Mitchell Kertzman
Mitchell E. Kertzman is an American venture capitalist with Hummer [Winblad Venture Partners]. He is the former CEO of Sybase, Powersoft, and Liberate Technologies.
Early life and education
Kertzman grew up in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston. He dropped out of Brandeis University in 1968, then pursued a career as a disk jockey. He then learned computer programming, and in 1974 founded the company that later became Powersoft as a one-person contract programming business.Career
During the Paul [Tsongas presidential campaign, 1992|1992 Paul Tsongas presidential campaign], Kertzman advised Paul Tsongas; in fact, Tsongas chose Kertzman to introduce him when he introduced his candidacy in April 1991.Kertzman sold Powersoft to Sybase in 1994 for $904 million. After Sybase purchased Powersoft in 1995, Kertzman became CEO and president of Sybase, but left after three years to become the president and CEO of Network Computer Incorporated, a company spun out of Oracle Corporation. During Kertzman's tenure, Network Computer Incorporated refocused its business from network computer hardware to interactive television, and changed its name to Liberate Technologies.
In 1998, Kertzman testified against Microsoft before the United States Senate Committee on the Judiciary about an incident where Microsoft advised him not to develop a competing product during an investigation into whether Microsoft was abusing monopoly power.
In 2003, David Lockwood replaced Kertzman as CEO of Liberate Technologies, and Kertzman joined Hummer Winblad Venture Partners, where as of 2014 he is "Managing Director".