Board of Directors
James Geshwiler
James joined CommonAngels in 1999 and currently manages the group's investments in Apperian, Frame Media, HNW, inStream Media, Nimbit, Skyhook Wireless, TimeTrade Systems and Vela Systems. He also is on the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council. James was the founding chairman of the Angel Capital Association, the professional alliance of angel groups that has grown from 46 groups as charter members to now over 144, representing over 6,500 investors. He also was the founding chairman of ACA’s sister organization, the Angel Capital Education Foundation, in partnership with the Kauffman Foundation. AECF works with angel investors, venture capitalists, academic leaders and entrepreneurs around the country to provide research and educational programs on angel investing. He is a contributing author to Cutting-Edge Practices in American Angel Investing, published in October 2003 by Darden Business Publishing of the University of Virginia, has written papers and various articles on angel investment processes, and regularly speaks on entrepreneurship and private investing. He holds a bachelor's degree with highest honors from the Liberal Arts Honors Program at the University of Texas at Austin, a master's degree in political science from UCLA, and an MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Management. James also is an avid rower and a member of Cambridge Boat Club.
Brian Girvan
Brian Girvan joined Ascent Venture Partners in August 2003 as a Partner and as Chief Financial and Administrative Officer. Brian has over 25 years of finance experience in the financial services industry including most recently as COO and CFO of Argo Global Capital, a $400 million venture capital firm in Wakefield, MA. Brian has previously worked as a senior executive in several roles at Fidelity Investments including as a Senior Vice President and CFO of their retail division, as CFO of their intermediary-based mutual funds division and as a Senior Vice President and Division Executive of their institutional brokerage division. Prior to that, Brian was a Senior Vice President, CFO and Treasurer of Affiliated Managers Group, a publicly held investment management firm with over $70 billion in managed assets and a Senior Vice President and CFO of PIMCO Advisors, a publicly held investment management firm with over $100 billion in managed assets.
Ed Mallen
Ed Mallen has over 25 years of professional management experience in software and systems. He started his career at IBM. As vice president of US sales at Interleaf he was part of the team that built the company to $100 million in sales, an IPO and subsequent financings. As vice president of software products for Xerox Imaging Systems he led the marketing and development of TextBridge, which became the premiere OCR product in the world. He joined Xionics as an executive vice president at an early stage, and helped grow the company to $40 million in sales, building the sales, support, product management and marketing teams that positioned Xionics for a successful IPO. As president and CEO of Profile Systems he led the company’s success in pursuing vertical markets and solutions, leading to acquisition by Comergent Technologies, where he became a Senior Vice President. He was most recently CEO of OzVision, a leading supplier of video services for the security industry. A graduate of Macalester College in St. Paul, he is a member of the board of eCopy.
John Raguin
John Ragin is a co-founder and former CEO of Guidewire; has served in a number of leadership positions over the last five years, and has been instrumental in leading the company to a market leadership position. Prior to Guidewire, John was Vice President and General Manager of Ariba's Sourcing Solutions division where he oversaw major new product releases and led successful sales to Global 2000 customers. John came to Ariba from SupplierMarket where he was instrumental in designing, building, and marketing a leading solution for enterprise sourcing. At PSDI (now MRO Software), he was responsible for the company's flagship product MAXIMO and its strategic extension into MRO.com, and successfully led its international sales and marketing programs. He has been published in various leading periodicals and has spoken at multiple insurance and technology conferences. John has a B.S. from Cornell University and an M.B.A. from NYU Stern School of Business and is currently an Entrepreneur in Residence at Battery Ventures in Boston.
Charles R. Stuckey, Jr.
Chuck Stuckey, Chairman Emeritus and Director of RSA Security, was Chairman of RSA Security from June 1996 through July 2003 and served as the Company's CEO from January 1987 through December 2000. In addition to being a director of RSA Security (NASDAQ: RSAS) he is a director of Matrix One (NASDAQ: MONE), director of the Ohio University Board of Trustees, Foundation Board, and the Board of Visitors of the Russ college of Engineering and is a director of the Massachusetts NetComm Council where he served as its past Chairman. As the President and CEO of Security Dynamics (now RSA Security) he led the company from a startup in 1987 through an IPO in 1994, two secondary offerings in 1995 and 1997 and two major acquisitions. Along the way he built RSA Security into a global leader in e-security with over one quarter billion dollars in revenue and over 1,000 employees.