Marquee Panel: M&A and IPO Strategies

Listen to four of the biggest names and best minds in the RTP and nation explore winning M&A and IPO strategies. This panel will discuss their views and experiences on buying and selling companies, the best forward path for future funding and liquidity and creating maximum shareholder value.

John McConnell is the Chairman and CEO of A4 Health Systems in Cary, NC. A4, an electronic medical records and physician practice management software leader, sold in January for $272M in cash and stock to Allscripts. John's previous company, which he started and ran, was Medic Computer, also in the healthcare IT space. John successfully took Medic public and ultimately sold the company to Mysys for $923M in cash. John is a veteran of successful, high-growth companies and is viewed by many in the RTP as the “entrepreneur's entrepreneur.” Learn how John did it, twice in a row.

Stephen Pierce runs the IPO business for arguably the bluest in the blue chip of investment banks - Goldman Sachs. Steve and his team took E-Bay and Clear Channel public, re-ipo'ed Spectrasite from the RTP (sold recently for over $3B to American Tower) and recently brought UnderArmour to the public markets, to name just a few. Also on Steve's list of accomplishments are the largest global IPO in history in NTT DoCoMo, the largest public offering in US history in AT&T Wireless and the best performing IPO in the US in 2005 in Baidu. Steve and team even took Goldman Sachs public in 1999.

Harry Weller is a partner at New Enterprise Associates. NEA is one of the most respected and admired names in the VC industry. With over 175 IPO's in firm history and with a staggering 500 successful sales of portfolio companies, NEA's investment track record is unparalleled. Harry was the early lead investor in high-flying Vonage, a VoIP solutions leader, among other brand name successes to his credit.

Ryan Wuerch is the chairman, CEO and co-founder of RTP-based Motricity, a global leader in mobile content and solutions. Ryan and team have already successfully acquired and integrated five companies, as they aggressively chart their course for continued explosive growth. Ryan has raised over $80M from local and national venture capital firms. He was named the E&Y Entrepreneur for the Year for the Carolinas in 2005 for the technology sector.

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Steve Nelson
Managing Director and Partner
Wakefield Group

Steve Nelson joined Wakefield Group in October 1999 as Managing Director and Partner. He established the venture capital firm's Research Triangle Park, NC office.

Steve joined Wakefield after 19 years of executive and general management experience in technology, software and Internet-based businesses. During the last three years of his career before starting his venture capital career, Steve was at Quokka Sports, a digital media company, in several executive capacities. Quokka raised over $140m in capital and successfully completed an IPO in July, 1999. Steve served as chief executive of a joint venture company between NBC Sports and Quokka Sports, NBC/Quokka Ventures, LLC. Dick Ebersol, who was at that time and currently is Chairman and CEO of NBC Sports, was the chairman of the joint venture company.

Prior to Quokka, Steve served as a Vice President of the Americas with Informix Software, based in Menlo Park, CA. His first business experience was 14-plus years at IBM, ultimately as Vice President and General Manager in San Francisco where he had executive and P&L responsibility for all customers in the 11 western states, all IBM products and services, 800 employees, $2.2B in revenues and several hundred million dollars in profit.

Steve is a member of the board of directors and executive committee at Motricity, the first in a new class of content and media providers for handheld devices. Motricity is the premier provider of mobile content solutions and services to the wireless industry, uniquely powering over 120 million mobile subscribers with its market-leading Fuel mobile content delivery platform. Steve is also on board of directors for APEX Analytix, Integrian, Liquidia Technologies, Constella Group and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina. He was a past Chairman of North Carolina's Council for Entrepreneurial Development, is co-founder of North Carolina's Innovation Association, and is a member of the Investment Advisory Committee for the State Treasurer's office of North Carolina and its $70B investment portfolio.

Steve received his B.S. degree in Business from Wake Forest University.

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John McConnell
Chief Executive Officer
A4 Health Systems

John first built his career with Virginia National Bank and Burroughs Corporation. In 1982, John co-founded Medic Computer Systems and served as its CEO for 16 years — bringing integrated practice management systems, clinical information systems and related services to the physician healthcare market. John led Medic through its public offering in 1992 and its sale to Misys Plc in 1997.

In December 1998, John became Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of A4 Health Systems, provider of Electronic Medical Record solutions. Previously recognized as one of the 'Top 100 CEOs in the Nation' by CEO Magazine, John has helped A4 grow through sales and acquisitions as well as led the company toward several prestigious awards. As of March 2006, John has led A4 through a sale to Allscripts (Nasdaq: MDRX) and will continue on as a member of Allscripts' board of directors.

John’s healthcare and entrepreneurial expertise is also currently tapped as a member of the 2004 WakeMed Foundation Board of Directors in North Carolina, Advisory Board for the College of Public Health at University of North Carolina, Med3000 Board of Directors and Director of Blackbaud (BLKB). Furthering his passion for leadership and entrepreneurship, John serves as President of McConnell Golf LLC, which owns the newly renovated Raleigh Country Club, and President of the investment firm McConnell Venture Partners. John is a graduate of Virginia Tech with a B.S. in Finance.

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Stephen Pierce
Head of Equity Capital Markets for the Americas
Goldman, Sachs & Co. New York

Stephen joined Goldman Sachs in Corporate Finance Department New York in 1984 as a financial analyst, he was a generalist with broad experience in equity and debt financings, mergers and financial advisory assignments. He returned to Global Finance New York in 1988 as an Associate. He then joined Equity Capital Markets in 1991 and was elected Vice President in 1992. He was with Equity Capital Markets, London and then went on to the roles of Managing Director, Partner and his current role as Head of Equity Capital Markets for the Americas, a position which he has held since 2001.

Stephen has been involved in many of Goldman Sachs' biggest and highest profile transactions including the AT&T Wireless IPO (largest U.S. IPO), Goldman Sachs' own IPO, NTT Docomo IPO (largest global IPO), Lucent's IPO and significant transactions for Disney, Fox, Verizon, Yahoo and Motorola. Stephen earned his M.B.A. at Harvard Business School and went to Stanford University for his undergraduate degree.

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Harry Weller
Partner
New Enterprise Associates

Harry joined NEA in 2002 as a Partner. He specializes in information technology companies with special interest in next generation systems, applications and infrastructure companies. Present board memberships include Availink, Informance, SourceFire and Vonage. Harry co-led NEA's investments in Hillcrest, Innerworkings and Pentaho.

Prior to joining NEA, Harry was a Partner at FBR Technology Venture Partners where he worked with several successful start-up teams. Earlier in his career, Harry worked with the Boston Consulting Group and Deloitte & Touche Management Consulting where he managed strategy and technology initiatives in the financial, manufacturing and telecommunications industries.

Harry has served as Co-Chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (MAVA) Capital Connection in 2004 and 2005 and he co-founded the Young mid-Atlantic Venture Association (YAVA). He was recently named one of the “50 Most Powerful People in Networking” by Network Magazine. Harry received his M.B.A. from Harvard Graduate School of Business and his undergraduate degree in Physics from Duke University.

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Ryan Wuerch
Chairman of the Board & Chief Executive Officer
Motricity

Ryan Wuerch founded Motricity in 2001 and has since served as chairman and chief executive officer of the company.

Under Wuerch's leadership, Motricity has grown into one of the wireless industry's leading and most recognized mobile content service providers. Motricity's customer-centric approach to mobile content delivery, as well as its success in reaching more than 250 million mobile subscribers, has made the company the trusted partner for industry leaders such as Cingular Wireless, Viacom, Virgin Mobile, Amazon, Interactive Corporation, Palm, China Unicom, Sony Ericsson, O2, Samsung and Telefonica.

Motricity has attracted over $80 million in venture capital from premier venture investors, strengthened its management team with proven executives from throughout the technology and wireless industries, and grown to more than 300 employees. The company has earned numerous industry accolades, including being named one of the top 15 global wireless companies by Fierce Wireless and one of the top 100 technology companies in North America by Red Herring magazine. Motricity was also named the NCTA 2005 Private Company of the Year and its Fuel platform received the 2006 GSM Association Award for Best Service Delivery Platform, as well as Frost & Sullivan's 2005 Premium Mobile Content Platform of the Year award.

Prior to founding Motricity, Wuerch was a partner and president of Learning 2000. By developing strategic relationships with companies such as Gateway, IBM Corporation and MicronPC, Learning 2000 experienced continual year-over-year growth in both revenues and profitability. Prior to Learning 2000, Wuerch served as senior vice president of ShapeRite, a leading nutritional supplement manufacturer. Under his leadership, the company was recognized as one of the fastest growing private corporations in America, reaching 44th in Inc. Magazine's annual list of the 500 fastest growing privately held companies in the nation.

Wuerch was named the 2005 Carolinas' Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. He serves on the board of CED (the Council for Entrepreneurial Development) and is a frequent speaker at industry events and conferences.

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