Board of Directors
Robert LeFort
Robert LeFort was appointed as CEO of Ember in April 2006. Most recently, he was the President of Infineon Technologies North America Corp. in June 2002, with responsibility for all headquarters business activity and key customers. Earlier, he was Vice President Infineon's Automotive & Industrial business, managing business development and relationships with companies using Infineon chips for dynamic vehicle management, engine control, automotive safety systems and related applications. Before joining Infineon in 2000, LeFort was Customer Manager at Delphi Corporation, a Tier One automotive electronics supplier, and held positions at Cherry Semiconductor (now part of ON Semiconductor), Unitrode Corporation and Analog Devices. He holds an MBA from Boston University and a BSEE from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
Robert M. Metcalfe
Bob Metcalfe is an MIT engineer, Harvard mathematician, Internet pioneer, Xerox scientist, Ethernet inventor, Stanford professor, 3Com founder, Cambridge fellow, InfoWorld pundit, National Technology medalist, and now a General Partner of Polaris Venture Partners since 2001.
Bob had three other careers in technological innovation before venture capitalist:
While an engineer-scientist (1965-1979), Bob was an Internet pioneer. In 1973, at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (Parc), he invented Ethernet, the local-area networking (LAN) standard on which he shares four patents. Today, nearly a billion wired and WiFi Ethernet ports are shipped annually.
While an entrepreneur-executive (1979-1990), Bob founded, IPOed, and grew 3Com Corporation, the billion-dollar networking company, as Chairman, CEO, division GM, and VP of engineering, sales, marketing, and strategy. In 2010, 3Com merged into HP.
While a publisher-pundit (1990-2000), Bob was CEO of IDG's InfoWorld Publishing Company (1992-1995) and IDG VP Technology (1995-2000). For eight years, he wrote a syndicated Internet column read weekly by a half million information technologists. He spoke at conferences, on radio and television, hosted a weekly webcast, and was executive producer of events including ACM97, ACM1, Agenda, PopTech, and Vortex.
Bob's books include Packet Communication, Internet Collapses, and Beyond Calculation.
Bob serves on boards of Polaris-backed start-ups including 1366 Technologies, Ember, Infinite Power Solutions, SiOnyx, and Sun Catalytix. He is a director-trustee-advisor to Avistar Communications, USC Stevens, Ocean Energy Institute, X Prize Foundation, and MIT’s Corporation, Energy Initiative, Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Department of Chemistry, Deans of Engineering and Science.
Bob graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1969 with two bachelor degrees, in electrical engineering and in industrial management. He received a master in applied mathematics from Harvard University in 1970. In 1973, he received a Ph.D. in computer science from Harvard for his dissertation, Packet Communication.
In 1980, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) gave Bob its Hopper Award. In 1988, he received the Bell Medal from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). In 1995, Bob received the Exploratorium Award for Public Understanding of Science and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In 1996, he received the IEEE's Medal of Honor. In 1997, he was elected to the National Academy of Engineering (where he serves on the Finance Committee), and in 1999, to the International Engineering Consortium. In 2003, Bob received the Marconi Prize and was inducted into the Bay Shore High School Hall of Fame. In 2005, Bob received the National Medal of Technology for "leadership in the invention, standardization, and commercialization of Ethernet." Bob entered the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2007 and Computer History Museum Hall of Fellows in 2008. He cherishes his five honorary degrees.
For two years, Bob has been on his "Enernet" tour. Over 35 times at universities, companies, and conferences, he has shared "Internet Lessons for Solving Energy."
After 22 years in Silicon Valley, Drs. Robyn and Bob Metcalfe live in Boston and Maine.
Stuart Ellman
Stuart Ellman is a Managing Partner of RRE Ventures. Since co-founding the firm in late 1994, Mr. Ellman has been responsible for more than 25 information technology investments and currently serves as a Director of BioPassword, Ember Corporation, MessageOne, Proofpoint, Rave Wireless, RecycleBank and Storm Exchange. Mr. Ellman is also on the Board of Directors of the 92nd Street Y, the Venture Investors Association of New York, and is an Adjunct Associate Professor at Columbia Business School. From 1992-1994, he was a co-founder and Vice President at Advisory Capital Partners, a principal investment and advisory firm. In 1991, Mr. Ellman was an Associate at Morgan Stanley & Co., specializing in fixed income capital markets. From 1988-1990, he served as a Financial Analyst at Dillon, Read & Co., focused on leveraged buyouts and restructurings. In 1987, he worked as a management consultant for McKinsey & Co. in Sydney, Australia. Mr. Ellman holds an MBA with Distinction from Harvard University and a BA in Economics from Wesleyan University, where he was a Gilbert Clee Scholar and a Horace White Fellow.
Steve Hall
Steve Hall is a director at Vulcan Capital where his investment areas include embedded networks and data intelligence. He sits on the board of Ember Corporation and led Vulcan's investment in Eliyon Technologies. Mr. Hall began his venture capital career with New York-based Prospect Street Ventures, where he participated in ten investments that led to five IPOs and one acquisition. Since 1999, he has also been a guest lecturer on venture capital investing at Columbia Law School. In an article entitled "Bold: A New Generation is Changing the Face of Venture Capital," Mr. Hall was profiled by UPSIDE magazine as one of seven "VCs to watch." Prior to entering the venture industry, Mr. Hall was a corporate attorney with White & Case in New York, where his M&A and securities transactions totaled over $2.5 billion. Mr. Hall received his BA in business administration and BA in political science from Furman University and JD from Columbia University Law School, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar. He is a member of the New York Bar.
Todd Hixon
As Managing Director of DFJ New England Fund, Todd Hixon is responsible for the fund's management, strategy and direction. He has over 24 years of experience with The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) where he was Senior Vice President. While at BCG, Mr. Hixon served businesses in the Internet and e-commerce, computer, IT, software, electronics, telecom, chemical, and oil industries. Most recently, he co-founded the BCG e-Ventures business, and prior to that he founded the BCG High Technology practice and grew it to $100m business. Mr. Hixon earned his B.A. in Physics from Princeton University (summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa) and he holds his M.B.A. from HBS, where he was a Baker Scholar.
Charles R. Lax
Charley Lax is the founder and Managing General Partner of GrandBanks Capital. Mr. Lax’s investment career, spanning more than 16 years, includes investments in 41 portfolio companies, which have resulted in 29 exits thus far. His track record includes 15 public companies, of which 10 achieved market caps in excess of $1 billion. Additionally, Mr. Lax is a founding General Partner of both SOFTBANK Venture Capital (Mobius Venture Capital) and SOFTBANK Capital Partners, and co-created Flatiron Partners of New York City. Prior to his career in venture capital, Mr. Lax worked for a series of software companies in marketing, product management and sales roles, including Phoenix Technologies Ltd., the BIOS developer. Mr. Lax was awarded a B.S degree, magna cum laude, from Boston University in 1982.
Mohamad Ali
Mohamad Ali is currently Senior Vice President of Corporate Development at Avaya, a global leader in enterprise communications. Before joining Avaya, Mohamad was Vice President of Business Development & Strategy for IBM’s Information Management division where he oversaw division strategy, partner relationships and the selection, acquisition and integration of target companies. Mohamad has served as Vice President and general manager for IBM’s Information Applications software business, IBM’s EDA software business, IBM’s E&TS hardware systems business and IBM’s GSM semiconductor business. He also held positions in sales, marketing, engineering and finance. Before joining IBM, Mohamad was an executive at software startup Neural Applications Corporation and an engineer at Adobe Systems. He holds BS/BA and MSEE degrees from Stanford University. He was named to Boston Business Journal’s 2008 “40 Under 40” list.
