Mohr Davidow Ventures Partner Scott Hartley Selected as a Presidential Innovation Fellow

MENLO PARK, Calif., June 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Mohr Davidow Ventures today announced that partner Scott Hartley has been chosen to be a Presidential Innovation Fellow.  The Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) program was launched in 2012 under the direction of President Barack Obama and his Administration. The 1^st class of Fellows and a round of five projects were launched in August 2012.

Today the White House announced Scott Hartley and 42 others were named as the second class of Presidential Innovation Fellows in a White House announcement. The Fellows were chosen from a pool of 2,100 applicants to undertake six to 12-month "tours of duty" focused on one of nine projects.  A full list of the PIF projects can be found at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/innovationfellows

Hartley will be working to bring Silicon Valley innovation models to different US Federal Agencies in Washington, with a focus on tiered funding and evidence-based approaches. He will be working with Special Assistant to the President and head of the Office of Social Innovation, Jonathan Greenblatt, the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House, as well as USAID's Development Innovation Ventures. He starts July 1.  For more on the projects see http://www.whitehouse.gov/innovationfellows/development-innovation-ventures

Hartley has been a partner of Mohr Davidow Ventures, a Silicon Valley early stage venture capital firm, since July 2011. His experience prior to MDV included scaling two operations teams for Google in India, acting as Google's rich media and display ads product specialist for North America, and lecturing for Google.org in Africa.  At Facebook he worked on social gaming product and policy pain points, and with Randi Zuckerberg on ways Platform could enhance public and private sector organizations' access to global scale.  At Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, Scott published on how site design, game mechanics, and choice architecture could influence and nudge online cooperation, a perspective that helps ground portfolio advisory.

"We applaud Scott for this impressive appointment. It's a tribute both to his passion for improving how we advance technology and job creation, as well as the value he adds on a daily basis to entrepreneurs and those committed to innovation," said Bill Ericson, an MDV Managing Partner.

About Mohr Davidow Ventures

For 30 years the Mohr Davidow Ventures (MDV) team has invested in early stage technology-based startups that redefine or create large new markets. The firm partners with exceptional entrepreneurs to build companies where big data, applied analytics, and the reach and power of the web/mobile cloud can be leveraged to drive emerging opportunities in verticals ranging from social commerce to finance to online marketing and consumer-driven healthcare. Leading companies funded by MDV include: Agile; Brocade; Coupa; Genomatica; HealthTap; Hotchalk; Infusionsoft; Kabbage; nLight; ONI Systems; Proofpoint; Rally Software; Rambus; Retention Science; Rocket Fuel; Ruby Ribbon; Shutterfly; Ticketfly; Visible Measures; and Zuckerberg Media. For more information, visit http://www.mdv.com

About the Presidential Innovation Fellows Program

The Presidential Innovation Fellows (PIF) program pairs top innovators from the private sector, non-profits, and academia with top innovators in government to collaborate during focused 6-13 month "tours of duty" to develop solutions that can save lives, save taxpayer money, and fuel job creation. Each team of innovators is supported by a broader community of interested citizens throughout the country. For more information on the program, visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/innovationfellows

SOURCE Mohr Davidow Ventures