Board of Directors
Patrick Harr
Chairman
Patrick Harr serves as Chairman of the Board of Asankya. This is his second Cloud venture having pioneered the emerging Cloud Storage market as founder and CEO of Nirvanix, where he developed the business plan and go-to-market strategy, raised $18 million in venture funding, built the team, launched the company’s worldwide storage delivery network and virtual NAS gateway, and secured more than 600 customers. Prior to Nirvanix, Harr served as entrepreneur-in-residence at Enterprise Partners Venture Capital focusing on content, storage, and media services investments.
Other leadership roles include president and CEO of Preventsys Inc., a security risk and compliance management firm that was acquired by McAfee in 2006, and Vice President of the $300 million Enterprise Products Group at McDATA Corp., an enterprise storage networking solutions company.
Scott Ryan
Director
Dr. Raghupathy Sivakumar
Director
Laurie Olivier
Director
Laurence Olivier is currently a Partner at Veritas Venture Partners. Laurie has been involved in venture capital since 1990. As Senior Business Development Manager and SVP Private Equity at Anglo American (AA), a leading global mining concern, he represented AA's interests in a number of venture funds, including the AAV fund managed by Veritas. He served on the boards of various AAV portfolio companies. Laurie was also a board member of MCPEPA (an East Asian private equity fund) and MCA (a South African fund - Chairman of the Investment Committee). At AA, Laurie pioneered the establishment of new technology-driven businesses, and served on the boards of a variety of publicly-traded and privately-held businesses, including Anglo American Industrial Corporation Ltd. He currently serves on the boards of ClickFox Inc., Asankya Networks Inc., CytoDome Inc., the Atlanta Venture Forum, and the American Israel Chamber of Commerce of the Southeast US (Chairman Elect).
Laurie was born and raised in South Africa, and holds a B.Engineering (Electronics) from the University of Pretoria, and a B.Com (Hons) and diploma in Datametrics from the University of South Africa.
Steve Chaddick
Director
Steve W. Chaddick is currently Managing Partner of Ridgewood Advisors, LLC. He founded Ridgewood Advisors in 2004 as a vehicle for angel investing, nurturing the community of emerging technology companies in the Atlanta area, and facilitating technology commercialization.
From May 2001 to June 2005, he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of CIENA Corporation, responsible for overall corporate strategy and product direction. Between February 2000 and May 2001, he served as SVP, Systems and Technology, responsible for all product and technology development at CIENA. Between July 1999, and February 2000, he served as President of CIENA's Core Switching Division, formed after CIENA's acquisition of Lightera Networks. From August 1998 to July 1999, he served as SVP, Strategy and Corporate Development, responsible for creating CIENA's marketing programs, strategic vision, and business development. From CIENA's founding in 1994 until August 1998, he was responsible for all R&D, serving as VP, Product Development, and SVP, Products and Technologies. He holds nine patents in the area of WDM systems and techniques. He has 30+ years of experience in the Telecom and related industries and has served on the Board of Directors of the Optical Internetworking Forum, Terabit Technology, and Vistascape Security Systems, and currently serves on the board of Asankya.
He is an active volunteer in the Georgia Tech community, currently serving as a Trustee of the Georgia Tech Foundation, Chair of the advisory board of the School of, a member of the advisory board of the College of Engineering, a trustee of the Georgia Tech Research Corporation and an advisor to Georgia Tech Venture Lab. He is also a past trustee of the Georgia Tech Alumni Association and member of the Georgia Tech Advisory Board. He endowed the Steve W. Chaddick Chair in Electro-Optics in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and the Electrical and Computer Engineering School Chair.
Mr. Chaddick also served for many years as a trustee at The Galloway School in Atlanta, and chaired the board development committee, leading two successful capital campaigns. He is also a board member of Atlanta's Tony-winning Alliance Theatre.
Prior to CIENA, Mr. Chaddick has held numerous positions in engineering, engineering management, sales, and general management in the communications industry, including AT&T Tridom, GTE Electronic Systems Group, Pacific Measurements, Avantek, and Scientific-Atlanta.
Mr. Chaddick received both his B.E.E. (Highest Honor) and M.S.E.E degrees in electrical engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and is a member of the Georgia Tech Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni.
Mike Graininger
Observer
Stephen Flemming
Observer
Stephen Fleming is the vice provost of Georgia Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute, the nation’s largest and most comprehensive university-based program of assistance to business and industry. Stephen has served as Georgia Tech’s chief commercialization officer and led the Enterprise Innovation Institute’s Commercialization Services Division in creating new companies based on research discoveries. Stephen has more than 13 years of private equity experience at the general partner level. Prior to his venture capital career, he spent 15 years in operations roles at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Nortel Networks, and LICOM – a venture-funded startup.
An Atlanta native and summa cum laude graduate of Georgia Tech, Stephen is active in the “alternative space” industry — an investor in three private aerospace companies and is a founding member of the Space Angels Network. He also serves on the boards of trustees for the Spiritual Living Center of Atlanta and for Tech High School, a charter high school emphasizing science, math and technology in urban Atlanta. Stephen is a member of the IEEE, the American Physical Society, the Optical Society of America and a number of regional technology organizations.
Connor Seabrook
Observer
Connor Seabrook is an Administrative Partner of Alliance Technology Ventures. In addition, he has worked with several of ATV's portfolio companies. As Director of Finance & Administration, he helped AtheroGenics raise $50 million over five years for R&D and oversaw the construction of its facilities. He also has served as CFO for Inhibitex, Helios Health and Somatocor Pharmaceuticals. Prior to joining Alliance at its inception in 1993, Connor was the CFO for Aspen Venture Partners, a $150 million early stage venture capital partnership. Earlier, he was an Associate with 3i Ventures in Boston. Before joining 3i Ventures, he worked at Goldman, Sachs & Co., and served as a lending officer at The United States Trust Company of New York.
Connor received his MBA from The Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College in 1985, and his Bachelor of Science in Environmental Studies and Economics from Trinity College in 1980.