CommNexus NextStage™
Committee
Martha Dennis, Ph.D, Gordian KnotDr. Martha Dennis has been a telecommunications entrepreneur, technologist, venture capitalist, and corporate director during her 35-year career. Currently she is Principal at Gordian Knot and serves as a director on the boards of Netsapiens, Citiwink and SpaceMicro. She also serves on the advisory boards of several San Diego companies. Most recently she was a Venture Partner with Windward Ventures. She co-founded Pacific Communications Sciences, Inc. and Waveware Communications after leading software development at Linkabit Corp. She chairs the San Diego Commission on Science and Technology and she is Past Board President of CommNexus, the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center, the Bishops School, and UCSD Athena. She currently serves on the boards of Harvey Mudd College, the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, and the Triton Innovation Network as well as on the advisory boards of the UCSD Rady School of Management, the SDSU College of Engineering, and the Smith College Picker Engineering Program. She also serves as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at CONNECT’s Springboard Program and a member of the Chairmen’s Roundtable. Her doctorate is in Applied Mathematics (Computer Science) from Harvard University.
Mike Krenn, Venture Pipeline, DLA Piper
Mike Krenn is the Founder of Venture Pipeline. This DLA Piper subsidiary is specifically focused on enhancing the funding prospects of early stage ventures. Led by business professionals with experience in technology, start-ups and capital markets, Venture Pipeline actively advises on strategic business issues that are critical to funding. The group also works directly with the investment community, screening and scrubbing deal flow to match investors' specific needs with targeted companies. Krenn works directly with the Corporate Securities group to leverage the firm's experience in the emerging growth and venture capital sectors on a global level. Krenn has advised hundreds of emerging growth technology companies on various aspects of their business plans, including management and recruiting issues, market development, strategic partnerships and financing strategies. He has also helped more than 30 firms raise start-up capital. Previously, Krenn served a one-year term as Vice President of Business Development with a start-up technology company, Grip Inc., where he negotiated numerous strategic partnerships with leading industry players. Krenn was also a founding board member and executive director for the San Diego Band of Angels and the CommNexus San Diego (formerly San Diego Telecom Council).
Mark Steele
Most recently, Mark Steele was Vice President, Enterprise Wireless and OEM for Motorola's Enterprise Mobility business. He was responsible for providing Symbol technology to OEM customers around the world, including data capture, wireless, mobile computing and RFID. He also led a worldwide sales force for Motorola's Enterprise Wireless products including the industry's leading wireless switch. Mark has 25 years of computing and communications industry experience including IBM, QUALCOMM, Gateway, PCSI and Airprime.
Tom Hartman, Ventana Capital Management
Tom Hartman is an Entrepreneur-In-Residence and key member of Ventana’s venture team where he screens investment opportunities and advises portfolio companies. His background includes corporate, entrepreneurial, senior executive, board, and advisory experiences in numerous industry segments. Tom specializes in the application of wireless, network, software, and Internet technologies over a wide range of industries ranging from telecommunications to consumer products and energy. He is currently involved with several early stage companies both developing and deploying media production, exchange, storage, and distribution technologies.
Naser Partovi
Naser Partovi is formerly 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..
Rory Moore, CEO, CommNexus San Diego
Rory Moore was the seed round investor, co-founder of Peregrine Semiconductor Corp. Rory was also the seed round investor and founding CEO of Silicon Wave, Inc., now owned by Qualcomm. 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 other interests include angel investing, aerobatic flying, scuba diving and surfing.
Doug Giese, CEO, Agile Nanotech, Inc
Dr. Douglas Giese is currently the VP of High Tech Prescreen/Seed Track for the San Diego Tech Coast Angels, and the CEO of Agile Nanotech, Inc. He has invested in 15 angel deals. Dr. Giese was the principal founder, Chairman and CEO of AP Labs, a manufacturer and integrator of Rugged and real-time computer systems. He was one of the founding employees of the TRW Military Electronics Division in Rancho Carmel, where he managed the software organization. Dr. Giese serves on the Board of the SD Tech Coast Angels, is on the CommNexus Next Stage program committee, as the Chairman of QX Labs, Inc., the Chairman of DSS, Inc., and on advisory boards for several entrepreneurial ventures. Dr. Giese received his B.E. in Bio-medical & E.E., and M.S./Ph.D. in E.E. from Vanderbilt University.
Prashant Kantak
Prashant Kantak most recently served as Senior Director of Business Development for QUALCOMM Incorporated and founded QUALCOMM Ventures in 2000. As Senior Director, he oversaw QUALCOMM’s strategic venture capital fund, with operations in North America and Asia including South Korea and China. Mr. Kantak has over 15 years of business and technical experience in the field of telecommunications.
Steve Morley
Mr. Morley recently retired as the Vice President, Technology, for QUALCOMM Incorporated in the Office of the Chief Scientist. Since 2003, Mr. Morley has been instrumental in developing QUALCOMM's strategic direction in a number of new wireless technologies including next generation wireless local area networking, ultra-wideband radio technologies, and location-based services. From 1996 through 2003 he was a key systems architect and product director for QUALCOMM's Digital Cinema system technology. Prior to that, Mr. Morley started the integrated circuit business area for QUALCOMM in 1987 and helped design the first CDMA digital cellular proof-of-concept telephone in 1989. Mr. Morley joined QUALCOMM in 1985 and has contributed to the development of QUALCOMM's CDMA digital cellular, ultra-small aperture satellite networks, mobile satellite, and integrated circuit technologies and businesses. Previously, Mr. Morley was a Senior Engineering Manager at M/A-Com Linkabit Corporation working in the areas of digital encryption systems and wireless communication networks and a Member of Technical Staff at Hughes Aircraft Company working in the development of advanced digital signal processing systems for various sonar applications. Mr. Morley holds an MSEE degree from Stanford University with a specialty in digital signal processing implementations in VLSI architectures and a BSEE degree with summa cum laude honours from the University of California, Irvine. He has received nearly twenty patents in the fields of wireless and satellite communication systems, digital image compression, and digital cinema systems and has published a variety of articles in the fields of electronic security, wireless communications, satellite technology, and digital cinema systems. He is the chairman of the Digital Media Special Interest Group and the Location-Based Services Special Interest Group of the San Diego CommNexus as well as a member of the executive committee of the San Diego CommNexus NextStage Program and a member of the IEEE.
John Major, Chairman, Broadcom
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, and 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.
Terry Lingren, Vice President, Kyocera Telecommunications
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.
Jim Takach, Diretor, PRTM
A Director with PRTM, a global management consulting firm to the technology-driven industry. Jim's telecommunications experience includes go-to-market strategy formulation, technology strategy development, program management, standards strategy and quality assurance. Prior to joining PRTM, Jim worked in both operations and marketing for an industrial supply company.
Dennis Abremski, Vice President, Soapbox Mobile
Vice President of Product Development for Soapbox Mobile, brings more than 20 years of business development, product management and engineering experience within the computer and wireless industries, to the Soapbox Mobile executive team. Abremski leads the development and management of all applications and platforms for Soapbox Mobile. Prior to Soapbox Mobile, Abremski served as Vice President of Sales and Business Development for Zucotto Wireless, a company specializing in wireless Java technologies, where he was in charge of worldwide sales and intellectual property licensing. Abremski also succeeded as a founder and Director of Business Development for Wireless Knowledge, a wireless enterprise solutions company. There, he was responsible for the company's product strategies and wireless carrier activities and helped launch the Microsoft/QUALCOMM joint venture. At QUALCOMM, he helped develop the US' first CDMA fast-access wireless data service and introduced the world's first Internet-enabled CDMA phone. Abremski holds a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering with a specialization in Digital Communications from the University of Maryland, College Park.
Martin Fichter
Most recently, Mr. Fichter was responsible all ODM design and development projects at Flextronics Mobile and managed Design Centers in China, South Korea, Finland and Sweden. He has more than 20 years of experience in the communications industry with a focus on wireless handsets. His background in strategic marketing, research and development, and general management enables Martin to analyze technologies and their market impact in a complete and comprehensive way and then drive their implementation all the way to the consumer. Prior to joining Flextronics in May 2005, Martin was Vice President and General Manager, Mobile Devices North America for Siemens Communications, Inc. Martin serves as an Advisor to SoftMax Inc., Quorum System Inc., and Sky Mobilemedia Inc. and he represents Flextronics on the Board of Directors of Step Communications.
Larry Fromm, Vice President of Business and Strategy Development at Achates Power, Inc
Prior to his current position, Mr. Fromm was CEO of Chaos Telecom, a fables semiconductor company. He has previously held executive roles at Widcomm, Cellit Technologies, and Dialogic Corporation. Mr. Fromm has served on the NextStage committee since 2004. He holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BSE in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan.
Owens Alexander, CEO, Real Phone Card Corp
Mr. Alexander was the former President and Chief Executive Officer of Titan Wireless, an international VOIP carrier, fixed wireless service provider; and mobile systems integrator and operatorand Senior Vice President of Titan Corporation. Previously he was a Sr VP with SAIC; a Sr VP with Edison International, and held various executive positions at BellSouth Corporation.
