Our Directors bring a wealth of experience from the diversified fields of law, education, technology, and medicine.

• G. Gervaise Davis III, Esquire
• Chris A. Eyre
• James R. Fruchterman, Chairman
• James E. Kleckner, Ph.D.
• J. Leighton Read, M.D.

G. Gervaise Davis III, Esquire

Gervaise Davis was the founding principal of the former Monterey, California, law firm of Davis & Schroeder, a boutique business and intellectual property firm, specializing in matters relating to protection, development and licensing of software for businesses and non-profits, and the many complex legal issues arising from the Internet. Mr. Davis is an expert in copyright law, trademarks, domain names, trade secrets and intellectual property licensing. He has, for many years, advised multinational and domestic for profit and non-profit companies in this field. He currently serves as a frequent expert witness, mediator, or arbitrator in high tech litigation and dispute matters. Mr. Davis, now retired from active law practice, is a member of the State Bar of California and the Bar of the District of Columbia, as well as being admitted to practice before the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Tax Court, most of the U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal, the Federal Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, and numerous U.S. District Courts across the country. Mr. Davis has served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at Santa Clara University Law School, where he taught courses in Intellectual Property and the Internet. He graduated from Georgetown University Law Center, Washington, D.C., with his J.D., and also holds a B.S. in Foreign Service from Georgetown.

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Chris A. Eyre

Chris Eyre is a managing director of Legacy Venture, a unique venture fund devoted to amplifying the size and effectiveness of philanthropy. He was a founding partner of Merrill Pickard Anderson & Eyre early in the venture capital industry’s formation.. Chris did step back from originating venture investments for a season to spend more time as a father of a large family and engage in philanthropic and non-profit activities. In his church, he served for five years as the lay minister of a congregation. Legacy has allowed him to combine his business, volunteer, and philanthropic worlds into one. He is an inaugural member of The Philanthropic Workshop West (TPW), on the Board of the American Leadership Forum, a partner of SVP Bay Area, on the board of Benetech, and a member of several other organizations dedicated to advancing the field of philanthropy. Chris holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.S. from Utah State University.

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James R. Fruchterman, Chairman

A technology entrepreneur and engineer, Jim Fruchterman has been a rocket scientist, founded two of the foremost optical character recognition companies, and developed a successful line of reading machines for the blind. His efforts at Benetech concentrate on developing technology tools for human rights groups and people with disabilities. Mr. Fruchterman has been active in public service, with two stints on U.S. federal advisory committees, and has won numerous awards for his work in the social sector. Mr. Fruchterman was named a Schwab Social Entrepreneur of 2003, which has included speaking three times at the World Economic Forums in Davos, Switzerland. Mr. Fruchterman believes that technology is the ultimate leveler, allowing disadvantaged people achieve more equality in society.

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James E. Kleckner, Ph.D.

Dr. James Kleckner is CTO at Value Monitoring, Inc., a registered investment advisor.  He has also served as CTO at Currenex, Inc and C*ATS Software, Inc., and has worked with venture firms and startups to set technical and business direction. Dr. Kleckner was a founder of Cadence Design Systems, now a $1B software and services company. He received a B.S. from the California Institute of Technology and a Ph.D. in EECS from the University of California, Berkeley.

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J. Leighton Read, M.D.

Dr. Leighton Read is a biotechnology entrepreneur and investor. He is a General Partner at Alloy Ventures, a private equity firm focused on information technology and the life sciences. Dr. Read founded Aviron, a biopharmaceutical company focused on vaccines for infectious disease, where he served as Chairman and CEO until 1999 and Director until its acquisition by MedImmune. In 1988, he co-founded Affymax NV, under the direction of Dr. Alejandro Zaffaroni. Dr. Read received a B.S. from Rice University in Psychology and Biology (1973), an MD from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio (1976) and completed internal medicine training at Duke and the Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston where he held appointments at the Harvard Medical School and School of Public Health.

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