Board Members

Eric has been involved in various capacities with SoftBank Capital’s investing activities since 1995, and joined SoftBank Capital in 2000 from SoftBank’s former subsidiary, Ziff-Davis. He has served as a media industry CEO, having spent over 25 years in senior management positions at large media companies. Eric joined Ziff-Davis in 1989, and he became Chairman and CEO in 1993. In 1995, SoftBank acquired Ziff-Davis, and Eric continued in the role of CEO until 2000, when the company was sold.

During his career at Ziff-Davis, Eric was early to recognize the trend toward on-line media. Under his stewardship, ZDNet became one of the few successful examples of a strong on-line business model evolving from traditional magazine content, and he was instrumental in SoftBank’s first investment in Yahoo! in 1995. Eric was also responsible for founding ZDTV, a cable channel dedicated to technology and the Internet, and an early success in integrating television and the Web. He also directed several successful magazines and marketing service launches in the technology and Internet field.

Eric was President of SoftBank International Ventures, where he established SoftBank’s international private equity funds and expanded them into Europe, Latin America and Asia. He was also SB Capital’s board representative for its direct investments in industry leading companies, such as Yahoo!, Geocities and CNET.

He is experience prior to joining Ziff-Davis includes senior executive positions at International Data Group.

Eric serves on the boards of several public and private companies, including Yahoo!, Danger, Odimo (diamond.com/ashford.com), Insider Pages, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, National Leisure Group, Perpetual Entertainment, and Beliefnet. He is also on the investment committee for the SB Asia Infrastructure Fund.

He graduated from the Lycee Francais de Londres and attended the Sorbonne University in Paris.

Chip has advised and built companies in the Technology and Media industries for his entire career.

In addition to founding Bertelsmann's E-commerce division, Chip was a member of the senior executive team leading the buyout and restructuring of Prodigy Communications and was a co-founder of McKinsey’s & Co.’s interactive practice, where he spent seven years advising Fortune 500 companies on their technology and media strategies. Prior to that, Chip worked at Morgan Stanley and IBM's PC division. Most recently, Chip was President, CEO, and first employee of Bertelsmann Online, where he was responsible for building Bertelsmann's global e-commerce business by launching parallel services in the UK, Germany, France, Spain, Netherlands, and the US (via Bertelsmann's 50% investment in BarnesandNoble.com). Chip has a degree in Computer Science and Economics from Duke University, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Craig joined SoftBank Capital in 2004 specializing in wireless technology and services, mobile content, applications and media.

Prior to joining SoftBank Capital, he was the co-founder of Boost Mobile USA, a wireless joint venture with Nextel Communications. Boost was one of the first Mobile Virtual Network Operatorâs (MVNOâs) to develop a successful business model based on branded wireless services and content. Boost was sold to Nextel in August 2003.

Prior to co-founding Boost Mobile USA, Craig was a principal of Mercury Capital, a private equity and investment company specializing in wireless and multimedia technology investments and advisory services. Through Mercury Capital, he advised on a number of wireless and technology related ventures as well as initial public offerings.

He was formerly a private equities advisor for the Bank of Singapore in Sydney and a Senior Associate at one of Australia's largest national law firms where he acted for clients such as United Airlines, The Disney Corporation and DHL International (where he was External General Counsel). In 1994, he co-founded the independent energy company NRG Asia â Pacific that throughout the following years became one of the largest independent power producers in Australia. Craig was also a founding principal of Private Energy Partners, which developed and owned energy projects in Australia and Indonesia. He also held the position of CEO of the former E-world Technologies Limited (Australia's largest PDA retail and enterprise software company) and was previously a partner in the largest independent mobile retail distribution company in Australia.

Craig is currently a Director of Nellymoser, Pure Video, Insider Pages and V-Enable and is an Observer on the Board of Directors of Perpetual Entertainment. He is also a director of EBT Mobile China plc (LSE:EBT), the leading Shanghai based wireless retailer and mobile services company.

He has a Bachelor of Economics and a Bachelor of Laws (Honors) from the University of Sydney.

Brad has been involved in the investment, management and development of technology for the past 15 years. During this time he served on the boards of almost a dozen companies and co-authored several commercial software products including pcANYWHERE, which was acquired by Symantec, Inc., Novell's Netware Access Server, and client software for Citrix WinView. Most recently, Brad was a founding Partner of Lazard Technology Partners (LTP), the venture capital group of Lazard Frères & Co. LLC, where he invested in internet and communications companies. Brad’s early investments include Compatible Systems (acquired by Cisco), MCK Communications (NASDAQ:MCKC), Sonoma Systems (acquired by Nortel), SignalSoft Corporation (NASDAQ:SGSF), and Quantum Bridge. Brad has a degree in Applied Math and Computer Science from Harvard College, and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

In 1999 Are was part of establishing Carrot Communications, one of the first companies to sell wireless content directly to consumers. Are has been in charge of wireless entertainment campaigns for companies like NewsCorp, Disney, ABC, Univision, Telemundo and Fuse and with wireless carriers like Verizon, AT&T Wireless, Cingular and T-Mobile. Are also co-founded Telenor Interactive Inc, the first company to launch cross-carrier premium messaging in the US market.

Evan Schwartz has over 10 years of experience marketing entertainment and subscription products online. In 1995, Evan was part of the start-up team at CDNOW, the pioneering music ecommerce site. Most recently, Evan was SVP of Online for Columbia House, the largest direct marketer of entertainment in the United States.

Ajay is a Managing Director at Bain Capital Ventures where he focuses on early stage software, wireless, and consumer internet investing. Ajay serves on the boards of aPriori, Memento Security, Kiva Systems, Skyhook Wireless, Inrix, Thumbplay, Rave Wireless, and vmLogix. Ajay also served on the board of mQube which was acquired by Verisign in May 2006. Before joining Bain Capital Ventures, Ajay spent over seven years as a senior executive at Trilogy Software, a privately-held enterprise software company based in Austin, Texas. As head of Sales and Marketing, Ajay grew Trilogy's annual revenues to $300 million and led Trilogy's product direction. Prior to Trilogy, Ajay was a consultant with the Los Angeles office of McKinsey & Company. Ajay holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.