Steve Brotman
Managing Director

Steve Brotman is a Managing Director of SAVP. Prior to founding SAVP in 1998, Mr. Brotman was the founder, CEO and Chairman of AdOne Classified Network, the nation's leading classified ad web site. AdOne has since merged with PowerAdz, and renamed PowerOne Media (www.poweronemedia.com).

While at SAVP, Mr. Brotman was a finalist for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2000, named in Crain's 2001 Tech 100. While at AdOne, Mr. Brotman, in 1997, was selected for Crain's Top 25 Players Shaping Silicon Alley and the 1995 Top 40 under 40 among New York businessmen.

Mr. Brotman received his undergraduate degree in Economics from Duke University and a joint JD/MBA degree with honors from Washington University. In between degrees, Mr. Brotman worked for Andersen Consulting as an associate doing systems design and integration and enhanced workflow and productivity projects.

Mr. Brotman currently serves on the boards of Critical Mention, Knovel (Observer) and Managed Systems, and has previously served on the boards of  GameTrust (acquired by Real Networks in 2007), Medidata (Observer), DataSynapse (Observer), 7thOnline and Bla-bla (acquired by UGO in 2001 and sold to Hearst in 2007). In addition, Mr. Brotman has served on the board of the MIT Enterprise Forum and as a mentor and judge for various Columbia Business School entrepreneurial programs.

Steve can be reached at: steve@savp.com or check out more about Steve's personal philosophy.

Brian Hirsch
Managing Director

Brian Hirsch is a Managing Director of SAVP and a Co-Chairman of the Fund’s Investment Committee. Prior to joining SAVP in 2004, Mr. Hirsch was a Principal at Sterling Venture Partners and led the firm’s investments in technology-related companies. Mr. Hirsch is currently a board member of Best Contrators, iKobo, Serious and YellowJacket Software and is a board observer at KnowledgeStorm.

Prior to joining Sterling Venture Partners, Mr. Hirsch was a vice president at ABN AMRO Private Equity (“AAPE”), the U.S. venture capital group of ABN AMRO N.V., one of the world’s largest banks. Before joining AAPE, Mr. Hirsch worked as a senior consultant at KPMG in the Information, Communications & Entertainment (ICE) practice, where his clients included General Electric, CBS/Westinghouse and the Tribune Company.

James B. Lockhart
Associate

JB joined the fund in June 2006. Previously, he was a Manager in Disney's Strategic Planning Group, where he worked on the acquisition of Pixar and the formulation of Disney’s new media investment strategy. Prior to Disney, JB worked in media investment banking and technology strategic investments at Lehman Brothers. He received a BA with honors from Yale and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Somak Chattopadhyay
Associate

Somak Chattopadhyay joined GSAVP in 2007. Previously, he was at Edison Venture Fund, where he sourced and evaluated investments in the tech-enabled services sector and launched the firm’s New York office. Prior thereto, Somak held senior marketing/business development roles at Medtower, a pharmaceutical IT software company and Dealtime, a comparison shopping company that was later acquired by eBay. Somak started his career in investment banking at Broadview International and was previously director of the Software & Information Industry Association. Somak is on the Executive Committee of The Indus Entrepreneurs (Tri-State chapter) and an advisor to numerous other regional and national technology/entrepreneurship organizations. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from MIT and an MBA from Columbia.