Authority for the SEGF resides with an eleven member Board of Directors. The SEGF Board members have relevant experience and background in early-stage investing, managing high-growth small businesses, development of technological innovation, commercial lending, and securities law. The board works closely with prospective and current portfolio companies to provide invaluable advice, resources, and support.
In Remembrance of Tom LeVine
Tom LeVine, CEO, Pop!Tech, passed away on April 19th, 2008. Tom was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and fought a fierce, two-month battle.
Mr. LeVine joined the SEGB in June 2001 and served on the Small Enterprise Growth Board for nearly seven years. He was a creative member who made huge contributions to the mission of the Small Enterprise Growth Fund. He will be greatly missed.
Stephen K. Smith, SEGB Chair, is a general partner at Masthead Venture Partners. He has 25 years of investment experience and successful track records in both the public equity and private venture capital sectors. Prior to joining Masthead, Mr. Smith spent sixteen years as a top-ranked Wall Street analyst following technology stocks for PaineWebber, Inc. Mr. Smith is also an active member of CommonAngels, a Boston-based group of active angel investors who are mostly founders of successful New England high technology companies.
Skip Bates, a Business Banking Officer with Bangor Savings Bank, is responsible for the business development efforts in the mid-coast Maine area. He focuses on businesses ranging from start-up companies seeking working capital to established enterprises approaching $10 million in revenue. Mr. Bates is active in the economic development community, serving as Board Chair of Midcoast Magnet, a networking organization for creative entrepreneurs. He is a founder of the Juice Conference, a statewide organization taking action to support the creative economy in Maine. Previously, Mr. Bates spent eleven years with MBNA America as an operations manager responsible for several different aspects of the credit card industry. He has lived and worked in Japan where he founded a language school and earned a masters degree in U.S.-Japanese relations.
Gregory S. Fryer is a Partner in the law firm, Verrill Dana LLP. Mr. Fryer’s specialty is corporate and securities law and venture capital. He joined Verrill Dana in 1986, after having practiced in New York and Atlanta.
Karin A. Gregory is a Partner in the law firm, Furman Gregory LLC. Ms. Gregory’s career spans over 25 years in the healthcare field, as a researcher, healthcare administrator, lawyer and venture capitalist. She manages a growing and successful business law practice focused on start up technology companies. Formerly, she was a venture capitalist with Dover Medical Ventures, and MTDC; the Massachusetts Technology Development Corporation in Boston. She is a member of two angel investment groups, and serves on the board of CEI Ventures. She is a frequent speaker on venture capital and start up business issues throughout New England.
Matt Hoffner came to Maine in 1987 after ten years as an engineer and manager for Exxon Corp. He was one of the original managers for Wright Express Corp. and was the Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for ten years. He was then the founder of Integra Associates, a sales and marketing outsourcing company based in Westbrook, Maine. In 2000, he joined two other partners to start JobsInTheUS.com (JiUS), the parent company for JobsInME.com and fifteen other state-specific job boards. As President and CEO of JiUS, the company grew to become the largest job board in the Northeast and was sold to the Journal Register Corp. in 2006. Mr. Hoffner stayed on as President until July 2007. He is now a part-time instructor at the University of Southern Maine and a math instructor for the Portland Public Schools.
Mr. Kaplan is a Partner at CEI Ventures Inc. and served prior to that as the founding Chair of its Board of Directors. Mr. Kaplan has spent more than twenty years in the investment field including as Managing Director of Forum Financial Group, a mutual fund company, and H.M. Payson & Co., an investment advisory and trust services firm. Mr. Kaplan holds the Charter Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and earned a M.B.A. from Boston University, and a B.A. in Political Science from the University of Michigan. He has participated in NVCA-NASBIC Venture Capital Institute Certificate and Graduate Programs. Mr. Kaplan serves on the Boards of Directors of Chemogen, Home Bistro, Juno Rising, and Stillwater Scientific Instruments. He previously served as a Board Member of Recruiternet, which was acquired by First Advantage Corporation (FADV) in 2005. In addition, he serves on the investment committees of the Maine Health Access Foundation and the United Way Foundation of Greater Portland, and is past president of the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine.
Kip Moore created Little Diamond Island Enterprises in Portland in 1993 to make early-stage investments in technology companies, with a focus in the areas of software, computer services and data communications. A majority of Mr. Moore’s recent investments have been in early-stage Maine companies. Prior to moving to Portland Mr. Moore was a General Partner of Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe, a New York based venture capital firm that has been making investments in information processing and health care companies, from 1981 through 1994.
Catherine S. Renault
Catherine S. Renault is the Director of the Office of Innovation for the Maine Department of Economic and Community Development. Dr. Renault serves on the SEGF Board as the designee of the Commissioner. Her recent background includes serving as Program Manager for Technology-based Economic Development at RTI International in Durham, NC and Managing Director for Virginia’s Center for Innovative Technology.
Claude Sheer
Claude Sheer is Managing Director of Oyster International. His corporate assignments have been concerned with the management of growth, in particular the creation and execution of new growth platforms and have focused on mobilizing new technologies, acquisition of capabilities and building management teams. Mr. Sheer served as President and member of the Board of Directors of the international media and marketing company, Ziff Davis. Currently a venture advisor to Zero Stage Capital, Mr. Sheer is also a founding principal in Barn Ventures, LLC, which invests in and accelerates early stage companies. He serves on the Boards of Lionbridge Technologies Inc (LIOX), Envoy WorldWide, Livewave.com and is a Trustee of the New Hampton School.