Our Core Values Company Background Leadership
Directors
Vincent Deschamps, CEO and Chairman of the Board, Echopass
Vincent Deschamps provides overall direction and operational leadership for the company. Deschamps is a proven manager with rich sales and marketing experience, and has excelled at several of America’s leading telecommunications and hosted services companies over his career.
Prior to Echopass, Deschamps was vice president of sales for AccessLine, where he led that company’s successful efforts in the hosted mobility services market, most notably developing a key relationship with Hewlett-Packard. Previously he served as general manager/vice president for Avaya’s worldwide Unified Communications line of business where he developed the business strategy, go-to-market plan, and sales efforts for Avaya’s market-leading Unified Messaging product line. Deschamps holds a B.A. in marketing and economics from CW Post College.
www.echopass.comRonald K. Kase, General Partner, NEA
Ronald joined New Enterprise Associates (NEA) in 1991 and became a general partner in 1995. NEA provides venture capital to companies, concentrating on early stage companies in the areas of information technology and medical and life sciences. His investment activities are focused on software, principally infrastructure and business applications targeting the enterprise, as well as IT-based service opportunities.
He currently serves on the boards of Echopass, LENDX, Perfect Commerce, PolyServe, Scheduling.com, Sierra Atlantic and Stratum8 Software. Before joining NEA, Ronald was with Berkeley International, focusing on information technology venture financings.
Previously, he was with Advanced Micro Devices and Eastman Kodak. Ronald received an MBA from the University of Chicago and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University.
www.nea.comJohn Balen, General Partner, Canaan Partners
John Balen understands entrepreneurs. Since joining Canaan in 1995, John has worked with some of the smartest people in the technology industry to build high-performance companies such as Commerce One, which brought B2B ecommerce to the masses, eStamp,the pioneer of Internet postage, Intraware the leading provider of electronic license delivery and management, and Rightpoint, a real-time customer analytics software provider,acquired by Epiphany
At Canaan, John focuses on investments in communications & mobility, and next-generation enterprise technology companies that are disrupting the balance of traditional markets. His portfolio includes ID Analytics, which offers the nation’s only real-time fraud prevention system for enterprises. He also invests in digital media companies that empower the consumer through web-based services, such as Blurb.com, a revolutionary company changing the face of publishing by letting anyone easily create and sell bookstore-quality books.
Before joining Canaan Partners, John held a variety of operational and financial roles, where he learned both how to build companies from the ground up and how to fund them. He served as a Managing Director of Horsley Bridge Partners, a multi-billion dollar private equity firm in San Francisco. During his nine-year tenure at Horsley Bridge, John was responsible for a wide spectrum of investments in technology companies, as well as many venture capital and buyout partnerships. Earlier in his career, John was a sales applications engineer at fiber communications startup Codenoll Technology Corp. and an engineer at Digital Equipment Corp.
John currently serves on the boards of innovative digital media firms Blurb, Cardlytics and Casabi, mobile company Command Audio, and enterprise technology firms Echopass, ezRez, ID Analytics and SOASTA.
John received a BS in electrical engineering and an MBA from Cornell University. A firm believer in the value of education, John is the Chair of the Strategic Planning Committee, and as a board member serves on the Executive Committee of his children’s school. John frequently donates time and money to educational causes.
www.canaan.comBruce Pollock, CEO Financial Executive Solutions
For over 15 years, Bruce was Chief Financial Officer for high technology companies, including Avanex Corporation (AVNX), WaveSplitter Technologies, Walker Interactive Systems Inc. (WALK), Reel.com (now part of Hollywood Video) and VMX, Inc. (originally VMXI, now part of Avaya). Previously, he was Chief Operating Officer for a large telecommunications distributor.
His management responsibilities as CFO have spanned finance, accounting, legal, business planning, investor relations, corporate governance, IT, risk management, human resources and facilities. He has helped to raise in excess of $100 million in private equity capital and has been through the IPO process. Bruce has negotiated and closed many M&A transactions, both as a buyer and a seller, as well as countless other complex commercial transactions. As Chief Financial Officer, Bruce has been an integral part of several senior management teams and has worked extensively with company boards of directors, investment bankers, venture capitalists, commercial bankers, big four accountants and senior legal counsel for his companies.
Bruce earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Washington. He also has an MBA degree from the Haas School of Business (UC Berkeley), a JD degree from Boalt Law School (UC Berkeley) and is a member of the California Bar.
