Frederick J. Beste III

Fred Beste has never had a real job.  His career began in 1968 with Greater Washington Investors, Inc., a publicly-held venture capital firm, where he was Vice President and Treasurer.  He then joined Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation, a private venture capital development firm, where he was Vice President and, ultimately, President and Chief Executive Officer.  He joined MAVF in 1984 as the founding President and Chief Executive Officer of its first general partner. During the course of his career, he has served on the boards of directors of dozens of companies, and has advised and worked with thousands of entrepreneurs. He has been widely published on the subjects of venture capital and entrepreneurship, and has done extensive public speaking on both subjects as well. He was the Chairman of the 1994 Mid-Atlantic Venture Fair, the largest such event in the industry, and the recipient of the Greater Philadelphia Venture Group's 1995 Blair L. Thompson Memorial Award for career achievement and the inaugural (2001) Early Stage East/Sal Buccieri Award for regional early stage venture capital impact. He received his B.A. in Economics from Stetson University, and is an adjunct professor of entrepreneurial studies at Cornell University’s graduate business school.      E-mail: Fred@mavf.com 
 

Glen R. Bressner

Glen Bressner has also spent his entire career working with venture capital-backed enterprises. Prior to joining MAVF in 1985, he established and ran the Boston office of  Key Venture Capital Corp., a small business investment company.  He is Vice-President of all of MAVF's general partners. He was Chairman of the Greater Philadelphia Venture Group in 1996-97. He holds a B.S.B.A. cum laude from Boston University and an M.B.A. from Babson College. E-mail: Glen@MAVF.com
 
 
 
 
 

Marc F. Benson

Marc Benson's career is anchored by three extended tours of duty; corporate, entrepreneurial and venture capital.  Early in his career he spent eleven years with AMF, Incorporated, where his responsibilities spanned financial, sales, marketing and international functions, culminating in the Managing Directorship of one of AMF's European divisions.  He subsequently joined and later led the leveraged buy-out of Independent Products Company, a manufacturer of injection-molded housewares, where he served as CEO for four years before selling the company to publicly traded Selfix, Inc.  Marc joined MAVF as a partner in 1992 and opened the firm's Northern Virginia office in 1996.  He has funded more than twenty-five startup and early stage ventures including Visual Networks, NET2000 Communications, Sequoia Software and Wisor Telecom.   He holds a B.A. degree from Virginia Commonwealth University.  E-mail: Marc@MAVF.com
 
 
 

Thomas A. Smith

Tom Smith has over 14 years of experience in the private equity investment business, ranging from start-up technology investing to billion dollar acquisitions. Prior to joining MAVF in 1998, Tom was a General Partner of the Edison Venture Funds, where he directed Edison's Washington, DC office. Tom led Edison's investment activities in the communications industry, which included investments in Visual Networks, Sync Research, Data Labs and Versatility. 

Tom began his career with the Chase Manhattan Capital Corporation in New York. From 1986 until 1990, Tom was instrumental in building Chase's highly successful direct equity investment portfolio, including both leveraged buyout transactions and emerging growth financings. Successful investments included Cain Chemical, Acer Computers and Nextel Communications.