Venture Capital

Venture Capital Advisory Board

The Council's Venture Capital Board is comprised of a select, broadly-based group of VCs that share a strong conviction about economic development and job growth. They are committed to investing in companies that can provide long-term, economically sustainable products and services to the business community as well as consumer markets.

Past Venture Capital events 05.27.10Venture Edge Dinner   SEE EVENT PAGE
12.02.09Fall Venture Edge Dinner (Boston)   SEE EVENT PAGE
11.18.09Alternative Funding Sources (NYC)   SEE EVENT PAGE
10.20.09Congressman Scott Murphy (NYC)   SEE EVENT PAGE
09.16.09Fall Venture Edge Dinner (NYC)   SEE EVENT PAGE
07.14.09Rising Star Networking Reception   SEE EVENT PAGE
11.08.08The Deal's M&A Outlook   SEE EVENT PAGE
03.19.08The Deal's Healthcare Dealmaking Symposium   SEE EVENT PAGE

Upcoming Venture Capital events 10.07.10PITCH East (NYC)   SEE EVENT PAGE

Venture Capital Board Members

Graham Anderson
Partner
EuclidSR

Graham Anderson is a General Partner with EuclidSR Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm based in New York City with over $250 million under management in its current fund. Prior to joining EuclidSR, Mr. Anderson served in several professional capacities in management consulting, law, software and new media. Mr. Anderson comes to EuclidSR Partners from the strategy consulting firm, Salzinger & Company, a division of CommerceOne (NASDAQ: CMRC). At Salzinger & Co., Mr. Anderson served as a consultant to America Online's Greenhouse Project, Image Technology Corporation (now network MCI Digital Imaging), CI Impressions, Inc., and The Walt Disney Company. Mr. Anderson serves on the Editorial Advisory Board of VentureOne, is a CFA Charterholder and a graduate of Yale College, the University of Glasgow and the Yale Law School.

John Cococcia
Principal
FA Technology Ventures

John is a founding member of FA Technology Ventures. Previously, John was a part of First Albany Enterprise Funding (FAEF), where he was responsible for finding, structuring, negotiating and monitoring private equity investments. Prior to his position with FAEF, John was a member of the equity research group at First Albany Corporation, where he assisted with the coverage of the manufacturing and enterprise software sectors. John currently serves as a Founding Director and Treasurer of the Upstate Venture Association, Founding Director and Treasurer of the Eric Evans Memorial Charitable Foundation, Vice President of the Rensselaer Alumni Association Board of Trustees, and as a mentor to the Union College and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute incubator programs. John earned his BS in Mechanical Engineering and his MBA with a concentration in finance and entrepreneurship from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Rick Heitzmann
Managing Director
FirstMark Capital

Rick Heitzmann is a Managing Director at FirstMark, where he focuses on software and services investments. He joined Pequot Capital in 1999. Mr. Heitzmann brings more than 15 years of investing, financing and entreprenuerial experience to Pequot Ventures. Previously, Mr. Heitzmann was with First Advantage Corp. (NASDAQ: FADV), where he was the Vice President of Corporate Development and oversaw strategy and new initiatives including new products, new markets and over 20 acquisitions, which doubled the Company's revenue. Mr. Heitzmann joined First Advantage after it was formed as a result of a merger with US Search (NASDAQ: SRCH), where he was the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and a member of the Board of Directors. Previously, Mr. Heitzmann served as an executive with Nationsbanc Montgomery Securities in the Private Equity Group and with Booz-Allen and Hamilton in the Financial Services and Healthcare Group. Mr. Heitzmann has been featured on CNN Market Call, CNBC, Bloomberg television and radio, Tech TV and in number of local media outlets discussing technology and changing markets. Prior to that, Mr. Heitzmann was involved in turnaround situations and distressed investing as a Financial Analyst and Associate at Houlihan Lokey Howard and Zukin. Mr. Heitzmann received his B.S. in Business Administration from Georgetown University and his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

Roger Hurwitz
Software Enterprise
Apax Partners

Roger Hurwitz joined the firm in 1999. He focuses primarily on enterprise software and technology-enabled services. Previously, he was a vice president of GE Equity, where he played a key role in developing the technology group's investment strategy for business-to-business electronic commerce and led numerous private equity transactions. Beforehand, he worked in corporate finance at Chase Manhattan Bank, and spent six years at Arthur Andersen in accounting and corporate finance. Roger graduated as a Palmer Scholar with an MBA from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and graduated summa cum laude with a BS in accounting from Syracuse University.

Michael Moretti
Senior Vice President, New York Branch
Silicon Valley Bank

Michael Moretti runs SVB's New York office. He is responsible for managing all relationship and business development activities with emerging technology companies in the tri-state region. Prior to joining SVB, Michael worked at LCconnect Inc., an online financial services company he co-founded in January 2000. Previously, Michael had been involved in the international, corporate and investment banking markets since 1982. Prior to starting LCconnect, Michael was co-head of Credit Lyonnais Securities' Corporate Advisory Group, which he founded in 1995, and its Mergers and Acquisitions Group. Before joining Credit Lyonnais in 1991, Michael served nine years at the Irving Trust Company, which was subsequently acquired by the Bank of New York. There he worked in the corporate banking division from 1988 until 1991. Michael received a B.A. from St. Lawrence University and an M.B.A. from the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird).

James Robinson IV
General Partner
RRE Ventures

Jim Robinson is a Founder and General Partner at RRE Ventures. He has been active within the technology community for over twenty years as an entrepreneur, banker and investor. While earning his double degree in Computer Science and Business Administration at Antioch College during the early 1980's, Mr. Robinson worked as a programmer developing internal email systems for state government, and later founded and was President of IV Systems Inc., a consulting firm that created custom applications for Unix workstations. In 1986, Mr. Robinson joined JP Morgan & Company, where he spent four years working on technology-related assignments, first within the Global Exposure Management group designing and testing software for risk management systems, and later as an investment banker in the Corporate Finance group focused on technology and communications companies. Mr. Robinson earned an MBA from Harvard in 1992, and subsequently joined Hambrecht & Quist Venture Capital in San Francisco. While at H&Q he led investments primarily within the software, services and communications sectors, and served as a General Partner across several investment funds for the firm. Since co-founding RRE in late 1994, Mr. Robinson has been responsible for over twenty-five technology investments, and currently serves as Director of Broadsoft (VOIP networks), Evoke Software (data profiling software), Goldpocket Interactive (interactive television software and infrastructure), ReefEdge (wireless networking software), and is Chairman of Vivre (catalog and internet retailer of luxury brands). Mr. Robinson is involved in several non-profit endeavors, serving on the Board of Directors of the Federal Law Enforcement Foundation, The New York Software Industry Association (NYSIA), the New York City Investment Fund's Information Technology Group, and as a member of the Advisory Board of the National Association on Drug Abuse Problems. Mr. Robinson joined the Young President's Organization in 1999, and is a member of the Economic Club of New York.

Dan Schultz
Managing Partner and Co-founder
DFJ Gotham Ventures

Daniel J. Schultz is a Managing Director and co-founder of Draper Fisher Jurvetson Gotham Ventures. He is a member of the board of directors of Magnolia Broadband (RF smart antenna chipsets), board member and Chairman of SMART System Technologies (RFID payment and CRM platform) and a board observer at XOsoft (disaster recovery software). He is a frequent speaker at entrepreneurial and technology-related conferences and was recently a judge in the Wharton Business School Business Plan competition. Previously, Danny was a senior banker in Lehman Brothers' equity capital markets groups in both New York and London focused on technology and emerging growth companies in the US and Israel. Just prior to founding DFJ Gotham, he was head of Equity Private Placements at Lehman Brothers where he spearheaded a dramatic increase in the firm's venture capital financings for a variety of Internet, software, services and healthcare companies. Danny is also a member of the Investment Committee of the American Friends of The Hebrew University's endowment fund and is its Assistant Treasurer. He graduated from Columbia University where he received his A.B. in Economics and is a resident of Westchester.



Upcoming Executive Events

August 10, 2010
Meet The Players.  READ MORE

October 7, 2010
PITCH East (NYC).  READ MORE

November 8, 2010
2010 Ten Awards.  READ MORE