Executive Advisory Board

 Stanford professor of electrical engineering, John M. Cioffi provides expert insights and technical evaluations to Venture Capital Strategies. He is considered to be a technology visionary and is highly respected by industry analyst, technology experts, and venture capitalist. Cioffi founded Amati Communications in 1991. Amati developed the first Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) modems that set the Standard for the industry. Amati was purchased by Texas Instruments for $398 million in 1998.   Cioffi has received multiple industry awards and has published over 200 papers and holds over 40 patents, most of which are widely licensed, including basic patents on DMT, VDSL, and vectored transmission. Cioffi also co-authored several technical books and sits on the board of seven companies and on the advisory boards of three of the largest companies in the telecommunications and semiconductor industries.  

 James Hood brings 32+ years of international industrial experience in engineering, development and manufacturing  of high technology electronic equipment and systems to VCS.  As Chief Operating Officer of Southampton Photonics, he was very instrumental in raising an initial investment round of $55 million from venture capitalist.  Mr. Hood was Vice President of Engineering of Amati Communications and director and CTO of Texas Instruments Broadband Access Group, where he was responsible for establishing the company as force in the Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) market.  As President and CEO of of Meret Optical Communications, a subsidiary of Amoco Technology Company, he focused development on fiber optic signal transport products for high resolution graphic displays including HDTV.  He was President and CEO of Catel Telecommunications, a manufacturer of video, audio and data transmissions systems for the cable TV and broadband network markets.  Jim held several executive management positions while  at Granger Associates, including Senior Vice President, with P&L responsibility for two operating divisions, and Operations Vice President, responsible for Europe, Africa and the Middle East.  Jim has a Ph.D., Engineering Sciences, M.S. Engineering Physics, and a B.S. Engineering Physics, all earned at the University of Oklahoma.    

 Technical Expert and Award Winning Product Designer Robert Moss has held senior management positions in several successful startups, including Portola Communications and Cygnus Solutions. During his 25+ years in the industry, Bob has held both management and technologist positions in all aspects of software development (retail and custom) including Engineering, Quality Assurance, Technical Publications, Release Engineering, Technical Support, Product Management, and IS/IT. Bob is a skilled negotiator and technology strategist.  As a member of the executive management team at several companies, including as CIO of Red Hat Inc.,  Bob has been involved with all aspects of running a successful company including both sides of the acquisition negotiation table, and has extensive experience with the due diligence process.   As a technical lead and architect, Bob has designed and developed of many software products, including projects at Netscape and at Tandem.  Bob began his career as a software consultant where his clients included: Fujitsu, Cable Data, The Learning Company, Tandem, IBM and Rancho Seco Nuclear Power Plant.