The Aurora Funds Promotes Jan Bouten to PrincipalResearch Triangle Park, NC – April 23, 2007 – The Aurora Funds, a leading seed and early stage venture capital firm, today announced that it has promoted Jan Bouten to the role of Principal. In his new position, Bouten will play even more of a leadership role with Aurora and its portfolio companies. "Jan's recent promotion is a reflection of the hard work and dedication he has provided Aurora over the past 4 years, as well as the leadership and guidance he has shared with our portfolio companies," stated Scott Albert, Managing General Partner of Aurora. Bouten joined The Aurora Funds in 2003 as part of the investment team focusing on Information Technology and was promoted to Senior Associate in 2005. He came to Aurora with strong operating experience in the high tech industry. At Aurora, Bouten spends his time sourcing and evaluating new investment opportunities, and providing strategic and marketing support to existing portfolio companies. Bouten currently serves on the Board of Directors for several companies at Aurora, including Visitar, Inc. and Nextreme Thermal Solutions, Inc. and is an observer to the Boards of Centice, Inc., Recordant, Inc. and WordCell, Inc. In addition, Bouten has lectured at both Duke University and NC State University, is an adjunct professor at Duke's Pratt School of Engineering, and is heavily involved in North Carolina's and Georgia's entrepreneurial community through the CED and ATDC organizations, respectfully. Prior to joining Aurora, Bouten worked in sales engineering and business development at Larscom, and was part of the core team that successfully built the European presence of this telecommunication equipment manufacturer. He gained hands-on experience at a startup running technical support for K-NET R&D, a video conferencing manufacturer. Prior to that, he was a support engineer and later a marketing engineer at Madge Networks, a leading enterprise networking manufacturer. During his time as an undergraduate student, Bouten founded and ran a software and hardware engineering company. Bouten holds a BS in Software Engineering from Fontys University in Holland, an MSc in Human-Computer Systems focusing on Artificial Intelligence from DeMontfort University in the UK, and an MBA from Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, where he received the Dean's Recognition Award for Leadership. About The Aurora FundsFounded in 1994, The Aurora Funds is a venture capital firm that provides capital, connections and strategic guidance to entrepreneurs with early stage health care and information technology companies in the Southeastern and mid-Atlantic United States. The firm manages over $230 million in five venture funds. The firm's six investment professionals have over 85 years of combined venture capital investing and operational experience. More information is available at www.aurorafunds.com. Media Contact
Shawn Ramsey |