Mitchell E. Kertzmann
Bornc. 1949
NationalityAmerican
Alma materBrandeis University
Occupation(s)Venture capitalist, businessman
EmployerHummer Winblad Venture Partners

Mitchell E. Kertzman (born c. 1949[1][2][3] ) is an American venture capitalist with Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. He is the former CEO of Sybase, Powersoft, and Liberate Technologies.[4][5]

Early life and education

Kertzman grew up in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston.[1][2] (His mother was Miriam Kertzman; she created the first corporate daycare center for American industry and ran it from 1971 to her death c. 1986.[1]) He dropped out of Brandeis University in 1968, then pursued a career as a disk jockey (but was fired after only four months on the job).[1][2] He then learned computer programming, and in 1974 founded the company that later became Powersoft as a one-person contract programming business.[1]

Career

During the 1992 Paul Tsongas presidential campaign, Kertzman advised Paul Tsongas; in fact, Tsongas chose Kertzman to introduce him when he introduced his candidacy in April 1991.[1]

Kertzman sold Powersoft to Sybase in 1994 for $904 million.[2] After Sybase purchased Powersoft in 1995, Kertzman became CEO and president of Sybase, but left after three years to become the president and CEO of Network Computer Incorporated, a company spun out of Oracle Corporation.[3] During Kertzman's tenure, Network Computer Incorporated refocused its business from network computer hardware to interactive television, and changed its name to Liberate Technologies.[2]

In 1998, Kertzman testified against Microsoft before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary about an incident where Microsoft advised him not to develop a competing product during an investigation into whether Microsoft was abusing monopoly power.[2]

In 2003, David Lockwood replaced Kertzman as CEO of Liberate Technologies, and Kertzman joined Hummer Winblad Venture Partners,[6] where as of 2014 he is "Managing Director".[7]

Personal life

Kertzman described himself as "socially liberal, fiscally conservative" but not wanting to run for public office.[1] Kertzman is also "an admitted couch potato".[2] During a jam session in an industry meeting, Kertzman gave a rendition of a song entitled "Wild Thing".[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Rifkin, Glenn (April 4, 1993). "Mitchell E. Kertzman; A Company Founder Who Bet His Ranch". The New York Times. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Fost, Dan (March 5, 2001). "Liberating TV /CEO Kertzman still fighting Microsoft, this time in interactive television". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  3. 1 2 Fost, Dan (November 4, 1998). "Kertzman Leaves Sybase to Head Oracle Spin-Off". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  4. ↑ "Mitchell Kertzman". Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. Archived from the original on December 4, 2010.
  5. ↑ Weisman, Robert (1 June 2005). "After high, low, Silicon Valley takes a pragmatic path - The Boston Globe". archive.boston.com. Retrieved 2021-09-19.
  6. ↑ Kawamoto, Dawn (March 17, 2003). "Liberate gets a new executive team". CNET. Retrieved October 27, 2019.
  7. ↑ Harris, Derrick (2013-11-09). "Is NoSQL less disruptive than we thought and just, well, useful?". Gigaom. Retrieved 2021-09-19.
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