Board of Directors
Elan Amir
President and CEO
As president and CEO of Bivio Networks, Dr. Elan Amir brings to the company his extensive technology and leadership background. In 2003, Dr. Amir first joined Bivio as CTO and assumed the present CEO position in 2004. Prior to joining Bivio, he served as CTO for OmniSky Corporation, one of the pioneers in the wireless data application, software, and services sectors. Dr. Amir led all aspects of the company's technology development, its direction and strategy, intellectual property development, and merger and acquisition.
Prior to his role with OmniSky, Dr. Amir served as CTO and vice president of engineering at ProxiNet, a company that was one of the first developers of web browsing solutions for mobile devices. ProxiNet was acquired by Puma Technology (now Intellisync Corporation) in 1999. Before ProxiNet, Dr. Amir co-founded FastForward Networks, a developer of broadcast media distribution software. FastForward Networks was acquired by Inktomi Corporation in August 2000.
Dr. Amir earned his Ph.D and M.S. in computer science and a B.S. in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California, Berkeley.
Ohad Finkelstein
Partner, Venrock
Mr. Finkelstein has served Venrock since 2005. With his extensive background in the finance, technology, and telecom industries as well as in developing new companies, markets, and products globally, Mr. Finkelstein leads the international investments arm for Venrock from offices in Europe and Israel.
Prior to his role as Chairman, President, and CEO of the pan-European Interoute Telecom Group, Mr. Finkelstein served as Senior Vice President International Sales and Vice President Global Operations for VocalTec Communications Ltd. He has also held management positions at Packard Bell Electronics in the U.S. and has served as a senior advisor for IDEA, a world leader in financial and economic analysis. In 2008, Finkelstein was named one of the 100 most influential people in telecom by Global Telecoms Business magazine.
Mr. Finkelstein serves on the board of the following global, non-Venrock companies: Ethos Networks, Exanet, Inc., and Sensomatix. He also serves on the board of the Interdisciplinary Center (IDC) in Israel.
Philip T. Gianos
General Partner, InterWest Partners
Philip "Flip" Gianos has been part of InterWest's IT team since 1982. With a background in engineering, Mr Gianos has invested in multiple areas of information technology, including semiconductors, computing and networking equipment, and infrastructure and applications software. Gianos serves as chairman of the board of Xilinx (XLNX), a publicly held company, and is also a board member of several privately held companies, including: Brand.net, Convey Computer, and SpectraLinear. Gianos also serves on the advisory board of both Storm Ventures II and the Global Semiconductor Alliance, and is a past president of the Western Association of Venture Capitalists.
Prior to joining InterWest, Gianos held positions with IBM for eight years in engineering management. He managed both chip design and systems integration for several IBM office automation products. Mr. Gianos earned his M.B.A. from Harvard University and received his M.S. and B.S. in electrical engineering from Stanford University. He holds one international and two U.S. patents.
Steven Haley
Steven Haley has more than 24 years of expertise in building world-class sales and service organizations in the data networking industry. During the past four years, Mr. Haley has served as founding executive officer and vice president of worldwide operations, sales and service at Juniper Networks (NASDAQ: JNPR), a global leader in IP routers for the core of public and private networks. During this period, Haley's team grew Juniper's annual sales from zero to nearly one billion dollars.
Prior to Juniper, Haley served as vice president, worldwide sales, telco/service providers and vice president, sales for WAN Products at Cisco. Prior to Cisco, he spent seven years at StrataCom (acquired by Cisco in 1996) as general manager, vice president and managing director. Mr. Haley was the first employee in StrataCom's International group where he managed operations in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa while based in the United Kingdom. Upon returning to the United States in 1994 he took on added responsibility for the Americas.
Mr. Haley currently owns and serves as president of a diversified, private investment and asset management company. He holds several board seats at pre-IPO software and networking companies, and is a board member/trustee of several non-profit organizations. Haley attended Boston College and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, where he earned his degree in business.
Mark Masur
General Partner, Silver Creek Ventures
Mark Masur has served as general partner of Silver Creek Ventures and its predecessor funds since 1989. His areas of expertise include carrier infrastructure, wireless communications, networking and semiconductors.
Prior to the formation of Silver Creek Ventures, Mr. Masur began his venture career in 1982 managing private equity technology investments for InterFirst Venture Corporation and its successors. Mr. Masur earmed a B.S. from Weber State College and a MBA from the University of Denver.
Representative investments for Mr. Masur include Xilinx, ProNet, and Alteon WebSystems. He currently holds a board seat with PowerFile, Inc.
Alex Mendez
Managing Director, Storm Ventures
Alex Mendez is a founding general partner of Storm Ventures. Mr. Mendez was an investor and CEO/Chairman of Sanera Systems (acquired by McData) and served on the McData Board of Directors until 2007. He was also an investor/Board Member of Airespace (acquired by Cisco). His investment focus is on wireless, data centers (computing & storage) and software (Web 2.0 & Enterprise).
Prior to founding Storm Ventures in October 2000, Alex has spent twenty-one years in the high tech industry at companies that include ROLM, IBM, Stratacom, and Cisco and has held several executive positions, most recently as an SVP/GM at Cisco. He was part of the founding team of Stratacom, a company that was acquired by Cisco in 1996.
Mr. Mendez holds a BSEE from Stanford University, and a MBA from Santa Clara University (he serves on the Advisory Board of the GSB). He was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He likes to golf, travel, ski, and speaks both Spanish and German fluently.