ANZA Mentors

ANZA Technology Network has a unique portfolio of senior experienced US-based mentors who work with you in your participation in the Gateway, Fast Track and Bridge to the US programs.

ANZA mentors all have the following outstanding characteristics:

• at least 10 years senior executive experience in the US
• thorough understanding of the commercialization issues facing early-, mid- and advanced-stage Australian and New Zealand companies as they enter the US market
• an extensive personal network of senior contacts in specific verticals in the US
• a passion to assist Australian and New Zealand innovative companies as they enter the US market

Simon Anderson, Managing Director, Ocean Avenue Ventures
Simon Anderson is an experienced technology executive with a background in venture capital and corporate law. He was most recently Vice President, Strategy & Business Development at Affinity Internet, which was successfully sold to Hostway Corporation in April 2007. Affinity Internet is a leading US-based B2B internet services company backed by Columbia Capital, Wachovia Capital and JP Morgan Capital. Simon was responsible for establishing major strategic product partnerships and distribution channels for Affinity - including eBay, Comcast, AOL, Microsoft, Google, SAP, Intuit, Adobe/Macromedia and Costco - and bringing to market new website, ecommerce and online marketing products and services that grew the company to over 200,000 customers worldwide. Prior to joining Affinity in 2003, Simon was the US-based general partner of Allen & Buckeridge, a leading Australian venture capital firm investing in early stage technology ventures with over US$200 million under management. Simon started his professional career as a lawyer in Sydney, Australia specializing in media and technology transactions and corporate advice. Simon earned a Bachelor of Science degree and a Law Degree from the Australian National University, has guest lectured at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, and graduated from executive programs on strategy and negotiation at Harvard Business School.

Stephen N. Anderson, Managing Director, IG Partners.
Stephen N. Anderson has led two management firms in California since 1993, the first, Six Sigma Group, Inc. was focused on developing convincing strategies for private and public companies and their investment constituents. The firm's clients included many of the leading companies in Silicon Valley including Silicon Valley Bank and Yahoo. He is now a Managing Director in the management firm IG Partners based in Redwood Shores, CA, which brings a multi-management discipline approach to companies at all stages of development.

Tom Anderson, Founding CEO, Pediatric Bioscience, LLC.
Tom Anderson has more than 20 years experience in the bioscience and biotech field. Presently, he is the CEO of a bioscience startup Pediatric Bioscience in Sacramento, CA. Prior, he was CEO and Vice President of Business Development for Lipomics Technologies in Sacramento, a role in which he grew the company’s revenue over 20-fold. Tom has advised companies in the biotech and bioscience industries, including Epoch Biosciences (NASDAQ: EBIO), a provider of proprietary technology to accelerate genomic analysis, Byotix, a start-up agricultural biotechnology company, and Crestcom International, a management training company, in which he helped sell its program to biotech companies. Tom also served as Chairman of the Board of Berkeley Antibody Company (BAbCO) for 10 years. Tom co-founded BAbCO and successfully oversaw its sale to Covance Research Products in 1998, a move that saw a 500% return on investment for BAbCO's common stock investors. Tom has a PhD in physiology-anatomy from the University of California, Berkeley and was a post-doctoral fellow in molecular biology and endocrinology at the University of California, San Francisco.

Sheryle Bolton
Sheryle is a serial entrepreneur and experienced business leader with particular expertise in formulating business and patent strategies, raising capital (more than $80 million for the companies she has led), and growing businesses. She was Founder and CEO of QUIXIT, Inc., which developed scientifically based online brain fitness workouts (HappyNeuron.com), from 2005-2007. QUIXIT was recently acquired by SBT, a French software company. She was previously CEO and Chairman of Scientific Learning Corporation (NASDAQ:SCIL), which she led from start-up through IPO to sustainable growth as a public company, and President of Physicians Online, which was acquired by WebMD. She has also been a VP, Investment Banking, Merrill Lynch Capital Markets, where she invested in private equity and leveraged transactions. Sheryle has been on boards of several public and private companies and almost 30 Scudder-Kemper domestic and international mutual funds representing over $60 billion in assets. She has an MA in Linguistics and a Harvard MBA.

Tom Cervantez, Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP.
Tom Cervantez is a partner with the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine in San Francisco. Tom specializes in corporate finance and intellectual property law, including securities, capital structure planning, private placements, mergers & acquisitions, venture financing and licensing transactions for emerging growth companies, venture funds and software and hardware computer companies. Tom has spoken on these practice specialties and how they apply to Australian and New Zealand businesses entering the US market at many ANZA events. Tom has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a JD from Harvard Law.

Paul Fox, Managing Director, Foley Fox & Associates.
Paul Fox is an entrepreneur, executive and consultant with interests in clean technology, enterprise software and electronics. He has led two start-ups, established subsidiaries for several multinationals, and consulted in numerous end markets. Paul’s experience includes electronics, energy technology, enterprise software, supply chain management, outsourcing, telecoms, financial services, defense, utilities, construction, and mining. He now consults to private equity groups, VCs and growth companies at the Board/CEO level. Paul is a professional engineer and holds an MBA.

David Hutton, PhD, Founder & Principal, Hutton Associates.
David Hutton, Founder and Principal of Hutton Associates, provides business development consulting services (corporate partnering, strategic planning) to those in the Life Science/Biotechnology sectors. An avid entrepreneur, he actively participates in the search for novel technology around which to foster the creation of new ventures; he is responsible for founding four biotechnology start-ups. Special relationships have been developed with offshore organizations seeking to foster business relationships in North America. An honors biochemistry graduate of Oxford University, England, David received his PhD in biochemistry from the University of California at Davis.

C. Anthony Jones, MD, Founder & President, Next Lifesciences.
Anthony Jones brings extensive knowledge and more than 10 years of hands-on experience in healthcare innovation development and marketing. First with Deloitte Consulting, then as Vice President of the Health and Wellness unit at Scient, he has led major marketing strategy projects for some of the world’s leading pharmaceutical, biotech, medical devices and services companies. Anthony received his degree in medicine from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine followed by a fellowship in medical informatics at Columbia University. Anthony is a graduate of the University of Kentucky where he received his bachelor's degree in chemistry.

Michael Loftus, COO and Co-Founder of 800-Hi (in Stealth).
Michael Loftus is a proven start-up leader with over 20 years of experience in launching interactive media companies. He is the former CEO & Founder of inFreeDA, a company that provides advertiser-sponsored directory assistance service that was sold to AT&T in December 2006. Michael has also served in various start-up roles with technology companies like Bullant, Inc., NetFish Technologies, Dialogic, prior to its acquisition by Intel, E-machines and Agency.com. Michael has assisted in growing these companies from various stages including obtaining investment capital through to achieving full product launch. Michael’s extensive knowledge and success in managing these technology-based companies has led to several positive liquidity events.

Jarmal Richard, CEO, jdrlegal.
Jarmal Richard is a legal international intellectual property attorney, licensed to practice in both Australia and the US. As Founder and CEO of jdrlegal, a global intellectual property firm with offices in Melbourne and Los Angeles, he has worked with numerous technology companies to commercialize their intellectual property between Australia and the US. Jarmal holds a BA in English Literature from Dartmouth College and a JD from the University of Southern California Law School. He is also a PhD candidate at RMIT University, with his research focused on open source business modeling for entrepreneurs.

Chris Shipley, Co-founder and Editorial Director, Guidewire Group.
Chris Shipley is a leading technology and product analyst. Best known as the Executive Producer of the DEMO Conferences for IDG Executive Forums, Chris has helped technology companies bring more than 1,000 new products to market since 1996. As a Founding Partner and Editorial Director in Guidewire Group, she consults with emerging technology companies in the US and Europe to identify market opportunities and accelerate products to market. Chris holds BAs in Literature and Communication Arts from Allegheny College in Meadville, Pennsylvania.

Dr. Adrian Vanzyl, Principal, Gramercy Venture Advisors.
Adrian Vanzyl brings years of top-level management and fundraising experience to the ANZA mentor program. He spent the last 10 years in the US, and has recently relocated to Melbourne where he is Principal at the investment bank Gramercy Venture Advisors. Here he focuses on new media deals involving cross-border transactions, particularly between the US, Australia and Southeast Asia. Prior to this, Adrian has been the VP of business development for Eurekster (social search engine), Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Blumberg Capital (venture capital), Group Business Development Manager for Microsoft's bCentral small business portal, VP International at LinkExchange (ad network), CTO of LookSmart (search portal), and CTO of Sausage Software. Adrian has an MD degree (MB BS degrees with Honors) from Monash University Australia, and spent his early career as a researcher and lecturer in Medical Informatics at the University.

Jennifer Zanich, CEO, uiActive.
Jennifer Zanich is an accomplished leader with over 20 years of marketing and executive management experience. She is the CEO of uiActive, a mobile phone solution provider. Previously, as CEO of Wedgetail Communications she delivered more than 7x return for investors. As Founder of SeeSaw Networks, a media services company, Jennifer successfully raised $10m in venture capital. Jennifer has also held executive positions in SkyPilot Networks (wireless broadband) and Microsoft APAC. Jennifer holds advisory and board roles in the US and Australia with Capital Markets CRC, Aggregate Knowledge and Express Mobile.