NEA Appoints Technology Pioneer Greg Papadopoulos to Venture Partner Role

CHEVY CHASE, Md., April 4, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA), a leading global venture capital firm, today announced that Greg Papadopoulos, Ph.D. has joined the firm as a Venture Partner. A technology industry veteran and proven company builder, Dr. Papadopoulos will work closely with seed and early-stage companies in NEA's portfolio to help guide fundamental technology development and define go-to-market strategy.

"We're excited that Greg has chosen to work with NEA in this new role," said Peter Barris, Managing General Partner, NEA. "His depth of expertise and ability to innovate and inform across all stages of a company's lifecycle will be invaluable to technology companies in our current portfolio, and we also welcome the insight he brings to the investing process."

Dr. Papadopoulos began working with NEA as entrepreneur in residence (EIR) in 2010 on the heels of a highly successful career as a senior executive and serial entrepreneur, including his most recent role as Chief Technology Officer at Sun Microsystems, where he directed the company's $2 billion research and development portfolio.

"When Greg joined NEA as an EIR last year, we couldn't wait to see what he would do next," said NEA General Partner Scott Sandell. "We are incredibly fortunate that he's decided to stay with NEA full time, where he'll play a critical role in helping growing companies define and refine their strategy at pivotal moments."

Previously, Dr. Papadopoulos worked as a development engineer at Hewlett-Packard and Honeywell, and as architect at Thinking Machines. He has also helped found several companies including: Ergo (high-end PCs), Exa Corporation (computational fluid dynamics) and PictureTel (video conferencing). He also worked as an associate professor of electrical engineering and computer science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), where he led numerous research activities.

"The value that the venture community brings, aside from capital, is to help fill the gap between recognizing a transformational idea and actually delivering it to market," said Dr. Papadopoulos. "At NEA, that style of innovation is an integral part of the culture. It's an incredibly ambitious approach to investing that looks to create not just companies but entirely new segments of the market, and to do that in a way that really makes a difference."

As a proponent for diversity in engineering and open development models that stimulate communication, inclusiveness and innovation, Papadopoulos is also an active advisor for the schools of engineering at University of California, San Diego; University of California, Berkeley; MIT and San Jose State. He also serves on the UC President's Board for Science and Innovation, and is a trustee for the SETI Institute and the Computer History Museum.

Papadopoulos holds a bachelor's degree in systems science from the University of California, San Diego, as well as master's and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT.

About NEA

New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA) is a leading venture capital and growth equity firm focused on helping entrepreneurs build transformational businesses across multiple stages, sectors and geographies. With approximately $11 billion in committed capital, NEA invests in information technology, healthcare and energy technology companies at all stages in a company's lifecycle, from seed stage through IPO. The firm's long track record of successful investing includes more than 165 portfolio company IPOs and more than 265 acquisitions, including investments in technology leaders like Data Domain, CareerBuilder, Diapers.com, Groupon, Juniper, Macromedia, Playdom, Salesforce.com, and TiVo. In the U.S., NEA has two offices in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and one in Menlo Park, California. In addition, New Enterprise Associates (India) Pvt. Ltd. has offices in Bangalore and Mumbai, India and New Enterprise Associates (Beijing), Ltd. has offices in Beijing and Shanghai, China. For additional information, visit www.nea.com.

SOURCE New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA)