NEA Co-Founder and General Partner Chuck Newhall Honored by NVCA with American Spirit Award

CHEVY CHASE, Md., May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- New Enterprise Associates, Inc. (NEA), a leading global venture capital firm, today announced that Chuck Newhall, NEA Co-Founder and General Partner, has been honored by the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) with a 2010 American Spirit Award. Also announced at the NVCA's annual meeting, held May 4-5 in Burlingame, CA, is the appointment of NEA General Partner Scott Sandell to the NVCA Board of Directors.

The American Spirit Award was created in 1999 to recognize NVCA members who have shown philanthropic leadership by applying business skills, knowledge, expertise and resources to make an outstanding contribution to society. Mr. Newhall and fellow recipient Paul "Pete" Bancroft, III, have partnered to chronicle the achievements of venture capitalists and the evolution of the industry by producing oral histories, archiving early documents and establishing research outlets for academics wanting to understand the industry.

"Venture capital plays a central role in U.S. innovation and economic strength, and fostering a broader understanding of the evolution and the impact of our industry has never been more important," said Mr. Newhall. "The NVCA provides a vital platform for collaborating and communicating about venture capital as a driving force in our country's economy, and active support from its membership is critical. It's an honor to be recognized by the NVCA for helping to advance our industry, and we are excited that Scott Sandell will continue NEA's tradition of involvement by taking a seat on the NVCA's board of directors."

Mr. Newhall's investment activities for NEA focus on healthcare services, healthcare information services and biopharmaceutical companies. His current board memberships include BrainCells, Bravo Health, Interfusio, Pharmos, Sensors for Medicine & Science, Supernus Pharmaceuticals, TargetRx, and Vitae Pharmaceuticals. His prior board memberships include AMERIGROUP, Caremark, Chomerics, CoGenesys, Genetic Therapy, LifeMetrix, Life Technologies, PatientKeeper, Russ Pharmaceuticals, Scandipharm, Sepracor, Surgical Health, and Zymark Corporation.

Mr. Newhall is Founder and Chairman Emeritus of the Mid-Atlantic Venture Capital Association (MAVA), one of the most active regional venture associations in the country. He continues to be deeply engaged as a venture capital industry advocate and is frequently invited to speak to organizations and institutions about the state of the industry. While working alongside fellow industry veteran Pete Bancroft to chronicle the history of venture capital, he has personally underwritten 10 interviews with leading venture capitalists and is supervising another 10 interviews. He is a trustee of the Baltimore Museum of Art and a member of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Board of Visitors.

Before co-founding NEA, Mr. Newhall was Vice President of T. Rowe Price Associates (Vice President of their New Horizons Fund). He served in Vietnam, commanding an independent platoon including an initial reconnaissance of Hamburger Hill. His decorations include the Silver Star and Bronze Star V (1st OLC.). He received his MBA from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business and his BA in English Literature with honors from the University of Pennsylvania.

The NVCA also announced during its annual meeting that Scott Sandell has been named to the organization's board of directors, elected by the full NVCA membership to serve a four-year term.

Mr. Sandell joined NEA in 1996 and became a general partner in 2000. He focuses on investments in information technology and alternative energy, and is responsible for NEA's activities in China. Present board memberships include Bloom Energy, DreamFactory, Fusion-io, HelioVolt, Lianlian Pay, Playdom, SolFocus, Spreadtrum Communications, SugarCRM, Tableau Software, Telegent Systems, Teneros and Workday. He has sponsored investments in 3ware (acquired by Applied Micro Circuits Corporation), Amplitude Software (acquired by Critical Path), Data Domain (acquired by EMC), Fineground Networks (acquired by Cisco), Neoteris (acquired by Juniper Networks), NetIQ, Salesforce.com and WebEx.

Mr. Sandell started his career at the Boston Consulting Group and later joined C-ATS Software as the company's first salesman. He founded and ran the European Subsidiary before attending Stanford Business School. During and after business school, Scott was a product manager at Microsoft, where he worked on Windows 95. In addition to an MBA from Stanford, Mr. Sandell holds an AB in Engineering Sciences from Dartmouth College.

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. Since the firm's founding in 1978, NEA's experienced management team has invested in over 650 companies, of which more than 165 have gone public and more than 265 have been acquired. 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.