Amplifier is managed by a team led by Jonathan Aberman, the Managing Director of Amplifier. Jonathan is assisted by a multidisciplinary team of advisors and consultants, coupled with support from the Board of Advisors and our strategic allies.
Jonathan M. Aberman
Jonathan is the founder and Managing Director of the Fund. He possesses substantial venture capital, financial and managerial expertise, gained over a 22-year career spanning venture capital, law and investment banking. Since 2005, when he formed Amplifier, Jonathan has been integrally involved in evaluation and execution of its investment opportunities. He was primarily responsible for evaluating and selecting the remainder of the Amplifier Team, and directs and manages Amplifier’s investment process. As a member of the board of directors of portfolio companies, Mr. Aberman plays an active role in recruiting executives, soliciting and closing funding rounds, licensing technology, identifying alpha and beta customers, and charting strategy.
After his relocation to the DC Metroplex in 1998, and continuing through 2004, Jonathan was legal counsel of choice for many emerging companies and the venture capital funds that invest in them. He focused on technology company building activities in the region and, as a partner in well-known technology law firms (Fenwick & West, Fish & Richardson and Pillsbury Winthrop), mentored the formation and growth of about 60 promising emerging technology companies, represented approximately 15 venture capital funds in their investing activities, and handled various financing and other business transactions with an aggregate value in excess of $1 billion. While he was a venture capital lawyer, Jonathan was integrally involved in evaluating and participating in the selection of investment opportunities for venture funds with which he was associated and performing business and legal due diligence on portfolio company candidates. Before focusing on venture capital in the DC Metroplex, he practiced law in New York City, where he acted as counsel for large public and international companies in complex financial and corporate transactions.
As Amplifier’s Managing Director, Jonathan is applying the managerial experience he gained by managing the growth and business activities of branch offices for two international law firms, including a $45 million business unit with more than 200 employees. Prior to entering legal practice, Jonathan worked in the investment banking industry in London, England (Daiwa Securities, Donaldson Lufkin & Jenrette and Goldman Sachs International), where he applied his financial analytical skills in mergers & acquisitions and international interest rate and currency trading.
As a well known leader in the DC Metroplex technology community, Jonathan serves or has served on boards and committees of a number of influential bodies dedicated to technology development, including the Virigina Biotechnology Association, the Governors Commission on Biotechnology for the Commonwealth of Virginia, the Northern Virginia Technology Council, the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association, the DC Technology Council, Alpha Connect, George Mason Intellectual Properties and the Venture Genesis Forum. He is an advisor to the Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute and the Technology Advancement Program at the University of Maryland, College Park; the Hinman CEO Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Maryland, College Park; and the Council of Entrepreneurial Tech Transfer and Commercialization of The George Washington University. Jonathan is also an adjunct professor at the Smith School of Business, University of Maryland, and has been an adjunct professor at the George Mason University School of Management, where he has taught various courses on venture capital, corporate finance and entrepreneurship. He is also a frequent writer on venture capital topics for regional and national publications.
He received his undergraduate degree in Political Science and Economics with honors from The George Washington University where he was Phi Beta Kappa. He holds a Masters in International Economics with Distinction from The London School of Economics. Jonathan is the recipient of Bachelors and Masters of Law degrees from both Cambridge University and New York University School of Law.
Venture Advisors
Amplifier benefits from the assistance of serial entrepreneurs and seasoned executives who have agreed to provide their operational and business expertise to assist in the development and advancement of portfolio companies. Our Venture Advisors may also provide limited consulting services to our portfolio companies. Over time one or more of our Venture Advisors may become management in new companies that we will look to back.
The Venture Advisors for Amplifier currently are:
Michael Dering
Michael has over 25 years of experience in the technology industry in the Mid-Atlantic and Silicon Valley markets. He regularly mentors founders of emerging companies and has served on various boards of directors of emerging companies in this capacity. His experience will be available to assist Amplifier’s portfolio company CEOs as well as assist our management in business and operational analysis pre and post investment.
He is currently President and CEO of Servicebench, Inc. a privately held corporation focused on optimizing the delivery of post-sale service by integrating the service supply chain to increase customer satisfaction and reduce costs. Prior to that he served as President and CEO of CrossAccess Corporation, a multi-national venture-funded software infrastructure company that focuses on integrating corporate business functions with new e-business applications. Prior to joining CrossAccess, Michael served as president and CEO of two Bell & Howell companies. Under his leadership, Bell & Howell Mail and Messaging Technologies doubled its profits and grew its revenue to $500 million while cultivating a broad customer base that included telecommunications carriers. At Bell & Howell Publishing Services Division, he launched its European operation and implemented a focused sales program that resulted in increased market share. Previously he had a 20-year career at TAB Products Company, a $170 million publicly traded manufacturer of information storage and retrieval solutions for office environments. He initially served in a variety of sales and marketing positions, and, in his last five years, was TAB’s president and CEO, helping turn around the company and making it the dominant industry leader.
Marty Frederickson
Marty has over 20 years of experience in technology sales, where his focus has been team building, sales execution and partner strategies. He regularly works with emerging technology companies as an advisor. His experience will be available to assist Amplifier’s portfolio companies develop their early sales strategies as well as assist our management in pre and post investment technology analysis and commercial planning.
Marty is currently a Managing Director at Mita Group, LLC a technology consulting and government relations group that provides technology, business and corporate development to major technology companies as well as emerging companies. Through mid-2006 Marty was a Vice President at Sun Microsystems, Inc. He was responsible for establishing and directing the sales and operations plan for Sun’s Global Identity Management Practice, a business acquired by Sun in 2003, where he grew revenues from $20 million to over $135 million in 18 months. Marty joined Sun through the acquisition of Waveset Technologies, Inc., a startup software company focused on security solutions, where he was the Vice President of North American Sales and Corporate Alliances. In his role there, he developed and executed a sales and alliance plan that contributed to Waveset becoming a market leader in Identity Management, and the subsequent acquisition by Sun. Prior to his association with Waveset, Marty was an executive with SeeBeyond Technology Corp., a provider of business integration and web services infrastructure solutions. He was responsible for building and launching business units for both commercial and government sales that helped contribute to a successful IPO in 2000, and more recently participated in the acquisition and integration of SeeBeyond into Sun Microsystems. Before joining SeeBeyond, he established and led IBM/Tivoli Government Operations from a startup business (pre-IPO) to almost $200 million in sales in just five years, during which time Tivoli executed a successful IPO and subsequently was acquired by IBM. Other experience includes sales and management positions with Sybase, Informix, and Prime Computer, and prior service in the United States Air Force.
Robert Smith
Bob has over 20 years of professional management and investing experience, in interactive and electronic publishing, programming content software and delivery. He has extensive experience building operations, including business plan development, structuring venture investments, mentoring founders, mapping strategy, marketing new products and leading multidisciplinary teams. His experience as a founder of one of the most significant Internet content start ups, as well as his actions as an advisor and investor in a range of successfully exited investments will provide significant mentoring assistance to portfolio company founders and to our management as we evaluate and execute investments.
Bob is the Chairman of iBelong Networks and FlatBurger, each portfolio companies of Amplifier. Since 1999 Bob has worked with a wide range of emerging companies as an investor and advisor. During that time he mentored and invested in a number of notable start up new media companies in various vertical markets, including ezGov (e-government), The Map Network (map-based information services), OneMade (small business e-commerce) and PromiseMark and Provista (identity management and security products). He was also the Chairman and CEO of Vector Development, a business incubator, focusing on early stage companies in supply chain management and customer relationship management. From 1996 to 1998 Bob was the founder and manager of Digital City, AOL’s network of local city guides, which is among AOL's most visited properties. He wrote the business plan, championed creation to AOL senior management, recruited the management team, and developed the ongoing strategy and business models for that business. Bob has previous experience in traditional publishing businesses, with experience in marketing, sales, production, editing and promotion. He was also an officer in the U.S. Navy.
Ben Turner
Ben has over 12 years of experience as manager and operator in telecommunications and Internet product development, operational development and technology integration. He has significant experience building new operations, including business plan development, hiring staff, launching and marketing new products and leading multidisciplinary teams. Ben’s experience in management and execution will be available to assist our portfolio companies in business planning, customer acquisition and product development strategy, technology integration and technology mapping. Additionally, Ben has prior experience in government relations, and he has worked extensively in identifying and executing opportunities to partner with Federal and state governments in technology creation.
Ben is currently the CEO of iBelong Networks, on of Amplifier's portfolio companies. He was most recently a Managing Director of Mita Group. Prior to joining Mita Group, Ben was a Vice President at VeriSign, Inc., where, among other things, he turned around a $200 million revenue business unit and built a new $100 million revenue business unit. Prior to that, he was a Vice President of Network Solutions, Inc. In that position, his duties encompassed management of the business operations for a $400 million revenue mass-market division, with responsibility for developing the annual P&L, sales forecast and capital plan, and assessed new business opportunities. Earlier, he worked for AT&T where he was an operations manager and account manager for various Internet businesses.
From time to time, we will appoint additional individuals to work with us on a particular portfolio company or more generally. We welcome applications from qualified, experienced entrepreneurs and managers.
VMS Fund Administration
VMS Fund Administration LLC (“VMS”) of Princeton, New Jersey, provides financial and administrative support for the Fund. VMS has provided administrative services to investment funds both nationally and internationally. Members of the VMS management team possess extensive fund accounting and financial experience, and have provided fund administration services to over 20 investment funds.