters of Science degree in Physics
from Northwestern University and a Bachelors
of Science degree from Worcester Polytechnic
Institute.
David
Richards
CEO, Serial Entrepreneur, Visionary,
Investor
Mr. Richards, has over 12 years as an executive
in the software industry and sits on both boards
and advisory boards of Silicon Valley start-up
ventures. Mr. Richards is a veteran of several
successful start-up companies in Enterprise
Software and is an industry-recognized leader
in both EAI and EAI standards. He has spoken
and written widely about standards in application
integration and the adoption of open-source
technologies. It is Mr Richards' vision of lowering
costs and adopting standards that is driving
down the costs of adapter technology in the
EAI industry.
David was VP and General Manager at NetManage
after they acquired Librados in 2004. He was
Founder, Chairman and CEO of Librados and before
that, Insevo, both highly successful software
startup companies.
He is also one of the founding members of the
EAI consortium; an organization actively involved
in the development of standards for integration
infrastructure and chairs the adapter committee.
Dan Meyers
Attorney, Entrepreneur, Advisor
Dan Meyers is a seasoned attorney with 13
years of experience representing start-ups,
private technology companies, large public companies
and venture capital funds in the various corporate,
intellectual property, equity financing and
acquisition transactions that are central to
the success of technology companies in Silicon
Valley. Dan was a partner in the Silicon Valley
office of a major national law firm, Bingham
McCutchen, for over five years. He has a wealth
of experience representing emerging growth companies
from start-ups to mature private companies in
Financing, M&A and IP related transactions.
Dan Meyers graduated cum laude from Harvard
Law School in 1994. He began practicing corporate
and transactional law with Bingham McCutchen
in its Silicon Valley office in 1996, and became
a partner in 2001.
Erik Randles
Entrepreneur, Advisor, Investor
Erik Randles has more than 15 years of leadership
experience in building start-ups, executing
deals and guiding top-tier companies in the
technology industry. An accomplished corporate
strategist, operational leader and investor,
his achievements have been featured in The Wall
Street Journal, Asia Times and eMarketWorld
as well as other business media.
Erik is the founder of Avalon Advisors and has
provided services to many start-ups and leading
technology and private equity firms including
KPCB, Partech International, KKR, Norwest Venture
Partners, Veritas and Composite Software. Erik
is an active investor and has negotiated and
executed over $500 million in acquisitions and
early-stage technology investments. Erik has
also held leadership positions at BEA Systems,
KPMG and Suntory International, and currently
sits on the advisory board of several software
start-ups.
Erik earned his Bachelor of Science degree from
Baylor University and his MBA from the University
of Notre Dame.
Coleman Gross, PhD
Scientific and Clinical Expert
Dr. Gross is the Medical Director of AVIYA
Clinical Research and Development. He has been
involved in research, both in academic medical
centers and the biopharmaceutical industry for
over 14 years. He has experience in all stages
of biomedical research from bench to clinical
research.
Dr. Gross has led multidisciplinary teams within
the biopharmaceutical industry and has considerable
experience in preclinical development, clinical
development strategy and planning, clinical
trial design, protocol development, and clinical
trial execution. Dr. Gross is also an experienced
clinical investigator and has conducted pharmaceutical
and NIH sponsored studies in multiple therapeutic
areas including metabolic diseases, endocrinology,
osteoporosis, diabetes, obesity, and other disease
areas. He has served as a medical and scientific
expert in successful financing and licensing
projects. Dr. Gross also maintains active clinical
practice in diabetes, endocrinology and metabolism.
Dr. Gross received an AB from the University
of California, Berkeley and a MD from the University
of Southern California. He completed postgraduate
training at UCLA and Stanford University. Dr.
Gross is board certified in internal medicine,
endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism. Dr.
Gross is Clinical Assistant Professor of Medicine
at UCSF.
David Belgum
Financial Solutions, Advisor
David has spent the last 12
years in finance leadership roles at Silicon
Valley startups. He is the founder of Belgum
Financial Solutions which provides CFO services
to venture-backed companies. His passion is
helping early-stage companies establish strategic
and operational excellence as a cornerstone
for creating wealth. He also conducts independent
valuations and advises companies on a variety
of valuation issues and is a member of the American
Society of Appraisers.
David has given presentations to entrepreneurs
at TVC and other forums on venture financing.
He holds a Master of Business Administration
degree with a concentration in Finance from
Santa Clara University.
Prof.
David Rivkin, PhD, PE
Scientist, Entrepreneur, Professor
of Business and Technology, Advisor
Prof. Rivkin is a 20 year veteran in biomedical
technology and founder of several Silicon Valley
and International high-tech startups in biomedical
technologies. As an executive at several highly
successful startups turned profitable, Prof.
Rivkin bring strong business,operations and
technology skills, his achievements have won
him many honors and awards. Prof. Rivkin holds
degrees in Chemistry, Nuclear Engineering, Applied
Mathematics and Engineering Management and teaches
both graduate and undergraduate students in
technology and business in addition to advising
firms and being on the board of directors of
several in the biotechnology and instrumentation
industry. Prof. Rivkin has a dual appointment
with Von Epstein University (Germany, UK and
USA) as Associate Professor of Physical and
Life Sciences, specializing in clinical metrology,
and Associate Professor of Business Sciences,
specializing in BioManagement and Small Business
Management/Entrepreneurship. During 2008, Prof.
Rivkin is a Visiting Professor of BioManagement
at International Technology University in Silicon
Valley, where he teaches Clinical Trials Management.
As the former CTO of SciEssence Intl, a global
scientific instrumentation and nanotechnology
firm and Technical Director of GCPI, a contract
R&D firm specializing in instrumentation
and medical device technologies, Prof. Rivkin
brings real world expertise to the firms he
advises. He is well known for his work with
distributed engineering based firms and the
infrastructure necessary for small firms to
manage their operations, especially in highly
regulated fields such as medical devices and
instrumentation. Prof. Rivkin provides advice
and assistance from business strategy to infrastructure,
from technology development to intellectual
property assessment.
Prof. Rivkin volunteers his time to many industry
societies and chairs several including nanotechnology
standards bodies. He is also an IEEE Engineering
in Medicine and Biology Society Distinguished
Lecturer.
Brett
Sargent
Business Executive, Senior Vice President
& General Manager, MBA
Brett Sargent has over 20 years’ experience
as in various managerial and executive roles
ranging from engineering, global sales, marketing,
product management, supply chain, quality and
manufacturing with such companies as Dupont,
Lockheed Martin, General Electric and Exelon
Nuclear. Most recently Brett is Vice President/General
Manager and Chief Technology Officer (CTO) at
LumaSense Technologies leading all product development,
product management, application engineering,
design engineering and marketing for this sensor
solution company based in Silicon Valley. Prior
to this position, Brett was Vice President of
Sales at LumaSense Technologies for 5 years
and also held the position of Global Sales Segment
Leader at General Electric of its $500M+ Transmission
& Distribution Products segment.
Brett has a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical
Engineering from Widener University, Master’s
Degree in Nuclear Engineering from Rensselaer
Polytechnic Institute and MBA in International
Business from Georgia State University. Brett
is also a certified Six Sigma Black Belt. Brett
is also an active member of IEEE, American Nuclear
Society, Cigre and National Association of Corporate
Directors. He has been published in numerous
articles related to strategic selling and marketing
and Smart Grid strategy and deployment.
About Us
