Bernie Skomra, Chairman
Bernie Skomra brings 20 years of senior management experience to Apacheta. Bernie is currently Senior Vice President, Global Sales at BigFix, Inc. Prior to BigFix, Bernie served as Executive Vice President World Wide Field Operations for Solidcore Systems, an endpoint security solution. Before Solidcore, Bernie was founder, President and Chief Operating Officer of Apacheta Corporation. Prior to Apacheta Bernie was Vice President North American Field Operations for Portal Software. He has also held senior management and individual contributor positions at Oracle Corporation, General Electric, and IBM. Mr. Skomra holds a Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering from The Ohio State University.
Peter Clare, CEO
Since 2000, Peter Clare has been a private investor and active board member for early stage technology companies. After seeing the strategic potential of Apacheta's team and their technology, Peter became an investor and board member, subsequently joining Apacheta's team as Chief Technology Officer and eventually as CEO. Before becoming a private investor, Peter was a very early Oracle Corporation employee, and a member of the senior management team that helped build Oracle during the ten years of its most rapid growth (1984..1994). He led the R&D group at Oracle which invented PL/SQL, Oracle's programmatic language extension to SQL, and left Oracle as Director of Architecture and Education, where he had helped guide and disseminate Oracle's core technology throughout its world-wide technical organization. Early in his career, Peter was a software developer in Control Data Corporation's Compiler Products Division where he helped create the world's fastest computer language processors.
John Major
John Major is President of MTSG, an investment, consulting, operations and governance practice principally focused on the telecommunications industry. John brings more than 30 years of mobile computing experience to Apacheta, where he led the company as CEO from 2003 to 2006 and was instrumental in establishing the company as a leading provider of mobile workflow applications. Before Apacheta, John was Chairman and CEO of Novatel Wireless and led the company's successful IPO in the fall of 2000. Before Novatel Wireless, John was Chairman and CEO of Wireless Knowledge, a San Diego-based joint venture between Microsoft, Inc. and Qualcomm, Inc. Prior to joining Wireless Knowledge, John was corporate executive vice president of Qualcomm, Inc. and president of its Wireless Infrastructure Division. At Motorola, John was CTO directing a broad range of research initiatives and led Motorola's efforts to develop world-class excellence in software.
John Major was previously the chair of the Board of Governors' Executive Committees of the Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA) and the Electronic Industries Association (EIA). John holds 9 US Patents and is a formal advisor to some of the largest wireless communications companies in the world. He has a BSME & Aerospace Engineering from University of Rochester; MSME University of Illinois; M.B.A. from Northwestern University; and J.D. Loyola University. John also received an honorary doctorate from Westminster College in 1995.
Philip D. Black
Philip Black, Founder and Senior Managing Member of Blacksmith Capital, has over 15 years experience in venture capital investing. Prior to founding Blacksmith Capital in July, 2003, Mr. Black was a General Partner at ABS Ventures; a General Partner at Weiss, Peck & Greer Venture Partners; and a Senior Associate and Associate at Summit Partners. He has served on the board of directors of 18 private and public companies and is currently a director of Apacheta Corporation, Sphere and Automattic.
Mr. Black has historically focused on communication/networking software and enterprise application software. Notable investments include TGV Software (IPO then acquired by Cisco), Telogy Networks (acquired by Texas Instruments), Intelliquest (IPO then acquired by Millard Brown), Assurenet Pathways (acquired by Axent Technologies), and Protellicess (acquired by Platinum Holdings). In total, he has been directly involved in over 30 venture investments.
Mr. Black is a graduate of Stanford University with an A.B. in Economics
Anders Richardson
Anders Richardson, Co-Founder and Managing Director of Palisades Ventures, is active in all aspects of deal sourcing, due diligence and execution for the company. Prior to co-founding Palisades, Mr. Richardson worked in the Investment Banking Division of DLJ and focused on public and private placements of debt and equity securities and buy-side and sell-side M&A advisory services in a variety of industries. Mr. Richardson sits on the boards of Apacheta, SOA Software and V-Enable and is a board observer for Lucix Corporation and Language Weaver. Mr. Richardson received a B.A. from Harvard College and an M.B.A from Harvard Business School.
