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Mr. Ball is a founder of Francisco Partners and has been a Partner since its formation in August 1999. Prior to founding Francisco Partners, Mr. Ball was a Vice President with TA Associates where he led private equity investments in the software, semiconductor and communications segments. Previously, he worked for Genstar Capital LLC, a middle-market LBO firm, where he focused on investments in the semiconductor, capital equipment and communications industries. Earlier in his career, Mr. Ball worked for AEA Investors, a New York-based private equity firm, and also for the consulting firm of Bain & Company. Mr. Ball serves on the board of directors of ECI, Legerity and WebTrends.
Education:Alex came to Vector with both private and public market investing experience. Prior to Vector Capital, Alex was at Viking Global Investors, a leading international long / short equity fund. Previously, Alex was an Associate at Francisco Partners, where he focused on large-scale and middle market buyouts in software, hardware, services and semiconductor sectors. While at Francisco Partners, Alex served as a board observer to several companies, including GXS, Primavera Software and Metrologic Instruments.
Prior to Francisco Partners, Alex was an Analyst in the Financial Institutions Group at Banc of America Securities, where he worked on M&A and financings for banks, diversified finance, insurance, asset management and financial technology firms. Previously, Alex was a Quantitative Strategies Consultant at Goldman Sachs, designing systems for the Program Trading Group.
Alex received his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was an Arjay Miller Scholar. He holds a B.A. in mathematics, economics and computer science from New York University, where he graduated summa cum laude.
Ms. Nguyen is a Vice President with Francisco Partners. Prior to joining Francisco Partners, Ms. Nguyen worked at Morgan Stanley in the Global Technology Group.
Education:Alex Slusky is the founder and Managing Partner of Vector Capital. His areas of expertise include infrastructure and applications software, internet services, corporate spinouts, and technology buyouts. Alex currently serves on the boards of Corel Corporation, SafeNet Inc., and Register.com. Prior to their acquisitions, Alex was also a director of Savi Technology (acquired by Lockheed Martin), LANDesk Software (acquired by Avocent) and NetGravity (acquired by DoubleClick). Alex also led Vector's investments in RealNetworks (NASDAQ:RNWK), Acuity (acquired by Avaya), and Extricity Software (acquired by Peregrine).
Prior to Vector, Alex led the technology equity practice at Ziff Brothers Investments, managing a portfolio of public and private technology investments. Before joining Ziff Brothers, Alex was at New Enterprise Associates, focusing on venture investments in software, communications, and digital media. Prior to NEA, Alex was a consultant at McKinsey & Company and a product manager at Microsoft Corporation.
Alex has an A.B. in Economics, summa cum laude from Harvard University, and an MBA with high distinction (Baker Scholar) from the Harvard Business School.
Joe Wang, CEO of WatchGuard Technologies, has a proven track record of growing businesses and generating tremendous returns during his 20 years in the high technology marketplace. Prior to joining WatchGuard, Wang was the CEO of LANDesk Software, an Intel spin-off, where he grew the company by 150% in four years. He successfully sold LANDesk Software for over $400m, generating significant returns for shareholders. Prior to LANDesk, Wang was vice president and general manager of Symantec's Enterprise Administration Division, a business unit with $230m in annual sales. Before joining Symantec, Wang was CEO of 20/20 Software. He built the company from conception to a growing and profitable business and ultimately championed its successful acquisition.
The WatchGuard approach to security is different than the others ... Using proxy-based technology, all traffic is blocked except for that allowed by the network administrator. This system provides the most security since all traffic is treated as suspect and not allowed to enter the LAN, preventing the propagation of threats.
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Affordable, easy-to-manage network security is our game. From the enterprise to the small branch office, we've got solutions that deliver security, performance, and rock-solid reliability. Learn why Next-Generation Firewalls (NGFWs) are essential for today's big business networks. Browse the features and benefits of our exceptionally strong Extensible Threat Management (XTM) products, and discover how WatchGuard SSL makes secure remote access easy. For best-in-class email and web security with data loss prevention, check out our Extensible Content Security (XCS) appliances. WatchGuard delivers powerful security and performance without the powerful price tag. Learn more about us.
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