Board of Directors

Mike Potts
President and CEO

Bringing over 20 years of experience as a seasoned technology industry veteran spanning the application and security sectors, Mike Potts leads all aspects of Lancope’s strategic direction and day-to-day operations. Prior to Lancope Potts served as President and CEO of AirDefense, where he led the company’s breakthrough wireless security growth of more than 300% in 2 1/2 years and completed the strategic all cash acquisition of the company by Motorola (NYSE:MOT) in September 2008.

Previously, Potts served as CEO of Clickfox, an analytic solutions provider, and as a merger & acquisition advisor to a number of venture backed companies. In 1998 he was appointed President of Jacada (NASDAQ: JCDA), a software integration company. He lead the acquisition strategy of more than 1,000 customers during his 7 year tenure and was a key contributor to Jacada’s initial public offering raising more than $55m on an initial $200m valuation in 1999 that subsequently reached $650m. While serving as President, Computerworld named Jacada one of the top 10 places to work in the Southeast. Prior to Jacada, he spent 7 years in various sales and marketing roles at MSA, a financial application software company, subsequently acquired by Dun and Bradstreet (NYSE: DNB).

Potts has served on the board of directors of the American Israel Chamber of Commerce, the American Electronics Association (AEA) and currently serves as an advisor and/or board member to several emerging technology companies. Most recently he was recognized as the Atlanta Telecom Professional (ATP) of the Year. He completed his BBA in Marketing in 1984 at the University of Georgia.

Gary A. Peat
Partner, Council Ventures

Peat joined Council Ventures shortly after inception in 2000. Prior to joining Council Ventures, Peat was a Director at Stonehenge, a Columbus, Ohio private equity firm with over $1 billion in committed capital. At Stonehenge, Peat was responsible for information technology investments for the Stonehenge Opportunity Fund I, LLC, a $125 million fund. Prior to Stonehenge, Mr. Peat was a Principal at Banc One Capital Partners from 1991 to 1998. Peat joined Banc One Capital Partners in 1991 following the executive development program at a large bank holding company. Peat earned a BS and MBA from the University of Houston. Peat is a member of the Board of Directors for Lancope, Inc.

Eric Young
General Partner, Canaan Partners

Since co-founding Canaan in 1987, Eric has helped launch a multitude of market-leading companies from inception to IPO or acquisition. He was an early investor in Copper Mountain Networks (CMTN), whose technology led the 1990’s DSL wave in North America; ONI Systems, the leader in the revolutionary merging of the metro area voice and data communication that is the basis of Ciena’s current offerings (acquired by Ciena); and Kalpana, which introduced the concept of a multi-port Ethernet switch (acquired by Cisco Systems). Eric also generated numerous positive outcomes from his investments in high-performance companies such as Argon Networks, Capstone Turbine, Diffusion Software, Frame Technology, International Network Services, International Packaging Assembly, Spectrian and Visigenic Software.

Eric leads Canaan’s investments in cleantech and also pursues key opportunities in network infrastructure. Passionate about changing the balance in the energy industry to support a more sustainable future, Eric has been investing in cleantech since the early 1990s, when he backed early disruptors Transphase Systems, maker of large-scale energy storage systems; and Capstone Turbine, now the world’s leading producer of low-emission microturbine systems and the first to market with commercially viable microturbine energy products. As an active Board member for 13 years, Eric helped transform Capstone Turbine from an engineering project into publicly-held leader in the distributed power generation industry. Elsewhere, Eric has contributed as an active director at Enpirion, whose technology represents the first major innovation in integrated power technology in over a decade.

Prior to Canaan, Eric was a Senior VP of GE Venture Capital, where he led successful investments in companies such as Nellcor and Octel Communications. Eric also held a variety of sales, marketing and operations management positions at GE in two power-related industrial product businesses.

Eric currently sits on the boards of Cortina Systems, a leading supplier of intelligent communication solutions; Ebates, the pioneer and leader of online Cash Back Shopping; Enpirion, maker of the industry’s smallest power management system on a chip; EnStorage, developer of a low-cost Regenerative Fuel Cell energy-storage-system for multiple energy applications; Lancope, the global market leader in Network Behavior Analysis (NBA) and Response technology; and Xirrus, the leader in High Performance Wi-Fi.

Eric earned a BS in mechanical engineering from Cornell University and a MBA from Northwestern University. Eric recently served for five years as Silicon Valley’s VC-industry representative on Nasdaq’s Listing and Hearing Review Council, He is also member of Advisory Council of Cornell University’s entrepreneurship initiative, Entrepreneurship@Cornell, as well as a frequent speaker to university students at Stanford, Cornell and UC Berkeley on the transformative power of entrepreneurship. An engineer at heart, Eric is happiest when figuring out “how things work” – but he also dabbles in fly fishing, golf and the outdoors in general.

Fred Sturgis
Managing Director, H.I.G. Ventures

As a Managing Director at H.I.G. Ventures, Fred focuses primarily on investments in the consumer and enterprise wireless and mobility sectors, as well as on next-generation Internet and enterprise software technologies and delivery models. His current board seats in the wireless sector include Funambol and LetsTalk.com. Fred's board seats in the Internet and enterprise software industries include Invistics, Nexidia, NorthStar, Savvion, VistaScape and Lancope.

Fred has spent his entire career working with and advising technology companies at all stages of their growth, from start-up through initial public offering and beyond. Prior to joining H.I.G., he was most recently an officer in the technology investment banking group of Hambrecht & Quist (H&Q), and was a co-founder of H&Q's Atlanta-based team. At H&Q, Fred was largely responsible for the firm's East Coast software practice, advising clients on a variety of M&A and capital raising transactions and sponsoring several principal investments through the firm's $500 million venture capital fund. Previously, he was with the investment banking groups of both Alex Brown & Sons and Robinson-Humphrey. Fred began his career with Accenture, where he managed software development and operations strategy initiatives for large multinational clients, primarily in the high-tech and telecommunications industries.

Fred is a member of the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Technology Association of Georgia. In addition, he is Board Chairman of the Entrepreneur's Foundation of the Southeast. Fred received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Furman University and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated as a Palmer Scholar.

Brian Cohen

A serial entrepreneur and business leader with a proven record of developing successful organizations that capitalize on emerging technology markets, Brian Cohen brings more then 29 years of technology executive leadership spanning Internet, IT networking and security solutions companies.

Cohen served as President and CEO at S.P.I. Dynamics, one of the industry's first and largest web application security companies, which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in August 2007. Under Cohen's leadership, SPI Dynamics was recognized as one of the fastest growing technology companies in North America for four consecutive years (2003-2006) and was included in the Inc. 500 in 2005 and 2006.

Prior to S.P.I., he founded Technologic, Inc. a pioneer in firewall security appliances, serving as CEO and President until the company's merger with eSoft, Inc. Cohen was also an executive at Management Matters, Inc., a private investment and consulting company, and Dun & Bradstreet Software and Management Science America, a global leader in enterprise software and services.