BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Murali Dharan
Chief Executive Officer
Murali became CEO of IPVALUE in June 2007. Up to that date, Murali had been instrumental in the development of the company having joined as EVP in 2002. His career includes executive positions in marketing and general management at some of the world's leading technology companies.
Prior to IPVALUE, Murali headed marketing, business development, and product development as Executive Vice President at Preview Systems. Previously, he served as Vice President and General Manager for the Broadband Solutions Business at Silicon Graphics, and as Vice President of Marketing for its Workstation Division.
Earlier in his career, Murali served in an executive capacity at NEC Computer Systems where he managed the company's desktop PC business in North America, for both the consumer and commercial markets. He also held product management and marketing positions at Intel and Kaleida Labs, a joint venture between Apple and IBM. Murali started his career as a research computer scientist for Amoco Production Company, specializing in artificial intelligence.
Murali holds an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from India, a graduate degree in computer science from Indiana University and an MBA from Stanford University.
Gerry is Vice President of Licensing at Round Rock Research. He also served as Executive Vice President at IPVALUE from 2005 to 2011, bringing over fifteen years of experience in licensing and legal matters with the world's leading technology companies.
Prior to IPVALUE, Gerry was vice president for Intellectual Property & Law at Agere Systems Inc., where he oversaw a $140 million operation increasing revenue and profit from new deals significantly year over year. During his tenure at Agere, Gerry was responsible for all aspects of intellectual property including licensing, patent assertion, patent and trade secret litigation, and patent prosecution.
Gerry came to Agere from Lucent Technologies where he held the position of managing corporate counsel in the IP transactions law group. In his five years at Lucent, he negotiated more than 80 patent and technology licenses, led the IP activities for more than 15 major M&A and divestiture deals, and managed the splitting of assets and IP matters between Agere and Lucent. Gerry has held IP management and legal positions at Bell Labs and AT&T Corp., and started his career as an associate at Fish & Neave in New York City.
Gerry earned an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Manhattan College and a doctorate in law from Fordham University School of Law. He is admitted to practice in New York and New Jersey; the Federal District Courts of EDNY, SDNY and DNJ; the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit; and is a member of the US Patent and Trademark Office.
Charles Harris is Portfolio Manager and Director of Capital Aggregation at the Edna McConnell Clark Foundation; he joined the Foundation in September 2011 from his role of Co-founder of SeaChange Partners. After more than two decades in the banking business, Chuck retired in 2002 from his position as a Partner and Managing Director at Goldman Sachs, where he served as co-head of the East Coast High Technology Group in the firm's Investment Banking Division and as co-head of Corporate Finance in the Americas. He is a graduate of Harvard College and the MIT Sloan School of Management.
He serves as a Director of IPVALUE Management, Inc. and of the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, Inc., which administers the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. He is Chairman of the Board of College Summit, and a member of the Committee on University Resources at Harvard University and of the Action Tank Advisory Board of New Profit, Inc. He is a co-chair of the New York City Advisory Board of Teach for America. In addition, he serves as President of the Trustees of Phillips Exeter Academy where he is also chair of the school's major capital campaign, the Exeter Initiatives.
David C. Hodgson is a Managing Director of General Atlantic. He joined General Atlantic in 1982, helped found their partnership, and has over 20 years of experience identifying and assisting portfolio companies worldwide in all areas of their development. Mr. Hodgson serves as a director of a number of public and private information technology companies including Dice Holdings Inc., InsightExpress, ipValue, Pierpont Securities, Torex and TriNet.
Mr. Hodgson graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1978 with a degree in Mathematics and Social Sciences. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and received the Kemeny Prize in computing at his alma mater. In 1982, Mr. Hodgson received an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business.
Mr. Hodgson is chair of the board of the Echoing Green Foundation, a provider of fellowship support for not-for-profit entrepreneurs. He also serves as chair of the executive committee of the Manhattan Theatre Club and as a trustee of Johns Hopkins University, and is Council Chair of the Dartmouth President's Leadership Council.
Dr. Petri Vainio has been a venture capitalist since 1988. Most of that time, Petri served as a general partner of Sierra Ventures, one of the leading Silicon Valley venture capital firms with over $1 billion of capital under management. While at Sierra, he served as a general partner of five successive partnerships and was responsible for leading Sierra's investment practice in healthcare.
Petri has extensive venture capital investment experience and a deep understanding of the health care industry in particular. He has served as a board member of numerous private and public healthcare companies, including CardioRhythm (acquired by Medtronic), Connetics, GenVec, Heartport (acquired by Johnson & Johnson), Intuitive Surgical, and Theravance.
Petri earned a degree in medicine and a doctorate degree in biochemistry with highest academic honors from the University of Helsinki, and a master's degree in business administration from Stanford University.
Peter Wheeler is chairman of the board for IPVALUE Management. Peter was instrumental in founding IPVALUE in 2001 when he was a managing director of iFormation Group, a company created by The Boston Consulting Group, General Atlantic Partners and Goldman Sachs. Currently based in London, Peter spent 15 years as an investment banker with Goldman Sachs, becoming a partner in 1994. More recently, Peter was a managing director in Goldman Sachs' London office, where he was responsible for the firm's investment banking relationships with a number of major global corporations based in Europe.
In 1991, Peter established Goldman Sachs' investment banking practice in Hong Kong covering all of Asia excluding Japan, and continued to lead and develop this business until his return to Europe at the end of 1998. Peter began his career with Goldman Sachs New York in 1985 in domestic corporate finance.
Peter is actively involved in several innovative non-profit businesses in the UK including New Philanthropy Capital, Charity Technology Trust and Kids Company.
Peter holds an undergraduate degree with honors in english language and literature from Christ Church, Oxford, England.