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High Peaks Venture Partners Announces Jonathan Stillman as Venture Partner
Software entrepreneur and former GE R&D Executive Brings Business and Technology Expertise to Capital Region-based Venture Firm
MARCH 23, 2005 – ALBANY, NY – High Peaks Venture Partners, Upstate New York’s largest early stage venture fund, today announced that Jonathan Stillman has joined the firm as Venture Partner. Stillman brings with him over 20 years executive management experience in the information technology sector. With deep ties to the area’s business communities, Stillman broadens the High Peaks team as talented technologist, experienced entrepreneur, and seasoned deal maker.
Stillman joins the group as Bela Musits, one of the firm’s three founding Managing Directors, has temporarily assumed the role of Interim-CEO at ReQuest Multimedia, a High Peaks portfolio company. ReQuest Multimedia sells premium digital home audio and video components through the custom installation sales channel. The partnership builds on long-standing, substantive relationships, explained High Peaks Managing Director Russ Howard. “Jon and I first met while I was at GE Equity, and he was at GE Corporate R&D, running their e-business initiatives,” notes Howard. “We frequently turned to Jon as a technical and business adviser on our IT venture deals, and his expertise was invaluable.”
Brad Svrluga, High Peaks Managing Director, added, “We’ve had the opportunity to work on several projects with Jon over the course of the past year. The relationship has always been a great fit, and we’ve all been looking for ways to solidify it. He is that rare individual whose business and technical insights are equally deep and valuable.” Svrluga also noted that the timing was fortuitous, as Stillman was able to increase his involvement with the fund to help when Bela Musits stepped in to the interim-CEO role at ReQuest Multimedia.
In addition to his role at High Peaks, Jon is Managing Director and co-founder of Assembla, Inc., an early stage software company focused on bringing the advantages of collaborative open source models to specific vertical industries, including securities research and online marketing. Stillman will spend the other half of his time in this capacity.
Previously, Stillman founded and led Half Moon Ventures, where he provided strategic consulting services, interim executive management, and technical due diligence in support of investments and acquisitions. One of his first engagements was as CEO of an early-stage software services company focused on industry-specific collaboration and procurement solutions for the media production industry.
Before this, Jon was SVP of Technology and Strategy at divine, Inc., where he was directly responsible for identifying and/or evaluating for investment or acquisition over 100 companies from technology, strategy, and operational perspectives. In addition, he was responsible for setting technology investment strategy and helping both large and small businesses build market leadership positions.
Prior to divine, Jon spent over 14 years at GE’s Global Research Center in roles including original research (in distributed information management, collaboration, and temporal reasoning), leading teams to bring advanced software ideas to practical and profitable application, and providing technology and strategic due diligence for acquisition, partnering, and investment candidates. His most recent role with GE was as Director of eBusiness Technologies, where he was responsible for starting, overseeing, and providing technical direction for a number of GE’s e-business ventures. He also regularly provided strategic consulting to the e-business leaders of many of the GE businesses and has been a strategic technology advisor to Lockheed Martin.
Jon holds Masters and PhD degrees in Computer Science from University at Albany, and a BA in Music. He has received numerous awards, published extensively, and has been awarded three patents.
About High Peaks Venture Partners
Managing nearly $50 million in capital, High Peaks Venture Partners is the largest early stage venture fund in Upstate New York. The High Peaks team brings substantial experience as venture investors, entrepreneurs, and business advisors across a variety of industries. High Peaks seeks to partner with entrepreneurs who have innovative businessideas that need capital and management support to realize their potential.
About Village Ventures
Village Ventures is an early stage venture capital firm investing in exceptional entrepreneurs building technology and life science companies in emerging domestic geographies. Village Ventures identifies these investment opportunities in partnership with its nationwide network of early stage venture capital funds that are focused on these emerging domestic geographic markets. The combination of local capital and High Peaks’ hands-on investment practices–backed by Village Ventures’ centralized services and national network–has created an innovative investment strategy, one that is bearing substantive fund raising and deal results.
