HIGHGEAR VENTURES - Key Persons
Jim Jones - Managing Director
Mr. Jones' experience has spanned all phases of venture capital, from seed and early stage investments to later stage and secondaries in venture- backed companies. Mr. Jones' portfolio management includes more than $150 million of primary and secondary capital commitments. He has worked with industry-leading venture firms and driven strong returns for investors for most of the past two decades.
Prior to founding HighGear Ventures, Mr. Jones was Venture Partner with Industry Ventures, a leading venture capital secondary firm. Prior to Industry Ventures, Mr. Jones was a founding Managing Director at Scale Venture Partners (formerly known as Bank of America Venture Partners). Previously, Mr. Jones led product management, product marketing and business development groups at 3Com Corporation, where he managed a diverse $1.2 billion enterprise and consumer product line. Prior to 3Com, Mr. Jones was Sr. Product Line Manager at National Semiconductor, focused on enterprise communication technology.
Mr. Jones holds a BSEE from the University of California at Davis.
Mr. Taubman has been an active private equity secondary investor since 1998, purchasing limited partner interests in venture capital and buyout funds, organizing fund restructurings and corporate spinouts and acquiring direct interests in venture-backed companies. Prior to joining HighGear Ventures, Mr. Taubman was Managing Director with VCFA Group and led VCFA's West Coast office beginning in 2011. At VCFA, Mr. Taubman was actively involved in originating, evaluating, negotiating and closing new secondary investments for funds having an aggregate of $650 million of capital commitments.
Prior to VCFA, Mr. Taubman held an equity research position at Standard & Poor's in 1997. From 1993 to 1996, he was employed as a senior research scientist in both the private and public sectors, and has five years' experience in mathematical and computer modeling of atmospheric chemistry and global climate change processes.
Mr. Taubman received an M.B.A. in finance and management from New York University, an M.S. in meteorology from Pennsylvania State University and a B.S. in atmospheric science from the University of California at Davis.