General Partner, Michigan eLab; Partner, Reed Smith LLP

Bio: Bob is a graduate of The University of Michigan Graduate School of Engineering (MS 1986) and the Law School (JD 1989).  He remains very actively involved with UM, including as a speaker with the Center for Entrepreneurship (CFE), as a member of the President’s West Coast Advisory Council, as a member of the board of the CFE, as a mentor for the university’s startup incubator, TechArb, and as an instructor in the CFE’s I-Corps program, which guides aspiring faculty and researcher entrepreneurs in the commercialization of their research. He is a co-founder and general partner of Michigan eLab, a venture capital fund located in Ann Arbor and Silicon Valley that invests in early stage technology companies from the Michigan ecosystem. He is also the proud parent of a University of Michigan sophomore, his oldest son Paul.

After graduating from The University of Michigan, Bob began his career as an attorney with the New York law firm Weil, Gotshal & Manges, where he represented companies in the technology, media and entertainment industries.  He was also the Director of Intellectual Property for Reuters before moving to Palo Alto in 1997 to join the founding team of TIBCO Software, an enterprise software company, where he served as the Executive Vice President of Corporate Development, General Counsel and Secretary.  Bob led the initial public offering of TIBCO in 1999 on its way to becoming one of the leading enterprise infrastructure software companies in the world.  Bob left TIBCO in 2008 to pursue his passion for early stage startups, and has served as an advisor and board member for many Silicon Valley startup companies.  Bob is also a partner in the Silicon Valley office of the international law firm Reed Smith.  His undergraduate degree is from Northern Michigan University in computer science and mathematics.

Get In Tune With Your Soft Side

10/12/2015

By Tom Frank, CFE Executive Director I’m going to start off with a little confession. The people who know and...

Rick DeVos

10/12/2015

Founder, ArtPrize; Founder and CEO, Start Garden Bio: Rick DeVos is an entrepreneur. In 2009, he created ArtPrize, a simple social experiment...

take a Step Forward