The University of Southern California’s newly minted tech-transfer office lured Krisztina Holly away from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she was executive director of MIT’s Deshpande Center for Technological Innovation.
Holly was named executive director of the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Institute for Technology Entrepreneurship and Commercialization. The USC Stevens Institute is designed to work with university research groups to help launch startup companies, license intellectual property, and help university entrepreneurs seek venture capital funding.
The institute sprung from a 2004 gift of $22 million from USC alum Mark Stevens, partner at venture capital giant Sequoia Capital.
Holly is the institute’s first executive director, and expects to be hiring a staff of up to 25 over the next two years. She will be responsible for reaching out to venture capital and angel investor communities, and working with entrepreneurs from USC laboratories across the university, including the Viterbi School of Engineering, the School of Cinema-Television and Keck School of Medicine.
Holly earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mechanical engineering from MIT, and was the first executive director of its tech innovation institute.
Security Blanketed
Cisco Systems Inc. acquired video surveillance software and hardware company SyPixx Networks Inc. for $51 million. Though headquartered in Connecticut, SyPixx’s software development and product management facilities are located in Carlsbad.
About 14 employees work in the Carlsbad location, roughly half of the company’s staff. The companies say it has not been decided whether those employees will stay in Carlsbad or be moved to Cisco’s San Jose headquarters. SyPixx will join Cisco’s emerging technology group.
Going Mobile
Vivendi Universal Games, the L.A.-based video game division of French media giant Vivendi Universal S.A., is diving into the mobile games space. The company announced the new division, VUG Mobile, in Paris this week. Its North American headquarters will be in L.A. Vivendi Universal Games also owns Irvine-based Blizzard Entertainment. Blizzard created the popular “World of Warcraft” online role-playing game, which boasts more than 5.5 million paying subscribers worldwide. VUG is considered a mid-sized publisher, bringing in about $775 million in revenues last year. (By comparison, Calabasas-based THQ Inc. reported almost $757 million in revenues last year, while Santa Monica publishing giant Activision Inc. generated revenues of $1.4 billion last year.) Vivendi is a latecomer to the mobile gaming scene competitors THQ, Activision and Electronic Arts Inc. all have mobile divisions.
Software Awards
The Software Council of Southern California handed out its annual industry awards March 8 at the Millennium Biltmore Hotel in L.A. Several L.A.-based companies and executives were honored. Software CEO of the Year went to Mitch Lasky, formerly chief executive of mobile game publisher Jamdat Mobile, which was acquired by Electronic Arts in December for $680 million. Lasky is now senior vice president of EA Mobile. Software Entrepreneur of the Year award went to Matt Coffin, chief executive of Santa Monica-based LowerMyBills.com, which was acquired by Experion last May for $330 million. Software Developer of the Year went to Mark Friedman, chief executive of Santa Monica-based Accruent Inc., which develops software for facilities management, real estate and other assets.
*Staff Reporter Hilary Potkewitz can be reached at (323) 549-5225 ext. 226, or at
[email protected]
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