Board of Directors

Chip Hazard

Chip is a General Partner at Flybridge Capital Partners whose investment interests and experience are in the information technology sector.

He currently represents the firm on the boards of 1-800-FREE411(Jingle Networks), FirstBest Systems, Infobright, mValent, Placemark Investments, Reveal Imaging, and SupplyScape and was previously a director at Bowstreet, which was acquired by IBM.

Chip’s blog on opportunities in enterprise IT markets can be read at http://bostonvcblog.typepad.com/vc/2007/09/the-rebirth-of-.html.

Before joining the firm in May 2002, Chip was a General Partner with Greylock Partners, a leading venture capital firm he joined in 1994. While at Greylock, Chip led or participated in numerous successful investments in the enterprise information technology field including Narrative Communications (acquired by @Home), Idiom Technologies (acquired by SDL), iPhrase Technologies (acquired by IBM), IBA (acquired by ServiceSoft/Kana), Storage Networks (IPO), Totality (acquired by MCI) and the Vincam Group (IPO in 1996, acquired by ADP). Prior to Greylock, he was with Company Assistance Limited, an investment and consulting firm in Warsaw Poland; and Bain and Company, an international management consulting firm.

Chip received a BA with honors from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar and a Ford Scholar.

Michael Toporek

Michael Toporek is co-founder and Managing General Partner of Brookstone Partners, a private equity form. He is responsible for investment decisions and portfolio company management and development. In addition, Mr. Toporek is a director of Glowpoint, Inc. (GLOW), a Delaware corporation, based in New Jersey that provides IP-based video communications services and he also appears regularly as a commentator on CNNfn and CNBC.

Prior to co-founding Brookstone Partners in 2003, Mr. Toporek was both an active principal investor in investment banker. Over the past 10 years, Mr. Toporek has invested in growth equity and industrial buyout situations which yielded over $1 billion in capital returned to investors. Notable investments include eToys, The Theory Center, Advanced Mining Systems and Blacor Steel.

As an investment banker, Mr. Toporek has worked extensively with Fortune 100 companies to formulate and execute complex merger, acquisition and financing strategies in diversified sectors such as manufacturing, building products, medial, analytical instruments, environmental services, technology and transportation/logistics. He has also structured innovative debt, equity and equity-linked financing in the U.S. and European capital markets.

Mr. Toporek began his career in Chemical Bank’s Investment Banking Group, later joined Dillon Read, which became UBS Warburg during his tenure, and SG Cowen. He received a B.A. and an M.B.A from the University of Chicago.

Michael A. Roe

Michael A. Roe joins the FirstBest Board of Directors, leveraging his insurance and technology expertise to help guide FirstBest’s business expansion strategy. Michael has a 23-year record of success in high-growth software and IT consulting industries, with a focus on the insurance and annuity vertical markets. He is the former founder, chairman and CEO of NaviSys, a leading insurance software and consulting firm acquired by Accenture in 2006. Mr. Roe led NaviSys for fifteen years, where he focused on providing innovative solutions that increased business performance through all phases of the business cycle, including the previous market downturn in 2001. Michael speaks at insurance conferences and has been published in Best’s Review and LOMA Resource.

John Belizaire

Mr. Belizaire is an accomplished enterprise software visionary and entrepreneur. He has a proven track record of new venture development and operational management success.

Prior to co-founding FirstBest, he was Senior Director of Business Development and Strategic Planning for BEA’s Ecommerce Applications Division. He developed sales strategy, strategic partnerships, and customer interaction for the division, growing annual revenue to over $150 million.

Before BEA, Mr. Belizaire co-founded The Theory Center, a leaver in Java-based component software for enterprise applications. As CEO, he grew the company from inception to $10M in revenue with 43 employees. BEA Systems acquired the company in 1999 for over $160M.

Prior to co-founding The Theory Center, Mr. Belizaire served as a Lead Architect for Intel’s Digital Enterprise Group, where he was responsible for the industry’s first implementation of network quality-of-service technology for personal computers.

Mr. Belizaire holds a Bachelor of Science and Master’s degrees in Computer Science from Cornell University. He has completed the Wharton Business School’s Executive Development Program at the University of Pennsylvania.

Joseph Pilkerton

Mr. Pilkerton has over fifteen years of experience directing enterprise software development, and has held positions in executive management, professional services and sales.

Prior to co-founding FirstBest, he was Senior Director of Professional Services and Training for BEA Systems. In this role, he was responsible for building the consulting practice and training capacity for BEA’s e-commerce application division.

Mr. Pilkerton came to BEA with the record acquisition of The Theory Center, where he was co-founder and Executive Vice President, Professional Services. Prior to founding The Theory Center, Mr. Pilkerton directed large-scale enterprise application projects for clients such as Hertz Corporation, Citibank, Lockheed Martin, and McDonnell Douglas.

Mr. Pilkerton received a B.A. from Catholic University, and an ALM in Information Technology and Management from Harvard University. He also holds a MBA from Northeastern University.