Manlio Allegra, Polaris Wireless, CEO & Founder
Manlio Allegra is co-founder and CEO of Polaris Wireless and has over thirty years of experience in international business and twenty years in wireless location technology and solutions. Prior to Polaris Wireless, in 1991 Manlio founded and became CEO of TecMagik Inc., a publisher of video games and computer entertainment software, which achieved sales of over $25 Million in 1994. Prior to founding TecMagik, he co-founded International Development Group (IDG) in 1984 to provide strategic marketing and software publishing services for U.S., European and Asian companies. From 1986 to 1991, Manlio, as a principal of IDG, engineered Sega Enterprises Ltd.’s entry into the European market. During that time, IDG increased Sega’s European video game sales from under $10 million to over $1 billion. Concurrently, Manlio created a software publishing joint venture with Sega for the North American market in 1988. Manlio earned an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business and an MSEE in Electrical Engineering from the Milan Polytechnic Institute.
Jan Neels, Telecom Industry Executive
Jan Neels graduated in Belgium with a degree in Electrical Engineering. Through his 40 years career he obtained extensive experience in international telecommunications business with technical and operational assignments in Europe, South America and Asia. He has been President of PacTel/AirTouch International developing and starting up wireless service companies in joint ventures with local partners in Germany, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Japan and South Korea. He was Managing Director at Proximus-Belgacom Mobile, a wireless service provider in Belgium in a joint venture between Belgacom and AirTouch. He has been on the Board of Polaris Wireless since its inception.
Anders Richardson, Palisades Growth Capital, Partner & Co-Founder
Mr. Richardson co-founded the fund and has more than twenty years of experience in private equity investing and investment banking. He is primarily responsible for deal sourcing, due diligence, execution and portfolio company oversight. Prior to Palisades, Mr. Richardson worked in the Investment Banking Division of DLJ from 1998 to 2000, where he worked on a number of transactions focused on public and private placements of debt and equity securities and buy-side and sell-side M&A advisory services in a variety of industries. Prior to DLJ, Mr. Richardson was an Associate in the Merchant Banking Group at Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Mr. Richardson received his B.A. from Harvard College and his M.B.A from Harvard Business School.
Ira Simkovitch, Industry Ventures, Managing Director
Ira is a Managing Director at Industry Ventures, having joined the firm in 2014. Prior to Industry Ventures, Ira worked on the Investment Team at The Carlyle Group/AlpInvest Partners where he committed capital to private equity and venture capital funds. Previously, Ira was a Senior Analyst at Commonfund Capital investing in private equity funds, secondary investments and direct investments globally. Ira began his career at Booz Allen Hamilton on a team developing software and analytics for the Department of Defense. Ira received a BS in engineering from MIT and his MBA from Columbia Business School, where he graduated with Dean’s Honors.
