Software Council of Southern California

If the 90’s were the era of IPO’s, will this be the decade of the M&A?

For start-ups and mid-market companies looking for a viable exit strategy, the buzz today is all about mergers and acquisitions. And prominent Southern California technology companies have been on both sides of the equation, with FoundStone, Linksys, LowerMyBills.com and Rent.com among the many acquisitions; and Sage, Epicor and Experian among those doing the acquiring.

Join us for the Software Council’s annual executive round table, where some of the region’s most notable CEOs and senior executives discuss the year that was—and give their insights on what 2006 has in store.

Hear our panelists discuss their own M&A experiences—what worked, what didn’t, and what they’d do differently if they had the chance to do it all again. Learn how acquisition targets maximize their sales price; and what their suitors do to keep the price down. Discover what new technologies and application areas are the up-and-coming targets, and what acquiring companies are looking for and how they find it.

Panelists:

About the Panel

Thomas Dollhopf - Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of IndX Software Corporation, a Siemens Company.
Mr. Dollhopf joined IndX in January 2004, at the time of the Siemens' acquisition and was responsible for the overall integration of IndX into Siemens. Before, Mr. Dollhopf co-founded Siemens Venture Capital (SVC). For 5 years, he was responsible for all Enterprise Software investments of Siemens - IndX being one of his investments. Prior to SVC, he held various positions at DaimlerChrysler and Siemens in Germany and the US. Mr. Dollhopf received an MBA (Dipl.-Kfm.) from the University of Bayreuth, Germany.

David Fournier - Chief Operating Officer of LoanToolbox.com
(formerly CEO of Seventh Wave Technology)

With over twenty five year’s senior management experience in the high technology and IT fields, David Fournier has managed organizations from startups to mature companies with over 400 employees. As CEO and senior manager for three start-up technology companies he helped raise over 25 million dollars in funding, leading two to acquisition, the other to a successful IPO. Mr. Fournier has assisted and invested in start-up Internet and technology companies and has consulted with companies looking to raise Venture Capital. He was a frequent speaker on the technology and software industry in Southern California. He served on the board of directors of the Southern California Software Council for 6 years and served as its Interim Executive Director

About LoanToolbox . They are the leading provider of turnkey web-based solutions to mortgage professional. We provide marketing materials, group networking, sales tools, educational content, real time industry updates, and the voice of experience and success.

Simon M.J. Horsman - Vice President and General Counsel
Simon Horsman is VP and General Counsel of PriceGrabber.com, LLC, a leader in comparison shopping. In December 2005, PriceGrabber.com was acquired by Experian for $485 million. Mr. Horsman has a broad range of experience in business/corporate law (including M&A), intellectual property, cross-border transactions and EU law. Mr. Horsman was at Slaughter and May in London, and was a partner at Neff Law Group (which merged with Greenberg Glusker in 2004) where he represented some of the world's leading software and Internet companies. Mr. Horsman serves on the Board of the Software Council of Southern California, and Chairs its LA Chapter. Mr. Horsman was named a "Rising Star" among Southern California lawyers in 2005 by Law & Politics and Los Angeles Magazine. Mr. Horsman received a BA with honors from the University of Manchester, England, and his law degree from the College of Law, Guildford, England. Mr. Horsman is admitted to practice in both California and England and Wales.

Jason Hutchinson - Managing Director, Mergers & Acquisitions and Head, Technology Group of Houlihan Lokey Howard & Zukin
Mr. Hutchinson is a Managing Director in Houlihan Lokey's San Francisco office. He is head of the Technology Investment Banking Group. Mr. Hutchinson specializes in a variety of merger and acquisitions advisories, including divestitures, recapitalizations, defensive advisories and fairness opinions. He has been an M&A banker his entire career and has advised clients from $100 million to $50 billion on numerous mergers and acquisitions and other strategic transactions. Prior to joining Houlihan Lokey, Mr. Hutchinson was a Managing Director with Piper Jaffray and led their Technology M&A group. He advised clients such as Intersil, Avid Technology, Sage, National Semiconductor, Macrovision and Alpha Industries. Prior to joining Piper Jaffray, Mr. Hutchinson was a Managing Director in Merrill Lynch's Technology Mergers and Acquisitions Group, where he specialized in communications technology and advised clients such as Solectron, Novellus Systems, Cisco Systems, Sanmina and KLA-Tencor. Before joining Merrill Lynch, Mr. Hutchinson was with Montgomery Securities where he also served as a member of the firm's Fairness Opinion Commitment Committee. Mr. Hutchinson graduated with a B.A. degree from Tufts University, an Associate degree from Oxford University and received his J. D. from Emory University, Order of the Coif, Law Review.