Crazy Eddie's Eddie Antar dies


Tom Paine



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If you're too young to remember Eddie Antar, who died Saturday in New Jersey at 68, and his Crazy Eddie electronics chain, it was a trip. While it lasted.

I think people got high just to watch the ads.

But it was way too crazy to last.

By the way, Eddie Antar did not play the Crazy Eddie character in the ads.








Eddie Antar, Retailer and Felon Who Created Crazy Eddie, Dies at 68 (New York Times)



Sunday highlights: QVC cuts 100 jobs at West Chester HQ; Salesforce COO Keith Block has SAP on the brain again






Philly Tech People News 9/11/2016: Howard Morgan stepping down from First Round; Lentz of Osage Venture Partners is new PACT Chairman





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First Round Capital Says Goodbye to Co-Founder, Hello to New Fund (Fortune)

Nate Lentz of Osage Venture Partners Announced as New PACT Chairman; PACT welcomes five new Board Members, new Executive Committee Members and Board Emeritus (PACT)

Comcast's Theresa Hennesy Honored With Women in Technology Award (Cablefax)

Seth Winter Steps Down as Head of NBCU Sports Ad Sales
(Ad Age)

Coupa Hires Global Business Software Executive Steve Winter as Chief Revenue Officer (VentureBeat)
Coupa just filed for an IPO; Winter joins from Marketo, and before that was with SAP.

IntegriChain Adds Philadelphia Tech Veteran Geoffrey Young as Vice President of Engineering (Integrichain)

As VP of Recruiting & Talent Acquisition, Mark Constan helped to bring eMoney Advisor's (acquired by Fidelity) headcount from 150 to over 400 in 4+ years.
Now Constan has moved on to Moven, the New York-based fintech startup that houses much of its development staff in Radnor, as Director of Recruiting. He says they are hiring (of course). Moven is a 'disruptive' mobile-centric banking app.

Fox Rothschild announces management transition (Philadelphia Business Journal)

PEI-Genesis Names Jonathan Parry Managing Director -Europe (Business Wire)



Saturday highlights: How Pittsburgh Became Uber’s Testing Ground; Google Fiber ‘Very Pleased’ with TV Sign-Ups






Links 9/9: SAP Ariba competitor Coupa files to raise $75mm in IPO; Rovi Seals Deal for TiVo






Links 9/8: Howard Morgan stepping down from FRC; Curalate initial partner in Google's 'Shop the Look' ads






Nate Lentz of Osage Venture Partners Announced as New PACT Chairman; PACT welcomes five new Board Members, new Executive Committee Members and Board Emeritus


Nate Lentz of Osage Venture Partners Announced as New PACT Chairman
PACT welcomes five new Board Members, new Executive Committee Members and Board Emeritus

Philadelphia, September 7, 2016 - The Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT) proudly announces Nate Lentz, Managing Partner of Osage Venture Partners, as the new PACT Chairman of the Board. PACT also welcomes five new Board Members, new Executive Committee Members and a newly formed Board Emeritus that recognizes key founding leaders of PACT.

Nate Lentz
Nate joined Osage Venture Partners in 2008 and as Managing Partner oversees investment and portfolio management activities. He serves on the Board of Directors of BA-Insight, Canvas, InstaMed, OpsDataStore, PeopleLinx, Pneuron, RackWare, Sidecar, and Wylei. Nate also serves on the Board of Directors of Ben Franklin Southeast Pennsylvania.

“We are thrilled to work with Nate as the new PACT Chairman of the Board. His expertise in the investment and entrepreneurial communities will help drive PACT’s continued evolution into providing top notch programs and services for the community” said Dean Miller, President and CEO of PACT.

Five executives from PACT’s Founding Leaders also joined the Board of Directors:

Allen Born
Allen is a director at Fairmount Partners. He focuses on originating and executing middle-market investment banking transactions in the Internet and Digital Media sector. Allen has advised on exclusive sale assignments, buy-side transactions, financings, and various other strategic advisory assignments and has completed more than 50 transactions totaling over $13 billion in consideration.

Dave Burkavage
Dave is a Partner within EY’s Philadelphia Assurance practice and leads the Philadelphia Strategic Growth Markets Practice. Dave has 13 years of experience and has served numerous public and private clients, including health and life sciences, multinational diversified manufacturing, technology, technology services, private equity, and venture capital companies. Dave also has significant accounting, auditing, reporting and transaction experience, including experience with numerous significant business combinations for public and private companies, and numerous initial public offerings, secondary offerings and financings.

Ryan Hicke
Ryan is the head of SEI’s Wealth Platform. In this role, Ryan is responsible for the technology resource and delivery teams driving the creation, deployment and continuous innovation of SEI’s Wealth Platform globally. Ryan began his career with SEI in 1998 in the US, before moving to the UK in 2001. During his tenure in the UK, Ryan held many leadership roles including running the SWP UK business from 2012-2014. In his current role, Ryan is also a member of SEI’s Executive Committee.

Heather Hunter
Heather is the Vice President, Corporate Communications at Safeguard Scientifics (NYSE:SFE), which provides capital to technology-driven businesses in healthcare, financial services and digital media. Heather has more than 15 years’ experience working in a wide variety of industries including venture capital, healthcare, technology and commercial real estate with public and private, early-, growth- and late-stage companies. At Safeguard, Heather implements integrated marketing communications, investor relations, public relations, social media, branding, and corporate positioning strategies that foster business development, M&A and partnering opportunities.

Sean Denham
Sean is the Philadelphia Office Managing Partner at Grant Thornton. He previously served as the Assistant Managing Partner of the New York cluster and was responsible for the operations and quality for the entire New York practice. Concurrent with this role, he also served as the Audit Practice Leader for the Northeast region. Sean previously served for six years as the National Partner for Professional Standards responsible for the Northeast region. In that role, he was involved with the most complex accounting, auditing, and risk management matters.

PACT’s Board Emeritus recognizes select board members for their work, insights and support which have shaped PACT and elevated our entrepreneurial community. Each one of the inaugural members has helped to shape PACT from the early stages of its vision into reality. It consists of PACT’s Founding Chairman and three Founding Executive Committee Members. These individuals continue to play an active role on the PACT Board of Directors:

· Frank S. Hermance, Chairman & CEO, Ametek, PACT Founding Chairman Emeritus

· Charles Robins, Managing Director, Fairmount Partners, PACT Founding Executive Committee Emeritus

· Michael Forman, Chairman & CEO, Franklin Square, PACT Founding Executive Committee Emeritus

· Kate Shay, Partner, Duane Morris, PACT Founding Executive Committee Emeritus



Joining Dean Miller, Jonathan Brassington and Marc Lederman on the PACT Executive Committee are four board members:

· Nate Lentz, Chair

· Michael Heller, CEO, Cozen O’Connor

· Brian Lobley, SVP - Marketing, Consumer & Ancillary Business, Independence Blue Cross

· RoseAnn Rosenthal, President & CEO, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, SEP


“We are proud to welcome all of the new members of our board and committees. PACT could not function without the support and leadership of its Board of Directors, Board Emeritus, and Board Committees. Their ideas and collaboration lay the groundwork for PACT’s ultimate success,” explained Dean Miller.


PACT Board of Directors 2016 - 2017
Andrea R. Allon, COO, Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce
Saul Behar, General Counsel, University City Science Center
Allen Born, Director, Fairmount Partners
Jonathan Brassington, CEO, LiquidHub
Dave Burkavage, Partner, EY
Andrew Cherry, Managing Director, KPMG LLP
Sean Denham, Office Managing Partner, Grant Thornton, LLP
David Egan, Senior Director of Enterprise Sales, Comcast Business
Guy Fardone, COO, EvolveIP
Robert W. Fesnak, Partner, RSM
Andrew Hamilton, Partner, Morgan Lewis & Bockius
Dennis Hancock, VP, Global Commercial Solutions, Pfizer
Michael S. Harrington, Partner, Fox Rothschild, LLP
Michael Heller, CEO, Cozen O’Connor
Ryan Hicke, Senior VP, SEI
Heather Hunter, Vice President, Corporate Communications, Safeguard Scientifics
Rich Kollender, Partner, Quaker Partners
Marc R. Lederman, Managing Partner, NewSpring Capital
Nate Lentz, Managing Partner, Osage Venture Partners
Brian Lobley, SVP - Marketing, Consumer & Ancillary Business, Independence Blue Cross
Lisa McCann, Principal – Information Technology, Vanguard
Vince Menichelli, Managing Director, Actua
Christopher S. Miller, Partner, Pepper Hamilton, LLP
Dean E. Miller, PACT, President & CEO
Bob Moul, CEO, Cloudamize
RoseAnn Rosenthal, President & CEO, Ben Franklin Technology Partners, SEP
Dave Spencer, Managing Director, East Market Unit, SAP
Sandra Stoneman, Partner, Duane Morris LLP
John Swartley, PhD, Associate Vice Provost for Research and Executive Director, Penn Center for Innovation (PCI), University of Pennsylvania
Harry Vitelli, VP, Construction and Field Applications, Bentley Systems, Inc.

PACT Board Emeritus
Frank S. Hermance, Chairman & CEO, Ametek, PACT Founding Chairman
Charles Robins, Managing Director, Fairmount Partners, PACT Founding Executive Committee
Michael Forman, Chairman & CEO, Franklin Square, PACT Founding Executive Committee
Kate Shay, Partner, Duane Morris, PACT Founding Executive Committee


For more information on PACT and its leadership, you can reach me via email or by phone at 609-790-6206.

About Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT)
Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technologies (PACT)’s vision is to be the go-to resource for fast growing companies, and a driver of entrepreneurship and innovation in the Philadelphia region. PACT provides its members with valuable content and connections to capital, coaching, and customers that will accelerate their growth and success, and to collaborate with other organizations to drive innovation and entrepreneurship in the region. Visit www.philadelphiapact.com for more information.





Links 9/7: Cable Service Giants Unite Against FCC's Set-Top Box Plan; Philly TV stations face secret auction of their airwaves






Vista Equity Partners to Acquire King of Prussia-based RDC






Business Wire September 6, 2016

NEW YORK & LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Regulatory DataCorp, Inc. (“RDC”), the Trust Diligence™ leader across the Governance, Risk, and Compliance industry, today announced that it has been acquired from Bain Capital Ventures and others by Vista Equity Partners (“Vista”), a leading private equity firm focused on software, data and technology-enabled businesses. This acquisition will allow RDC to increase its investment in risk and compliance software and data solutions to help prevent financial crime.

Headquartered in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, RDC is a leading provider of counterparty risk and financial regulatory compliance data and software solutions to financial institutions and technology companies, as well as sharing economy, social media, and multinational companies worldwide. By combining comprehensive data, a scalable platform, experienced analysts, and tailored analytics, RDC works as an extension to its customers’ compliance and safety teams, providing precise risk alerts and ongoing monitoring for enhanced protection and performance. RDC’s Global Regulatory Information Database (GRID™) of over 7 million profiles with risk-relevant information helps deliver exceptional risk coverage, leading the world’s largest financial institutions to implement RDC as a core part of their critical compliance systems.

“We pride ourselves in creating a culture of success and continually exceeding our customers’ expectations with innovative solutions to get the job done,” said Tom Obermaier, CEO of RDC. “We are excited to partner with the team at Vista, a firm which is truly revolutionizing the world of software and technology with its vision and expertise. We have enormous confidence in their partnership and look forward to all we will achieve together.”

Vista is partnering with RDC at a time of significant growth in the governance, risk, and compliance industry given the increasing need for state of the art analytics, high-quality risk intelligence data and software solutions. RDC is a leader in a significant part of what market research firm Markets and Markets describes as a more than $10 billion financial crime segment, which is projected to grow approximately 17% annually through 2020. This growth stems from leading financial institutions turning towards big data- and technology-enabled solutions to improve the efficiency and accuracy of their risk management function while reducing fines for non-compliance.

“More than ever before, companies are looking to harness the power of big data and analytics to provide them with the clarity and insight needed to prevent financial crimes, regulate risk, and improve compliance,” said Rob Rogers, Principal at Vista Equity Partners. “The value and leadership RDC brings to this critical business sector is unparalleled, and we look forward to being a part of their growth and continued success.”

Financial terms have not been disclosed.

About Vista Equity Partners

Vista Equity Partners, a U.S.-based private equity firm with offices in Austin, Chicago and San Francisco, with more than $26 billion in cumulative capital commitments, currently invests in software, data and technology-based organizations led by world-class management teams with long-term perspective. Vista is a value-added investor, contributing professional expertise and multi-level support towards companies realizing their full potential. Vista's investment approach is anchored by a sizable long-term capital base, experience in structuring technology-oriented transactions, and proven management techniques that yield flexibility and opportunity in private equity investing. For more information, please visit www.vistaequitypartners.com.

About Regulatory DataCorp

Regulatory DataCorp, Inc., the Trust Diligence™ company, delivers powerful, decision-ready intelligence and world-class risk and compliance protection, allowing global organizations to identify banned/suspect entities, strengthen fraud protection, ensure regulatory compliance, manage supply and distribution risk, and protect their brand equity. With the world’s largest open source risk-relevant database, RDC provides AML/KYC compliance; Politically Exposed Persons (PEP) protection; emerging market intelligence; corruption, fraud and crime protection; and vendor screening and monitoring to a wide range of clients worldwide. Learn more about RDC by emailing info@rdc.com or visiting www.rdc.com.

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Links 9/6: SAP launches HANA-only version of Business Warehouse; Malvern-based edtech firm makes another in series of acquisitions






PE firm Parthenon plans to begin a sales process for Wayne-based clinical trial technology provider Bracket after Labor Day


Tom Paine



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The Wall Street Journal reported last week (subscription) that PE firm Parthenon plans to begin a sales process for Wayne-based clinical trial technology provider Bracket after Labor Day. Parthenon purchased Bracket from Express Scripts in 2013.

At the time it was purchased in 2013, Bracket was reported to have 300 employees. Now it says it has over 500, and at the end of August announced the opening of a new space in Boston.

Prices in the clinical trial technology market are strong, as evidenced by the recently announced sale of Doylestown-based Bioclinica for $1.4 billion, although Bracket probably won't be valued in that range.