| Mitchell E. Kertzmann | |
| Nationality: | American |
| Alma Mater: | Brandeis University |
| Occupation: | Venture capitalist, businessman |
| Employer: | Hummer Winblad Venture Partners |
Mitchell E. Kertzman (born) is an American venture capitalist with Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. He is the former CEO of Sybase, Powersoft, and Liberate Technologies.[1] [2]
Kertzman grew up in the Brighton neighborhood of Boston. (His mother was Miriam Kertzman; she created the first corporate daycare center for American industry and ran it from 1971 to her death .) He dropped out of Brandeis University in 1968, then pursued a career as a disk jockey (but was fired after only four months on the job). He then learned computer programming, and in 1974 founded the company that later became Powersoft as a one-person contract programming business.[3]
During the 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.[4] During Kertzman's tenure, Network Computer Incorporated refocused its business from network computer hardware to interactive television, and changed its name to Liberate Technologies.[5]
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,[6] where as of 2014 he is "Managing Director".[7]
Kertzman described himself as "socially liberal, fiscally conservative" but not wanting to run for public office. Kertzman is also "an admitted couch potato". During a jam session in an industry meeting, Kertzman gave a rendition of a song entitled "Wild Thing".