As an executive with more than 30 years of experience in the technology sector, Pat leads the BlueSpace management team.
Prior to joining BlueSpace, Pat was President of Troux Technologies, a provider of Strategic IT Management software for Global 2000 organizations from February 2003 through July 2006 where he led the growth of revenues from 0 to over $15m annually. His responsibilities included worldwide sales, marketing, services, product development and accounting / finance.
Prior to Troux, Pat held several executive positions for Motive Communications, an intelligent service software company from May 1998 to January 2003 including VP Product Development, CFO, VP of Services, and VP of Business Development. During this time, Motive grew from 0 to over $80m in annual revenue.
From October 1996 to May 1998, Pat was Senior Vice President of Operations and Chief Financial Officer for PSW Technologies, a publicly held Austin based software services firm. From May of 1993 to September 1996, Pat served as General Manager of PSW Technologies, which at that time was a division of Pencom Systems. During his tenure at PSW, the company grew revenues from $6m to $44m annually and completed an IPO.
From January 1992 to May 1993, Pat served as Vice President of Marketing at Software Publishing Corp, a public PC software company with $150m in annual revenue. Prior thereto, Pat was Vice President of Business Development at Metaphor Computer Systems, a software systems company, from April 1989 to December 1991. During his tenure, Metaphor completed a $120m merger with IBM.
Pat also held various positions at IBM from 1976 to 1989 within the personal Systems and Workstation Divisions, including System Manager of OS/2 Extended Edition and AIX Development Manager for the original RISC/UNIX system project.
Pat earned a master’s degree in management science from Stanford University, a master’s degree in computer science from the University of Texas at Austin, and a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of California at Berkeley.
Admiral Inman joined the board of BlueSpace in July 2006. Admiral Inman is one of Austin's most well-known and successful angel investors who, throughout the past 16 years, has invested in over 30 startup technology companies and taken an active role in their growth and development. His most noticeable successes were Dell and Oracle, where he served on their boards through their successful IPOs.
In his prior experience, he attained the rank of four-star U.S. Navy Admiral and served as Director of Naval Intelligence, Director of the National Security Agency, and Deputy Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. After his retirement from the military, Admiral Inman was the Chairman and CEO of Microelectronics and Computer Technology Corporation (MCC), and later served as Chairman, President and CEO of Westmark Systems, Inc. He was also Chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas, and served as a member of the Carnegie Commission on Science, Technology, and Government.
He holds the Lyndon B. Johnson Centennial Chair in National Policy at the LBJ School of Public Affairs at The University of Texas. He is currently on the Boards of ESPC, Fluor Corporation, Massey Energy Company, MobiTV, and Temple Inland Inc.
Mike Maples, Sr. joined the board of BlueSpace in July 2006.
Mr. Maples, Sr. currently manages private investments and ranches. From April 1988 to July 1995, Mr. Maples, Sr. held various management positions at Microsoft Corporation, the most recent of which was Executive Vice President of the Worldwide Products Group and a member of the Office of the President. He also serves as Director of: NetIQ Corporation, a provider of software for managing e-business enterprise infrastructures; Motive, a telecom software applications company; Lexmark International, Inc., a laser and inkjet printer company; and Concero, Inc., a software services company.
Mr. Maples, Sr. is also a member of the Board of Visitors of the Engineering School at the University of Oklahoma and the College of Engineering Foundation Advisory Council at the University of Texas at Austin. Mr. Maples, Sr. holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Oklahoma and a Masters in Business Administration from Oklahoma City University.
John Clarke has served on the board of BlueSpace since December 2003.
Mr. Clarke is an experienced senior manager who has been SVP of a number of global IT Companies. Prior to joining BlueSpace, he worked with EMC Corporation for 10 years in a number of senior roles including International VP of Operations, and European VP of Sales and Distribution & MD of the UK and Benelux. During this time, John grew the business from US$250 million to US$10 billion at its peak. He previously worked as UK MD for Nokia and had various positions in the Memorex Telex Corporation (Now part of EDS).
Greg Carlisle joined the board of BlueSpace in February 2009.
Mr. Carlisle has over 20 years experience in software development, high-technology company start-up, and venture capital investing. He has developed significant business management experience which he brings to Gefinor Ventures' portfolio companies.
Mr. Carlisle began his career managing telecommunications and software development projects as a senior manager for Andersen Consulting. He then founded and served as President of Jones Cyber Solutions and was responsible for leading the software services company's rapid growth, resulting in $12 million of sales revenue within its first three years. Under his leadership, the company built a large software management and development team as well as an international sales and marketing force.
He then served as acting COO for an e-commerce company, Ambac Connect, Mr. Carlisle turned around and grew the business directing operations, engineering, business development and marketing. He was also instrumental in launching software infrastructure strategies for strategic communications firms. Mr. Carlisle was chosen to act as interim CEO of Intransco, Inc. and Jazz IT, two companies within Admiral Inman's personal portfolio. He successfully managed the divestiture of the assets of each company. Intransco, Inc., a company that developed and launched an e-commerce booking engine focused on the travel industry, was acquired by i:FAO, an Internet travel company. Jazz IT, a network management services company, was acquired by TManage, Inc., a provider of outsourced telework programs and currently a portfolio company of Gefinor Ventures.
He received a BA degree from the University of Texas at Arlington. Mr. Carlisle serves on the Boards of CTS, Mimix Broadband, and XAware.
Michael Underwood joined the board of BlueSpace in October 2010.
Mr. Underwood is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and has over 40 years of commercial management experience in retail, property and waste disposal industries. Since 1985, he has been a serial venture capital investor in early stage UK technology companies, which have mostly been university spin outs. Mr. Underwood has been actively involved in the development of such companies through the successful commercialization of their intellectual property backed technologies.
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