Executive Partners & Advisors

Mr. Robert Aquilina (Executive Partner) pursued his corporate career at AT&T, Inc. His last post at AT&T was as Co-President of AT&T Consumer Services and a member of the Chairmans Operating Group. Previously within AT&T, Mr. Aquilina led several business units as President of Europe, Middle East & Africa; Vice Chairman of AT&T Unisource; Vice Chairman of WorldPartners; Chairman of AT&T UK; and General Manager of Global Data Services. Mr. Aquilina served as an Industrial Partner of Ripplewood during the Principals tenure there and became an Executive Partner at Siris upon its founding. He previously served as the Co-Chairman of Flag Telecom Group Ltd., the Executive Chairman of MModal, TNS, and Web.com, and as a member of the Board of Directors of Japan Telecom, Inc., Digital River, PGi and Synchronoss. Mr. Aquilina is currently a member of the Board of Directors of Newfold Digital and TPx. Mr. Aquilina holds a Bachelor of Engineering from The Cooper Union and a M.B.A. from the University of Chicago. He served as a member of Cooper Unions Board of Trustees from 2000 to 2012.

Mr. Hubert de Pesquidoux (Executive Partner) is a former senior executive of Alcatel-Lucent SA, with a 21-year career until 2009. His last position was Chief Financial Officer of Alcatel-Lucent and President of its Enterprise Business Group. Mr. de Pesquidoux was also previously a member of the Alcatel Executive Committee and held various executive positions including President and Chief Executive Officer of Alcatel North America, Chief Executive Officer of Alcatel Canada (formerly Newbridge Networks) and Chief Financial Officer of Alcatel USA. Mr. de Pesquidoux has previously served as Chairman of the Board for Tekelec and PGi, and was a member of the Board of Directors of Thales, Radisys, PGi and TNS. Mr. de Pesquidoux is currently the Executive Chairman of Mavenir and Bearcom and a member of the Board of Directors of Tarana Wireless. He is also a member of the Board and Chairman of the Audit Committee for Sequans Communications.

Mr. Jeff Jacobson (Executive Partner) brings over 30 years of global experience in the industrial technology and imaging sectors, most recently as the CEO of Xerox Corporation, a $10 billion technology leader. As CEO of Xerox, he oversaw Xeroxs largest product launch in its more than 100-year-history and led the company through a strategic transformation, delivering best-in-class customer service, and driving innovation. In his previous role as president of Xerox Technology business, Mr. Jacobson led the companys Technology division, which offered a diverse portfolio of hardware, software and business services to customers ranging from small and medium sized businesses to multinational enterprises. He was responsible for worldwide strategy, sales channel operations, marketing, technical services and customer support, and product development, manufacturing and distribution. Prior to this role, Mr. Jacobson served as Xeroxs President, Global Graphic Communications. Prior to Xerox, Mr. Jacobson served as the Chairman, President and CEO of Presstek. Previously, Jeff was Chief Operating Officer of Eastman Kodak Companys $3.6 billion Graphic Communications Group, where he led the integration of six companies into an industry leader. He also served for five years as CEO of Kodak Polychrome, a $1.7 billion joint venture between Sun Chemical and Eastman Kodak. Mr. Jacobson is a graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo with a bachelors degree in Management and holds a masters degree in Industrial and Labor Relations from the Cornell School of Industrial Relations. He also earned a juris doctor degree from Elisabeth Haub School of Law at Pace University and is admitted to the bar in New York and New Jersey. Mr. Jacobson currently is the Executive Chairman and CEO of EFI and has previously served on the Board of Directors of Xerox, Presstek and Fuji Xerox.

Mr. John McCormack (Executive Partner) brings more than 30 years of expertise leading and scaling enterprise businesses in the cybersecurity and internet infrastructure sectors. He previously served as the Chief Executive Officer of Websense, including during the sale to a private equity fund and then to Raytheon. Mr. McCormack currently serves on the Boards of Directors for a number of leading enterprise software organizations, including TeeSnap, ThreatOptix, NeuShield, and Forcepoint (formerly Websense). Throughout his career, he has led and realized value-creation activities, including Ping Identitys initial public offering and AppRivers sale to Zix Corp.

Mr. Roderick Randall (Executive Partner) has spent over 25 years in the technology and computer networking industry as an entrepreneur, senior executive and venture capitalist. He was a founding partner at Vesbridge Partners and a General Partner at St. Paul Venture Capital, where he led the mobile investment practice. Previously, Mr. Randall was CMO of Lucent Technologies, and was Vice President of Marketing at Ascend. Prior to that, Mr. Randall was Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at Stratus Computer and General Manager of its SS7 business and was Vice President of Strategic Market Development at Madge Networks, following its 1996 acquisition of Teleos Communications. Mr. Randall had co-founded Teleos in 1987 and served many roles including CTO, Vice President of Marketing and Business Development and Vice President of WAN Access Technology. He began his career at AT&T Bell Labs and holds several U.S. patents. Currently, he is a member of the Board of Directors of Mavenir, Fisker Inc.(NYSE: FSR) and is Chairman of MagLev Aero, Inc.. Mr. Randall is also a member of the Board of Trustees of Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technologies and is member of the board of Overseers of PBS TV producer and broadcaster WGBH. Mr. Randall was previously a member of the Board of Directors of TNS, Tekelec, Airvana, Bytemobile, Bitfone, PGi, Polycom, Snowshore, Stratus, Teltier Technologies, ProQuent, FusionOne, Dynamicsoft and VisageMobile.

Mr. Ted Schell (Executive Partner) has worked in the telecom industry for over 20 years having last served as Sprint Corporations Senior Vice President for Strategy and Corporate development and as a member of its Management Committee from 1989-2000. Mr. Schell played a leading role in the founding of Sprint PCS (a Sprint, TCI, Cox and Comcast partnership) for which he also provided strategic oversight on behalf of Sprint. Prior to joining Sprint, Mr. Schell was the founder, President and CEO of Realcom Communications Corporation, which was established in 1983 and acquired by IBM in 1987. Mr. Schell is a member of the Board of Directors of Mavenir, and was previously a member of the Board of Directors of ERTelecom, Airvana, PGi, Tekelec, TNS, Time Warner Telecom, Clearwire, RCN, Comverse Technology and Flag, Peerless Networks, MetaMedia and ENA.

Mr. John Swainson (Executive Partner) was previously the president of the Dell Software group. He was hired in February 2012 by Michael Dell to create and run an enterprise software division inside of Dell Inc. Prior to joining Dell, he was a senior advisor to a large technology focused private equity firm, and before that served as CEO and Director of CA Inc., a Fortune 500 enterprise software company from early 2005 to the end of 2009. Before his time at CA Inc., John worked for IBM Corp for over 26 years, where he held various management positions in the United States and Canada, including for seven years as the General Manager of the WebSphere Middleware Division, a business he founded in 1997. Mr. Swainson also ran the IBM worldwide software sales organization, and held a number of senior engineering, marketing and sales management roles. Mr. Swainson is Executive Chairman of Travelport and Equiniti, and sits on the boards of Schneider National, Midis Group, and the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT). He was formerly on the boards of AllClearID, Stratus Technologies, Intralinks, Broadcom Inc., Cadence Design Systems, Assurant, SecureKey Inc. and Serena Software, where he was the Chairman.

Mr. Elias Mendoza (Executive Partner) joined Siris in 2013. Mr. Mendoza's responsibilities at Siris include identifying and evaluating trends within existing and potential industry verticals for investment opportunities, and assisting the Operating Professionals in evaluating underlying business strategies of potential target companies and existing portfolio companies. Prior to joining Siris, Mr. Mendoza was a Partner at Union Square Advisors, where he served as its Chief Operating Officer and a senior banker across the firms verticals. Through July 2011, Mr. Mendoza held various senior positions at IBM, including Vice President and Global Head of Corporate Development. In such capacity, he was responsible for identifying, executing and integrating all acquisitions, investments and divestitures for the company on a worldwide basis. Mr. Mendozas previous experience includes over 12 years spent at Morgan Stanley & Co., most recently as an Executive Director in the Investment Banking Division. Mr. Mendoza received a Landegger Program Certificate in International Business Diplomacy and an M.B.A. from Georgetown University. He received his A.B. from Princeton University.

Mr. David Yates (Executive Advisor) brings more than 35 years of leadership expertise in the payments industry, with deep experience in successfully building and investing in payments and technology businesses on a global scale. He most recently served as the President of Mastercards New Payment Platforms and was Executive Chairman of VocaLink, a Mastercard company. Prior joining Mastercard, Mr. Yates was Chief Executive Officer of VocaLink, where he focused on powering innovation to increase the companys competitiveness in the provision of payment solutions globally. Mr. Yates has also served as President of Western Union, where he drove value creation through diversifying Western Unions business into online money transfer and business payments. Prior to his time at Western Union, Mr. Yates spent six years as President of First Data International, where he led the build of all of First Datas global activities outside of the United States, including merchant acquiring, merchant transaction processing, issuer processing and ATM network solutions business units. Mr. Yates sits on the Board of Directors of Digital River, NIUM, Equiniti and Moneycorp. He was formerly on the Board of Directors of TNS and Executive Chairman of eNett.

With heavy hearts, we bid farewell to Merle Gilmore, our dear friend and long-time Siris Executive Partner and Advisor on July 4, 2024. Merle's profound impact on our organization extended far beyond his professional achievements. His dedication, wisdom and genuine care for others have left an indelible mark on all who had the privilege to work alongside him.

Merle's remarkable career spanned decades, during which he exemplified integrity, compassion, and an unparalleled commitment to excellence. Merle had been working with Siris co-founders for more than two decades and helped to shape and guide our firm from its very beginning.

While we mourn the loss of a remarkable leader, colleague, and friend, we celebrate Merle's enduring legacy. His spirit will continue to guide and inspire us, reminding us to uphold the values he held dear.

Now boast thee, death, in thy possession lies a lad unparalleled.-Shakespeare