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, Ethernet inventor, 3Com founder, InfoWorld pundit, and now Polaris partner. In 2005, Bob received the National Medal of Technology for leadership in the invention, standardization, and commercialization of Ethernet, of which last year there were a quarter billion new switch ports shipped worldwide. His most recent book, INTERNET COLLAPSES, is currently working its way down the long tail at Amazon.com. Bob also received the IEEE Medal of Honor, is a trustee of MIT, and is a member of the National Academy of Engineering. As a general partner of Polaris Venture Partners, Bob serves on the boards of Narad, Ember, Paratek, SiCortex, Mintera, GreenFuel, and Infinite Power Solutions.
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.
Jacob Worenklein
Jay Worenklein was most recently Chairman and CEO of US Power Generating Company which he founded in 2003. From 1996 to 2003, he was Managing Director and Global Head of Project and Sectorial Finance for Societe Generale. Prior to joining Societe Generale, Mr. Worenklein was Managing Director and Global Head of Project Finance and Independent Power at Lehman Brothers and prior thereto was a partner and member of the executive committee of the law firm of Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy, where he headed the utilities, power and project finance practices of the Firm. Mr.Worenklein served as Adjunct Professor of Finance at New York University (NYU) and is a trustee of the Committee for Economic Development and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of various other public and private companies, most of which are engaged in the electric power, renewable energy and smart grid businesses. Mr.Worenklein obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia College and Juris Doctor and Master of Business Administration degrees from NYU.
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.
