Speakers and Panelists:

• Reggie Bradford, Founder & CEO, ViTrue, Inc.
• Greg Foster, VP of Corporate Development, Turner Broadcasting Media Investments
• Gregg Freishtat, CEO, INTENT MediaWorks,Inc.
• Tom Hawkins, Director, Arcapita Ventures
• Jeff Hoffman, Managing Partner, Smith-Hoffman Capital
• John G. Igoe, Partner, Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP
• Todd Jaquez-Fissori, Investment Partner, Siemens Venture Capital
• Mitchell S. Kopelman, CPA, Partner, Habif, Arogeti & Wynne, LLP
• Robert P. May, CEO, Calpine Corporation
• Bertrand Navarrete, Director, Mitsui Technology Investment Group
• Thomas E. Noonan, General Manager, IBM Internet Security Systems
• Laurence Olivier, Partner, Veritas Venture Partners LLC
• Mark Rostick, Director Strategic Investments, Intel Capital
• Joseph G. Silver, Partner, DLA Piper
• Wright Steenrod, Principal, Chrysalis Ventures
• Tom Whiteaker, Senior Director Strategic Ventures and Bus. Dev., Visa Int'l
• John C. Yates, Partner, Morris, Manning & Martin LLP

Keynote Speakers

Jeff Hoffman Managing Partner Smith-Hoffman Capital

Jeff Hoffman is an accomplished entrepreneur and innovator in the fields of software, Internet, and entertainment.  Having launched his first software company while still a student at Yale University, Mr. Hoffman has founded and grown a series of successful startup companies in his career, raising independent financing for his ventures and guiding his companies to both acquisitions and public offerings. 

Mr. Hoffman’s first startup was a software company in the travel industry named CTI, a company that quickly became the industry leader in technology for the travel and tourism industry, and was later acquired by American Express. For his achievements, Mr. Hoffman was named one of the industry’s 25 Most Influential Executives.  Mr. Hoffman was also a founder of early e-commerce pioneer Virtual Shopping, Inc., which developed patented, proprietary software and hardware for online retailing on the Internet, and was later acquired by Europe’s Wallenberg Group. 

More recently, Mr. Hoffman was a founder and CEO in the Priceline.com family of companies, where he held two CEO titles and led the development and launch of Priceline’s consumer company.  Mr. Hoffman also served as an executive and investor in Walker Digital, the parent company of Priceline and one of the country’s most innovative creators of intellectual property and new business models.

Today Mr. Hoffman serves as Managing Partner of Smith-Hoffman Capital, a private equity firm investing in early and growth stage companies in a wide array of industries, including consumer products, health care, and technology.  He dedicates a significant portion of his time to mentoring other entrepreneurs.  He currently serves as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Advanced Technology Development Center at Georgia Tech, as well as being a Coach and Mentor in the Kaufman Institute’s FastTrac Entrepreneur’s program.  Mr. Hoffman also serves on the executive and advisory boards of a number of other companies, including InteleHealth, PB Nation, Simcraft, and digital entertainment retailer BurnLounge, among others.

Outside his technology ventures, Mr. Hoffman is an independent film producer, having executive produced such successful independent films as CABIN FEVER, and has also produced concerts and music events including such recording artists as Elton John and Britney Spears.  Mr. Hoffman was recently elected Chairman of the American Association of Adapted Sports Programs, which is a non-profit organization serving to bring sports and sports leagues to disabled children all across the country.

Jeff Hoffman is an accomplished professional and motivational speaker on business, marketing, and leadership in the new millennium, having spoken at conferences and corporations in over 40 countries around the globe.

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Robert P. May is the Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Calpine Corporation, a major power company. Mr. May has served as a Director of Charter Communications, Inc. since October 2004, and was Interim President and CEO of Charter from January 2005 to August 2005. He was a Director of HealthSouth Corporation from October 2002 through October 2005, serving as Chairman from July 2004 until October 2005. He also served as HealthSouth's Interim Chief Executive Officer from March 2003 until May 2004 helping to lead the successful turnaround of the $4 billion healthcare services company.  Since March 2001, Mr. May has been a private investor and principal of RPM Systems, a firm that provides strategic business consulting services. He also held various senior management positions at Cablevision Systems, Corp. from 1996-1998 and at Federal Express Corporation from its inception in 1973 through 1993.

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Thomas E. Noonan General Manager IBM Internet Security Systems

Tom Noonan is the former chairman, president and chief executive officer of Internet Security Systems, Inc., which was recently acquired by IBM for $1.3B, at which time Mr. Noonan became GM of IBM Internet Security Systems. Mr. Noonan is responsible for the strategic direction, growth and integration of ISS products, services and research into IBM’s overall security offering. Tom Noonan and Chris Klaus launched ISS in 1994 to commercialize and develop a premier network security management company. Under Mr. Noonan’s leadership, ISS revenue soared from startup in 1994 to nearly $330 million dollars in its first decade. The company has grown to more than 1,200 employees today, with operations in more than 26 countries.

Prior to co-founding ISS, Mr. Noonan held senior management positions at Dun and Bradstreet Software, where he was vice president, worldwide marketing. Before joining D&B Software, he specialized in real-time, automated control systems for computer-integrated manufacturing. Mr. Noonan founded two successful technology companies while residing in Boston: Actuation Electronics, a precision motion-control company and Leapfrog Technologies, a software development company designed for networked applications.

Mr. Noonan’s management style and vision has been widely recognized by industry-leading publications including Forbes, Business Week and Fortune. In 1999, Ernst and Young recognized him as “Entrepreneur of the Year.” Mr. Noonan was recently elected to the National Board of Directors for the American Electronics Association (AeA), whose mission is to serve as “the voice of the American high-tech community.” Additionally, Mr. Noonan serves on the board of the Cyber Security Industry Alliance (CSIA), a non-profit corporate membership organization whose mission is to improve cyber security through public policy initiatives, public sector partnerships, corporate outreach and public education. 

In 2002, President Bush appointed Mr. Noonan to serve on the National Infrastructure Advisory Council (NIAC), a homeland defense initiative that protects information systems that are critical to the nation's infrastructure. He currently chairs the NIAC Evaluation and Enhancement of Information Sharing and Analysis Working Group.

Mr. Noonan is a frequent speaker at leading industry events and has delivered keynote addresses at such venues as Interop Las Vegas, the RSA Conference, TAG Featured Speaker Series, SUMAQ Summit, CSIA Town Hall, Japan External Trade Organization, Atlanta Rotary Club, and Forbes CEO Mexico.

Mr. Noonan holds a mechanical engineering degree from Georgia Tech and a business degree from Harvard University. He is an active participant and speaker in numerous professional societies, including The Technology Executive Roundtable, Industries of the Mind Steering Committee, Georgia Tech’s College of Computing Board, the Carter Center’s Board of Counselors and Young President’s Organization. He serves on the boards of Manhattan Associates (NASDAQ: MANH) and a number of privately held technology companies. 

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Panelists

Reggie Bradford Founder & CEO ViTrue, Inc.

Reggie Bradford is founder and CEO of ViTrue Inc., where he plays a pivotal role in enabling brands to engage in a new and meaningful way with their most loyal consumers thru the ViTrue platform and the Sharkle UGC site. Mr. Bradford’s vision for starting ViTrue began with a passion for changing the status quo and empowering consumers with a voice to enable tighter connectivity with their favorite brands. His collective leadership experience spans 16 years across consumer packaged goods, the consumer-facing Internet and finally television video infrastructure. 

Most recently, Mr. Bradford was President and Board Member of TANDBERG Television. He successfully led an organization of over 400 employees with over $100MM in revenues and led profitable growth of around 40% year over year in his 14 months. He successfully led the integration of 2 acquisitions and led the global repositioning of the recently relaunched brand.  Mr. Bradford joined TANDBERG as a result of the acquisition of N2 Broadband in February 2005, the leading provider of open-platform solutions for on-demand entertainment, where he was President and CEO since early 2001. Under Mr. Bradford’s guidance, venture backed N2 Broadband grew annual revenues from less than $1 million to more than $35 million in just under five years. The company, which achieved cash-flow profitability during the same period, boasts a customer roster that includes the world's top 10 cable operators and the world's leading entertainment companies. Mr. Bradford was named one of Television Week's 10 to watch for 2005, and under his leadership, the company attained numerous awards, including recognition as a Red Herring top 100 company and CED Magazine recognized the company as one of the top 50 leading Broadband companies for 4 straight years. 

Mr. Bradford has extensive capabilities in building brands and providing customers with a steady, consistent commitment to quality. Prior to joining N2 Broadband, he served as Chief Marketing Officer at WebMD Corp, which during his tenure from 1998 to 2000 grew from 40 to 4,000 employees and received more than $2 billion in funding, while becoming established as one of the world's leading Internet destinations, which is now enjoyed daily by tens of millions of consumers and healthcare professionals. Mr. Bradford previously held various management positions with Miller Brewing Company, a subsidiary of Phillip Morris. He earned a BBA in Finance from the University of Georgia and an MBA from Emory University.

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Greg Foster Vice President of Corporate Development Turner Broadcasting Media Investments

Greg Foster currently serves as Vice-President of Corporate Development for Turner Broadcasting.  In this capacity, he is responsible for all strategic investments and acquisitions for the company.  He has over a decade of experience working with high growth and emerging businesses.  After graduating from Georgia Tech, Mr. Foster joined Deloitte Consulting, focusing his efforts in building internet strategies for several large clients including Prudential Insurance, Sonoco Products, and the New York City Transit Authority.  He has been a member of the management team of three successful start-ups, serving as SVP of Corporate Development at iXL (internet media consultancy), VP of Business and Corporate Development at Silverpop Systems (direct-to-consumer platform provider), and most currently as CEO/Founder of Southern Direct, a business focused on building branded e-commerce extensions to linear cable channels.  Mr. Foster arrived at Turner after the assets of Southern Direct were acquired by Turner Broadcasting.  He holds a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Tech and an MBA from Harvard Business School.  He resides in Atlanta with his wife, Christine, and their two dogs. 

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Gregg Freishtat has over 16 years of experience in venture management and venture investing, including the founding of three successful start-ups. In 2001, Mr. Freishtat founded Proficient Systems and served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer until the sale of Proficient to LivePerson (NASDAQ: LPSN) in June of 2006. From September 1998 to January 2001, Mr. Freishtat was the founder and Chief Executive Officer of VerticalOne Corporation, the first provider of web-based account aggregation services. VerticalOne was acquired by S1 Corporation (Nasdaq-SONE) in November 1999. Mr. Freishtat served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of VerticalOne both before and after the sale to S1, and he also served on the Board of Directors of S1 until October 2000. From September 1996 to September 1998, Mr. Freishtat served as a Senior Vice President of Premiere Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq-PTEK), where he was responsible for the company's mergers and acquisitions and Internet investment initiatives. Mr. Freishtat founded Telet, Inc., which developed the first generation of unified messaging products. Telet, Inc. was sold to PTEK in 1996. Mr. Freishtat is an active private equity investor and has served on many private company boards, including Marketworks, Relevant Knowledge, OutWeb, Waypoint Systems, Camp Kudzu, Jewish Federation, Galloway School, S1, and USA.net. Mr. Freishtat received a bachelor's degree from Boston University and was awarded his J.D. degree from the University of Maryland School of Law.

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Tom Hawkins Director Arcapita Ventures

Tom Hawkins joined Arcapita Ventures in 2005 with more than 18 years of venture capital, entrepreneurial and operational experience. Prior to joining Arcapita, Mr. Hawkins was an Investment Partner with the Corporate Fund of Siemens Venture Capital ("SVC"), the $850 million venture capital arm of Siemens AG (NYSE: SI), where he managed investment activity in the areas of information technology, communications and industrial automation & control. Prior to SVC, Mr. Hawkins was a General Partner with Cordova Ventures, a $250 million venture capital firm in Atlanta, where he focused on enterprise and infrastructure software, communications and industrial technology. Prior to Cordova, he managed Strategic Business Development at Radiant Systems (NASDAQ: RADS). Mr. Hawkins is also an active leader of the venture community in the Southeast through his various leadership positions including as member of the Executive Committee and 2007 Chairman of the AeA Venture Forum, member of the Board of Directors of the Florida Venture Forum and member of the Board of Advisors of the Atlanta CEO Council. Mr. Hawkins currently serves on the Board of Directors of Alloptic and previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of Qcept Technologies, ManageSoft, SmartSynch, Quellan and Digital Envoy. Mr. Hawkins received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Duke University and holds his MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

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John G. Igoe Partner Edwards Angell Palmer & Dodge LLP

Mr. Igoe is an experienced corporate lawyer with knowledge of many areas of business law. He learns the operations and businesses of his clients in depth in order to be in a position to render legal advice in the context of their goals.

Mr. Igoe began his legal career in the firm's Providence office in 1981 and moved to the West Palm Beach office in 1983 to assist in building the firm's practice in Florida.

Mr. Igoe’s practice is focused on working with entrepreneurs and companies growing their businesses. His clients raise private equity from angel investors, venture capital funds, and other institutional investors. His public company clients raise capital in the public markets. Mr. Igoe has worked in the venture capital arena since he started practicing law in 1981. He has advised start-up companies from inception to IPO and beyond. He has a strong reputation in Florida for his knowledge of venture capital transactions and securities law. He also works on complex corporate structuring, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, and general corporate matters.  

Mr. Igoe enjoys kayaking, biking, golf, hiking, adventure skiing, and mountain climbing. He organizes backcountry trips for friends who join him for helicopter and snow cat powder skiing in British Columbia, Canada.

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Todd Jaquez-Fissori Investment Partner Siemens Venture Capital

Todd Jaquez-Fissori is an Investment Partner based in our San Jose, California office.

Mr. Jaquez-Fissori focuses on early and mid-stage companies with strong management teams and large attractive markets where the customers have a pain that needs to be solved, focusing on information technology, as well as automation, automotive, and power related technologies with special interest in RFID and wireless technologies, sensors and telematics, and Enterprise Software.

He currently is on the board of Newmerix, Centerboard, G2 Microsystems, Kiyon, Serveron, Qcept Technologies, as well as an observer to Netcontinuum and Zonare.

Prior to joining Siemens Venture Capital, Mr. Jaquez-Fissori was a Principal with Boulder Ventures in San Francisco for four years, focusing on early stage software deal, where he sat on the Board of Directors of TeraCloud and observed on the boards of Bitblitz, Finali, Critical Arc, and Xifin.

Prior to joining Boulder Ventures, Mr. Jaquez-Fissori spent five years with eCOM Partners, a Connecticut-based seed/early stage technology venture fund as well as Mayfield Fund in Menlo Park, CA. He has been involved with regional Angel Forums and Business Development Centers, as well as his spending four years starting and building his own entrepreneurial venture.

Mr. Jaquez-Fissori brings over 13 years of venture capital, entrepreneurial, and consulting experience to the SVC team. He holds a Master's Degree in Business Administration from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, (Concentration is Entrepreneurial Management). Mr. Jaquez-Fissori received a B.S. in Business from Penn State University.

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Mitchell S. Kopelman, CPA Partner Habif, Arogeti & Wynne, LLP

Mr. Kopelman is the partner-in-charge of the Technology Practice at the CPA firm of Habif, Arogeti & Wynne, LLP. (HA&W).  HA&W is the largest independent CPA firm in Georgia, ranking 5th in Atlanta.  Many of Mr. Kopelman’s clients are either funded by VC’s or Private Equity firms.

Mr. Kopelman works closely with high-growth companies in the areas of technology, bio-medial, manufacturing, distribution and retail. His experience includes auditing, tax planning and strategic planning.  Mr. Kopelman’s mergers and acquisitions experience includes due diligence as well as financial and tax analysis of transactions.   He also has extensive experience working with domestic and foreign companies, addressing both inbound and outbound transactions. 

Mr. Kopelman is involved in the Atlanta CEO Council, AeA, Atlanta Chamber of Commerce where he serves on the newly formed Technology Marketing Sub-committee, and is on the Board of Directors of the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce.  He is a frequent speaker to Law Seminars International covering topics ranging from International IP Tax Planning to Finance and Accounting Red Flags.  He served on the Board of Directors of MyBenefitsSource.com, a start up payroll and benefits company sold to H&R Block.

Mr. Kopelman earned a BBA in accounting from the School of Accountancy at Georgia State University in Atlanta.

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Bertrand Navarrete Director Mitsui Technology Investment Group

Mr. Navarrete is a Director in the New York office focusing on leading investment origination, sourcing, and execution mainly focused on the Digital Media / Mobile & Wireless space. Mr. Navarrete joined Mitsui from Merrill Lynch where he held several roles in Capital Markets, Technology Strategy and Business Development, and Private Equity.

Prior to his current role, Mr. Navarrete was most recently a Vice President at Merrill Lynch where he was responsible for managing a strategic private equity fund consisting of 13 direct and 2 fund investments in the CRM, Software, Media, Mobile, and Financial Services Technology sectors.  Within this portfolio, he managed and was a Board Observer on several notable investments including CapitalIQ, The Wedding Channel, MyFamily.com, and Yodlee. 
In addition to his private equity activities, he gained a broad range of operational experience as he was responsible for executing technology business development and strategy for Merrill Lynch's Global Private Client Technology Group, where he sourced and evaluated strategic technology alliances in the CRM, Enterprise Software, Technology Services, and VOIP sectors.   

Previously, Mr. Navarrete was an original member and Vice President of a seed-staged venture capital fund created at Merrill Lynch, focusing on co-investment and new company incubation in the Financial Services Technology sector through partnerships with General Atlantic, Capital Z, Investor AB, and Cap Gemini Ernst and Young.  He began his career in the Capital Markets group at Merrill Lynch where he focused on middle market institutions.

Mr. Navarrete received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University. He resides in Princeton NJ with his family and in his spare time is an amateur helicopter pilot, experienced skydiver, and motorcycle enthusiast.

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Laurence Olivier Partner Veritas Venture Partners LLC

Laurence Olivier has been involved in venture capital since 1990. As Senior Business Development Manager and SVP Private Equity at Anglo American (AA), a leading global mining concern, he represented AA's interests in a number of venture funds, including the AAV fund managed by Veritas. He served on the boards of various AAV portfolio companies. Mr. Olivier was also a board member of MCPEPA (an East Asian private equity fund) and MCA (a South African fund - Chairman of the Investment Committee). At AA, Mr. Olivier pioneered the establishment of new technology-driven businesses, and served on the boards of a variety of publicly-traded and privately-held businesses, including Anglo American Industrial Corporation Ltd. He currently serves on the boards of ClickFox Inc., Asankya Networks Inc., CytoDome Inc., the Atlanta Venture Forum, and the American Israel Chamber of Commerce of the Southeast US (Chairman Elect).
 
Mr. Olivier was born and raised in South Africa, and holds a B.Engineering (Electronics) from the University of Pretoria, and a B.Com (Hons) and diploma in Datametrics from the University of South Africa.

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Mr. Rostick joined Intel in 1997. He currently directs investment activities for Intel Capital on the East Coast. Mr. Rostick covers all areas of investment focus for Intel with particular interest in semiconductor, wireless and communications opportunities. He has worked with Intel Capital since 1998 during which time he has focused on a variety of areas, including computing infrastructure, enterprise software and communications silicon. Prior to joining Intel, Mr. Rostick worked for Turner Broadcasting marketing its cable networks in South America, spent five years as a practicing attorney specializing in tort litigation, and also worked in commercial banking. He holds a JD and an International MBA from the Moore School at the University of South Carolina.

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Joseph G. Silver Partner DLA  Piper

Joseph G. Silver is a business lawyer assisting companies and investors with venture capital and private equity investments, mergers and acquisitions, and commercial transactions. He works with institutional investors in fund formation and the purchase, sale, and financing of their portfolio companies. Mr. Silver also represents technology companies in commercialization and licensing of intellectual property assets.

Having handled over 100 venture capital transactions, Mr. Silver has broad experience in structuring and negotiating common and preferred stock investments.  In addition, he is experienced in joint ventures, software license and development agreements, public/private and private/private mergers and acquisitions, and general corporate matters.

Mr. Silver has represented numerous corporations with respect to their venture capital investments, including several Georgia-based public corporations.  In addition, he has advised corporations with respect to commercial transactions entered into in connection with venture capital investments.  

Mr. Silver is a regular speaker and panelist in the local technology community and has published several articles.  He received his B.A, with honors, from Vanderbilt University and his J.D., cum laude, from the University of Georgia School of Law.

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Wright Steenrod joined Chrysalis in June 2001 and was promoted to Principal in July 2005. At Chrysalis, Mr. Steenrod has worked with Ygnition, Inc., Genscape, Inc., and Appriss, Inc., among others.  He focuses on the media and communications. 

Prior to Chrysalis, Mr. Steenrod was Vice President of Business Development for Darwin Networks, a former Chrysalis portfolio company. From 1995 to 1998, he worked at SunTrust Bank in Atlanta as an Associate in Mergers & Acquisitions.

Mr. Steenrod has a BA in Economics from Princeton University.  Prior to SunTrust, he served five years in the US Marine Corps from which he was honorably discharged as Captain.

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Tom Whiteaker is Senior Director of Strategic Ventures for Visa International. In this role, he is responsible for identifying, evaluating, negotiating and executing strategic partnerships and private equity investments in early to mid-stage venture backed companies.  Mr. Whiteaker’s current investment focus is on emerging security, mobile and authentication solutions for the financial services industry.  

Mr. Whiteaker joined the Strategic Ventures division at Visa in 1999.  While at Visa he has formed strategic partnerships with and invested in several companies including Zone Labs (Acquired by CheckPoint), nCircle Network Security, NextPage, Vericept and Inside Contactless.  Prior to Visa Mr. Whiteaker was the Director of International Business Development for Omnium Worldwide.

Mr. Whiteaker graduated from Thunderbird, The Garvin School of International Management in 1996 with an MBA degree in International Management and received a B.S. degree in Finance from Arizona State University in 1989.

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John C. Yates Partner Morris, Manning & Martin LLP

John C. Yates is the partner-in-charge of the technology group of Morris, Manning & Martin, LLP. Mr. Yates is one of the pioneers of the technology law field and has been practicing exclusively in this area for over 24 years. The firm’s technology group has represented hundreds of technology companies and provided legal services in such areas as IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, patent prosecution, Internet law, ecommerce/distribution, corporate finance and venture capital, international law and dispute resolution. 

Mr. Yates is internationally recognized in the computer and software legal area. He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the Computer Law Association and the Technology Association of Georgia and is a co-founder of the Minority Technology Entrepreneurs (MiTE). He also is on the Board of Directors of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, Chair of the Metro Atlanta Chamber Political Action Committee (MAC PAC), and served as the co-chair of the Chamber’s Business Recruitment Sub-Committee.

Mr. Yates is a co-founder of the Technology Association of Georgia (TAG), CEO Council, Technology Tax and Finance Forum, and the Southeastern Medical Device Association (SEMDA).   

Mr. Yates serves on the editorial board of The Computer Lawyer and is a contributing author for the European Intellectual Property Review. His articles have been widely cited in the computer law area, including citation by the U.S. Supreme Court in Kodak vs. Image Technical Services.    

Mr. Yates is a frequent speaker at national, regional and local computer organizations. He has delivered more than 100 speeches, and his presentations have included COMDEX,  the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Practicing Law Institute, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Emory University. 

Mr. Yates is currently co-authoring a book, entitled "The Art of Business Friendship."

Mr. Yates received his B.A., magna cum laude, and his J.D. from Duke University.

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This page was last updated on 03/06/07.