Team

Mike Burkland, Managing Partner

Mike is a seasoned executive with a track record of driving value and bringing strategic focus and operational excellence to technology companies. His 11 years of experience serving as a CEO span several domains including systems management, content management, security and CRM. He has led numerous private companies through successful acquisitions by larger public companies.

Prior to founding Cornice Partners, Mike served as Managing Director for The Interim CEO Network (ICN), heading up the firm's Strategic Advisory Practice. During his tenure with ICN, Mike advised several early-stage companies through successful transactions including Epiance (licensed technology to Cybernet), TravelPost (acquired by SideStep) and WetFeet (acquired by Universum). Prior to heading up ICN's Strategic Advisory Practice, Mike completed successful interim CEO assignments at Hipbone, Inc., and White PJ, Inc. At Hipbone, Mike was hired by the board to operate the company while identifying and evaluating strategic alternatives. He successfully positioned the company for acquisition receiving multiple offers and completing the sale of the company to Kana Software. At White PJ, Mike led the company through a successful shift in its marketing strategy to focus on the small and medium business market.

Previously, Mike was CEO of Omniva Policy Systems, a pioneer in enterprise policy management and email security, where he built and implemented the company's initial go-to-market strategy for the enterprise market. He also spent four years as CEO of Eventus Software, a leading provider of enterprise content management software, where Mike successfully led its acquisition by Segue Software. Mike grew Eventus from pre-revenue stage to over 150 enterprise customers and successfully repositioned the company from being a reseller of systems management products to a leading developer of enterprise content management software.

Prior to Eventus, Mike held various executive-level positions with Patrol Software, a leader in systems management software, where he was responsible for negotiating the successful sale of the company to BMC. Earlier in his career, Mike was a sales executive with Oracle.

He holds MBA and BA degrees from the University of California at Berkeley.

Stephen S. Smith, Advisory Partner

Steve Smith currently serves as Senior Managing Director at Arma Partners, an independent investment banking firm focused exclusively on corporate finance advisory services to technology companies. He is also a Managing Director at The Interim CEO Network, the leader in providing interim CEOs to high technology companies.

Previously, Steve was a Managing Director of Broadview International, a leading global M&A advisor and private equity investor in the IT, communications and media industries. Steve is widely recognized for his leadership in the development of Broadview's Silicon Valley practice. He joined Broadview after seventeen years in executive roles in management consulting and with leading companies in the components and computing markets, including McKinsey, Fairchild, Amdahl and as CEO of Reference Technology, the world's first CD-ROM applications company. Steve served as a Managing Director of Broadview until being named Vice Chairman in 2000. He became an Advisory Director in 2002 and retired after the firm's sale in late 2003 to Jefferies & Co.

Steve is an acknowledged thought leader on topics relating to growth and shareholder value creation through external corporate development. He has made frequent public appearances as a moderator, speaker and panelist at IT industry events. He has been a guest lecturer at the Harvard Business School, the Graduate School of Business at Stanford and the Haas School of Business at Berkeley.

Steve is on the boards of Sendmail, Inc.; That Man May See (an organization affiliated with the University of California, San Francisco supporting research in advanced diagnosis and treatment of ophthalmologic diseases); The American Leadership Forum; and the Computer History Museum. He has served on the boards of E-Tek Dynamics, a leading manufacturer of optical components that merged with JDS Uniphase in 2000; the Information Industry Association; the Association for Corporate Growth - Silicon Valley chapter; as well as the Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired.

Steve holds an MBA degree from Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar and an engineering degree with high honors from Oregon State University.