Roger Novak brings over 25 years of experience as a venture capitalist, angel investor, and operating principal. Novak Biddle Venture Partners (NBVP) is a premier early-stage venture capital firm backed by some of the country’s most prestigious investors. Each of NBVP’s first three funds is ranked in the top quartile of all venture funds for returns.

Prior to co-founding NBVP, Roger was a private investor. In 1984, he was co-founder and three-fund general partner of Grotech Partners, where he primarily focused on information technology, with two of his investments, Verity and Secure Computing, among the top 10 performing IPOs of 1995. Earlier in his career, Roger led the investment banking effort at Baker, Watts & Co., where he served on the firm’s executive committee.

During his career, Roger has served on many public, private and civic boards. Currently, he serves on the boards of Blackboard, Inc. (NASDAQ: BBBB) where he is lead director, 4GL School Solutions, Trusted Computer Solutions, Synchris, and CounterStorm Government. He also serves on the advisory boards of several venture funds. He is a trustee of The Walters Art Museum and serves a spokesperson for the National Venture Capital Association.

In 2000, Roger was appointed to the State of Virginia’s Joint Commission on Science and Technology, where he served on an advisory committee to examine the digital divide, as well as telecommunications, workforce shortages, and education issues. He also served as a member of Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government’s project to examine the funding gap between innovation and commercialization. In March 2001, Roger participated in President Bush’s High Technology Summit at the White House. The summit was a forum of the nation’s top business and technology executives who discussed strategies for a national technology agenda.