Venture Capital: The Sharpened Focus
Tuesday, October 19, 2004, 3:45pm - 5:00pm

The Venture Capital firms have recovered from the nuclear winter of Telecom and are now looking at the opportunities with fresh interest. However, they have learned a lot from the bubble years and are looking to find real value in the market. This panel shares what opportunities make sense now that the market has improved.

Mr. Gruber is a well-known and highly successful entrepreneur. Prior to founding Sonus, Mr. Gruber founded VideoServer, Inc., (NASDAQ-VSVR) a supplier of videoconferencing switching equipment. Prior to VideoServer, Mr. Gruber served as Senior Vice President BBN Communications Corporation, where he introduced a new generation of packet-switching equipment in support of mission critical applications. Mr. Gruber also founded Davox, (NASDAQ-DAVX) a supplier of outbound call-center systems and Cambridge Telecommunications (CTX), which was the first company to incorporate microprocessors in communications equipment and an early supplier of packet network access equipment. CTX was acquired by GTE and remains part of Sprint.

Anthony Marino joined Venrock in 1999 as an Associate. His primary area of investment is information technology, with an emphasis on network infrastructure, software and services. Since joining Venrock, Anthony has worked closely with the teams and boards at Canesta, Kineto Wireless, and InstallShield Software Corp. (acquired by Macrovision, NSDQ:MVSN).

Prior to joining Venrock, Anthony worked at Telcordia Technologies in various operating roles, including carrier sales and product marketing for the packet-voice group, and product management for Telcordia's first Class 5 softswitch. Anthony worked directly with Bellcore's CEO on the commercialization of Telcordia leading to its sale to SAIC.

Anthony received a B.A., magna cum laude, from Princeton University and an M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

Prior to joining BCE Capital, Gary held senior positions at J.L. Albright Venture Partners, and Jefferson Partners Capital, both private vc funds, where he played a significant role in the financing and successful growth of a number of emerging growth technology companies. Prior to Venture Capital Investing, Gary was President and General Manager of Scholz Research Development, a Boston based Technology Company, where he successfully implemented its turnaround and subsequent divestiture. From 1985-1989 Gary practiced corporate/securities law at Gowlings, and Fasken, Campbell & Godfrey, in Toronto.

Gary received his LLB degree in 1985 and his MBA degree in 1991, both from the University of Western Ontario.

Rod Randall joined Vesbridge Partners as a general partner in November 2000. Based in the Boston office, Randall specializes in wireless infrastructure. Randall was formerly chief marketing officer at Lucent Technologies. Prior to being named chief marketing officer, he was the senior vice president, Global Marketing for InterNetworking Systems. Randall brings more than 20 years of industry experience to his post. In 1987, Randall co-founded Teleos Communications, which was acquired by Madge Networks in 1996. Randall started his career as a member of technical staff and supervisor at AT&T Bell Labs . He has an MS degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a BSEE degree from Georgia Tech.

As director of the Communications Infrastructure Sector for Intel, Jaime Robertson focuses his investment and acquisition activity on the fields of converged communications and next-generation networks, primarily in support of the $500 million Intel® Communications Fund.

Robertson joined Intel in its 1999 acquisition of Dialogic Corporation, where he was vice president of business development. He previously served as director of sales at Dialogic. Robertson also held positions at Arthur D. Little, Exxon, and IBM.

Robertson holds an MBA degree from Harvard University and a BS degree in electrical engineering from the University of Buenos Aires, Argentina.

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