Steve Carnevale has been a venture capitalist for twenty years with Point Cypress Venture and as head of private equity and crossover investing at two different hedge funds, Talkot Capital and Strome Susskind. He typically serves as the lead investor, and as such, is actively involved with the development of high-level strategies and day-to-day operations. Steve has served on boards of directors or as chairman of numerous public and private companies and has extensive expertise in the areas of corporate finance and governance issues. He has also chaired audit, finance and compensation sub-committees. Background
Prior to his venture capital career, Mr. Carnevale spent twelve years in management of various industrial enterprises. He began his career in network engineering with AT&T before moving into the offshore oil industry and executive positions with Oceaneering International (NYSE: OII). At Oceaneering, he pioneered the development and operation of underwater robotic systems that work on the ocean floor. In 1985, Mr. Carnevale joined a NASDAQ specialty chemical company with market applications in health care, food packaging, defense and aerospace, where he completed a successful turnaround of the company. In 1990, he initiated a buyout of a private specialty computer manufacturer and served as its CEO until it was sold.
One of his most notable investment is eFax, an Internet company that went public and was later merged with J2 Global Communications (NASDAQ: JCOM), one of the fastest growing profitable public Internet companies (2010 Top 100 Forbes Small Business) with a market cap in excess of $1.5 Billion. Charitable and Educational Interests
Steve works with The School of Business and Management for the University of San Francisco, named as one of the "Global 100" by the Aspen Institute, and is a judge for their widely acclaimed International Business Plan Competition. He is on the Advisory Board of the University of Michigan College of Engineering Center for Entrepreneurship. Steve believes that schools must train engineers to think as innovators and inventors, which is not a viewpoint generally incorporated in engineering curricula.
For community work, Steve is President of the Board of Directors of The Olympic Club Foundation whose mission is to help disadvantaged youth of the Bay Area build life skills through sports. He is also President of the Board of Trustees for the Charles Armstrong School, which specializes in teaching students with dyslexic learning differences.
He is a 1978 graduate of the University of Michigan, with an Engineering degree and a minor concentration in Marketing.
Personal
In addition to his varied business career, he and his wife Kelly reside in San Francisco, and are the proud parents of very active twin sons. He owns a small Napa Valley vineyard, Blue Oak Vineyard, which produces a single-vineyard estate-bottled Merlot. A long time member of the New York Explorers Club, he has a keen interest in marine and Mayan archaeology. Steve is an expert scuba diver and instructor and has been a professional underwater photographer. He is a long time student of the martial arts with a proficiency in Korean, Chinese and Japanese styles. Steve is an enthusiastic but average golfer.
Areas of Investment Expertise Areas of investment expertise span many technology-driven industries, including supply chain management, digital printing, document management, network management, telephony, eLearning, customer relationship management, enterprise software applications, chemical nanotechnology and technology-enabling mass customization.
Current Engagements
Currently Chairman of the Board of Sawgrass Technologies www.sublimation.com , a high performance chemical company that manufactures patented nano dispersion digital inks for vertical market solutions in the printing industry.
In addition to Point Cypress Ventures - his personal investment firm – Steve is a partner with Risk Equity Partners www.RiskEquity.com, an acquisition and turnaround firm.
