Mr Roland Van der Meer

KANDO id: 26402

Bio

Over the past 25 years, Roland Van der Meer has built a reputation for commitment to the pursuit of revolutionary ideas to change the way the world operates. Whether as a strategist, investor or in his role as an engineer, Roland applies his talent and passion for identifying and capitalizing on new frontiers, whether it is in communications, digital media, or his personal passion in sustainability. With nearly three decades of experience in the communications, media, technology and infrastructure sectors, Roland is a Managing Partner of Fuse Capital, a Silicon Valley leader in new media. In 1987, Roland was a General Partner and co-founder of its predecessor, ComVentures, a successful investment firm. Roland’s understanding of key industry trends has resulted in realized investments of $180 million and returns of $750 million on 37 companies in the communications, media, technology and infrastructure sectors. He was one of the few venture investors to have invested in and helped create four companies with multi-billion dollar outcomes in Pair Gain (acquired by ADC), Broadcom (BDCM), Chromatis (acquired by Lucent), Cloudshield (acquired by SAIC) and Monterey (acquired by Cisco). His ability to anticipate that the digital revolution would create a new set of transmission and switching companies to break into the carrier equipment space, led to his identification of Internet protocol trends and anticipated migration of applications to IP networks. Roland then successfully realized profitable investments in the first SIP companies: Dynamicsoft and Ascendent. His successful investment portfolio also includes: Arbinet (Nasdaq: ARBX), which created and operates the world's largest market exchange for telecommunications carriers, and Zantaz (acquired by Autonomy Corporation plc [LSE: AU. or AU.L]), the leader in email/file archiving and retrieval. Roland has been recognized for his ability to create innovative business and economic models, apply sophisticated creative problem solving, and infuse genuine enthusiasm to management teams. Formally listed 18th on the Forbes “Midas List of Top 100 Technology Dealmakers,” Roland currently serves on the board of directors of several companies committed to improving technology, efficiency and sustainability: Crowd Fusion, OpSource, Quantia Communications, and Sensys. Previously, Roland spent several years at Hambrecht & Quist Venture Partners. He began his career as a well-respected engineer with GTE Labs and Sprint. Crowd Fusion OpSource, Quantia, and Sensys Networks. He is also a member of the board of directors of Bio-Logical Capital. Roland holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Engineering from the University of Pennsylvania and a Bachelor of Science from the Wharton School.

Education