Two From Bessemer Honored by the NVCA: Felda Hardymon Receives Lifetime Achievement Award and Paul Bancroft III Given American Spirit Award for Philanthropy

LARCHMONT, N.Y., May 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Current and former investors from Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) Felda Hardymon and Paul (Pete) Bancroft were recognized by the National Venture Capital Association at the organization's annual meeting in Burlingame, CA. Felda was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award for his 31-year career in the venture capital industry -- most of it with BVP.  Pete, who became CEO of Bessemer Securities after leading its venture capital department, which was BVP's precursor, received the American Spirit Award for his leadership and outstanding contributions to society.

Felda Hardymon: Lifetime Achievement Award

During Felda's career in the venture capital industry thus far, he has backed such innovative companies as Stratus Computer, Ungermann  Bass, Parametric Technologies, Staples, Celtel, and Endeca, among many others. His investment in Staples initiated BVP's retail practice, which grew to include The Sports Authority, Eagle Lawn and Garden, and Domain.

Since 1998, Felda has also taught at Harvard Business School, where he holds the MBA Class of 1975 Professor of Management Practice chair. He collaborated with Josh Lerner, the founder of the Venture Capital and Private Equity class, to make it one of the most popular offerings at the school. Felda was the driving force behind the VCPE Game, a massive simulation of a private equity market, and also teaches in the Executive Education program's Private Equity and Venture Capital class. "It's easy to identify my best investment," says Felda. "It's people. I've trained a lot of venture capitalists -- through the MBA and Executive Education programs, through the game, through mentoring at BVP and elsewhere. That's tremendously satisfying."

A graduate of Rose Polytechnic with a degree in Math, Felda earned a PhD in Math at Duke, where he taught and became the Director of Systems and Research. He then graduated from HBS with an MBA (Baker Scholar) in 1979 and joined GE's venture capital division as their technology investor, moving after two years to BVP. "The best way to succeed in venture capital," he notes, "is to have started in 1979."

Among many other accomplishments, Felda has served on the board of the NVCA and as the chairman of the tax committee. He has been a senior member of the BVP partnership for more than a decade, quipping that the only thing harder than getting into venture capital is getting out of it. Starting in June, he will be returning to full time capacity at BVP. He is also part of the team that created BVP's noted Anti-Portfolio, a light-hearted account of the deals that the partners turned down only to have them succeed for someone else. With Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon, he has written almost 100 HBS teaching cases, three case collections, and has a textbook on private equity forthcoming from Wiley & Sons.

Pete Bancroft: American Spirit Award

Pete joined Bessemer Securities Corporation in 1967 to run the Venture Capital Department and supervised its growth and gradual institutionalization. Previously, he had worked in investment banking at Merrill Lynch and F. Eberstadt & Co, and spent five years with Draper, Gaither and Anderson, one of the first venture capital firms.

In 1976, Pete was promoted from the venture group to become President and CEO of Bessemer Securities, a position he held until his resignation in 1988, although he continued advising and investing with Bessemer until 1992.  Thereafter, he continued to be involved in some venture investing. One of the founding members of the NVCA, Pete served as the organization's president in 1976 and 1977 and its chairman in 1978. In 1981, Bessemer Securities spun out its venture operations as Bessemer Venture Partners, but remained its primary limited partner.

During his career, Pete served on more than 30 corporate boards and as a Trustee of Carnegie Mellon University. He continues to be active on two boards, the Paul and Monica Bancroft Family Foundation and The Friends of the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley. In conjunction with this latter project, Pete is sponsoring "Early Bay Area Venture Capitalists -- Shaping the Economic and Business Landscape," an oral history program.

The American Spirit Award was established in 1999 to recognize NVCA members who have shown philanthropic leadership.

Said Ed Colloton, general partner and COO of BVP, "We are delighted to see Felda and Pete receive this recognition. Pete helped to put the venture industry on the map and created a very strong practice at Bessemer by, among other things, recognizing the opportunity in Silicon Valley in the 1970s. With that foundation, Felda joined the firm in 1981 and compiled one of the most impressive long-term track records in the industry. On top of that, Felda is widely known for his wit, warmth, creativity, enthusiasm and mentorship of others. He is dedicated to the entrepreneurs he backs and is passionate about company building. We are very fortunate to have Felda as part of the venture community and at Bessemer Venture Partners and look forward to continuing to work with him in the future."

About Bessemer Venture Partners: Bessemer Venture Partners is a global investment group with offices in Silicon Valley, Boston, New York, Mumbai, and Tel Aviv. As the oldest venture capital practice in the United States, BVP has partnered as an active, hands-on investor in Ciena, Ingersoll Rand, Parametric, Skype, Staples, VeriSign, and W.R. Grace, among many others. More than 100 BVP-funded companies have gone public on exchanges in Canada, India, London, and the United States. To learn more, visit www.bvp.com.

SOURCE Bessemer Venture Partners