Board of Directors

Alex Slusky
Managing Partner

Alex Slusky is the founder and managing partner of Vector Capital. His areas of expertise include infrastructure and applications software, corporate spinouts, and technology buyouts. Alex currently serves on the board of Savi Technology, and as Chairman of the Board of LANDesk Software and Corel Corporation. Prior to their acquisitions, Alex was also director of NetGravity (acquired by DoubleClick) and Acuity Corporation (acquired by Avaya). Alex also led Vector's investments in RealNetworks (NASDAQ:RNWK) and Extricity Software (acquired by Peregrine).

Prior to Vector, Alex led the technology equity practice at Ziff Brothers Investments, managing a portfolio of public and private technology investments. Before joining Ziff Brothers, Alex was a partner at New Enterprise Associates, focusing on venture investments in software, communications, and digital media. Prior to NEA, Alex was a consultant at McKinsey & Company and a product manager at Microsoft Corporation.

Alex has a B.A. in Economics, summa cum laude from Harvard University , and an MBA with high distinction (Baker Scholar) from the Harvard Business School .

Chris Nicholson
Partner

Chris joined Vector Capital in 1999 and was the first senior investment professional recruited by the co-founders. Chris' investment focus includes enterprise software, software infrastructure and emerging software technologies. Chris also leads Vector's structuring and negotiation of complex transactions. He has worked with several Vector portfolio companies and serves on the Board of Directors of LANDesk Software and Corel Corporation.

Prior to joining Vector, Chris was a corporate and securities attorney with Wilson Sonsini Goodrich and Rosati, P.C. While at Wilson Sonsini, Chris's practice focused on a variety of corporate and securities law matters for emerging growth companies, investment banks and venture capital firms. In addition to working with entrepreneurs on day-to-day matters, Chris has transactional experience in initial and follow-on public offerings, public and private mergers and acquisitions, and private equity transactions.

Chris received a B.A. in Economics/Business with a Specialization in Computing from the University of California, Los Angeles (magna cum laude) and a J.D. from University of California, Berkeley (Boalt Hall).

David Fishman
Principal

David Fishman joined Vector as a Principal in 2006.

David is a principal at Vector Capital. Prior to joining Vector, David was a Managing Director at Goldman Sachs in the Mergers and Acquisitions area, focused primarily on technology and media transactions. David worked closely with senior management teams to analyze and execute a variety of strategic alternatives, including mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, and leveraged buyouts. In his time at Goldman, David led or participated in over 30 transactions worth an aggregate value of $120 billion, including transactions involving Microsoft, eBay, Adobe, IBM, Oracle and PeopleSoft. Prior Goldman Sachs, David worked at J.P. Morgan & Co. where he was responsible for raising debt financing for the firms corporate clients.

David has an MBA with Distinction from the J.L. Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and a BA with departmental honors in Economics from Duke University.

Lieutenant General Steven W. Boutelle

Lieutenant General Steven W. Boutelle (Ret.) was appointed to SafeNet’s board of directors in December of 2007.

Lt. Gen. Boutelle served as the Army Staff’s Chief Information Officer (CIO)/G6 from July 3, 2003 to February, 2007. Upon retiring from the U.S. Army in late 2007, Lt. Gen. Boutelle was appointed Vice President to Cisco’s Global Government Solutions Group. There he leds Cisco’s participation in the Internet routing in space (IRIS) initiative, which Intelsat launched in April as an industry-government collaboration intended to explore the feasibility of adapting IP routing technologies for use on satellite communications links to achieve higher throughput and increased network efficiency for the military.

As CIO/G6, Lt. Gen. Boutelle was responsible for the Army's information management (IM) functions and was responsible for setting the strategic direction, determining objectives, and supervising the Army's command, control, communications, computers and information technology functions. Previous assignments include Director for Information Operations, Networks and Space, Headquarters, Department of the Army; Program Executive Officer for Command, Control and Communications Systems (PEO C3S); Project Manager for Field Artillery Tactical Data Systems (FATDS); and Chief of Staff for PEO C3S before his assignment as the PEO. Lt. Gen. Boutelle was also the PEO C3S “Trail Boss” responsible for air defense, intelligence, artillery, logistics, maneuver, satellite and tactical radio software and systems integration for the Army’s Task Force XXI.

During a military career of more than three decades, Lt. Gen. Boutelle’s assignments have also included serving as Commander, 362nd Signal Company, Korea; Army Europe Deputy Chief of Staff of Operations and Plans; and Chief, Test and Evaluation and Executive Officer for the Command System Integration Agency.

He holds a bachelor’s degree from the University of Puget Sound and a master’s of business administration from Marymount University. His awards include the Defense Service Medal, Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, Defense Meritorious Service Medal and the Army Meritorious Service Medal with four Oak Leaf Clusters.