Business Notes Business Notes (February 25, 2004)

New partner for Menlo Park law firm

Dr. Mircea Achiriloaie is a new partner in the Menlo Park law firm of Fernandez & Associates LLP, which specializes in patent strategies and prosecution for the semiconductor, software, and biotech sectors.

Dr. Achiriloaie's practice focuses on biotech patent prosecution. His clients range from individual investors and start-up ventures to universities and publicly held companies, the firm said.

He received his doctorate in cell regulation from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas and his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law.

Tahmassebi joins Bessemer Venture Partners

David Tahmassebi has joined Bessemer Venture Partners at its Menlo Park office as entrepreneur-in-residence to help evaluate semiconductor investment opportunities, the firm has announced.

Most recently, Mr. Tahmassebi was CEO and president of San Jose-based Resonext Communications Inc, a company he co-founded and which was acquired by RF Micro Devices in 2002 for $133 million.

Bessemer, based in Larchmont, New York, has been in the venture capital business for more than 100 years and manages investments of more than $1 billion, the firm said.

Geoge Zachary joins Charles River Ventures

George Zachary has joined the Menlo Park office of Charles River Ventures as a venture partner. A former general partner at Mohr Davidow Ventures in Menlo Park, Mr. Zachary will focus on making investments in services and software targeting the mass market, the firm said. Prior to Mohr Davidow Ventures, Mr. Zachary led the Nintendo 64 development business at Silicon Graphics.
Edwards joins Pacific Media Associates

Tom Edwards has joined the Menlo Park-based Pacific Media Associates as senior vice president for consumer electronics. Most recently he was responsible for consumer electronics research at the Techworld operation of NPD. Pacific Media, headquartered at 1060 Siskiyou Drive in Menlo Park, is a market research and publishing firm that specializes in large-screen displays for business.

Two join Mohr, Davidow

Rohit Sharma and Brian Lent have joined the Menlo Park venture capital firm of Mohr, Davidow Ventures as entrepreneurs-in-residence.

Prior to joining Mohr, Davidow, Mr. Sharma founded ONI Systems and served as chief architect and vice president of optical hardware development. He holds a Ph.D. and master's of science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Alberta in Canada.

Mr. Lent, most recently the founding CEO of Intelligent Results, held technical and marketing management positions at Amazon.com. He holds a master's degree and Ph.D. candidacy in computer science from Stanford.

In addition, Mohr, Davidow said it has appointed Nicholas Chim as an associate. Mr. Chim held senior management positions at Penguin Computing, a Linux systems company, before joining Mohr, Davidow. He holds a master's degree from Stanford.

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