PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwire - February 1, 2011) - VC Taskforce™, a leading organization committed to enhancing collaboration in the venture community, today announced that Reid Hoffman will be the recipient of the 2011 Innovation Catalyst Award (ICA). This prestigious award recognizes and honors individuals in the venture capital community for being catalysts of innovation and entrepreneurship. Reid Hoffman, an accomplished entrepreneur, executive and angel investor, has played an integral part in building many of today's leading consumer technology businesses, including LinkedIn and PayPal.
"Reid is a proven entrepreneur and investor with an affinity for the rapidly growing social media market," said Robert Winter, a Managing Director at daVinci Capital Group. "His wealth of experience of starting companies and building value places him at the forefront of bridging the gap between entrepreneurship and the venture community. This is a real value to the entrepreneur; particularly, when at times the venture community is seen as somewhat insular."
In 2003, Reid Hoffman co-founded LinkedIn, the world's largest professional network on the internet, where he served as chief executive officer and led the company to great success. His leadership and vision were paramount to creating a thriving business with more than 90 million members globally. Prior to LinkedIn, Reid served as an executive vice president at PayPal, where he was a founding board member and was instrumental in the acquisition of PayPal by eBay.
Joining Greylock Partners in 2009, the social network visionary continues to be a key player and investor in the areas of consumer internet, enterprise 2.0, mobile, social gaming, online marketplaces, payments, and social networks. Reid Hoffman possesses a unique understanding of consumer behavior and the dynamics of viral businesses. Additionally, he also commands deep expertise in driving companies from the earliest stages through periods of explosive growth.
Reid Hoffman is a board observer at Airbnb, Gowalla, and Swipely, an advisor to Groupon and a director at Zynga, Mozilla Corp., Six Apart, Shopkick, and Kiva.org. He is an angel investor in numerous internet companies, including Digg, Facebook, Flickr, Last.fm, Ning, Six Apart and Zynga.
He will be honored by the venture capital community and presented with the Innovation Catalyst Award on October 27, 2011. For more information regarding the upcoming ICA event, please contact June Riley at june@vctaskforce.com.
About the Innovation Catalyst Award
VC Taskforce established the ICA in 2009 with the purpose of acknowledging and celebrating the contributions made by visionary leaders in the investment community. The 2010 and 2009 honorees were Richard "Dick" Kramlich and Franklin "Pitch" Johnson, respectively.
Richard "Dick" Kramlich, chairman and co-founder of New Enterprise Associates (NEA), stands out as one of the venture community's financial architects. During his career, he funded and helped commercialize everything from balloon angioplasty to PowerPoint. In 1978, when the start-up hat was being passed among a half-dozen individual investors for a new computer company in Silicon Valley, Dick dipped into his own pocket and put in $22,500; the company was Apple Computer. Today, NEA is a firm with $11 billion in committed capital and has funded more than 650 companies.
Franklin "Pitch" Johnson, founder and chairman of Asset Management Company, pioneered deal-making in Silicon Valley. His visionary insight enabled the creation and pursuit of new business paradigms in the 1960s. As an Agent of Evolution, his leadership was key to the success of AMGEN, IDEC Pharmaceuticals, Applied Micro Circuits, Boole and Babbage (merged with BMC Software), among others. Asset Management Company became a cornerstone of the investment community and many Silicon Valley businesses owe their success to its leadership.
About VC Taskforce
"Enhancing collaboration in the venture community"
VC Taskforce™ provides forums for real-time information exchange and dialogue through a series of networking events -- panels, workshops and roundtable meetings conducted by business and industry experts that assist venture capitalists, institutional investors and venture-backed company executives in managing their businesses for maximum success.
Visionary thinking, uncensored questions and opinionated discussions around pressing issues that face members are the hallmark of the events. Today, more than 7,000 members and participants have been actively involved in VC Taskforce.
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