George Roberts Named Venture Partner at OpenView Venture Partners
Boston, MA – OpenView Venture Partners today announced that George Roberts has joined the firm as a Venture Partner effective April 2, 2007.
George Roberts is a former member of the executive management team at Oracle, with over 25 years of deep management experience in the software industry.
For the last three years, George has been making private investments and serving as a board member of several fast growing venture capital funded software companies including ScriptLogic Corporation, Fieldglass Inc, and Informance International.
From 1990 to 2003, George spent 13 years at Oracle Corporation, most recently having served as EVP of North American Sales. While at Oracle, George was responsible for over $1 billion in revenue and over 2,000 employees, reporting directly to the company’s CEO and Chairman, Larry Ellison.
George also served as a member of the firm’s executive team responsible for restructuring Oracle, increasing profit margins from 22% to over 40%, and positioning Oracle as the second most profitable company in the industry after Microsoft.
“George’s joining of the OpenView team is a big win for us and our portfolio companies, and we are thrilled to have him on board”, said Scott Maxwell, OpenView’s Founder and Senior Managing Director.”
George’s phenomenal track record, management and operational experience, as well as his deep network within the technology industry will be of great value to the management teams in our portfolio, and in attracting new investments,” continued Maxwell.
Other notable milestones in George’s tenure at Oracle include growing revenue tenfold from $30 million to $300 million in the Central Sales Division over a 7 year period, architecting the channel strategy for North America, and realigning the organization’s go-to-market approach from a heavy direct sales focus to a balanced distribution model incorporating telesales and broad based channel programs. In addition, George started Oracle’s Business Online Applications Hosting unit, which today generates over $500 million in revenues.
“Scott [Maxwell] and I have worked closely together for the past three years through our roles on the Board of Directors of ScriptLogic, a terrific company with a great management team,” said George Roberts. “I am very impressed by OpenView’s focus on helping portfolio companies through strong, hands-on operational support, and am very excited to join the firm.”
At OpenView, George will be an integral member of the firm’s investment team and will be working closely with its portfolio companies as well as on sourcing new investment prospects.
About OpenView Venture Partners
OpenView Venture Partners is an expansion stage venture capital fund with a focus on high-growth software, Internet, and technology-enabled companies. Through its staff of seasoned operating executives who collectively bring several decades of technology & management experience to the firm, OpenView is able to help portfolio companies with quickly ramping up sales, marketing and product development functions to best practice levels. The firm was founded in 2006 by Scott Maxwell with an inaugural fund encompassing $100 million in committed capital. OpenView Venture Partners is based in Boston, and invests on a worldwide basis.