Reid Dennis

Reid Dennis has been an active individual investor and a corporate venture capital investor since 1952. As an individual venture investor, Dennis was personally involved with early-stage investments in Acurex, American Microsystems, Ampex, California Microwave, Coherent Radiation, Measurex and Ultek. As a corporate executive, Dennis was responsible for the successful entry of Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company, and then the American Express Company, into the venture capital field. He represented them as a member of the Board of Directors at Recognition Equipment, The Reed Tool Company, and Storage Technology Corporation. While at American Express, Dennis was also responsible for managing six publicly-traded mutual funds. After 21 years with the two companies, Dennis resigned from American Express in order to form Institutional Venture Associates (IVP) in 1974 and, subsequently, Institutional Venture Partners in 1980.

As the founder of IVP, Dennis has served as a General Partner or Managing Director of all of the IVP funds. Dennis was an early investor in and a Director of Exabyte Corporation (EXBT), Seagate Technology (STX), Sequent Computer Systems (acquired by IBM) and Stratus Computer (acquired by IBM). He has been actively involved with IVP’s investment in @Road (ARDI) and currently serves on the Board of Directors of Dust Networks. Dennis serves as a Managing Director of IVP on a part-time basis, sourcing and evaluating investment opportunities and providing strategic advice to portfolio companies.

Dennis is a past Chairman and President of the National Venture Capital Association (“NVCA”) and a past President of the Western Association of Venture Capitalists (“WAVC”). In April 2000, he received the “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the NVCA. Dennis was also a founder and an original alumni investment manager of both the Stanford Business School Trust and the Stanford Engineering Venture Capital Fund. He has served on the Board of Directors of the San Francisco Opera Association for 37 years, including 14 years as Chairman.

Dennis earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and an M.B.A. from Stanford University.

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