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COPAN Systems delivers the industry's most cost-effective storage solutions for the protection & management of persistent data.

Copan Systems is dedicated to delivering the highest quality products to our customers for the storage of persistent data. In order to meet our mission, COPAN System relies on the vision and guidance provided by our Executive Team, Board of Directors and Investors.

 
 

COPAN Systems Executive Team

COPAN Systems has a strong management team that is comprised of very experienced and knowledgeable storage professionals, including the following executives:
Mark Ward – President and Chief Executive Officer   Mark Ward
President and Chief Executive Officer
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  • Over two decades of storage industry leadership experience at both the start-up and global enterprise levels
  • Previously was Managing Partner at Ward Capital, LLC
  • Former Vice President and General Manager of North American Sales at StorageTek, where he consistently delivered sequential revenue growth
  • Former Managing Partner of Enterprise Storage Ventures, LLC, where he drove investment and managed a portfolio of storage start-ups
  • Over 14 years of top management experience at EMC where, in his last position, he served as VP of Worldwide Marketing, Software, and Professional Services
Chris Santilli – Chief Architect   Chris Santilli
Chief Technology Officer
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  • Chris brings 18 years of storage system design experience from DEC, StorageTek and Compaq Computers.
  • He has led engineering teams in architecting, development and delivery, beginning with diagnostics and controllers for 14- inch Winchester drives; then the first host-based RAID; the first controller based RAID product at DEC and comprehensive SAN management software.
  • Under his leadership at DEC/Compaq he architected and delivered the industry's first external SAN management appliance, SANworks Management Appliance. At DEC, Chris was responsible for engineering solutions to meet OEM requirements. His efforts led to a new revenue stream for DEC
  • Chris holds an MS in Computer Engineering from Colorado Technical University, and a BS in Computer Science from USC.
Garry Veale– Senior Vice President of International Sales   Garry Veale
Chief Sales Officer
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  • Over 20 years of senior level sales management experience in the storage and information management industry
  • Part of the initial & very successful EMC UK start up team in 1987
  • Recently Vice President and owner of EMC’s Global "Go to Market" initiative, managed out of EMC Corporation headquarters in Hopkinton, Mass.
  • EMC EMEA management roles included; Vice President Northern EMEA, Vice President UK & Ireland; and EMEA Channels Vice President
  • Prior to this Garry held senior/director level positions in both Sales & Marketing at International Business Machines, Hitachi Data Systems & Sun Microsystems
  • A native of Wales, he holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.Hons) & Masters in Business Administration (M.B.A) from University of Wales, Cardiff
David Dew - VP Engineering   David Dew
Vice President of Engineering
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  • David Dew is responsible for all hardware and software components related to the persistent data products as well as executing the forward looking direction for future products related to the MAID platform.
  • Brings to bear over 20 years of real world experience in the storage industry.
  • His background includes prior roles such as Director of Technology at Sun Microsystems, CTO of ILM at Storagetek, CTO of StorageNetworks, CTO of WinStorage, Director of Engineering for BMC Software and Boole and Babbage.
Ric Pepe – Vice President OEM Sales and Business Development   Patric (Ric) Pepe
Vice President of Business Development and Alliances
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  • Twenty-five years of technology industry experience, from ownership in a regionally based integration business to successful preparation and launch of a corporate public equity offering
  • His experience includes individual, regional, international and global sales responsibility. He has a track record of sales, relationship, and management success
  • In over seven years of employment at McDATA Corporation, he held the positions of Vice President of Southeastern and World-wide Federal Sales and Vice President of OEM Sales and Channel Development. At Brocade Communications, Inc. he held the position of Vice President of OEM Sales and Channel Development and Vice President of Strategic Alliances.
  • His responsibilities included the successful production of total revenue for two public companies, enhancing shareholder value throughout his tenure.
  • He holds a BA degree from St. Anslem's College, Manchester, N.H. He attended the University of Southern Mississippi in post graduate studies and was a graduate assistant at Yale University School of Medicine
  • He was an instructor pilot and "Top Gun" Captain in the US Air Force.

Board of Directors

COPAN Systems Board of Directors is managed by our President and our investment capital partners:
Amish Jani
Managing Director, FirstMark Capital
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  • Joined FirstMark Capital in 2000, focusing on software and systems investments in the enterprise, communications and digital media sectors
  • Leads FirstMark’s investment strategies in India
  • Prior to founding FirstMark Capital, he served as a partner at Pequot Ventures
  • Previously, specialized in mergers and acquisitions in the information technology and telecommunications sectors with J.P. Morgan and Credit Suisse First Boston
  • Featured speaker at leading conferences such as Linux World, Silicon India VC Summit, Asian Venture Capital Journal, and the Wharton School of Business on technology and venture trends in the US and India
  • Charter member in the Boston chapter of The IndUS Entrepreneurs (TiE), a global organization focused on fostering entrepreneurship
  • Currently serves on the board of directors for LinkExperts, IMI Mobile, Copan Systems and Scalent Systems, and as a board observer for Navic Networks, Syndesis and Tectura
  • Graduated summa cum laude with a B.S. in Economics and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania
Joe Marengi
Partner, Austin Ventures
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  • Joined Austin Ventures in 2007 as a venture partner focusing on the hardware and software industries.
  • Prior to joining Austin Ventures, Joe was with Dell Inc for 10 years where he was an SVP and general manager of Dell Americas and responsible for all of Dell’s operations in the America’s region, including sales, marketing, manufacturing and service.
  • Before coming to Dell, he was President and COO for Novell Inc where was responsible for strategy and day-to-day operations of the company.
  • Prior to Novell, his background includes ten years in executive sales, information technology, and production automation positions.
  • Holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts Boston and a Master’s degree from the University of Southern California.
Mark Ward
President and Chief Executive Officer, COPAN Systems
plus show bio
  • Over two decades of storage industry leadership experience at both the start-up and global enterprise levels
  • Previously was Managing Partner at Ward Capital, LLC
  • Former Vice President and General Manager of North American Sales at StorageTek, where he consistently delivered sequential revenue growth
  • Managing Partner of Enterprise Storage Ventures, LLC, where he drove investment and managed a portfolio of storage startups
  • Over 14 years of executive management experience at EMC where, in his last position, he served as VP of Worldwide Marketing, Software, and Professional Services
Robert (Bobby) Kocol
Financial Audit Committee Chair
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  • More than 27 years of experience to the Board of Directors at COPAN, most recently with StorageTek, where as Chief Financial Officer he helped orchestrate StorageTek’s acquisition by Sun Microsystems in a $4.1 billion deal.
  • During his tenure, he was the primary interface to the financial analyst community while he directed and managed the financial planning for the global operations of a $2 billion business.
  • Developed corporate strategic plans, successfully implementing effective internal controls over financial reporting in line with Sarbanes-Oxley requirements, and drove significant financial improvements since his appointment as the CFO in 1998.
  • Worked previously for Documation and General Motors in various positions.
  • Holds a Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Florida Technology University, and a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting from Mississippi State University.
Sunil Dhaliwal
General Partner, Battery Ventures
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  • Joined Battery in 1998 and focuses on investments in IT infrastructure and financial services
  • Currently a board member at Fintura, MRU Holdings (NASDAQ: UNCL) and Neocleus (observer)
  • Previously served as a director or board observer at CipherTrust, Inc. (acquired by Secure Computing), Netezza Corporation (NYSE Arca: NZ), Storigen Systems (acquired by EMC), @stake (acquired by Symantec) and Storability Software (acquired by StorageTek)
  • involved with other Battery investments including Cbeyond (NASDAQ: CBEY) and Akara (acquired by Ciena)
  • Prior to joining Battery, Sunil worked in the High Technology Group at Alex Brown & Sons, Inc., where he executed numerous equity financings and mergers and acquisitions in the communications and software industries
  • Graduated from Georgetown University with a BS in Finance and International Business
Ullas Naik
Managing Director, Globespan Capital
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  • Serves on the boards of BladeLogic, Certeon, GlassHouse Technologies, Millennial Net, Nantero, and Revio, and was formerly on the board of Pirus Networks (acquired by Sun Microsystems)
  • Previously served as a Managing Director of JAFCO Ventures, where he was responsible for several of the firm's software and infrastructure investments
  • Former SVP in the Technology Research Group at FAC-Equities/First Albany, where he led the public financings for companies including IDT Corp., Critical Path, Forrester Research, Mainspring (acquired by IBM), NaviSite, and USWeb (acquired by MarchFirst)
  • Began his career as the founder and operator of a specialty chemicals trading company in India
  • Holds an MBA, Bentley College, and a BS in Chemistry, Bombay University
Vern Brownell
Founder, Executive Vice President and Chief Technology Officer, Egenera, Inc.
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  • Founded Egenera, Inc. in March 2000 to transform his concepts of the BladeFrame® system and its Processing Area Network (PAN) architecture into reality
  • Leads product planning at Egenera, and guides the company's hardware, manufacturing, and software engineering teams
  • Spent eleven years at Goldman Sachs where, as CTO, he was responsible for its worldwide technology infrastructure and managed 1,300 technologists in data center, network, telecommunications, and trading floor operations
  • Former Manager of Engineering at Stratus Computer and Ztel Corporation, and former Principal Engineer at Digital Equipment
  • Holds an MBA, Anna Maria College, and a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electrical Engineering, Stevens Institute of Technology
Venu Shamapant
General Partner, Austin Ventures
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  • Joined Austin Ventures in 1999 and focuses on hardware investing
  • Previously served as vice president of business development for Telecom Technologies, Inc
  • Prior to that, he was an engagement manager for McKinsey & Company and the engineering lead for Mentor Graphics
  • Received his MBA from the Harvard Graduate School of Business, an MS in computer engineering from the University of Texas at Austin, and a BS in electronics and communications engineering from Osmania University, India
Alan Freudenstein
Managing Director of Credit Suisse First Boston Private Equity
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  • Prior to joining the Credit Suisse in 2000, Mr. Freudenstein was a Managing Director at Bankers Trust Company, where he was responsible for incubation and venture investments within the new world ventures group.
  • Mr. Freudenstein was previously a management consultant at Booz Allen & Hamilton and an equity research analyst at Salomon Brothers.
  • Mr. Freudenstein received a B.A. from Johns Hopkins University in Economics and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

COPAN Systems' Investors

Since the company's inception, COPAN Systems has raised $88.4 million in funding by Tier 1 venture capital organizations.
Proceeds from the latest round of financing in September 2007 are being used to scale COPAN Systems' commitment to "surround the customer" by supporting new product development initiatives, expanding COPAN's worldwide service delivery model, and increasing the number of field-based storage experts. All these efforts will further the company's goal of helping organizations attain the maximum business value from their persistent data.
COPAN Systems is privately held, with investments from:
Austin Ventures plus show profile
Austin Ventures has been working with talented entrepreneurs since 1979. The company manages over $2.4 billion in assets, and is one of the most active and established venture capital firms in the nation. The firm's primary investment focus includes software, computer, and communications hardware and business services. The company invests in firms with exceptional leadership and viable products. Austin Ventures is based in Texas, and has substantial holdings in the state. Some of its most prominent investments include McDATA, Tivoli Software, Vignette, and COMP-USA.

Learn more about Austin Ventures.
Battery Ventures plus show profile
Since 1983, Battery has been investing in technology and innovation worldwide. The firm partners with entrepreneurs and management teams across technology sectors, geographies and stages of a company's life, from start-up and expansion financing, to growth equity and buyouts.

Battery has supported many breakthrough companies around the world, including: Airespace (acquired by Cisco), Akamai Technologies (NASDAQ: AKAM), Cbeyond (NASDAQ: CBEY), Kashya, Inc. (acquired by EMC) and Neoteris (acquired by Netscreen). Its current portfolio includes emerging firms such as Advent Solar, BladeLogic (NASDAQ: BLOG), Freshpoint, Netezza (NYSE Arca: NZ), Spot Runner, and Tejas Networks, as well as more established companies such as ITA Software, Consona Corporation, MetroPCS (NYSE: PCS) and Nova Analytics.

From offices in Boston, Silicon Valley and Israel, Battery manages nearly $3 billion in committed capital, including its current fund of $750 million.

For more information, visit www.battery.com.
Credit Suisse plus show profile
In its Investment Banking business, Credit Suisse offers securities products and financial advisory services to corporations, governments and institutional investors.

Operating in 57 locations across 30 countries, Credit Suisse's investment banking business specializes in innovative solutions, drawing on expertise from across the full spectrum of products: debt and equity underwriting, sales and trading, mergers and acquisitions, investment research, correspondent and prime brokerage services.

For more information, visit www.credit-suisse.com.
Globespan Capital Partners plus show profile

Globespan Capital Partners is a leading global venture capital firm investing in information technology companies. The company has offices in Boston and Palo Alto, CA, as well as a business development office in Tokyo. Globespan follows a disciplined investment process, which has enabled it to make highly successful, early stage investments in leading technology companies. The company employs a balanced investment strategy with a portfolio that considers investment stage, expected investment duration, and risk/reward profiles. The company's management team has over 128 years of collective venture capital investment, entrepreneurial, and IT experience with its principals coming from such industry giants as AOL, Apple, Cisco Systems, CMGI, IBM, Informix, and Microsoft.

Learn more about Globspan Capital Parnters.
Gold Hill Capital plus show profile

Gold Hill is a leading provider of growth capital financing for venture-backed technology and life science companies. Our financing solutions aid in growing your company while providing maximum operational flexibility

Learn more about Gold Hill Capital.
In-Q-Tel plus show profile
In-Q-Tel is a strategic, not-for-profit investment firm that works to identify, adapt, and deliver innovative technology solutions to support the mission of the U.S. Intelligence Community. Launched by the CIA in 1999 as a private, independent organization, In-Q-Tel’s mission is to identify and partner with companies developing cutting-edge technologies that serve the national security interests of the United States. Working from an evolving strategic blueprint defining the Intelligence Community’s critical technology needs, In-Q-Tel engages with entrepreneurs, growth companies, researchers, and investors to deliver technologies that provide superior capabilities for the CIA and the larger Intelligence Community.

Learn more about In-Q-Tel.
NOX plus show profile
NOX specializes in providing network security and storage management solutions. Leveraged by experienced sales force and dedicated technical support team, NOX has been very successful in establishing firm relationships with customers, partners, and vendors.

Learn more about NOX.
NTT Finance plus show profile
NTT Leasing Co., Ltd. was established in 1985 as the first affiliate of NTT, which is the largest telecommunications company in Japan. NTT Leasing offers various business services; leasing and installment, credit card and finance. In addition, their Strategic Technology Investment Department seeks out venture companies domestically and internationally with excellent technologies and provides them with financial and business development.


Learn more about NTT Leasing Capital.
Pequot Ventures
plus show profile

Some invest in entrepreneurs. At FirstMark Capital, we invest in visionaries — those who not only envision the future but make it happen through high-growth businesses in key technology markets. You’ll find us at the forefront of the most complex and rapidly evolving industries, among them media, advertising, financial services and telecom. Why? In part because some of the biggest players reside here in New York City, our home, where we’re among the city’s most active investors. We work closely with entrepreneurial visionaries and their management teams. Daily collaboration is the key to building exceptional, sustainable and world-changing businesses.

Learn more about FirstMark Capital.

Pinnacle Ventures plus show profile
Pinnacle Ventures is a private venture capital fund focused on providing debt and equity financing to early-stage companies across technology and healthcare. Pinnacle differentiates itself through the strength and diversity of its team, its creative and flexible financing alternatives and its unique approach to helping its portfolio companies achieve success.

Learn more about Pinnacle Ventures.
Presido Ventures plus show profile
Presidio STX, LLC provides value added financial and business services to its customers and partners. As a subsidiary of Sumitomo Corporation, one of the world's leading integrated trading and investment firms, Presidio STX acts as the early stage IT investment vehicle for Sumitomo Corporation and its affiliates, and serves as a bridge for trade between the United States and Asia.

Learn more about Presidio STX, LLC.
 
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