PHOENIX, AZ--(Marketwired - Apr 23, 2013) - In a move that punctuates the quality and commitment of its leadership, Tallwave announced retired Intel Chairman of the Board and CEO Craig Barrett, Ph.D. and retired Avnet Chairman of the Board and CEO Roy Vallee, were elected to Tallwave's board of directors at their meeting held April 17. Both senior executives previously held positions on Tallwave's advisory board.
Launched in 2010, Tallwave -- a self-described "commercializor" -- is disrupting the traditional incubator / accelerator model with a proprietary and unique approach to the commercialization of startups and early-stage ventures. Since launch, the company has vetted more than 300 entrepreneurs and their startups, and has taken more than 65 of those companies through its lean business Venture Services programs. Today, the company manages a portfolio of a half dozen early-stage ventures; delivers proprietary lean startup education and training to entrepreneurs across the country through its Tallwave Labs ™ program, and hosts one of the most innovative startup competitions in the U.S. -- " High Tide . "
"Craig and Roy's commitment to join the board of directors is further validation that Tallwave is rapidly changing the startup community landscape," said Jeffrey Pruitt , CEO of Tallwave. "Roy's knowledge and ingenious leadership will be tremendous assets as we build out our infrastructure, and Craig's strategic insights into entrepreneurial ecosystems from other parts of the world will help drive our global expansion plans."
Dr. Barrett joined Intel in 1974 and rose through the engineering ranks to become Intel's fourth president in 1997, chief executive officer in 1998 and chairman of the board in 2005. He is a leading advocate for business and education around the world and has served on numerous influential task forces and boards. Barrett holds a bachelor's, master's and doctorate in materials science from Stanford University, where he was on the faculty for 10 years.
Among numerous appointments in education and commerce several are particularly relevant to Tallwave's global vision for lean business entrepreneurship. Chief among these are Dr. Barrett's appointments by the President of the Russian Federation as International co-chairman of the Skolkovo Foundation Council; the Council for Foreign Relations Task Force on U.S. Education Reform and National Security, and the faculty of Thunderbird School of Global Management. Dr. Barrett is also Chair of the Irish Technology Leadership Group which supports commercialization of work by Irish entrepreneurs.
"Tallwave plays a critical role in solving a key challenge the U.S. faces as we compete globally for innovation," said Barrett. "The first two ingredients are world-class research and an educated workforce. The third is commercialization -- marrying research and innovation with talent and capital to move to market aggressively and efficiently. In my time spent looking at entrepreneurial ecosystems around the world, I've yet to find a commercialization engine like Tallwave and I welcome the opportunity to be part of such a stellar team."
While serving as chairman and chief executive at Avnet from July 1998 until July 2011, Vallee accelerated its success as an industry consolidator and was instrumental in Avnet's acquisition of 47 companies to increase geographic coverage, scale and scope, and shareholder value. He also introduced value-based management which emphasizes return on capital employed, and economic profit growth.
In January 2013, Vallee was named deputy chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco's board of directors, a position he still holds. He served on the bank's Economic Advisory Council from 2010 to 2012.
In addition to Avnet, Vallee is a member of the boards of directors of three private companies and two publicly held companies: Teradyne , a leading automated testing company for the semiconductor industry and Synopsys, Inc ., the leading supplier of electronic design automation software.
"Tallwave has the opportunity to be 'the next big thing' for building sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems, globally," said Vallee. "Tallwave provides startup companies with subject matter expertise across a wide range of industries as well as access to investors. Most importantly, Tallwave's experienced entrepreneurs and executive leadership actually help do the hard work these startups need in order to succeed. This is a scalable engine that will serve as a model of innovation, and I'm excited to help drive it forward."
About Tallwave
Tallwave is a commercializor.
The company creates commercial success and shareholder value for entrepreneurs and investors by validating, scaling and managing early-stage and growth ventures with a hands-on approach.
What separates Tallwave from the limitations of Incubator, Accelerator and traditional Venture Capital firm business models is its proprietary Tallwave Way™ closed-loop commercialization engine. The combination of Tallwave's lean Business Blueprint™ for product and company validation, its Operator Model™ for resource deployment and the access to pre-seed through Series A capital its networks provide, has been used to vet over 300 entrepreneurs and their concepts, validate more than 65 startups, and build a portfolio of half a dozen early-stage companies.
Founded and led by former iCrossing, Google, Yahoo!, Microsoft, GoDaddy and Marketwire executives, Tallwave is headquartered in Scottsdale, AZ with offices in Los Angeles and San Francisco. Twice a year, Tallwave hosts High Tide™, one of the most innovative startup competitions in the U.S. Additional information about Tallwave is available at www.tallwave.com .
Media Contact: Linda Capcara TechTHiNQ lcapcara@techthinq.com 480-229-7090
