Amish Jani
General Partner, Pequot Ventures

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• • Joined Pequot Ventures in 2000, focusing on software and systems investments in the enterprise, communications and digital media sectors
  • Leads Pequot’s investment strategies in India
  • 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

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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
  • 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
    

Mike Scanlin
Partner, Battery Ventures

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• • Joined Battery in 2007 to focus on mid- to later-stage technology investments.
  • Prior to Battery, he spent four years with Sierra Ventures.
  • Before Sierra, he was VP, Entrepreneur Development Operations, at Garage.com (now Garage Technology Ventures), where he personally read more than 10,000 executive summaries and helped dozens of companies raise $330 million in venture financings.
  • He graduated with honors from the University of California, San Diego with a BS in Management Science. He has held NASD Series 7, 24, and 63 licenses.

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.
    

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
    

Wayne Nemeth
Partner, Credit Suisse Venture Capital

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• • Has been with the Sprout Group, a venture capital affiliate of Credit Suisse, since 1998
  • Prior to Sprout, he worked at Bachow & Associates where he focused on telecommunications and software venture capital investing
  • Worked for Booz, Allen & Hamilton, where he provided strategic and operational consulting to technology and manufacturing businesses