Jim Hynes
Active in the industry for 30 years, Jim Hynes personally directed the establishment of COLT Telecommunications in Europe as their first CEO in 1992. As Chairman of the Board, he led COLT's IPO in 1996 and the company now enjoys annual sales of over $2 billion. Hynes then went to pursue the establishment of MetroRED Telecom in South America and Mexico, as well as KVH Telecom in Tokyo.
Before taking on operating roles, he was Group Managing Director at Fidelity Ventures for 10 years. Focused on telecommunications and technology, he directed all activities in those areas and his group achieved some of the most outstanding returns in the venture business. Representative investments included: Advanced MobileComm (which ultimately merged into Nextel), Geotel (acquired by Cisco) and Nexabit (Lucent). His career has included senior positions with Chase Manhattan, Continental Corporation, Bache & Co. and New York Telephone.
In 2003, he co-founded Neutral Tandem, Inc. He served as CEO until February 2006, when he moved to Executive Chairman. Hynes holds a B.A. and Honorary Doctorate from Iona College, where he is a member of the Board of Trustees, and an M.B.A. from Adelphi University. He is also on the North American Board of the SMURFIT Graduate School of Business, University College Dublin in Ireland.
Dixon R. Doll
For more than 35 years, Dixon has influenced and guided entrepreneurs, investors and executives in the computer and communications industries. In recognition of his accomplishments in venture capital, Dixon was named by Forbes Magazine as one of the top 100 venture investors on its Midas List for the past four years, as well as one of the top 100 personalities involved in creating the information highway by Upside Magazine. In April, 2005, he was elected to the Board of Directors of the National Venture Capital Association in Washington, D.C., where he also serves on the Executive Committee.
Since the early 1980s, Dixon has been a telecom and Internet venture capital pioneer. In 1996 he launched DCM - Doll Capital Management, an early stage technology venture capital firm which currently has more than $1 Billion under management, headquartered in Menlo Park, California. DCM has backed such well known entrepreneurial companies as About.com, @Motion, Clearwire, 51job, Foundry Networks, Internap, Ipivot, Neutral Tandem, PGP Corp., Recourse Technologies, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp, and Sling Media. DCM has become widely recognized as one of the top Silicon Valley venture firms actively investing in China and Japan. In the mid-1980's, Dixon cofounded the venture capital industry's first fund focused exclusively on telecommunications opportunities. Those funds he organized launched such noteworthy companies as Alantec, Bridge Communication, Centillion Networks, Network Equipment Technologies, Optilink, Picturetel, Polycom, and UUNet.
Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, Dixon was the founder and CEO of an internationally recognized strategic consulting firm focused on telecommunications and computer networking. From 1972 to 1980, Dixon also served as a faculty member of the IBM Systems Research Institute in New York City, and then served on the IBM Networking Systems Organization's External Advisory Board from 1983 to 1991.
He has authored two books, and traveled extensively to six continents to give highly sought after lectures and conference presentations. Through their family foundation, he and his wife, Carol, give generously to numerous educational and philanthropic organizations such as the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, San Francisco Symphony, Kansas State University, the University of Michigan Business School, the Papal Foundation, the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Francisco, the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, and the University of San Francisco where he currently serves as Chairman of the Investment Committee. He also serves as a trustee or advisory board member for each of these organizations. He received his B.S.E.E. degree (cum laude) from Kansas State University as well as M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, where he was a National Science Foundation scholar.
Peter Barris
Peter joined NEA in 1992, became a General Partner in 1993 and Managing General Partner in 1999. Peter specializes in information technology companies. Present board memberships include Boingo Wireless , Broadview Networks, eCommerce Industries, Hillcrest Communications, InnerWorkings, Mkt10, Neutral Tandem and ProtoStar. He also serves on the Board of Directors of the National Venture Capital Association. Prior board memberships include among others, UUNET Technologies (sold to MCI), AMISYS (acquired by HBO), CareerBuilder (acquired by Knight Ridder/Tribune Co.), Mobius Management Systems (NASDAQ: MOBI), SALIX Technologies (acquired by Tellabs) and Tripod (acquired by Lycos, Inc.).
Peter is a member of the Board of Trustees, Northwestern University; Board of Overseers, Tuck School at Dartmouth College; Board of Advisors, Tuck's Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship at Dartmouth; and Board of Directors, Venture Philanthropy Partners. Before joining NEA, Peter was President and Chief Operating Officer at LEGENT and Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Systems Software Division at UCCEL. He also held various management positions between 1977 and 1985 at General Electric, including Vice President and General Manager at GE Information Services. He received a Masters in Business Administration from Dartmouth College and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Northwestern University.
Bob Hawk
Mr. Hawk is president of Hawk Communications whose mission is to help develop high technology companies. In 1997 he retired as President and CEO of U S West Multimedia Communications, Inc. where he was responsible for the Media 1 cable business and the Time Warner partnership. From 1986 until 1995, Mr. Hawk was president of the Carrier Division of U S West Communications, Inc. Prior to that Mr. Hawk was Vice President, Marketing and Strategic Planning for CXC Corporation, a high technology start up and before that was Director, Advanced Systems Development for American Bell.
From 1997-2002 Mr. Hawk served as a Special Limited Partner of Crosspoint Venture Partners. During that time he served on the boards or advisory boards of fifteen companies that went public. Mr. Hawk previously serves as a director of Covad Communications [Nasdaq] and is a current director for Centillium Communications [Nasdaq] and several private high technology companies. During the past fifteen years Mr. hawk has worked with the CEO's and officers of eighty high tech companies as a board member, advisor and investor.
Larry Ingeneri
Larry has been one of Neutral Tandem's Directors since October 2006. He is currently the Chief Financial Officer and on the Board of Directors of mindSHIFT Technologies, Inc. an IT managed services provider which he joined in 2003. Prior to that time, he was the Chief Financial Officer and on the Board of Directors of COLT Telecom Group plc, a European telecommunication services company. Larry Ingeneri was the CFO of COLT Telecom Group plc from 1996 until 2002 and was instrumental in the company's ability to execute its business strategy. He joined COLT prior to the IPO and managed the company's successful public offering on both the London Stock Exchange and the NASDAQ, and helped the company raise $6B in debt and equity financing to fund its aggressive expansion. Prior to COLT, he worked at Salomon Brothers Inc as an investment banker.
Rian J. Wren
Rian J. Wren is a telecommunications industry veteran and pioneer of IP telephony. As Senior Vice President and General Manager of Telephony for Comcast Cable, Wren was responsible for the overall delivery of telephony services for the country's leading cable and broadband communications provider until joining Neutral Tandem in February, 2006.
Wren joined Comcast in 1999 and was named CEO of Broadnet, Comcast's international wireless company in 2000. After returning to Comcast Business Communications (CBC), he served as the business unit's President where he had management and leadership responsibility for providing network solutions to Comcast's business customers.
Prior to joining Comcast, Wren held several senior management positions at AT&T, including President of the Southeast Region, and worked in the Consumer, Business, Network Services, and Network Systems Manufacturing organizations for more than 20 years.
Wren holds a degree in Electrical Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology and an MBA from Stanford University.
G. Edward Evans
Mr. Evans currently serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Stelera Wireless, a leader in deploying broadband services to rural markets throughout the United States. Previously, Mr. Evans was CEO and Chairman of Syniverse Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:SVR). Mr. Evans was elected Syniverse's chairman of the board in February 2005 after having served as a director since February 2002. He served as chief executive officer from February 2002 until January 2006, at which time he stepped down from the position. Mr. Evans remained Chairman of the board until January of 2007. From January 1997 to January 2002, Mr. Evans was with Dobson Communications Corporation, first as president of its cellular subsidiaries and then as president and chief operating officer of the organization. Today Mr. Evans serves on the boards of Solix, CTIA The Wireless Association, Carolina West Wireless, and the Network Reliability and Interoperability Commission, an advisory committee to the FCC. He holds a master's degree in business administration from Georgia State University.