vSpring Capital Releases its List of the 2006 Top 100 Venture Entrepreneurs

SALT LAKE CITY – vSpring Capital today announced the 2006 class of the vSpring Capital Top 100 Venture Entrepreneurs, also known as the v|100.

The v|100 was conceived by vSpring as a tool to recognize the region’s outstanding entrepreneurs and to support and promote partnering and collaboration among the state of Utah’s top entrepreneurs. Each year, vSpring asks members of the Utah business community to nominate individuals with ties to the state of Utah who are most likely to lead a successful startup venture in the next five to seven years in the IT (information technology) or biotech industries in a chief executive or chief technical officer role.

“The v|100 recognizes leadership and innovative excellence and fosters better networking in the entrepreneurial community within the state,” said Dinesh Patel, managing director of vSpring Capital. “This year’s v|100 includes some very remarkable people. The list itself serves as an instructive demonstration of the state’s potential for growth and development, especially in the technology sector.”

“The v|100 has emerged as a highly relevant group in Utah,” said Michael Levinthal, v|100 member and former managing director of Mayfield Fund in California. “It has become an important indicator of the tremendous growth that we have seen in the last few years.”

Once the nominations are submitted, nominees are invited to participate in a confidential online survey to vote for the top 10 individuals they feel would most likely meet the selection criteria. Those nominees which garner the most votes from their peers in this annual process are then elected into the v|100. The result is a community-nominated, peer-selected group of the top IT and biotech entrepreneurs in the state. These individuals are then invited to participate in an array of ongoing interactions throughout the year designed to provide increased exposure, resources and collaboration among this important group.

"Developing and growing a small business can be a very challenging experience," said Ron Heinz, chief executive officer at Helius and repeat-nominee to the v|100. "Having been a member of the v|100 for a while now, I have enjoyed the camaraderie of the group, and appreciate the gathering of bright people who share a common vision for success in Utah."

Facts about the v|100 Class of 2006

The 2006 class of the v|100 includes a unique combination of dynamic young entrepreneurs, technology thought leaders and experienced leaders in the technology and biotechnology industries. This year 104 new members were inducted into the v|100.

A complete list of members in the 2006 v|100 is enclosed below. Be advised that positions/companies noted were current as of the date of the compilation of the 2006 v|100 list of members. For additional information about the v|100 or vSpring Capital, please contact vSpring’s Dennis Wood at 801-942-8999(wk) or dennis@vspring.com, or David Politis of Politis Communications at 801-523-3730 or dpolitis@politis.com.

Bill Aho, ClearPlay Inc., CEO
Curt Allen, Agilix Labs, Inc., CEO
Paul Allen, Infobase Ventures, CEO
Will Allred, Firepoll, CEO
Dallin Anderson, Montigen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., President and CEO
Bob Barnes, Vacation Rentals Online, CEO
Coleman Barney, Cogito, Inc., President and CEO
Grant Beckmann, WiLife, Inc., Chief Operating Officer
Dr. Ragula Bhaskar, FatPipe Networks, President and CEO
Brent Bishop, ContentWatch Inc., Chairman
Brock Blake, FundingUniverse.com, CEO
Paul Brockbank, Enhance Interactive, Inc., CEO
Fraser Bullock, Sorenson Capital, Managing Director
Greg Butterfield, Altiris, President and CEO
Patrick Byrne, Overstock.com, President and Chairman
David Carter, S5 Wireless, Inc., President and CEO
Edwin Catmull, Pixar Animation Studios, President and Founder
Steve Christensen, Broadweave Networks, CEO
Gavin Christensen, Kellogg School of Management, MBA Candidate
Brad Christensen, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints , Manager of Product Managers
Carine Clark, Altiris, Vice President of Marketing
Josh Coates, Mozy.com / Berkeley Data Systems, Inc., Founder, CEO
Dr. Gregory Critchfield, Myriad Genetics Labs, President
Gary L. Crocker, Crocker Ventures/Merrimack Pharmaceuticals, President of CV LLC, Chairman of Merrimack
Nicole Toomey Davis, Centers of Excellence - GOED and Enclavix, Director,COE and Pres./CEO
Ed Donakey, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Snr. Product Manager of Strategic Relations
James Dreyfous, UV Partners, Partner
Adam Edmunds, Allegiance, Inc., President/CEO
James Endicott, Exact Wave (formerly Veevix), Distriba, President and CEO
Brett Error, Omniture, CTO / EVP Products
Bjorn Espenes, Infopia, Inc., President and CEO
Robert Frankenberg, NetVentures, CEO
JD Gardner, Monarch Partners, General Partner
Darin Gilson, Banyan Ventures, Partner
Alan E. Hall, MarketStar Corporation/ Grow Utah Ventures, Founder and Chairman
Mike Hall, Senforce, President and CEO
Christopher C. Harrington, Omniture, Inc., President, Global Sales & Client Services
Matthew Hawkins, Technology Division, Henry Schein, Inc., Vice President
and General Manager
Ron Heinz, Helius, Chairman and CEO
Josh James, Omniture, CEO
Steve Jones, Auction Trust Network, President and CEO
Kimberley Jones, Vérité, Inc., CEO
Jeff Kearl, Logoworks, Chief Marketing Officer
Gary Kennedy, RemedyMD Inc., President, CEO, and Chairman
Blake Kirby, Inovar, Inc., President/CEO
Fred Lampropoulos, Merit Medical Systems, Inc., Chairman and CEO
Bruce K. Law, Sprout Marketing, President and Founder
Darren Lee, NextPage, President and CEO
Scott C. Lemon, Agilix Labs, Inc., Technical Evangelist / Strategist
Michael Levinthal, Individual Investor/ Former MD, Mayfield Fund
Ransom Love, Genealogical Society of Utah, Director Strategic Relationships
Drew Major, Movie Networks, Founder
Ty D. Mattingly, Independent Consultant
Darl McBride, The SCO Group, Inc., President and CEO
David B. McGinn, Agilix Labs, Inc., Chief Operating Officer
Scott McKinley, Neumont University, Chief Executive Officer
Peter D. Meldrum, Myriad Genetics, Inc., President and CEO
Glen Mella, Control4, Chief Marketing Officer
Craig Miller, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Director Member Needs
W. Tim Miller, Echelon Biosciences Inc., President
Clarke Miyasaki, LogoWorks, Vice President Business Development
Blake Modersitzki, Utah Ventures, General Partner
Ryan Money, HireVue, CEO
David Moon, EsNet, Ltd., General Partner
Shawn Nelson, LoveSac Alternative Furniture Co., Chief Sac
Jan Newman, Altiris, VP of Business Development
Dr. Tom Ngo, NextPage, CTO
Leslie Norris, Snapp Norris Group PR, President and Managing Partner
Eric Olafson, Tomax Corporation, CEO
Dr. Michael Paul, LineaGen Research Corporation, COO and President
Brad Pelo, NextPage, Chairman of the Board
John Pestana, Omniture, Inc., Co-founder, Executive Vice President
Ben Peterson, Spark Networks
Gregory Peterson, GH Peterson Holdings, Managing Partner
Prof. Glenn Prestwich, University of Utah, Presidential Prof of Medicinal Chemistry
Michael Proper, DirectPointe, Inc., President and CEO
Dallan Quass, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Contractor
Amy Rees Lewis, Mediconnect, CEO
John Richards, BYU Center for Entrepreneurship, Associate Director
Larry Rigby, ZARS pharma, Inc., Vice Chairman
Bryce Roberts, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Co-Founder and Managing General Partner
Eric Ruff, QuickKutz, President, CEO, Founder
Rich Running, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, Manager, Product
Management
Kevin Santiago, Cymphonix, CEO
Chuck Sharp, Sharp Analytics Inc., CEO
Craig Sherman, Gaia Interactive, CEO
Derek Smith, Oakley Networks, CEO
Eric Smith, Control4, CTO
Anthony Soohoo, Yahoo! Inc., Vice President
Jim Sorenson, Sorenson Media, CEO
Tom Stockham, MyFamily.com, President and CEO
Jack Sunderlage, ContentWatch, Inc., President and CEO
Benoy Tamang, Digital Media Publishing Group, President and CEO
Cindi Tetro, NextPage, Vice President Marketing
Daren Thayne, MyFamily.com, CTO and SVP of Development
Mikko Valimaki, Blue Coat Systems, Inc., Vice President
Jay Verkler, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Managing Dir. of Family & Church History
Doug Waddoups, Batteries and Bands
Brett Walker, VitalSmarts, Chief Marketing Officer
Brad Walters, MaxStream, Inc., Chairman, CEO and President
Will West, Control4, CEO
Dr. Phillip Windley, BYU Computer Science, Assoc. Professor
Michael Wolfgramm, MyFamily.com, Inc., VP of Development
Ralph Yarro, ThinkAtomic, Inc., President and CEO

About vSpring Capital
vSpring Capital (www.vspring.com) is an early-stage venture capital fund focusing on investment opportunities in Information Technology and Life Sciences. vSpring capitalizes on the managerial skills and operating experience of its principals to successfully invest in and mentor early-stage companies. vSpring has offices in Salt Lake City, Utah and Los Alamos, New Mexico.

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