EarlyWin Resources

Curriculum Vitae

Full Name:    Karl Klingsheim
Born:             1956
Nationality:   Norwegian
Credentials: Professor, Dr.Ing.
Synopsis:     Dr. Klingsheim has extensive hands-on experience as an investor, as a director, as an executive, as an entrepreneur, and as a researcher. Prior to founding EarlyWin, he has been instrumental in the formation, fundraising, and business development for multiple start-up companies. Dr. Klingsheim has also served as an executive with Telenor and as a Director for several companies and incubators.

Work Experience:

10/2003-present: General Manager, NTNU Technology Transfer Office AS

4/2003-present: Deputy Program Manager, Innovation Mid-Norway

9/2002-present: Founding Partner and Board Member, Nukleus AS.

5/2002-present: Chairman of the Board, Dossier Solutions AS.

4/2002-present: Chairman of the Board, Mison AS.

3/2002-present: Professor II, The Entrepreneurship and Innovation Group at NTNU.

3/2002-present: Founder and Principal, EarlyWin.

10/1997-2/2002: Co-founder and Chairman of the Board, Clustra Systems Inc., Oakland CA, with subsidiaries in Trondheim and in London. Founded the company in 1997 as a spin-out from NTNU and Telenor (the Norwegian telephone company). Served as its Chief Executive Officer and built the company from 13 engineers in Trondheim to 100+ employees worldwide with corporate headquarters in Oakland, California. Raised US$ 35million in funding from leading venture capital groups in USA and strategic investors in Europe. Clustra's patented zero-downtime database-technology offered zero-downtime functionality for telecommunications, e-business, banking and other realtime7*24 applications. Awarded an "O-visa" from the U.S. Department of Justice. Sold the company to Sun Microsystems in February 2002.

5/1995-9/1997: Vice President and Chief Technical Officer, Norcom Networks Corporation in Reston VA. Joined the company at it’s inception in Seattle WA. Responsible for the acquisition, integration, and operation of all technical infrastructure to provide fully integrated wireless data solutions for end-users in the transportation markets, based on real-time satellite communications with ubiquitous coverage throughout North America. Norcom was subsequently merged with Wireless Matrix Corporation in Canada and listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange.

4/1992-5/1995: Vice President, Telenor and General Manager, Telenor Research, Oslo, Norway. Responsible for all research activities in the Telenor Group, and head of Telenor Research with a staff of ~300. Carried out major reorganization to refocus from academic research to business development, concurrently with the transition of Telenor from a government agency ("PTT") to a limited company in a competitive marketplace.

5/1989-3/1992: Director of Research, SINTEF DELAB. Responsible for commercial contract research in the fields of solid state electronics, optical systems, and electronics design, in close collaboration with faculty and staff at NTH, University of Trondheim.

6/1990: Completed postgraduate studies at NTH, earning a Dr.Ing. (~PhD) degree.

12/1988-4/1989: Visiting Scientist (by invitation), University of Southwestern Louisiana, USA. Research in design theory at the Center for Advanced Computer Studies (with grant from the Norwegian Research Council).

9/1985-12/1988: Research Scientist, SINTEF DELAB. Project leader and contributor in contract research for Norwegian and international customers, focusing on design and test of electronic systems.

10/1983-8/1985: Manager/Project Leader, software product development, GE Calma, TX USA. Providing commercial CAE software systems for customers world wide.

5/1983: Completed undergraduate work at NTH, earning a Siv.Ing. (~MsEE ) degree.

6/1982-9/1983: Scientific Assistant, EE Department, NTH, University of Trondheim.

1978-1982: Student, NTH, University of Trondheim.

1977-1978: Radio officer, Norwegian merchant marine, world wide and deep sea.

1976-1977: Radio officer, Norwegian Armed Forces.

1976-1977: Student, Commercial College, Kristiansand S.

1975-1976: Radioskolen Hærens Samband, Jørstadmoen (Norwegian Armed Forces).

Current Board Memberships:

2003-present: Member, Advisory Board, Viking Venture (Trondheim)

2003-present: Member, Advisory Board, Sinvent Venture (Trondheim)

2002-present: Member, Board of Directors, Ceetron ASA (Trondheim).

2002-present: Chairman, Board of Directors, Mison AS (Trondheim).

2002-present: Deputy, Board of Directors, SINTEF (Trondheim).

2002-present: Chairman, Board of Directors, Nukleus AS (Trondheim)

2001-present: Member, Advisory Board, Telenor Venture AS (Oslo)

2000-present: Chairman, Board of Directors, Dossier Solutions AS (Trondheim)

Former Board Memberships:

1998-2002: Chairman, Board of Directors, Clustra Inc. and Clustra Systems Inc. (USA)

1999-2002: Chairman, Board of Directors, Clustra AS (Trondheim)

1999-2002: Chairman, Board of Directors, Clustra Systems Ltd (UK)

1993-1995: Member, Board of Directors, Telenor Venture AS (Oslo)

1993-1995: Board Member "Industry and Energy ", appointed to the first Board after major reorganization of publicly funded research in Norway, The Research Council of Norway.

1993-1995: Member of Advisory Council to Norwegian Telecom Museum

1992-1995: Member, Board of Directors, UNIK, University of Oslo

1992-1995: Co-founder and Member, Board of Directors, Campus Kjeller (Kjeller/Oslo)

1992-1995: Norwegian delegate to COST Technical Committee Telecommunications

1992-1995: Member of EURESCOM General Assembly (sole Norwegian member)

1992-1995: Member of Advisory Council to SINTEF DELAB

Professional Activities:

Co-organized and co-chaired an international conference on high-tech start-ups, "TrondTech 2002" in Trondheim, September 2002.

Co-organized "TrondTech 2000", sponsored by The Norwegian-American Chamber of Commerce, in Trondheim, May 2000.

Member: The Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences (NTVA) since 1992.

Chaired NTVA task force in 1993 to promote a more independent status of the Norwegian Institute of Technology than was proposed by the Norwegian Minister of Church, Education, and Research; co-authored NTVA report 4-94 "The Norwegian Institute of Technology and the New Act on Higher Education".

Co-organized NTVA seminar "Organizational Learning and Experience Transfer", Trondheim,1993; co-authored NTVA report 1-94 "Organizational Learning and Experience Transfer".

Co-organized international NTVA seminar "Design Theory and Its Applications", Trondheim, 1991; authored NTVA report 1-91 "Design Theory and Its Applications".

Co-founder and Program Manager: EDIT (Engineering Design and Innovation Theories), NTNU, 1989-1992.

Co-organized international NTVA seminar "Microelectronics in the Information Age", Trondheim, 1988.

Co-founder and Norwegian Program Manager: NOGAP (Nordic GaAs Program), 1986-1988.

Member: IEEE (The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) since 1980.

Book Contributions and Dissertations:

K.Klingsheim (1995): "Atomer og bits", Fra Kardemomme by til Cyberspace, (in Norwegian,) Johannes Moe (Ed), The Norwegian Academy of Technical Sciences, Trondheim.

J.Peter Collett & B.O.H.Lossius (1993): Visjon Forskning Virkelighet; TF 25 år, (in Norwegian,) Telenor, Oslo.

E.J.Aas, K.Klingsheim & T.Steen (1992): "Aspects of Design Quality Models; To err is human - to correct is divine", Economics of Design and Test for Electronic Circuits and Systems, A.P.Ambler, M.Abadir & S.Sastry (Eds.), Ellis Horwood, Herts GB.

K.Klingsheim (1990): VLSI Design Theory; Concurrent Decision Cycles in VLSI Systems Design, Dr.Ing. Dissertation, NTH, Trondheim Norway.

K.Klingsheim (1983): KAKTIC - A Test System for Integrated Circuits in MOS Technology, Siv.Ing. Thesis (in Norwegian), NTH, Trondheim Norway.

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