CommNexus San Diego

Naser Partovi is President and CEO of SKY MobileMedia, a leading provider of multi-media framework and applications for cellular handsets and new generation of connected multi-media devices. Prior to joining SKY MobileMedia, Naser was a managing director at Enterprise Partners Venture Capital based in San Diego. Partovi joined Enterprise Partners Venture Capital in 2000. Naser Invested in Networking, Telecommunication, and Media communications companies. He was on the boards of: Ascendent Systems, DragonWave, NP Photonics, Quorum Systems, ReliOn, and SKY MobileMedia. Naser was also on the board of GoBeam which was acquired by Covad Communications; WIDCOMM which was recently acquired by Broadcom, and Gigabit Optics which was acquired by Oplink.

Jordan Becker is Senior Vice President at Science Applications International (SAIC) Corporate headquarters. Becker is the Chief Technology Officer for the commercial business where he works on strategy, planning and management of selected programs related to Engineering and Technology. Prior to joining SAIC in March 2000, Becker was vice president with UUNET Technologies, the wholly owned Internet subsidiary of MCI.

Bill Eigner is a Partner of Procopio, Cory, Hargreaves & Savitch LLP, one of San Diego’s oldest and largest full-service law firms. Mr. Eigner’s practice emphasizes venture capital and the governing, operating, buying, selling and merging of growing technology and other businesses. He is very active in the community, serving as a director of the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce among other notable positions of service, and was named one of “San Diego’s 120 Top Influentials” by The Daily Transcript. Mr. Eigner received his B.A. from Stanford University and law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law.

Rory Moore was the seed round investor, co-founder and Vice President/CFO of Peregrine Semiconductor Corp. Rory was also the seed round investor and founding CEO of Silicon Wave, Inc., acquired by RF Microdevices (NASDAQ:RFMD) in 2004. He was a cofounder of e-Fire.com, and Optical River. In addition, he is co-chair of the Military Special Interest Group and a member of the NextStage committee. A University of Michigan alum, Rory' s hobbies include aerobatic flying, scuba diving and surfing.

Ted Alexander is a Managing Partner of Mission Ventures, an early stage venture capital fund focused on technology investments throughout southern California. Prior to joining Mission Ventures, Ted worked in business development for Sandpiper Networks, which was subsequently acquired by Digital Island. Previously, Ted was a Platoon Commander in the US Navy SEALs, and a Division Officer aboard a US Navy destroyer.

Vice Admiral Walter J. Davis, USN (Ret) was Navy N6, Director Space systems, Information Warfare systems, Command and Control Systems, and Modeling and Simulation where he directed Navy’s $3.5B IT budget. He is former VP for Business Development at GDE Systems (BAE). He was a Navy fighter pilot, Aircraft Carrier CO, and Battle Group Commander. He served in numerous Navy engineering positions including Navy Engineer for the F-14 and Naval Warfare IT Architect (SPAWAR), He was a co-founder of E-fire. He is an Ohio State University Electrical Engineering graduate.

Bo Hedfors, has 38 years of global telecom experience in both wireline and wireless. In April 2002, Bo founded his own telecom/internet consulting practice. Previously, Bo was Executive Vice President of Motorola and President of its global wireless infrastructure business based in Chicago. He came to Motorola in 1998 from Ericsson, where he spent 30 years in different management positions, including President and CEO of Ericsson, Inc. in Dallas, Texas from 1994-1998. He is member of the board of Tellabs in Illinois, Openwave in California and SwitchCore AB in Sweden, Silicon Valley based Kineto Wireless and Virtutech, Inc. and has served as advisor to Sun, Compaq and HP. Bo holds a Master of Electrical Engineering degree from Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden and is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences.

Michael Kagnoff is a shareholder in Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe's Venture Law Group and in its Corporate Securities practice. His practice focuses on general corporate representation of established and emerging technology companies with an emphasis on communications and networking. He has extensive experience in public offerings, mergers and acquisitions, venture capital financing, strategic partnerships and licensing agreements and serves as an advisor to numerous boards of directors. Mr. Kagnoff also represents some of California's most prominent venture capital funds. Prior to joining Heller Ehrman, Mr. Kagnoff was a Partner at a prominent national law firm and the Chair of the firm's Investment Committee.

Stath Karras is President and Chief Executive Officer of Cushman Wakefield. Mr. Karras has over 27 years of experience in the real estate industry, the last 17 of which have been with Burnham. Prior to his current position, Mr. Karras served as Burnham's Chief Operating Officer and before that he oversaw the firm's real estate and asset management operations with responsibility for a portfolio totaling more than twelve million square feet of commercial space. Before joining Burnham, Mr. Karras was affiliated with Wallace Associates Management, Inc. in Salt Lake City, for 10 years where he was senior vice president and director.

Mr. Karras stays very involved in civic, community and trade organizations. He currently serves as a member of USD's Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate Policy Advisory Board, Executive Committee Member and Director for San Diego Regional EDC, Executive Committee Member and Board Member for CONNECT, Director of San Diego CCIM Chapter and Founding Member of LEAD San Diego's Leadership Trust.

Craig S. Knox, Vice President at Irving Hughes, advises and advocates exclusively for corporate tenants in the leasing of their office and lab space. Craig has over 20 years of business experience serving on the management teams of software, semiconductor, telecom and business services companies. He ran sales and business development for two public companies and three venture-backed private companies including divisions of SanDisk, TIBCO, Earthlink and Parametric Technology Corporation. Most recently, Craig was responsible for client services for the law firm Cooley Godward Kronish LLP in San Diego.

Rick Kornfeld serves as Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer for NextWave Wireless and NextWave Broadband. In this role, Mr. Kornfeld is responsible for mergers and acquisitions and investments, and plays a leading role in developing the company's strategy. Most recently, Mr. Kornfeld was CEO of Staccato Communications, Inc. Prior to this, Mr. Kornfeld was the Vice President and General Manager of Texas Instruments Wireless Center responsible for the Wireless Chipset Business. He joined Texas Instruments through the acquisition of Dot Wireless, Inc., which he co-founded and served as Chairman, CEO and President. Prior to founding Dot Wireless, Mr. Kornfeld had been a founding member of NextWave Telecom, Inc., where he was the Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Consumer Products division. Previously, Mr. Kornfeld was Vice President of Engineering at QUALCOMM, Inc. Prior to QUALCOMM, Mr. Kornfeld held various technical positions at M/A-Com Linkabit. (6/07)

Terry Lingren is the Vice President of engineering for Kyocera Telecommunications Research Corporation (KTRC). He directs the development of advanced technologies for Kyocera's global telecommunications companies. Prior to helping start KTRC in 2003, Mr. Lingren was Vice President of Engineering for Kyocera Wireless Corp. and QUALCOMM's Consumer Products Division, responsible for the design and development of all CDMA wireless products. Mr. Lingren previously was Vice President of Engineering at Amplica Inc., a microwave and RF subassemblies manufacturer, and also held various positions at Hughes Aircraft Company in RF component design, antenna design and subsystem development.

Richard Lober is senior vice president and general manager of the communications and electronics business unit of San Diego based Cubic Defense Applications, Inc. In this role, he has responsibility for the strategic direction and day to day operations of the company's broad line of electronic communication systems, products and development programs. Mr. Lober has over 20 years experience in the field of radio electronics including design, manufacture, sales and overall product line management. Before joining Cubic in 1998, Mr. Lober worked for the Watkins-Johnson Company, Telecommunications Division.

John Major is the Founder and President of MTSG, a strategic consulting business specializing in emerging opportunities. Previously, he was Chairman and CEO of Novatel Wireless, a provider of wireless data access solutions for PDA's and laptops, where he led the company's successful IPO in the fall of 2000. Before Novatel Wireless, Mr. Major was Chairman and CEO of Wireless Knowledge, a joint venture of QUALCOMM Incorporated and Microsoft Corporation, and held various positions at Motorola, Inc. including Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer. Mr. Major currently serves as a director of five public companies: Broadcom Corporation, Novatel Wireless, Inc., Verilink Corporation, Lennox International, Inc. and Littelfuse, Inc. Mr. Major participates in several industry and community organizations. He currently serves on the Board of Governors' Executive Committee for the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and the Electronic Industries Association (EIA). Mr. Major received a B.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University of Rochester, an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois, an M.B.A. from Northwestern University and a J.D. from Loyola University.

Clint McClellan is currently the senior director of Market Intelligence for QUALCOMM Incorporated. McClellan's current responsibilities include overseeing market intelligence, market analysis, and market research. McClellan joined QUALCOMM in December of 1997 as director of strategic marketing. McClellan brings a wealth of wireless industry analysis experience to QUALCOMM. Prior to joining the Company, McClellan most recently served as a senior analyst for Gartner Group/Dataquest's Telecommunications Group in its personal communications wireless program. While he was at Dataquest, McClellan served as a news anchor for two years on the Good Morning San Jose show at KNTV, an ABC affiliate, where he presented analysis and commentary on daily news events affecting high-technology industries. Previously, McClellan worked as a marketing specialist at Telephone House Nippo in Kobe, Japan and for CH2M Hill Consulting Engineers in Oakland, California. McClellan holds a Bachelor's of Science degree in Political Economics from the University of California, Berkeley.

Thomas Munro is currently CEO of Verimatrix, a company which sets the standard for software-based content security and revenue enhancement technologies in pay-TV networks, with a global customer base of telecommunications providers. Mr. Munro has over 22 years of experience in both finance and technology. Prior to Verimatrix, he was President of Wireless Facilities, Inc., a global leader in the design, deployment, and management of wireless mobility and broadband wireless networks. Munro also served as CFO of WFI from 1997 to 2000, through the company's successful IPO, and as President from September of 2000 until his retirement in January 2003. Prior to joining WFI, Mr. Munro was founder and CEO of @Market, a retail sporting goods website.

Peter Pardee is Vice President of Hughes Network Systems where he pursues new and emerging business opportunities leveraging innovative technologies in conjunction with HNS' core products. Peter has over twenty-five years experience in communications systems, product development and engineering organization development and management.

Ake Persson is an established member of the telecom industry with over 30 years of experience. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for several corporations and organizations including CommNexus. From 1999 until his retirement in February 2004, Persson was the president of Ericsson’s CDMA Systems Business Unit and president of Ericsson Wireless Communications Inc. in San Diego. From 1995 to 1999, Persson was the vice president for marketing and sales for Ericsson Radio Systems, encompassing all wireless activities of the global Ericsson organization. From 1993 to 1995, he was the vice president of business development for Ericsson US. Between 1970 and 1993, he served Ericsson in a number of other roles, including vice president and general manager of Ericsson’s Mobile Voice and Data Systems from 1984 to 1989. In addition to his experience with Ericsson, for two years, Persson was the executive vice president of RAM Mobile Data, Inc., a nationwide data service provider, which was subsequently acquired by BellSouth International, Inc. Persson holds a B.Sc. in theoretical physics and mathematics from the University of Uppsala, Sweden.

Prof. Ramesh Rao has been on the faculty of the department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California, San Diego, where he is currently Professor and Director of the San Diego Division of the California Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technology. In April 2004, he was named QUALCOMM Endowed Chair in Telecommunications and Information Technology. His research interests include architectures, protocols and performance analysis of wireless, wire line and photonic networks for integrated multi-media services. Prior to his appointment as the Director of the San Diego Division of the California Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2) he served as the Director of the UCSD Center for Wireless Communications (CWC) and was the Vice Chair of Instructional Affairs in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering.

Maria Sendra is a partner at Baker & McKenzie and is also Chair of Southern California Corporate and Securities Practice. Her practice focuses on corporate and strategic companies in the wireless, computer software and hardware, energy, biotechnology and retail industries.  She frequently counsels public and private companies on the more intricate issues arising out of follow-on financings, SEC compliance, complex licensing, corporate alliances, and mergers and acquisitions strategies. 

Ms. Sendra received her undergraduate degree from Yale University (BA, magna cum laude) and her masters degree from Indiana University (MA, with distinction). Ms. Sendra received her law degree from the University of California, Berkeley, where she received an award for excellence in written advocacy. Her background is in molecular biophysics and biochemistry. She also studied and worked as a research scientist at Yale and as a documentary filmmaker at Harvard University. Ms. Sendra is fluent in Spanish, Valenciano and French, and has studied German. (6/07)

Camille Sobrian is Chief Operating Officer of CONNECT, a non-profit organization dedicated to creating and sustaining the growth of innovative technology and life science businesses in San Diego. Camille oversees CONNECT’s 16 programs including: Springboard, Venture Roundtable, Frontiers in Science and Technology, FrameWorks, Hall of Fame and The Most Innovative Products (MIP) Awards, along with affiliate programs with The Center for Commercialization of Advanced Technology (CCAT), Tech Coast Angels, MIT Enterprise Forum and the Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance. Camille is a director of Sierra Asia, a consultancy and investment banking firm which assists life sciences, technology and media companies in successfully accessing the China market and is a co-founder and President of the Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance, chair of UCSD Athena's 2007 Pinnacle Awards Nominating Committee, a board member of San Diego Social Venture Partners and La Jolla Music Society, and on the Founder's Circle of UCSD Preuss School.

Howard "Skip" Speaks has over 20 years of telecommunications experience in the network operator and the wireless equipment manufacturing and vendor business. Speaks is currently CEO of Rosum Corporation, an indoor positioning technology company. Speaks previously served as CEO for Kyocera-Wireless Corporation, a San Diego based wireless handset manufacturer, and at Ericsson as Executive Vice President and General Manager for their Wireless Division.  Speaks earned a Bachelor of Science Degree for Civil Engineering from West Virginia Institute of Technology and is a registered professional engineer. (6/07)