Drawing on his over thirty years of global experience in running tech companies, venture capital investing, and his role in taking companies through multi stage investments to exit, Ivan Nikkhoo will be discussing what it takes to create a sustainable digital ecosystem. Ivan is actively involved with a number of accelerators, incubators, and ecosystems across the globe, and he will describe the essential ingredients that a digital ecosystem must have for long term success. As part of this journey he will discuss what it takes to stimulate debate on where action needs to happen in creating such clusters
With over 30 years of industry experience in various senior capacities internationally, Ivan is a Managing Director at Siemer & Associates, a leading global technology merchant bank. He is also an advisor at Wavemaker Partners, an early stage fund focused on technology investments globally. He has a strong background in private equity, venture capital, growth capital, M&A, technology ecosystem, finance, and entrepreneurship. He maintains a broad network of industry contacts, and has demonstrated a proven ability to bring early stage companies to life, taking growth companies to the next level, developing teams, raising growth capital, and implementing exit strategies.
Ivan is also an Adjunct Professor at USC Marshall School of Business where he teaches undergraduate and graduate classes focused on lifecycle investing in tech companies, entrepreneurship, technology finance and ecosystem, the digital economy, and eCommerce. He is also on the advisory council for the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneur Studies at USC, and is the Co-President of its incubation and seed investing program, and lectures throughout the world.
Additionally, he serves on the board of Digital Jersey, helping build the island’s digital economy and tech ecosystem, including its first incubator, and the Board of Trustees of New Entrepreneurs Foundation in London.
Ivan has served on a number of corporate, business, and charity boards, including Digital Jersey, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, LA Chamber of Commerce, USC Marshall Partners, Junior Achievement of Southern California, and Los Angeles Venture Association to name a few. He is a Wexner Heritage Program Fellow, a member of Young Presidents’ Organization, and is very active in the technology community. He was a finalist at the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 1999. He maintains a blog for lifecycle of tech companies, is a CNN Guest Contributor, and is published on a number of tech sites.
Mr. Nikkhoo received his MBA from USC Marshall School of Business in 1989 and his Bachelors of Science in Engineering from McGill University in 1984 and has completed executive education programs at HBS and Stanford. He is a General Securities Principal licensed with FINRA/SIPC (formerly NASD). He has lived on three continents, has travelled extensively throughout the world, speaks three languages, and is experienced in doing business globally.
Blog
www.IvanNikkhoo.com
Annual Summit
www.SiemerSummit.com
