Norwest Venture Partner
Reconnex brings a wealth of management talent and experience to its thought leadership effort. Read the biographies and perspectives of senior management who provide valuable expertise and insights.
Randy Haykin, General Partner, Outlook Ventures
Matthew D. Howard, General Partner, Norwest Venture Partners
Ed Kozel, CEO of CRight, Inc.
Pascal Levensohn, Founder & Director, Levensohn Venture Partners
Vivek Mehra, General Partner, August Capital
Mike West, Former Chairman of the Board, Extreme Networks
Randy Haykin
General Partner, Outlook Ventures
Randy Haykin has been a General Partner at Outlook for the past eight years, after co-founding the firm in 1995. He has represented Outlook on the Boards of Reconnex, NetBrowser Communications, nSite Software, Pakana, Impulse Network (acquired by Inktomi), eTeamz (merged with Active), Voquette (merged with Semagix), Qbiquity (acquired by Collabrys) and, Logilent (merged with Toolwire, Inc).
Prior to Outlook Ventures, Haykin held various senior sales and marketing positions in the high technology arena over the past 18 years with high-profile companies such as Yahoo!, Viacom, Paramount, BBN, IBM, and Apple Computer.
Matthew D. Howard
General Partner, Norwest Venture Partners
Matt Howard brings over 20 years of experience in marketing, product management, engineering, business development, and sales in a wide range of technologies to Norwest Venture Partners. He currently serves on the board of Omneon Video Networks, Reconnex, SkyStream Networks, Swan Labs and Summit Microelectronics. Howard is a board observer with TestQuest, Veraz Networks and Yipes. Prior to joining Norwest in 2000, Howard held a number of senior positions with Cisco's IOS organization and the Internet Business Unit. Previously, Howard was vice president of marketing at Vertical Communications. In addition, Howard has held various positions at Digital Equipment Corporation, BDM International, and Bolt, Beranek and Newman (BBN) Communications Corporation. [Top]
Ed Kozel
CEO of CRight, Inc.
Ed Kozel joined Cisco Systems in 1989 and helped grow the company into a multinational
technology company. During his 12 years with Cisco, he served as CTO, Senior
Vice President of Business Development, and a member of Cisco’s Board of
Directors. Kozel provides strategic guidance for Reconnex in a market he refers
to as "the next logical step in network security." He also serves on
the boards of Yahoo!, Reuters, and Network Appliance. Kozel began his career at Boeing and
spent six years at SRI International, where he conducted early research into
the architecture of the Internet. Most recently, he spent three years with the
private venture firm Open Range LLC. Kozel is currently the CEO of CRight, Inc.[Top]
Pascal Levensohn
Founder and Managing Director, Levensohn Venture Partners
Pascal Levensohn has been a venture capitalist since 1996, when he founded Levensohn Venture Partners in San Francisco. He focuses on investing in early stage software, semiconductor, and communications companies that are experiencing revenue acceleration and actively assists portfolio companies with strategic issues such as creating new commercial partnerships and team building associated with board/management transitions. Over his twenty five year business career, Pascal has been associated with firms including the First Boston Corporation during the 1980’s (New York) and Richard C. Blum and Associates during the 1990’s (San Francisco). Pascal is a frequent speaker on venture capital trends, and he has published numerous articles over the past seven years on best corporate governance practices in the boardroom.[Top]
Vivek Mehra
General Partner, August Capital
Vivek Mehra brings over 15 years of experience as an entrepreneur, business manager, and R&D leader in a number of network computing and systems companies. Prior to joining August Capital, Mehra co-founded Cobalt Networks in 1996. As CTO & VP of Product Development, Mehra developed the first successful server appliance and grew Cobalt into a worldwide leader in the category prior to its acquisition by Sun Microsystems. At Sun, Mehra served as the Vice President and General Manager of the Cobalt Business Unit and a member of Sun's Technical Architecture Counsel. Prior to founding Cobalt, Mehra held a number of technical and management positions at Apple, SGI, and Digital Equipment Corporation. [Top]
Mike West
Former Chairman of the Board, Extreme Networks
West is currently an individual investor in Reconnex, as well as the former chairman of the board of Extreme Networks. He brings more than 30 years of experience in growing high-tech communications companies from emerging to market leader status. West was president, chief operating officer and a director of Octel Communications from 1995 to 1997, after having served as executive vice president since 1986. His extensive communications industry experience also includes holding executive positions at Rolm Corp. from 1979 to 1986, the most recent as general manager of the National Sales Division. [Top]
