Subscribe to Our Blog
There are two ways to subscribe to our blog. You can receive an email that comes at most once a day with our latest blog posts OR you can subscribe to our RSS feed.
Come see 12-15 of the region's best companies the Rockies have to offer. With more than 300 attendees the conference offers the chance to network with colleagues, visit with friends and see some of the Rockies most promising early stage companies.
Nov. 2 – 4, 2011, JW Marriott at Desert Ridge, Phoenix, AZ
Mark Heesen has advocated for the venture capital industry, entrepreneurship and innovation for nearly two decades, first as NVCA's head of public policy and, since 1999 as the Association's president. Under Mark's leadership, the NVCA has grown in both scope and scale as it relates to its public policy agenda, research initiatives, and member programs. Mark is constantly engaged in legislative and regulatory issues surrounding information technology, life sciences and clean technology investing, providing strategic direction for the NVCA professional staff and managing a board of 26 venture capital practitioners.
Mark has taken a leadership position on behalf of the venture capital industry on issues such as carried interest taxation, financial services reform, the FDA regulatory approval process, highly skilled immigration, patent reform, U.S. competitiveness issues, energy reform, support for basic research funding and countless other policy issues that impact America's entrepreneurial ecosystem.
As the primary spokesperson for the venture capital industry, Mark is often called upon by the financial media, NVCA members, limited partners, and regional associations to offer insights and perspectives on trends and developments occurring within the asset class. He is a frequent presenter at industry conferences, a familiar and trusted source in news articles focusing on the venture industry, and a recurrent guest on CNBC and Bloomberg Television.
Prior to his work at NVCA, Mark was an aide to a former Governor of Pennsylvania and was Deputy Director for Federal Funds reporting to the Texas Legislature. Mark received a law degree with an emphasis in taxation from the Dickinson School of Law in 1984.
Mr. Najafi has been the CEO of Najafi Companies since 2002. He was a partner and COO of Pivotal Group from 1990 to 2002. He worked at Salomon Brothers Investment Banking, now a division of Citigroup, from 1986 to 1990.
Mr. Najafi earned his Masters in Business and Economics from Harvard University after earning his B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University of California, Berkeley. He is Vice Chairman for the Phoenix Suns and an A Governor on the board of the National Basketball Association. He is active with the Young Presidents' Organization, Urban Land Institute and served as Chair of the Board of Trustees of Phoenix Country Day School. Additionally, he has served on Arizona State University's Committee for Design Excellence, the Board of Directors for the Phoenix Symphony and Phoenix Metropolitan Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, as well as other civic organizations. He is a founding partner of Social Venture Partners Arizona, which is a pooled, philanthropic fund that "invests" in emerging nonprofit organizations in a manner analogous to a venture capital fund investing in an emerging business.
Timothy "Scott" Case is a technologist, entrepreneur and inventor and was founding CTO of Priceline, the "Name Your Own Price" company that was one of only a handful of startups in U.S. history to reach a billion dollars in annual sales in less than 24 months. As Chief Technology Officer, he was responsible for building the technology that enabled Priceline's hyper-growth.
Most recently, Scott was named CEO and board member of the Startup America Partnership, where he'll invest his energy to drive American entrepreneurship to create jobs and sustain our nation's global leadership.
Prior to joining the Startup America Partnership, Scott served as CEO of Malaria No More, where he worked to inspire individuals and institutions in the private sector to end deaths caused by malaria. Previously, Scott helped build a portfolio of intellectual property at the Walker Digital Invention Laboratory, and is a named inventor on dozens of U.S. patents including the underlying portfolio for Priceline. Scott also co-founded Precision Training Software, a software company that developed the world's first PC-based simulated flight instructor and photo-realistic flight simulator.
Scott serves as the Chairman of Network for Good, a national nonprofit that has distributed more than $475 million to 60,000 nonprofits and provides online fundraising and communications services to over 5,000 nonprofit organizations. He is also on the Advisory Board of By Kids for Kids, Tickets-for-Charity and ThreeJars.
