Board of Directors
Eric Benhamou
Benhamou Global VenturesEric Benhamou is chairman and CEO of Benhamou Global Ventures, LLC. Benhamou Global Ventures, started in 2003, invests and plays an active role in innovative high-tech firms throughout the world. Benhamou is an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship and family enterprise at INSEAD, as well as a visiting professor at Ben Gurion University.
He served as chairman of the board of directors of Palm, Inc., from 1999 to 2007 and as CEO of Palm from 2001 to 2003. He also served as CEO of 3Com Corporation from 1990 to 2000 and as chairman of 3Com's board of directors until its sale to HP in April 2010. Previously, he held a variety of senior management positions at 3Com. In 1981, he co-founded Bridge Communications, an early networking pioneer, where he was vice president of engineering until its merger with 3Com in 1987.
In 2003, Benhamou was appointed to the Joint High Level Advisory Panel of the U.S.-Israel Science and Technology Commission by U.S. Commerce Secretary Donald Evans. He currently serves as chairman of the board of Cypress Semiconductor; as a member of the board of RealNetworks, Inc., and of Silicon Valley Bancshares; on the board of directors of several privately held companies; and on the executive committee of TechNet. He is the chairman of the Israel Venture Network, a venture philanthropy organization for a stronger Israeli society.
Neil Daswani
DasientNeil Daswani is responsible for Dasient's long-term product vision and strategy. A highly regarded Internet technology expert, Daswani has served in a variety of research, development, teaching, and managerial roles at Google, Stanford University, DoCoMo USA Labs, Yodlee, and Bellcore (now Telcordia Technologies).
Daswani's areas of expertise include security, wireless data technology, and peer-to-peer systems. He has published extensively in these areas, frequently gives talks at industry and academic conferences, and has been granted several U.S. patents. He is also the author of Foundations of Security: What Every Programmer Needs to Know, which teaches new and current software professionals state-of-the-art software security design principles, methodology, and concrete programming techniques they need to build secure software systems. While at Stanford, he co-founded the Stanford Center for Professional Development's Software Security Certification Program, which has become an important tool for educating software programmers, architects, developers, engineers, IT managers, chief information officers (CIOs), and chief security officers (CSOs) about security issues and designing secure programs.
Daswani earned a bachelor's degree in computer science with honors with distinction from Columbia University and a master's degree and Ph.D. in computer science from Stanford University.
Karim Faris
Google VenturesKarim brings over a decade of operational, entrepreneurial and investment experience to his role. He initially joined Google's corporate development team in 2008, the group responsible for all Mergers & Acquisitions. His primary areas of focus include Internet services, mobile and digital media.
Prior to Google, Karim was a venture capitalist at Atlas Venture, where he worked on investments in software and Internet infrastructure. Previously, he was Director of New Ventures at Level 3 Communications, responsible for evaluating new business opportunities and has led product development for the company's voice services. Earlier in his career, Karim held various product and marketing roles at Intel, initially on the i486™, and later as product manager for the Pentium® Processor. He started his career at Siemens as a software engineer working on the first vehicle navigation system for BMW.
Karim holds an MBA from the Harvard Business School, an MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, and a BS in Computer Engineering from Brown University where he published several papers on Neural Networks.
Mike Maples
FLOODGATEMike Maples, Jr., is the managing partner of FLOODGATE, an investment firm that specializes in bridging the gap between seed and full-scale venture capital investments. Maples was recently named one of "8 Rising VC Stars" by Fortune magazine for his investments in business and consumer technology companies.
Before becoming a full-time investor, he was an entrepreneur and operating executive who worked in a variety of senior management roles in high-growth companies. His background spans a variety of markets, including consumer technology, small business, and the enterprise, and he has led various functions in product development, marketing, business development, and corporate strategy.
In 1997 Maples co-founded Motive, Inc., the world's leading broadband software company, and he played key roles in its growth from raw startup through sales of more than $75 million. Motive was one of the only successful technology IPOs in 2004 and the most successful infrastructure software IPO for the prior three years. At Motive, Maples was General Manager of the Corporate Business Unit, as well as Chief Marketing and Strategy officer.
Prior to Motive, Maples was responsible for worldwide product marketing at Tivoli Systems, where he managed the company's product portfolio from its early-stage development through its 1995 IPO and growth to a $750M line of business within the IBM Software Group. He began his professional career at Silicon Graphics, where he served in business development and product marketing roles.
Stratton Sclavos
Radar PartnersStratton Sclavos has enjoyed a 25-year career as an entrepreneur and business leader in Silicon Valley's high-technology industry. He was formerly Chairman of the Board, President, and CEO of VeriSign Inc., where he started as one of its first employees in 1995 and led the company as it grew into an international corporation with more than 4,000 professionals and $1.6 billion in revenues. Under his leadership, VeriSign became a Fortune 1000 and S&P 500 company listed on the NASDAQ market. Prior to VeriSign, he served as a marketing and sales executive at several Silicon Valley companies, including Taligent, Go Corporation, MIPS Computer, and Megatest. He holds a bachelors degree in electrical and computer engineering from the University of California at Davis.
In November 2007, Sclavos joined Radar Partners, a professional investment firm focused on both public and private investing. The firm's four partners have decades of combined experience in business creation, capital markets, and executive leadership. Radar's early-stage venture investments focus on cloud, Internet and mobile infrastructure, and consumer lifestyle services.
Paul Stich
DasientPaul Stich brings more than 25 years of successful leadership in driving dramatic revenue growth at startup, mid-size, and large companies. Before taking the helm at Dasient, Stich was Vice President of Global Telecommunication Solutions at McAfee.
Before McAfee, he served as President and CEO of Counterpane Internet Security, the leading managed security services firm worldwide. During his tenure, he and his team expanded the service offerings, developed a new go-to-market strategy, and significantly grew revenue for six consecutive years. After Counterpane was acquired by British Telecom in 2006, Stich managed the successful integration of Counterpane into BT Global Services.
Earlier, he was the co-founder, President, and CEO of Groundswell, a premier Internet consulting firm, growing the company from three to 230 people and opening offices across the U.S. Stich also served as Vice President of Global Services at IBM, ultimately responsible for the telecommunications, media, entertainment, and utility industries for North and South America, and he spent over a decade at KMPG as a Partner in charge of building the firm's national telecommunications practice.
Stich earned a bachelor's degree in Economics from Saint Mary's College of California and an MBA from the University of Notre Dame Graduate School of Business.
Dasient, the leader in Web anti-malware technology, envisions an Internet that is safe and malware-free for users and online businesses. Dasient protects the websites of leading financial services, e-commerce, media, web hosting and other global enterprises from losses of data, revenue and reputation caused by web-based malware attacks. Furthermore, Dasient's adaptive security intelligence re-defines Internet security by scanning the expanses of the Web and harnessing the power of data to mount defenses against future malware attacks.