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Steve Papermaster is the Chairman of Powershift Ventures, LP, a venture development company in Austin, Texas, focused on early stage technology companies. Through Powershift and affiliates, he has served as chairman, board member, investor and advisor to companies including Vignette Corporation (Nasdaq: VIGN), Perficient, Inc. (Nasdaq: PRFT), TippingPoint Technologies (Nasdaq: TPTI) and ROME Corporation.
Mr. Papermaster grew up with the technology industry. Prior to founding Powershift Ventures, he was Founder, Chairman and CEO of BSG Corporation, a global software and systems integration company. BSG grew successfully to over $100 million in revenues before its business units entered into public and private transactions, completed in 1997. He began his career as a consultant with Andersen Consulting, now Accenture.
Currently, Mr. Papermaster spends much of his energy on community, national and international initiatives to strengthen the technology industry and the U.S. economy. In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Mr. Papermaster as a member of the President's Council of Advisors in Science and Technology (PCAST). The purpose of PCAST is to advise the President on matters of science and technology policy, and to assist the President’s National Science and Technology Council in securing private sector participation in its activities. In this capacity, he serves as Chairman of both the Energy Committee and Sustaining the Nation’s Innovation Ecosystems Committee. He is the Co-chairman for the Nanotechnology, Energy and Environment Committee, as well as being a member of the Technology for Combating Terrorism Committee, Homeland Security Committee, and Information Technology Manufacturing and Competitiveness Committee. He is also a member of the Secretary of Energy’s Advisory Board for the Future of Science.
Mr. Papermaster’s public service covers a broad range of expertise in focus areas such as global e-commerce, trade and export policies, and Internet privacy issues. He has served as a member of the Selection Committee for the annual President’s Commission on White House Fellowships. He is Founder and Chairman of Technology Network Texas (TechNet), a national high-technology advocacy group for policy issues. As a member of the TechNet National Executive Committee, he works to bring together CEOs from across the country to form effective bipartisan working relationships with national and state political leaders. In support of his many economic based activities, he founded the Innovation Alliance, a network of national leaders created to examine and accelerate the role of technology-based innovation as the fundamental engine of growth for the U.S., as well as next-generation global economy.
Mr. Papermaster has been a featured speaker at Fortune Magazine’s Global Leadership Forum. He received the 1996 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Austin and has served as a national and world judge for the Entrepreneur of the Year awards since 1997. In 2001, he served as the United States’ judge for the World Entrepreneur of the Year award. Mr. Papermaster is active as a community leader with organizations such as the American Cancer Society, the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Dell Jewish Community Center. He co-founded, co-chaired and was a financial supporter of 360 Summits from 1999 through 2002, Austin’s leadership forum for bridging the technology industry.
Mr. Papermaster received a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance with highest honors from the University of Texas at Austin. | 