Board of Directors

Erik Benson

Director
Erik Benson is a managing director with Voyager Capital where he focuses on digital marketing, media and software investments. He is currently on the boards of AboutUs, Covario, Elemental Technologies, Ground Truth and Kryptiq. He was previously involved with Voyager's investments in aQuantive (acquired by Microsoft in 2007) and Capital Stream (acquired by HCL Technologies in 2008). Prior to joining Voyager Capital, Erik was an entrepreneur-in-residence with the Washington Research Foundation (now WRF Capital). Earlier in his career, Erik was in the acquisition finance and private equity groups at Chemical Banking Corporation (now JPMorgan Chase). Erik has a BA from Pacific Lutheran University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Nordic Heritage Museum.

Samuel Blackman

CEO and Chairman
Sam brings extensive management experience and video processing expertise to the Elemental team as chief executive officer. In a few short years, Sam has grown Elemental into the leading provider of GPU-accelerated video processing solutions, building innovative products used by leading video content providers. Elemental™ Server, the first ever GPU-accelerated video processing system, allows for simultaneous encoding of video files, targeting the comprehensive specifications required for the three-screen experience of TV, PC and mobile. Prior to co-founding Elemental in 2006, Sam specified and architected next-generation products as an IC design manager for Pixelworks. He spent time in China organizing the company's Shanghai design center and was responsible for a wide variety of functional blocks on six ImageProcessor ICs. Prior to joining Pixelworks in 2000, Sam held engineering positions at Silicon Graphics and Intel Corporation. Sam holds an M.B.A from University of Oregon, an M.S.E.E. from University of California at Berkeley and a B.S.E.E. from Brown University in Providence, RI.

Bruce Chizen

Director
Former Adobe Systems, Inc. chief executive officer, Bruce Chizen’s customer-focused vision transformed Adobe into one of the world’s largest and most diversified software companies in terms of revenue, global reach and breadth of products. As CEO from 2000 to 2007, Bruce tripled Adobe's revenue and turned a company known mainly for its popular design products into one of the most significant forces in the software industry.

In addition to growing Adobe’s leadership in design and publishing software, Bruce led the company’s expansion into new markets, including enterprise, knowledge worker and consumer. During Bruce’s tenure, Adobe consistently ranked near the top of Fortune Magazine's annual report on the “100 Best Companies to Work For.”

In 1987, he joined Claris Corporation, a subsidiary of Apple Computer, Inc., as a founding senior manager and later held positions as vice president of sales and worldwide marketing before becoming vice president and general manager of Claris Clear Choice. Before Claris, Chizen joined Microsoft Corporation in 1983, eventually becoming the company’s eastern region sales director. From 1980 to 1983, Bruce worked in Mattel Electronics’ merchandising group, helping grow it to a $500 million business.

Chizen holds a B.S. from Brooklyn College, City University of New York. He currently serves on the boards of Synopsys, Inc. as well as a number of not-for-profit boards.

Bob Greenberg

Director
Bob is a high-tech entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience in growing companies and bringing complex technologies to market. He is a founder and former CTO of Pixelworks, Inc., a fabless semiconductor company that produces image-processing, system-on-chip ICs for high-definition, flat-panel displays. Prior to Pixelworks, Bob was an engineering manager at InFocus, Inc., a leading manufacturer of business and home theatre projectors. While at InFocus, Bob was responsible for many of the breakthrough projector products that made the company a market leader.

Bob has also held electrical engineering positions at Integrated Measurement Systems (now part of Credence), Floating Point Systems (now part of Sun) and Sperry Univac (now Unisys). Bob received his engineering degrees, B.S.E.E. & B.S.Comp.E., from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

Scott Hilleboe

Director
Scott Hilleboe is a Managing Director with Steamboat Ventures where he focuses on investments in digital media, consumer services, Internet, and enabling technologies. He is currently an investor in EdgeCast Networks, Elemental Technologies, Kyte, MediaBank, and MerchantCircle. Scott’s prior investments include Quigo (acquired by AOL), Fastclick (acquired by ValueClick), and PopularMedia (acquired by StrongMail). He is also actively involved with Move Networks, Passenger, Sometrics, Razorgator, and Rosum.

Prior to joining Steamboat Ventures, Scott was with Hummer Winblad Venture Partners where he participated in the firm's funding of Jareva Technologies (acquired by VERITAS), Yosemite Technologies (acquired by Barracuda Networks), Cenzic, and Voltage Security. Prior to Hummer Winblad, Scott worked at IBM, LaSalle Partners, Synopsys, and a number of early stage technology companies.

Scott received a BS in Mechanical Engineering, graduating Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude from the University of Washington, and has an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Neil Sequeira

Director
Neil invests in both new and existing technology businesses. Areas of special interest include: Internet and new media; software; consumer services; and network infrastructure. He is currently a board member of DECA, Eons, Highwinds Network Group, Visible Measures, ViTrue, and ScanScout; a board observer for Brightcove, rPath and Qumas; and is actively involved with BlackDuck, ITA Software and Maven.

Neil joined General Catalyst Partners from Time Warner where he was most recently managing director, technology for Time Warner Investments, formerly AOL Time Warner Ventures, which is the early stage private investment vehicle for the world's largest media company. During his four years at Time Warner, Neil worked closely with various operating groups including AOL, HBO, Time, Inc., Time Warner Cable, Turner and Warner Bros. to identify investment opportunities. Neil sourced, led and was actively involved with the boards of several of the companies within the Time Warner Investments portfolio including Arroyo Video Solutions, BigBand Networks, Entropic, Goldpocket Interactive (Tandberg), N2Broadband (Tandberg), and Waterfront Media.

Neil holds a B.A. in Economics from University of California, Santa Barbara, and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.