Please join Startup Grind Austin for a special night with Alan Knitowski, CEO of Phunware. Alan is a successful serial entrepreneur with multiple post Internet and technology bubble exits to such companies as Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), Level 3 Communications (NASDAQ: LVLT) and Internet Security Systems (NASDAQ: ISSX). He has been a Founder, Executive, Angel Investor and Fund Manager throughout his career in the private sector after serving in the United States Army as an Airborne, Air Assault and Ranger qualified Captain in the Corps of Engineers both domestically and abroad. He has also created and managed companies that have won both regional and national awards for growth, including the 2008 Deloitte Technology Fast 50 Orange County and the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 North America awards. As a mobile industry expert Alan is frequently quoted in trade publications and is a frequent panelist in industry events. Previously, Alan was President of Alternative Investments for Curo Capital LLC and both Managing Director and President of Strategic Investments for Trymetris Capital Management LLC. In the past he was a Co-Founder and Director of Telverse Communications, a next-generation advanced services ASP focused on wholesale communications services for carriers, service providers and value-added resellers, which was acquired in July 2003 by Level 3 Communications. Before this time, Alan was Director of Marketing for the Voice Technology Group at Cisco Systems and was responsible for business, market and community development, including business planning and strategy for Cisco’s global packet communications initiatives. In November 2000, Alan joined Cisco as part of the Vovida Networks acquisition, where he served as Co-Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer and led the company from idea conception through its eventual acquisition by Cisco. In the past, Alan was an Angel Investor and Director of vCIS, a proactive software behavior analysis and anti-virus security company, and helped negotiate and structure its acquisition by Internet Security Systems in October 2002, which was subsequently acquired by IBM (NYSE: IBM) in August 2006. Additionally, he was a Founding Director of both the Open Multimedia Protocol Alliance (OMPA) and the International Softswitch Consortium (ISC) in 1999, which were subsequently merged and scaled to nearly 200 companies prior to renaming itself to become the International Packet Communications Consortium (IPCC) in 2003. During his tenure at the consortium, Alan served as its Vice Chairman, Co-Chair of its Government Liaison Working Group and one of its external evangelists. Alan has worked in various operational, line management and consulting roles with The Results Group, Nortel Networks, Hewlett-Packard and the United States Army. Alan holds an MBA from the University of California at Berkeley, an MS in industrial engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a BS in industrial engineering from the University of Miami (Magna Cum Laude). He has delivered and moderated general and executive sessions at various events and conferences within the communications industry, has appeared on radio and television to discuss next-generation networking, packet communications and outsourcing and has delivered educational sessions on next-generation networking and packet communications to the United States Federal Communications Commission. Alan resides in Austin, Texas, with his wife Kelly and their four young children, and currently serves as a member of the President’s Council of the University of Miami. He also serves as a member of the Central Texas Angel Network and the Austin Technology Council.