William Neuhauser

I’m an "Oregon native" since 1975, when I came here to go to Reed College (http://web.reed.edu).

Business Background.

I am a Managing Member of FBR CoMotion Venture Capital, LP, a venture capital firm focusing on early-stage investments in the pacific northwest region.

Prior to co-founding CoMotion, I served in a variety of executive management, marketing and engineering positions during 20 years in software industries. Work history included: Walt Disney's Infoseek/Go Network company after it acquired Quando, the firm which I co-founded with David Billstrom in 1996; multimedia company Media Mosaic, later recast as Quando; six years with Paris-based Chorus Systèmes, SA, maker of distributed microkernel operating systems for large OEM applications and served as President of its US operation, Chorus Systems, in the USA for three years; Mentor Graphics and Oregon Software.

I have been an investor and advisor in a several Northwest technology ventures over the years.

Primary "drivers" in my work have been to create and work with world-class teams that build great products and to participate in growing entrepeneurial companies.

Non-profit Activities.

A charter member of the board since its inception in 2000, I have chaired the Board of Directors of the Virginia Garcia Memorial Foundation (http://virginiagarcia.org/foundation.html) from 2004 - 2007.

A member since the late 1970s and a member of the board since 2000, I chaired the Board of Trustees of the Nature Conservancy in Oregon (http://www.nature.org/oregon) from 2006 - 2008.

I am also a member of the steering committee of !Salud! (http://www.saludauction.org), of the Oregon Community Foundation's Portland Metropolitan Leadership Council (http://www.ocf1.org), and a past member of the Reed College Technical Advisory Committee.

Personal Background.

I got my Bachelor of Arts in Biology from Reed College in 1981, where mixing long nights learning the intricacies of UNIX with challenging expeditions to the summit of Mt. Hood, proved to be a perfect training for being a high-tech entrepreneur.

I retain much of my fluency in French and all my passion for fine Pinot Noir and Epoisses cheese, all acquired while in France. After rejeuvenating our 1910 Bungalow ("getting her ready for her next 80 years"), my wife and I have undertaken to "remodel" 40 acres of overgrown pastureland and forest in Oregon's Yamhill County wine country.

Political Background.

Originally an independent, the Republican party made me a Democrat. Republicans keep birthing people like Joe McCarthy, Richard Nixon, and George W. Bush. Their divisive, fear-mongering tactics and tyrannical abuses of power are shameful and make them and their party unfit to govern.
I run a political blog, Progressive Viewpoints (http://www.progressiveviewpoints.com). Since 2006, I have been chair of the Yamhill County Democrats (http://www.ycdemocrats.org).