Alan Foster, Managing Director, Telesoft Partners
Alan has over 17 years of experience working with technology companies in venture capital, engineering, and product management roles. Alan is a Managing Director at TeleSoft focusing on semiconductors, systems and software investments. Alan is an observer on the boards of Education.com, Knowledge Adventure and VoiceObjects. Before joining TeleSoft Partners, Alan was a Principal at Berkeley International Capital Corporation. At Berkeley International, Alan worked on 32 investments totaling $380 million of invested capital. A partial investment list includes Catena (acquired by Ciena), iCompression (acquired by GlobeSpan), Silicon Spice (acquired by Broadcom), SiTera (acquired by Vitesse), Continuus Software, Extensity, NetGravity, New Focus, On-Link Technologies, Packeteer, Ramp Networks, Saba Software, Shomiti Systems, Telera, Triscend, Vina Technologies, and XLNT Designs. Prior to Berkeley International, Alan worked in the Circuits and Interconnect Technology group at Silicon Graphics. Previously he held Design and Automation Engineering positions at Apple Computer. Alan started his career at an entrepreneurial laser systems manufacturer designing laser systems, building embedded control systems, and managing product development for medical applications. Alan received an M.B.A., with Honors, from The Anderson School at UCLA, and M.S. and B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University.
Royston Hoggarth, Former CEO, Cable & Wireless
Royston Hoggarth is the former chief executive officer of Cable & Wireless in the U.K., Europe and the U.S., and he is currently the chairman of iPSL and managing director at Strategic Capital Associates. He is also a venture partner with Wellington Partners VC in Germany and holds board positions with Axon Global Solutions PLC, Intercede PLC and ANT PLC. Royston has enjoyed two decades of experience in the ICT industry. Prior to becoming CEO of Cable & Wireless UK, Royston was Chief Executive, International at LogicaCMG. Before joining LogicaCMG, Royston spent 13 years working for IBM in a variety of roles, culminating as General Manager of IBM's retail products division worldwide.
Beatriz V. Infante, President and CEO, VoiceObjects
Beatriz Infante is a seasoned executive who brings more than 25 years of experience in building profitable market-leading businesses, with expertise in enterprise software, infrastructure, and communications. Most recently, Beatriz was Chairman, President, and CEO of Aspect Communications, which she led to revenues of nearly $600M/year, and also raised $50M in private equity financing. Prior to that, she was SVP of Oracle’s Application Server division, growing license revenue to $40M+ and winning numerous product awards. She was also responsible for Oracle’s open systems business units, managing 50% revenue growth to $1.1B. Beatriz has held senior leadership positions at Hewlett Packard, Momenta, and Taligent. Beatriz sits on the board of directors at Netli, a dynamic applications hosting company, on the board of directors of Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network and on the advisory board of Princeton University’s School of Engineering. She holds engineering and computer science degrees from Princeton University and California Institute of Technology.
George Schmitt, Managing Director, Telesoft
George Schmitt has over 40 years of broad telecom experience in wireless and wireline companies. He currently serves on the Boards of Calient Networks, Global Locate, Tele Atlas NV, and Teleworx. George is a Managing Director & SBIC Director at TeleSoft. His experience includes e.spire Communications, Omnipoint, LHS Group, Objective Systems Integrators, PCS PrimeCo, AirTouch Communications, Mannesmann Mobilfunk (Germany), Pacific Telesis, Pacific Telephone, and AT&T. George received an M.S. in Management from Stanford University, where he was a Sloan Fellow, and a B.A. in Political Science from Saint Mary's College.
Ram Srinivasan, Venture Partner, Wellington Partners
Ram Srinivasan joined Wellington in 2006 and advises the firm's Technology portfolio. Having been President and CEO of Fireclick from inception in 1999 to acquisition in 2004, he then established their strategic direction, while managing daily operations and technology initiatives. With over 25 years of experience in engineering and marketing management, Ram has an in-depth understanding of high-tech companies. Prior to Fireclick, he was Vice President of Product Marketing for RightPoint Software, helping to re-position the company from its original data mining roots to become a premiere provider of real-time marketing solutions. At Red Brick, Ram led product marketing and management while directing product evolution strategy, culminating in the company's IPO. Previous roles include Product Line Manager for Informix Software's Server Product line, Systems Engineering at Sun Microsystems, and Engineering Manager for HP. Ram holds a bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering, a postgraduate diploma in Management and a Master of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering.
Board Observers
Arjun Gupta, Founder and Managing Partner, Telesoft Partners
Arjun Gupta is the Founder & Managing Partner of TeleSoft Partners, a venture capital firm focused on high-tech startups. He has over 20 years of experience working with technology companies in design engineering, consulting and venture capital roles. At TeleSoft, Arjun manages capital commitments of $625+ million and has established Corporate Partnerships with Alltel and Bechtel in the US, Deutsche Telekom in Europe and Comverse in Israel. In addition to VoiceObjects, Arjun serves on the boards of Knowledge Adventure, LiteScape, LogLogic, Sierra Design, Validity Sensors, and Xambala. Arjun received his MBA from Stanford University, a MS and BS in Computer Science, Phi Beta Kappa, from Washington State University, and a BA in Economics from St. Stephen's College. He is a Henry Crown Fellow and Trustee of The Aspen Institute.
Dr. Georg Schwegler, Managing Director and CEO, T- Venture Holding GmbH
Dr. Georg Schwegler joined T-Venture in October 2000 and has run the T-Com Venture Fund for T-Venture since 2004. Prior to his current role, he was responsible for the INI-Ventures Fund and the Research and Analysis department. Dr. Schwegler joined Deutsche Telekom in 1997 and his posts have included executive and management roles in Research and Development, Market Analysis and Evaluation, as well as Information and Innovation Management. T-Venture is the corporate venture capital arm of Deutsche Telekom AG with 500M Euros under management.
Andreas Weiskam, Partner, SAP Ventures
Andreas Weiskam joined SAP Ventures in July 2006. He has been with SAP since 2001 and has held several corporate and business development positions. Before his career at SAP, Andreas worked in several start-up companies and co-founded Zadu, a venture backed start-up in the area of Instant Messaging Technology. Andreas holds a graduate business degree Diplom-Kaufmann from the University of Hamburg, Germany and an M.Litt. with distinction in Management, Economics and Politics from the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.
