Henk Hanselaar – Chairman
Henk is a Managing Partner with Avondale Partners, LLC and has held similar positions with Trumpet Partners, a boutique investment bank in San Diego, and Hamilton Apex Technology Ventures. Between 1990 and 2003, Henk held CEO positions at three US and German broadband communications companies. Prior to that, he spent 14 years at Citibank in Europe and the United States. Henk graduated from Nijenrode University in the Netherlands, earned a BBA degree from the University of Oregon, an MBA from Santa Clara University, and attended the Harvard Business School PMD program.Gene Barduson – Board Member
Gene Barduson is currently CEO of Alteer Corporation, a healthcare practice management company. Gene started his career with IBM, spent several years in the CAD/CAM industry, and then moved to an executive position with Shared Medical Systems, Inc. (SMS), now part of Siemens, AG. After SMS, he was recruited to the position of president and CEO of EDiX Corporation. He turned that company into the leading technology-based medical transcription company in the country. After an acquisition by IDX, Gene guided the company to over $100 million in revenues. Gene also served as CEO of Apexion Technologies Inc., a start-up technology company providing health care supply and surgical instrument tracking applications that was recently acquired by Lawson Software.
John M. Morris – Board Member
John M. Morris is a Managing Director of GKM Ventures, and Chairman Emeritus of the Tech Coast Angels, which recently led Benchmark’s Series A funding round. John is also the past president and a co-founder of TCA’s Los Angeles network. John has been a director for a number of private and public companies. He presently is a director for the Los Angeles Venture Association. He is a co-founder and past president of the Forum for Corporate Directors in Orange county. In addition to Benchmark, John is a director for Syntricity and Accordent Technologies. John’s venture capital career commenced when he joined First Interstate Venture Capital Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of First Interstate Bank, as a principal. FIVC invested in later stage technology companies and in management buyouts. John also has previous investment banking experience with Sutro & Co., Wedbush Morgan Securities and NewCap Partners. A frequently sought expert and speaker on VC and angel investing, John is a faculty advisor in the Global Access Program at UCLA’s Anderson Business School. John received his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, and his BA in Economics from the UCLA. John and his wife Teddi live in Pacific Palisades. He enjoys golf, scuba diving, adventure travel and digital photography.Marco Thompson – Board Member
Marco wears many hats simultaneously. He is a Managing Partner for Express Ventures, a firm which invests in "Pre Series A" ventures in San Diego. He is Chairman of Action and Sports Innovators, the first San Diego-based non-profit focused on the action sports and traditional sporting goods industries. And he serves as CTO of Wind River Services, the "Embedded Engineering" Services arm of Wind River. Originally, Wind River Services was Dr. Design, a firm Marco founded in his garage in 1984 and grew to $50MM before selling to Wind River in 2000. A well-known figure in venture and entrepreneurial circles, Marco serves on the board of several San Diego-based companies, and has served as Chair of the San Diego Telecom Council, a Board Member for Connect, and a Member and Mentor on the Chairman’s Roundtable.
Tyson McDowell – Board Member
Olivier Witteveen – Board Member