Board of Directors
Inspired thinking
John Steuart
Managing Director, Claremont Creek Ventures
SmartZip Board Member
John has spent the last 20 years managing, building and investing in technology and life science companies. John focuses on the intersection of information technology and life sciences markets, including bioinformatics, molecular diagnostics, genomics, proteomics, software and instrumentation for med-tech industries.
John serves on the board of directors of Arcxis, Tibion, Fluxion, Gene Security Network & Wired Benefits. He is an Industry Fellow at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at the College of Engineering, as well as a member of the Advisory Council to the Lester Center's Berkeley Entrepreneurs’ Forum at UC Berkeley.
Early in his career, he joined Alafi Capital, an Emeryville-based venture firm specializing in early-stage biomedical companies, where he served as an officer of the General Partner. At Alafi, John lead investments in more than a dozen successful start-ups, and served as the senior executive and board member of firms such as Tanox, Software Ventures, Lipomatrix, and Megan Health.
John helped start Cybergold, an Internet marketing and payments company, serving as COO and CFO through its IPO, merger with MyPoints, and sale to United Airlines. John continued with the MyPoints unit of United serving as the Senior Vice President of Strategic Partnerships.
Jed Katz
Managing Director, Javelin Venture Partners
SmartZip Board Member
One of the pioneers of Internet commerce, Jed has spent his 17-year career developing, advising and investing in early stage technology ventures. Recently, Jed also served on the Technology, Telecom & Media Advisory Group for President Barack Obama’s campaign.
Before joining Javelin Venture Partners, Jed was a Managing Director of DFJ Gotham Ventures, an early-stage venture capital firm based in New York, where he was selected in the “Silicon Alley 100”, an annual list of the most influential people in New York digital business, by the website Silicon Alley Insider. Prior to DFJ Gotham, Jed was the COO of Yamcon, the developer of the highly acclaimed “SkyScout”, one of the best selling astronomy products of all time. Before Yamcon, Jed was the COO and Founder of Rent Net, the Internet’s first rental and relocation guide. Rent Net achieved 95% market penetration and became one of the first profitable Internet companies. After Rent Net was acquired by Cendant, Jed built on its successful infrastructure in the formation of Move.com, one of the Internet’s largest real estate sites. Move.com grew to 360 employees and was acquired by Homestore (Nasdaq: MOVE) for over $900 million.
Jed holds a B.A. in Business Economics from UCLA and an M.B.A. from The Haas School of Business at UC-Berkeley, where he was awarded the Price Fellowship from the Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation; he is currently on the advisory board.
