SAN FRANCISCO, May 28, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The NASDAQ Private Market, LLC announced today the formation of a new advisory board that will advise the company on both the legal and regulatory policies affecting the private capital markets including minimum disclosure criteria and the appropriate market structure for the trading of private unregistered securities.
All six advisors have extensive expertise in the private capital ecosystem and have held executive positions at leading service providers to private growth companies. NASDAQ Private Market expects to appoint additional advisors to the advisory board over the next few months.
"We are thrilled to welcome our inaugural advisors to the NASDAQ Private Market team," said Greg Brogger, President of NASDAQ Private Market. "Each of our advisors has a distinguished career in assisting private companies with various aspects of capital raising, shareholder liquidity and the transition into the public markets. Their counsel will be invaluable as we continue to architect capital market solutions for the NASDAQ Private Market platform and welcome new private companies to this marketplace."
Launched in March 2014, NASDAQ Private Market's capital marketplace for private companies provides qualifying private companies the tools and resources to efficiently raise capital, control secondary transactions, and manage their equity-related functions.
Advisors who will serve on NASDAQ Private Market's new advisory board include:
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Luther E. ("Tom") Birdzell III: Tom Birdzell served high growth companies and venture capital and other investment funds primarily as a lead audit partner and/or M&A advisor for Deloitte & Touche and Andersen from 1979 through 2012. He has extensive experience with private financings, IPO's, SEC registration statements, mergers and acquisitions, and investment due diligence. Tom served as a professional practice director at both Andersen and Deloitte, was a member of the Auditing Standards Board (1995-1997), and served as the Chairperson of The New York State Society of CPA's Financial Accounting Standards and Computer Usage and Data Processing Committees. Prior to joining Andersen in 1974, Tom received a B.S. degree in Physics, an MBA, and worked as a computer programmer.
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Steve Bochner. Steve Bochner is a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati. He has served as lead counsel for many of Silicon Valley's most prominent companies, assisting them in venture capital, public offering, and merger transactions. He also has represented numerous start-up companies, as well as leading venture capital and investment banking firms. From 2009 to 2012, Steve served as the CEO of Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, and is currently a member of the firm's board of directors. From 1996 to 2011, Steve served on the NASDAQ Listing and Hearing Review Council, most recently as chair and co-chair. In 2005, Steve was appointed as a member of the SEC's Advisory Committee on Smaller Public Companies. Steve also recently served on the IPO Task Force, which presented a report to the U.S. Department of the Treasury on increasing job creation by improving access to the capital markets for emerging growth companies, and was extensively involved in designing the IPO-related provisions of the JOBS Act of 2012. Steve earned his JD from UC Berkeley School of Law.
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Alan Denenberg. Alan Denenberg is a partner at Davis Polk and head of the Menlo Park office. He has extensive experience in corporate finance and mergers and acquisitions transactions. His practice includes a broad range of public and private equity and debt financing representing both domestic and foreign issuers and underwriters in a variety of industries, including technology, telecommunications, health care, retail and manufacturing. In the mergers and acquisitions area, Alan has worked on a number of public and private transactions, representing both acquirer and target companies, as well as private equity firms. Prior to Davis Polk, Alan was a partner at Shearman & Sterling. He received an LLM from Columbia Law School, LLB from Osgoode Hall Law School of York University, and B.A. from McGill University.
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Donald A. McGovern Jr. Don McGovern was Vice Chairman, Global Assurance Leader, and a member of the PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) Global Network Executive Team from 2008 until his retirement from PwC in 2013. Don is by background a High Technology Industry Assurance partner and served as the Global Engagement Partner, lead audit partner, or concurring partner, for numerous large Silicon Valley and other U.S. public companies. In addition to directing the U.S. firm's services for large public company clients, he has extensive securities experience related to initial public offerings (IPO) and other SEC registration statements, mergers and acquisitions, restructurings and divestitures, and the adoption and implementation of complex accounting standards and other regulatory standards such as PCAOB standards and Sarbanes-Oxley 404 provisions. He was the engagement partner on over 20 Silicon Valley IPOs and concurring partner on at least 15 other IPOs. Don currently serves on the Board of CRH plc as a non-executive Independent Director.
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Kate Mitchell. Kate Mitchell is a co-founder of Scale Venture Partners, a venture capital fund with over $1 billion under management that invests in early-in-revenue technology companies. In addition to her investing activities, Kate oversees the partnership's operations. Kate and the ScaleVP team have backed successful, high growth companies including ExactTarget (SalesForce), Vitrue (Oracle), Ring Central, Box, Docusign, and Omniture (Adobe). She was the 2010-2011 chairman of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) and remains active in policy matters that affect entrepreneurship, startups and innovation. Kate chaired the IPO Task Force, whose recommendations for reform were included in Congress' recently enacted JOBS Act. Kate writes a regular blog for the Wall Street Journal's "The Accelerators" forum. She is also on the board of Silicon Valley Bankshares. She received the NVCA Outstanding Service Award in 2013 for her policy work on behalf of the venture ecosystem.
- Stephen Venuto. Stephen Venuto is a partner with Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, LLP, based in Silicon Valley and is a member of the firm's Emerging Companies group. Stephen's practice focuses on advising high-growth technology and media companies and their founders, advisors and investors. Stephen was Facebook's first attorney and is widely recognized as one of the leading startup attorneys in the country. The American Lawyer recently named him "Dealmaker of the Year." In 2014, the Daily Journal named Stephen to the inaugural Top Emerging Companies Lawyers list. In 2013, the Daily Journal named him to its list of Top 100 Lawyers in California. Before joining the firm, Stephen was an attorney at Venture Law Group. He graduated from UCLA with a B.A. degree in Political Science and History, and from Cornell Law School, cum laude.
About NASDAQ Private Market:
The NASDAQ Private Market, LLC is the new capital market for leading private companies. Through its broker-dealer network and partners, NASDAQ Private Market connects companies with a global community of investors, and provides an integrated equity solution for managing everything from cap table management to stock plan administration. Whether a company seeks to optimize an eventual IPO or remain private permanently, NASDAQ Private Market provides complete capital market support to meet its needs. For certain eligible investors and shareholders, NASDAQ Private Market is a place to discover and engage with some of the most exciting private companies.
NASDAQ Private Market was formed in March of 2013 as a joint venture between The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc. and SharesPost, Inc. Securities-related services will be offered through NPM Securities, LLC, a registered broker-dealer and alternative trading system, which is a member FINRA/SIPC and a wholly-owned subsidiary of The NASDAQ Private Market, LLC. Securities offered through NPM Securities, LLC are not listed or traded on The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC, nor are the securities subject to the same listing or qualification standards applicable to securities listed or traded on The NASDAQ Stock Market, LLC. To learn more about NASDAQ Private Market, visit www.npm.com.