Walter M. (Jerry) Bird

Jerry is the president of MassVentures, a firm he joined in 2005. He has over 25 years experience advising and financing entrepreneurial-driven companies, the past 15 in venture capital. Prior to joining MassVentures in 2005, Jerry was president of Boston-based Claflin Capital Management which he joined in 1996, becoming president in 2001. At Claflin, he led over a dozen investments in early-stage technology companies focused on software and Internet-enabled businesses. While at Claflin, he frequently co-invested with MassVentures becoming familiar with its team and its investment approach. From 1986 to 1996 he worked at Bank of Boston in their energy financing group, operations group and was a vice president of the international investment banking division. He is a frequent speaker on venture capital and entrepreneurship. Jerry earned his undergraduate degree in geology from Dartmouth college and his MBA from Dartmouth’s Amos Tuck School of Business. Throughout his professional career, Jerry has operated both as an investor and an active partner to entrepreneurs building their companies. His direct investment experience covers dozens of companies and in many cases as the lead or co-lead investor. Several of these companies were acquired by significant publicly-traded companies. Among the companies Jerry has been on the board of are e-Travel (acquired by Oracle), Andover.net (Nasdaq: ANDV, purchased by VA Linux), LinkSoft technologies (purchased by QuadraMed), NexCen Technologies (purchased by UCMS), and Bitpipe Inc. (purchased by TechTarget). He currently is a board member or board observer at MassVentures’ portfolio companies Forerun, lifeIMAGE and uTest. He also serves on the advisory board of MassDevelopment’s Emerging Technology Fund, and the Board of the Mass Technology Transfer Center. He serves on the boards of Massachusetts Audubon, Crossroads for Kids, and the Massachusetts chapter of the Trust for Public Land. In his free time, Jerry loves to ski and bike.