Renowned VC, Philanthropist, TiE Charter Member, Vish Mishra Named a Distinguished Speaker at the VC Taskforce 2014 ICA Gala

PALO ALTO, CA--(Marketwired - Nov 5, 2014) - Renowned entrepreneur, venture capitalist and charter member of TiE, Vish Mishra, will be a distinguished speaker at VC Taskforce's 6th Annual Innovation Catalyst Awards Gala to be held November 13. At the event, Mishra will share the wealth of lessons he's learned in his speech, "Mind and Money: Immigrants and VCs role in fueling the Economy." This year's Innovation Catalyst Award (ICA), which will honor TiE, is being held at the Palo Alto Hills Golf and Country Club. Mishra is a Venture Director at Clearstone Venture Partners. He was listed as one of 51 most influential global Indian men.

A respected philanthropist, Mishra is dedicated to several social causes. He is the recipient of the prestigious Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation's Heritage Award and Asian Pacific American Leadership Institute's Civic Leadership award. He joined Clearstone in 2002 with over 30 years of leadership and management experience in the high tech industry including software, Internet, networking and telecommunications. Clearstone has nearly $700M in committed capital with notable portfolio companies like PayPal (eBay), Rubicon Project (RUBI) BillDesk (India), The Hive and The Fabric. Mishra prides himself on being a "mentor capitalist" who sits or has sat on boards of many venture-backed companies including Telera, Quantros, Novariant and CloudVolumes.

"Mishra has been part of some of the most successful ventures in the Valley," said June Riley, CEO, VC Taskforce. "We are very happy and honored to have him be part of the program this year. He is an inspiration for many budding entrepreneurs in the Valley, and I am confident there is a lot the audience can learn from him. We are excited to have him share his thoughts with our audience at the Gala."

Mishra will also present an award to Somy Ali, founder of No More Tears, Inc., for outstanding contribution to the cause of abused women and children. No More Tears is the charity being recognized at the event.

"We are honored to have Mishra speak at this occasion and share the insights he brings from over three decades of experience. Committed to giving back to the community, he has played a key role in the success of the TiE since its inception as ex-President of TiE Silicon Valley and now as a Charter Member. As a VC, he brings a passion and commitment to nurturing entrepreneurs that is very unique," said Monika Raj of the ICA 2014 Awards Executive Committee. "The entrepreneurs who have had the opportunity to work with Mishra have not just built very strong brands and have had very successful exits but also benefited from the hands-on mentoring."

Described by the San Jose Mercury News as "Silicon Valley personified," Mishra came to the United States from India 47 years ago to attend North Dakota State University and then moved to Minneapolis for a job with Control Data. He moved to the Valley in the late 1970s, where he went to work for Amdahl and National Semiconductor and started organically building the kind of support network that TiE now tries to jump-start for entrepreneurs looking for help. He teamed up with Kanwal Rekhi to launch Excelan, a networking company that sold in 1989 for $225 million, and then went on to launch a series of companies and sit on a long list of company boards.

Mishra holds a BS in Electrical Engineering from the Institute of Technology at Benares Hindu University, and an MS in Electrical Engineering from North Dakota State University.

For information about the gala or a sponsorship, contact June Riley at june@vctaskforce.com. Gala tickets can be purchased on the website here.

About the Innovation Catalyst Award
VC Taskforce established the Innovation Catalyst Award in 2009 to acknowledge and celebrate the contributions made by visionary leaders in the investment community. In 2013, VC Taskforce honored legendary female venture capitalist Ann Winblad, founding partner and managing director of Hummer Winblad Venture Partners. The 2012, 2011, 2010 and 2009 honorees were the Draper Family, Reid Hoffman, Richard "Dick" Kramlich and Franklin "Pitch" Johnson, respectively. The VC Taskforce 2014 ICA Gala is an invitation-only event. Space is limited and advance reservations are required.

About VC Taskforce
"Enhancing collaboration in the venture community"

Founded in 2001, VC Taskforce is an organization that provides forums for real-time information exchange and dialogue through a series of networking events, panels, keynote discussions, workshops and roundtable meetings conducted by investors and business and industry experts that support venture capitalists, institutional investors, angels, companies looking for funding and venture-backed company executives in managing their businesses for maximum success. Visionary thinking, uncensored questions and opinionated discussions around pressing issues that face members are hallmarks of events. Today, more than 17,000 members and participants have been actively involved in VC Taskforce. www.vctaskforce.com.