Board of Directors
Dirk I. Gates
Mr. Gates currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer at Xirrus. He brings more than 15 years of executive management experience to Xirrus as well as a track record of success evolving a high-tech startup into a world class, publicly traded company. Having founded Xircom, Inc. in 1988 on the premise of delivering Ethernet connectivity to mobile computers, he attracted venture funding from Greylock, grew the company to 2,000 employees, and achieved revenues of $500M and a market cap in excess of $2B.
During his tenure as Chairman and CEO, Mr. Gates led Xircom into the wireless arena through partnerships and acquisitions that positioned the company to deliver mobility solutions based on IEEE 802.11, GPRS and BlueTooth technologies. He subsequently negotiated the sale of Xircom to Intel Corp. in March of 2001.
Mr. Gates holds a BSEE from California State University at Northridge and an MBA from Pepperdine University.
Steve Krausz
Serving as General Partner at U.S. Venture Partners, Mr. Krausz has been with the Firm since 1985 and has led USVP's investments in Accelerated Networks, Occam Networks, Verity, Rasna, Xylan, Applied Digital Access, Elantec and Micro Linear, all of which became public companies.
Mr. Krausz has a background deeply rooted in information technology. Steve's eight years of operating experience with NASA Ames, BTI Computers, Direct Inc. and Daisy Systems have served him well as an advisor to many leading network vendors allowing him to focus on communications, Internet, infrastructure, networking and systems technology.
Mr. Krausz holds a BSEE from Stanford University and an MBA from Stanford Business School, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar.
David F. Marquardt
Mr. Marquardt is a co-founder of August Capital and his commitment to entrepreneurs and their market vision is reflected by his long-standing board relationships. Mr. Marquardt has served on more than 25 boards of directors during his 20 year venture capital career including Microsoft, Sun, Seagate, Adaptec, and Grand Junction Networks (acquired by Cisco).
Prior to August Capital, Mr. Marquardt was a co-founder of Technology Venture Investors (TVI) in 1980 where he was involved in four highly successful funds that invested in more than 100 start-up and emerging growth companies. Among these early investments was Microsoft, where TVI was the sole investor and where Mr. Marquardt has been on the board of directors since 1981.
Mr. Marquardt received a BSME from Columbia University and an MBA from Stanford University. He also completed coursework for an MSEE at Stanford University.
Bill Schroeder
Mr. Schroeder is a highly regarded Silicon Valley CEO and brings to Xirrus more than two decades of experience driving operational excellence at companies of all sizes, as well as being a respected and seasoned technologist.
As the former CEO of Diamond Multimedia Systems (makers of the Rio MP3 player) and president and vice-chairman of Conner Peripherals, Inc., Mr. Schroeder has taken several companies from start-up through IPO and also led large, successful public companies. At Conner Peripherals, he was a key member of the team credited with growing the company from zero revenue to in excess of $2 billion, and orchestrating a highly successful IPO.
Mr. Schroeder holds an MBA with High Distinction from Harvard Business School as well as an MSEE and BSEE from Marquette University.