Managing Partner, SmartForest Ventures
Debi Coleman, Managing Partner of SmartForest Ventures , is one of the most recognized female executives in technology management. Debi stepped down as Chairman of the Board of Merix Corp. (NASDAQ: MERX) in September 2001, having served as Chair since October 1999, and serving as both CEO/Chair since its spin-out from Tektronix, Inc. in March 1994 (IPO: May, 1994). Prior to that she was Vice President Materials/Operations for Tektronix. She is perhaps best known for her career achievements with Apple Computer, Inc. where she held the positions of Vice President of Operations, Chief Financial Officer, and Vice President Information Systems and Technology.
Coleman serves as an advisor to three venture funds: PacRim Partners (CA); Utah Ventures; and Alexander Hutton Ventures (Seattle). She has been an active angel investor since 1995 and is a founding member of the Portland Angel Network.
Coleman graduated from Brown University with a BA in English Literature in 1974 and received her MBA from Stanford University in 1978. She also received an honorary Ph.D in Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 1987. Coleman was named a Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute in 1997.
Coleman devotes time and energy to several organizations including the Committee of 200 and International Women.s Forum. She currently serves on the boards of Applied Materials Inc.; Synopsys, Inc.; Kryptiq; Neopad; Teja; and Phoseon.
Officers
- Telle Whitney, - President and CEO
- Catherine S. Kirkman, Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich and Rosati - General Counsel
- James Beck, CPA & CMA, Managing Director & CFO, Mayfield Fund - Treasurer
- Cindy Goral, VP of Operations
Staff
- Telle Whitney, President and CEO
- Cindy Goral, VP of Operations
- Jody Mahoney, VP of Business Development
- Jerri Barrett, Director of Marketing
- Alexandra Krasne, Development & Industry Partner Manager
- Deanna Kosaraju, Director of Programs
- BJ Wishinsky, Communities Program Manager
- Caroline Simard, Director of Research
- Kim McLeod, Program Associate
- Rachelle Siskin, Program Associate
- Kathy Gee, IT Project Specialist
- Amy Clark, Office Manager/Executive Assistant
Our Founder
Board of Trustees
- Maria Klawe, President, Harvey Mudd College - Board Chair
- Bill Unger, Partner Emeritus, Mayfield Fund - Vice-Chair
- Margaret Ashida, Director, Talent - IBM Software Group
- James Beck, CPA & CMA, Managing Director & CFO, Mayfield Fund
- Francine Berman, Professor, Dept of Computer Science and Engineering, UC San Diego and Fellow, ACM
- Debi Coleman, Managing Partner, SmartForest Ventures
- Alan Eustace, Senior Vice President, Research and Systems Engineering, Google
- Penny Herscher, President & CEO, firstRain
- Kathy Hill, Senior VP Ethernet and Wireless Systems Technology Group, Cisco Systems Inc.
- Wayne Johnson, Vice President, University Relations, Hewlett-Packard
- Richard Rashid, Senior VP and VP Research, Microsoft
- Justin Rattner, Senior Fellow & CTO, Intel
- Cheryl Shavers, Former Undersecretary of Technology, Clinton Administration, & CEO of Global Smarts, Inc.
- Telle Whitney, President & CEO, Anita Borg Institute for Women and Technology
- William Wulf, Ph.D., Former President, National Academy of Engineering
- Linda Bernardi, Emeritus (Term: 1996 -2006)
- Greg Papadopoulos, Emeritus (Term: 1996 -2006)
Individual and Organizations
Board of Advisors
- Carole Dulong, Google - Co-Chair
- Allan Fisher, Vice President, Laureate Education - Co-Chair
- Frances Allen, IBM Fellow Emerita, IBM
- Pamela Arya, Executive Director, Applied Minds, Inc.
- Nina Bhatti, Principle Scientist, HP Labs
- Katy Dickinson, Director, Business Process Architecture, Sun Microsystems
- Catherine Didion, Senior Program Officer, National Academy of Engineering (NAE)
- Penny Eckert, Professor of Linguistics, Stanford University
- Moira Gunn, MogoTech Media, Tech Nation
- Robin Jeffries, Google
- Ellen Lapham, Entrepreneur & Designer, Innovation Ventures
- Carol Muller, President and CEO, MentorNet
- Rebecca Norlander, Technical Assistant to the Chief Software Architect, Microsoft Corporation
- Nancy Ramsey, Author, The Futures of Women: Scenarios for the 21st Century
- Ann Redelfs, Redelfs LLC
- Kathy Richardson, Consultant
- Ruth Stergiou, Principal, Planning Dynamics, Inc.
- Sarah Revi Sterling,Student, University of Colorado, Boulder
- Janice Stockard, Visiting Professor, Mills College