Dick Kramlich

Dick began his venture career in 1969 as a General Partner with Arthur Rock and Co. after nine years in general management as Manager of Financial Planning at the Kroger Co. and Investment Management as Executive Vice President at Gardner & Preston Moss Company in Boston. Since co-founding NEA in 1978, he has been involved in nine companies that have grown from start-up or near start-up stage to companies with market value in excess of $1 billion, including Juniper Networks, Ascend Communications (acquired by Lucent for $24 billion), ImmuneX (acquired by Amgen for $29 billion), Macromedia (acquired by Adobe for $3.5 billion), and most recently Financial Engines, which sent public in 2010. Dick was the first investor to invest in the Ethernet at 3Com with Bob Metcalfe and an early investor with Dr. John Simpson in balloon angioplasty at Advanced Cardiovascular Systems (acquired by Eli Lilly) as well as Forethought (acquired by Microsoft), the company that originated PowerPoint. Dick continues to work with start-ups such as Force10 Networks, Tabula, Visual Edge, Xoom, and Zhone (public). He recently joined the board of CITIC Pharmaceuticals in China, which is in the process of being acquired for $535 million, and is also a director of Silicon Valley Bank. Dick has received four Lifetime Achievement Awards including awards from the National Venture Capital Association (he served as Chairman and President from 1992-93), the University of California- Haas School of Business, the Silicon Valley Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Program, and the Red Herring Magazine Award. He received an Innovation Catalyst Award from the VC Taskforce for outstanding contribution, dedication and leadership in the venture community in 2010, and was honored with a Special Achievement Award at the International Business Forum (IBF) 2010 Venture Capital Investing Conference. He received an MBA from Harvard University and a BS in History from Northwestern University. Dick and his wife, Pamela, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2006. They are noted collectors of Media Art and founded the New Art Trust to foster best practices in the field in 1997. They have four adult offspring and six grandchildren; they enjoy hiking, traveling, tennis and swimming and recently returned from Shanghai, China where Dick was assisting NEA’s China practice.

Share

FacebookTwitterCopy Link