Richard Yanowitch, Founder, The Entrepreneurs Group
Richard Yanowitch is a successful Silicon Valley entrepreneur with an exceptional track record helping to transform early stage technology companies into high-growth market leaders, creating millions of customers, billions of dollars in revenue, and multiple billions of dollars in sustained shareholder value.
Richard currently serves as an independent director on the boards of numerous mobile, digital media and social platform companies, including enterprise social media provider Lithium, social gaming platform Raptr and mobile media company Booyah. He is founder and CEO of The Entrepreneurs Group, which advises company founders and CEOs on all facets of company growth, board management, and market leadership. He has served as an independent advisor to venture capital firms Accel Partners and Emergence Capital. He recently served as Vice Chairman and independent director of the NDS Group (sold to NWS for $3.5 billion), a $700 million market leader in digital media technologies, and as Senior Consultant to News Corporation, where he reported to Chairman and CEO Rupert Murdoch. He has previously served on the boards of video ad network Yume, mobile social network Mig 33 (Singapore), and as interim CEO of online sports network Citizen Sports (sold to YHOO). He maintains investment positions in over fifty venture capital funds around the world, spawning the growth of some 1,200 new companies.
In the non-profit world, Richard serves as a board trustee of the Bay Area Discovery Museum, where he chairs the newly launched Center for Childhood Creativity. He is founder of The Yanowitch Philanthropic Trust, which supports a broad spectrum of non-profit and charitable causes. He also serves as a senior advisor to national congressional leaders on economic leadership, entrepreneurialism, and innovation.
For nearly five years, Richard served as Executive Vice President for internet services provider VeriSign, where his team was instrumental in creating and building consumer, SME, enterprise, and international lines of business, ultimately generating hundreds of millions of dollars in annual revenues. He participated in VeriSign’s strategic financings, IPO, and corporate acquisitions. VeriSign grew from 30 to 2,500 employees and from $500,000 to $700 million in revenue during this period, creating a peak market valuation of $40 billion. Richard reported to Stratton Sclavos, Chairman and CEO.
Prior to VeriSign, Richard served as Vice President of Corporate Marketing for database provider Sybase, where his team drove core marketing operations that spanned branding, PR and advertising, direct marketing, telemarketing, product marketing, customer acquisition, and international. He participated in Sybase’s early-stage financings, IPO and corporate acquisitions. Sybase grew from 300 to 5,000 employees and from $10 million to nearly $900 million in annual revenue during this period, generating a peak market valuation of $2.5 billion. Richard reported to Dr. Stuart Schuster, Executive Vice President.
Prior to Sybase, Richard was Director of Strategic Marketing at UNIX operating system provider SCO, where he was lead negotiator for a breakthrough licensing agreement and strategic investment with Microsoft. SCO grew from $5 million to $24 million in revenue during this period, subsequently going public and achieving a $500 million peak market valuation. Richard reported to SCO co-founder Doug Michels. Prior to SCO, Richard held various sales, marketing, and management positions with Digital Equipment Corporation and Lanier Harris. He also served as entrepreneur-in-residence at the venture capital firm IVP.
Richard received a B.A. in the Honors Program for Classical Studies at Swarthmore College and a MBA from the Harvard Business School. He is married to Wendy Shuman Kesser, former Executive Producer for ABC News in San Francisco, and they have two children. His avocations include meditation, sports, jazz piano, and ongoing studies in the Humanities.
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