In addition to the Amplifier Team, Amplifier Ventures benefits from strategic advice and assistance from two advisory boards
Strategic Advisory Board
The Strategic Advisory Board is composed of regional business leaders with expertise, relationships and perspectives on financing, business and acquisition trends relevant to the Fund’s investment strategy and focus. The initial members or the Strategic Advisory Board are:
George C. Newstrom
George Newstrom is the General Manager of Dell Services Federal Government (DSFG) and leads the Go-To-Market (GTM) team responsible for executive customer interface, sales, and account growth initiatives. This role focuses on continuing growth and market presence for Dell in the services markets including infrastructure and cloud computing, security, mobility, business consulting efforts.
Prior to his current position, George C. Newstrom served as the President and Chief Operating Officer for Lee Technologies starting in October 2006. With Mr. Newstrom’s extensive management experience and information technology (IT) expertise, Lee Technologies is poised to further advance its leadership position in the growing mission-critical infrastructure Market. Before coming to Lee Technologies, Mr. Newstrom was the President and CEO of WiSPER Technologies a startup venture focused on voice recognition technology in medical practice.
In 2002, Mr. Newstrom was appointed by Governor Mark R. Warner to serve as the Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia. In that capacity, Mr. Newstrom advised the Governor on the growth of technology in our global economy and the effective use of IT in state government. Mr. Newstrom served as both CIO for the Commonwealth and Chief Strategist for raising Virginia’s visibility in the global technology marketplace.
Mr. Newstrom was previously with EDS, a leading global IT services company. During his 28-year career with EDS, he held various leadership positions in the health care and government sectors. Mr. Newstrom culminated his career at EDS as a Corporate Senior Vice President and President of EDS Asia Pacific.
Before joining EDS, Mr. Newstrom served in the United States Marine Corps as a Communications and Electronics Officer.
Mr. Newstrom’s community involvement includes serving on volunteer boards, helping service organizations and actively supporting educational opportunities for children. He has held advisory and leadership roles on numerous foundations and boards, including:
The Virginia Business Higher Education Council, Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government Advisory Board, The National Commission on Restructuring the Internal Revenue Service, Chairman – 1998 World Congress on Information Technology
The Information Technology Association of America (ITAA), The Virginia Technology Council, Lee Technologies Board of Directors, Raytheon Trusted Computer Solutions Board of Advisors, Chairman-Emeritus of the Board of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA).
Mr. Newstrom holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Davis.
David C. Lucien
David C. Lucien is currently CEO and founder of DCL Associates. Since 1990, Mr. Lucien has served as an advisor or director for various consulting or information technology companies providing strategic advisory services and, from time to time, assists various equity funds in the review of current and potential portfolio companies that focus on information technology services, federal services, telecommunications, and the Internet. Mr. Lucien has an extensive background in information technology within both the commercial and government sectors including federal, state, and local government markets.
Mr. Lucien has held several senior-level executive positions including, Chairman and CEO of CMS Information Services, Inc., the founder and principal of Interpro Corporation, a strategic advisory services and M&A firm, and President and CEO of Tempest Technologies, Inc. He is currently an advisor to CM Equity Partners, a Private equity firm specializing mostly within the federal government sector and sets on the board of advisors of Draper Atlantic Venture Fund (New Atlantic Ventures).
Mr. Lucien is Chairman of the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT), a nonprofit corporation that accelerates the next generation of technology and technology companies. CIT creates new technology companies through capital formation, market development and revenue generation services. To facilitate national innovation leadership and accelerate the rate of technology adoption, CIT creates partnerships between innovative technology startup companies and advanced technology consumers.
CIT GAP Funds makes seed-stage equity investments in Virginia-based technology, clean tech and life science companies with a high potential for achieving rapid growth and generating significant economic return for entrepreneurs, co-investors and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
He is Chairman of The Innovation and Entrepreneurship Investment Authority, the parent authority for the CIT, is a founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, Chairman Emeritus of the Virginia Technology Council and is a recipient of the Earle C. Williams Award for Leadership in Technology.
Don Rainey
Don Rainey is a general partner Grotech Ventures and currently serves on the boards of Grotech portfolio companies Clarabridge, GramercyOne, HelloWallet, LivingSocial, Personal, SnappCloud, and Zenoss.
He is a strong proponent of technology transfer and education and devotes much time to both areas. Currently, he is an emerging technology consultant to the Chief Information Officer of the US Department of Defense through the DeVenCi Program, which is tasked with researching and nominating companies to solve the DOD’s unmet technology needs. In 2011, Don was appointed to the James Madison University (JMU) Board of Visitors by Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell and he also serves on the Board of Directors of James Madison Innovations, Inc., a non-profit corporation which helps commercialize intellectual property produced at JMU.
As an Organizing Board member of the prestigious MindShare forum, Don helps CEOs from the DC region’s most promising start-ups build long-term sustainable companies.
He is a frequent speaker at local and national technology events, and was included on Washingtonian’s Tech Titans list in May 2011. The Northern Virginia Technology Council presented Don with its prestigious “Lifetime Navigator” Award for his work with entrepreneurs in March 2011.
Prior to his career in venture capital which he began with Intersouth in 2000, Don spent many years in business management, serving as president at Attitude Network, one of the first online entertainment networks, which was sold to TheGlobe.com. He also managed channel distribution and brand marketing in 50 countries for IBM’s $2 billion network hardware division and served as COO of DaVinci Systems where he spearheaded the company’s acquisition by ON Technology. Don designed and launched Novell’s much-emulated global Authorized Dealer Program in the late 1980′s.
He earned a B.B.A. from James Madison University and a M.S. in Bioscience Management from George Mason University.
Mark Walsh
Mark Walsh is currently a member of the Board of Directors of FedBid, a market leading online market for Federal procurement. He is currently the CEO and co-founder of GeniusRocket, a leading provider of crowdsourced marketing for major brands and global non-profits.
He has been the CEO or senior executive in a number of consumer and business-to-business technology and content companies, including GE, AOL, HBO among others. He was the CEO and chairman of VerticalNet, a leading provider of B2B “communities of commerce”. The company went public on the NASDAQ in 1999. Mr. Walsh is very active in the education industry, investing in and serving on the boards of prominent educational software and service companies like Blackboard, In2Books (now ePals) and Spectrum K12. He is also an active angel investor He is or was an investor and board member/advisor in a number of successful start-ups and high growth companies, including NutriSystems, (NASDAQ: NTRI), Day Software (Bought By Adobe), Verical-The Electronic Components Marketplace (Bought by Arrow Electronics), IndustryBrains.com (Bought by Marchex), half.com (Bought by eBay), BlackBoard (NASDAQ: BBBB), Sensics HUD Technology, Transactis.com, LifeShield.com, MobilePosse.com, Ruckus.com and the European run of the Broadway hit-show “Wicked”.
He is the chairman of the board of advisors to the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland’s Smith Business School, and is on the board of the Bipartisan Policy Center, a DC-based thought leader in policies and legislation, founded by four former heads of the US Senate, two Republicans and two Democrats. He is active in other not for profits, having served on the boards of the Philadelphia Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony and the NY Theatre Workshop (where the play “Rent” debuted).
Mr. Walsh holds a BA from Union College in NY, and is the chairman of their board of trustees. He received his MBA from Harvard Business School.
Academic Research Advisory Board
Amplifier Ventures also benefits from an Academic Research Advisory Board, composed of representatives of the major research universities in the DC Region, to advise it on trends in technology commercialization and entrepreneurship in the region’s universities.