Jerry Brown, Managing Partner founded BVA in 1991 after a successful career at IBM and Texas Instruments. At TI he was an officer and VP of the company's Data Systems Group responsible for the systems, software and Systems Integration businesses. Prior to TI, he was with IBM where he held management positions in engineering, sales and marketing including General Manager, Caribbean Area and Program Director for IBM's first Interactive Multimedia project. Jerry has placed more than 100 CEO's and officers, as well as 20 General Partners. He has helped form six funds with over $1 billion under management. He also consults on new Venture Fund formation and Fund restructuring.
Jerry was instrumental in the formation of numerous successful companies with IPOs such as SCM Micro, ONI Systems, Virata, Aspect Development, Adflex Solutions, Superconductor Technologies, Synplicity, Accel Graphics, Network Peripherals, Bolder Technologies, Be, Kofax, Speedfam, Summit Systems, Cal Micro, CEVA and Nuance.
Acquisitions include Apptitude (HiFn), Network Alchemy (Nokia), ISI ( Global Center), Qualix (Legato), Netratings (AC Nielsen), ARTX (ATI), ISD (Wind Bond), Ashtech (Magellan), Intraspect (Vignette), Supply Base (i2), Invio (Veritas) and Phonetics (ScanSoft).
Jerry holds a BS in Engineering from Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and has completed coursework for an MS/CS at NYU. He serves on the Advisory boards of AVI/MTV, Diamondhead Ventures and Horizon Ventures. Jerry is a Venture Partner at Rembrandt Ventures and Wavepoint Ventures.
Aloka Naskar, Managing Partner is in her seventh year at BVA and has over 14 years experience in executive search in Silicon Valley and Hong Kong. Aloka was a client partner in Korn/Ferry's Silicon Valley office. In this role, she recruited executives for both U.S. and Asian technology companies. She led Korn Ferry's initiative in the IT enabled outsourced and cross border searches between the U.S. and Asia/India.
Prior to Korn/Ferry, Aloka was a Director at Executive Access and spent six years working in Hong Kong. She was responsible for business development and execution of searches throughout the Asia Pacific region. Searches include Texas Instruments-India, DSP center, Leadis (Nasdaq LDIS), UPEK, a DiamondHead / Sofinnova backed company filing for an IPO, TRADOS, a Sequoia / Microsoft backed company, Teralogic (acquired by Oak/Zoran), Ceva (Nasdaq PCVA), Intruvert (Network Associates), Nishan Systems (McData), Gadzoox Networks, Morgan Stanley Asia, Dell Asia Pacific, Lucent Asia Pacific and Alcatel China.
Aloka was a Human Resources officer Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) and Wipro. She holds an MBA in Human Resources from Xavier's (XLRI) and a B.Sc., Chemistry from Sophia College, India.
Industry Advisors
Grace Chou, Materials & Cleantech, advises BVA on searches in the Cleantech sector including energy, water, advanced materials, power management, and related services. Grace was Director of Business Development at SRI International where she led new initiatives in the Cleantech area and was involved in technology licensing and spinning off venture-backed companies. In particular, she was instrumental in the formation of Polyfuel and Artificial Muscle, Inc.
Prior to SRI, Grace was with the Chemical & Energy industry where she held management positions in engineering, sales and marketing including international marketing in Europe and Asia.
Grace advises BVA on cross-border searches for companies with Greater China operations. Grace has in-depth understanding of the unique challenges facing companies operating in China and the critical success factors associated with the senior management team of a globally distributed operation.
Grace holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from University of California, Berkeley. She also attended the Executive Education Program at Northwestern Kellogg School of Management. She is an advisor to several start-up companies and venture capital funds.
Dan Lankford, Semiconductor & Cleantech, is a managing director with Wavepoint Ventures, an early-stage information technology and life sciences venture fund located in El Dorado Hills, California. His primary areas of expertise are communications, semiconductors, and energy technology. Dan has years of experience in the telecommunications equipment, software, semiconductor, and energy technology industries, at AT&T/Bell Labs/Agere Systems, and early stage companies.
As CEO of BOLDER Technologies, he took the company from early stage, through IPO, to commercial operation, raising more than $100 million in the private and public markets and building a 100,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility. Prior to that, he was CEO of AT&T Microelectronics (Agere) - Europe, and built the business from $15 million to $250 million in revenues in five years, becoming one of the leading chip, opto-electronic and power systems suppliers to the European Electronics Industry. Before moving to Europe, Dan served as vice president of marketing for AT&T's $2.5 billion worldwide microelectronics business. He has been involved with early stage technology ventures for more than 20 years as an investor, board member, executive, and consultant.
Dan is former member of the Colorado Governor's Commission on Science and Technology and former chairman of the American Electronics Association Mountain States Chapter. He has a BS in Industrial Engineering (with honors) from Johns Hopkins University, and he received his MS in Management as a Sloan Fellow from Stanford Business School. He has also attended the Senior European Executive Program at IMD in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Jim Hogan, Software, is the General Manager of Vista Ventures Partners in Campbell, California. He has worked in the semiconductor industry for over three decades. His experience includes time as a senior executive in electronic design automation, semiconductor intellectual property, semiconductor equipment, and fabrication companies. Prior to Jim’s position at Vista Jim was a General Partner at Telos Venture Partners. Previously, Jim had worked in a number of operating roles at several Semiconductor and supplier companies.
Before Telos, Jim was Senior Vice President of Business Development of Artisan Components; Jim was Senior Vice President of Business Development and the senior member of the Office of Chief Technologist at Cadence Design Systems. Jim was a Cadence Executive Fellow and held several positions at Cadence including President of Cadence Japan, Corporate Vice President of Marketing, and Corporate Vice President for Field Operations. He was also Chief Operating Officer of Smart Machines, Inc., a semiconductor equipment automation company.
Jim also worked for National Semiconductor for 10 years and for Philips. At both companies, he established and managed device physics laboratories globally.
Jim holds a BA degree in mathematics, a BS degree in computer science and an MBA all from San Jose State University. He serves on the Board of Advisors at San Jose State's School of Engineering, and on the board of directors for several early stage technology start-ups.
Gwyn Jones, Cleantech, works as a staff scientist for Spansion, the world’s largest company exclusively focused on non volatile memory solutions. His primary areas of expertise are in semiconductor device and process physics, magnetic thin film media, spin electronics and optical electronics, in particular solar cells for the renewable energy market.
Gwyn has authored several papers on semiconductor and device physics and a book chapter for Springer publishers and currently has been awarded two US patents. Gwyn also serves on the program committee for Numerical Simulation of Optoelectronic Devices (NUSOD) conference which connects theoretical research and practical device development in optoelectronics.
Gwyn graduated with a first class honors degree from the University of Wales and a PhD in physics from the University of York, England and won the young electronic designer of the year award in the UK for his undergraduate work.