Board of Directors

Jeffrey E. Stiefler, Chairman

Mr. Stiefler currently serves as a Venture Partner for Emergence Capital Partners, as Chairman of TouchCommerce, a leading online interaction optimization company, and as a Director of three companies: Verifone, a publicly traded global provider of point-of-sale solutions, Taleo, a publicly traded company providing on demand recruiting and talent management services, and LPL Financial, a privately-held investment of Hellman and Friedman and Texas Pacific Group and the country’s largest independent broker-dealer.

Prior to his current engagements, Mr. Stiefler was chairman, CEO, and president of Digital Insight, the leading provider of fully outsourced online banking services. Mr. Stiefler joined Digital Insight in August 2003 and led the Company until its sale to Intuit in February 2007. During Mr. Stiefler’s tenure, the Company’s stock price and market capitalization tripled.

From 1995 to 2003, Mr. Stiefler served as an Advisor to two private equity firms, McCown DeLeeuw and Company and North Castle Partners, where he served in various capacities for companies in the receivables management, call center outsourcing, and behavioral health industries, contributing to successful exits in each business. He also served as vice-chairman of Walker Digital Corporation, the company that started PriceLine and was a Director of Education Lending Group, a publicly held originator of student loans, which was sold successfully to a larger entity.

Prior to 1995, Mr. Stiefler was President and a Director of American Express Company and President and CEO of IDS Financial Services Corporation (which became American Express Financial Advisors and then Ameriprise). During his tenure at IDS, the Company’s operating income increased tenfold, driven primarily by rapid growth in the number and productivity of the company’s sales force. Before American Express, Mr. Stiefler held a variety of leadership positions with Citicorp and Boise Cascade Corporation.

In addition to his corporate positions, Mr. Stiefler served as Director or Trustee of a number of philanthropic institutions, including The Salk Institute, Minnesota Business Partnership, Minneapolis Symphony, and Carlson School of Management. Mr. Stiefler has been a guest lecturer at a number of leading business schools including Harvard and Wharton. He received his BA from Williams College and MBA from Harvard Business School.

Bernard Louvat, President and Chief Executive Officer

Bernard is responsible for the strategic direction and management of the company. He brings more than 20 years of experience in growing retail and technology-based businesses in North America, Europe and Asia.

He started his career as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company in the retail/consumer practice. He was then founding CEO of two corporate retail ventures (The Disney Store France and Office Depot France), and of two US based venture backed e-commerce and technology ventures (Bizbuyer.com and Evolution Robotics). He was also General Manager with Ticketmaster-CitySearch, an IAC company and has been a pioneer in e-commerce.

Upon his appointment as new CEO of TouchCommerce in early 2005, he developed and executed on a strategy to provide large e-commerce web sites with technologies and services to increase their conversion rates on a pay-for-performance basis while improving the customer experience. The company was rapidly successful in considerably lifting the conversion rates of its clients and became a leader in the market for online conversion optimization.

Bernard holds an MBA with Distinctions from Harvard Business School and a BA in Business Administration from HEC, Paris, France. He lives in Southern California with his wife, two daughters and two sons.

Jason Green

Prior to founding Emergence, Jason spent a decade in the venture business as a General Partner with U.S. Venture Partners and as a Charter Class member of the Kauffman Fellows Program with Venrock Associates, the venture capital arm of the Rockefeller family. In addition to his venture capital experience, Jason brings a mix of operating experience, strategic consulting and entrepreneurial research to Emergence. Earlier in his career, Jason served as VP of Muzertechnika, the largest private computer and telecommunications company in Eastern Europe at the time. Prior to this, he served as a strategic consultant with Bain & Company in Boston and San Francisco and with the investment firm of Welsh, Carson, Anderson, and Stowe in New York. Jason was also selected as the Charles Williams Fellow at Harvard's Graduate School of Business for post-graduate research in Entrepreneurship and Finance.

Jason is Chairman of the Board of the Center for Venture Education and the Kauffman Fellows Program, the leading educational fellowship in venture capital. Jason also serves on the Advisory Board of Arthur Rock Center of Entrepreneurship at Harvard and on the Steering Committee of the West Coast Research Center. Jason has led early-stage venture investments in several pubic companies such as DoubleClick (DCLK), aQuantive (AQNT), Visual Networks (VNWK), and Ask Jeeves (ASK) and private companies such as Megapath Networks, Goodmail Systems, Adapt Technologies, and SuccessFactors.

Jason graduated cum laude with a B.A. in Economics from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. from Harvard with Distinction. Jason is a Founding Board member of Endeavor, a non-profit serving the needs of entrepreneurs in emerging markets. Jason is married with two children. The most unique trivia about Jason is that he is a twin married to a twin. Jason can be reached at jgreen@emcap.com.

Steve Williams

Steve Williams is a Managing Director at Sierra Ventures, responsible for enterprise, infrastructure, and consumer internet software, as well as software and application service provider investments. He has led the Firm’s investments in and serves on the boards of Axentis, ClickForensics, Marathon Technologies, Razorsight Corporation, SenSage, TriActive, and WebCollage. Steve is also a board observer at Accruent. He has also served on the board of Crosslogix (acquired by BEA Systems, Inc.), Permeo (acquired by Blue Coat) and Tenebril (acquired by Process Software).

Joining Sierra in 2000 after helping three companies—InterCAD (later sold to Bishop Graphics), Tivoli Systems (TIVS) and Marimba (MRBA)—get up and running, Steve loves to apply his strong operating background to the companies in which he invests. “For me, the first few years of a company are the best part of the experience,” says Steve. “I love to help entrepreneurs navigate from a simple idea to a successful, profitable company—and I’m not afraid to roll up my sleeves and dive into the details,” says Steve. His BSEE from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo comes in handy too, and helps Steve to work with entrepreneurs in solving complicated sales, marketing, operations, and engineering challenges.

Outside of Sierra, Steve is just as unafraid to get dirty. Having grown up on the island of Oahu, he loves adventure, especially sailing, bicycling, surfing, and hiking. Steve has participated in the Pacific Cup—a competitive sailboat race from San Francisco to Oahu—twice, and has bicycled from San Francisco to New York City. Says Steve, “I’m not one to shy away from adventure. You meet interesting people and broaden your horizons when you stretch your limits.”

Glen Lewy

Glen Joined Hudson Ventures in 2000 as a Senior Managing Director. Glen spent 25 years as an adviser to some of the world's largest and most prestigious corporations, having distinguished himself as both a lawyer and investment banker. Glen was a senior partner and member of the Management Committee of Wolfensohn & Co., when it was acquired by Bankers Trust in 1996. Following the acquisition, he served as a member of the Management Committee of Bankers Trust. Upon the acquisition of Bankers Trust by Deutsche Bank, Glen was named Global Head of the Mergers and Acquisitions and Corporate Advisory Group of Deutsche Bank and a member of the Board of Global Corporate and Institutions (the investment banking arm of Deutsche Bank), a position he resigned in July 1999. In May 1986, prior to joining Wolfensohn & Co., he had been a partner involved in the practice of corporate law, specializing in mergers and acquisitions, at the New York law firm of Debevoise & Plimpton. Glen is a Board member of several technology-related companies, including GlobalServe , NetKey , and TouchCommerce  and serves as a Board Observer for Peminic. Glen was previously responsible for Hudson's investment and served on the boards of both Albridge Solutions  and Relegence prior to their respective sales. Glen also managed Hudson's investment in Constant Contact.

Glen is the Chairman of the Anti-Defamation League National Commission. He is also a member of the Council of Foreign Relations, and sits on the Board of Trustees of the New York Historical Society and the SEED Foundation.

Glen holds a B.A. degree from Amherst College and a J.D. from the University of Chicago Law School. Glen resides in Mamaroneck, New York with his family.

Dennis O’Connell

Dennis O'Connell joined Dolphin Equity Partners in April 2001. He brings to Dolphin 25 plus years of successful operating experience in all segments of the communications industry.  Dennis presently serves on the Board of Directors of five of Dolphin's investments: AVST, Touch Commerce, Overtone Terago and Rate Integration.

Prior to joining Dolphin, Dennis served as the North Region President of XO Communications, a leading integrated communications provider, where he led market operations in the Northeast and Midwest. He successfully built it into a $200 million business. He was also the Northeast Region President for AT&T Wireless. He successfully led the AT&T Wireless operations in New York and Pittsburgh, and oversaw the successful launch of the Washington/Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston markets, which had annual revenues in excess of #1 billion and over 1.5 million customers.

Dennis was a member of the original McCaw Cellular Communications management team. He was with McCaw Cellular for 10 years, from the initial launch of McCaw's first market in 1985 through its sale to AT&T in 1995. While at McCaw, Dennis had a variety of increasing senior operating responsibilities across the U.S.

Dennis holds a BS in Marketing from the University of Maryland.