Ray joined Venrock in 1988 and after 23 years and nearly 50 investments, his passion for building companies continues. His experience beginning at Yankee Atomic Electric as a nuclear safety analysis engineer, then to an newly started and fast growing Sun Microsystems in marketing and sales and with two failed software startups along the way has given him a wide range of skills, insights, relationships and wisdom from which to draw as a venture capitalist. An engineer at heart with a keen insight into product markets and how technology can be used, Ray loves to figure out what matters in a product and mentor young entrepreneurs. Leading Venrock into the Internet age in the early 90s, and then its energy investment team in 2004, he has enjoyed a stellar career investment record. His current investments are mostly in the fields of computer network security and energy. Past successful investments with seven IPOs include Imperva, Spyglass, DoubleClick, Digex, USInternetworking, FogDog Sports, Check Point Software, Pedestal, Haystack Labs, Whole Security, Vontu, PGP and many others.

Ray currently serves on the boards of nine private companies in Venock’s portfolio and one public company: Check Point Software Technologies (NASDAQ: CHKP). The private companies are CTERA Networks, CloudFlare, GenBand, CoreTrace, Red Seal Systems, Aria Systems, XConnect, Transonic Combustion, and Tri Alpha Energy.

In addition to his venture capital investing activities including a director of the National Venture Capital Association and is chair-elect 2012, he has served on the Board of Trustees of the Texas A&M Foundation, where he chaired the investment committee of its nearly $1 billion foundation for four years. Ray also serves on the Visiting Committee of the MIT Nuclear Science and Engineering Department. He testified to the President’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Nuclear Energy in 2010. He serves on the board of and was past chair of Woodside Priory School, Portola Valley, CA. Ray has numerous philanthropic interests around education and music. He is a frequent speaker on venture, technology and energy industry topics. He holds a Professional Engineering License in Texas. Ray is an Eagle Scout. Ray was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas in 1954.

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