Board of Directors

In 1996, Pascal Levensohn founded Levensohn Venture Partners. He invests in the enterprise software, semiconductor, and communications sectors and helps companies with strategic issues such as creating new commercial partnerships and team building associated with board/management transitions.

Pascal has been a professional equity investor since 1983 and has worked actively with portfolio company management teams since 1990, when he joined the merchant banking firm of Richard C. Blum & Associates as a Managing Director and Partner. Between 1983 and 1990, Pascal invested in merger arbitrage and special situations in New York City, working for First Boston Corp. and Progressive Insurance Corp. Pascal began his professional career as an airlines/aerospace industry analyst and lending officer at Bankers Trust Co.

Pascal has published numerous articles on trends in venture capital with a particular emphasis on best governance practices in the boardroom. Directors and Boards magazine has published three of his articles: "The Problem of Emotion in the Boardroom" (1999), "Tyco's Betrayal of Corporate Governance" (2002) and "The Ten Pitfalls of Venture Boards" (2004). In November 2003 Pascal co-authored a white paper on Corporate Governance entitled "After the Term Sheet: How Venture Boards Influence the Success or Failure of Technology Companies". In addition to receiving national attention from the media and the venture industry, the white paper has become part of the governance curriculum at the Harvard Business School.

Pascal received a BA in Government from Harvard University and is a graduate of the Lawrenceville School. A former Vice President of Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco , where he served on the board for six years, he currently serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the Socrates Society, a leadership development program of the Aspen Institute with which he has been involved since 1997. In 2005 Pascal joined the North American board of directors of Hand in Hand: Center for Jewish-Arab Education in Israel. He writes about interfaith issues and advocates tolerance and reconciliation between Jews, Muslims, and Christians on his blog at www.pascalsview.com. Pascal is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the Pacific Council on International Policy.

• Levensohn Venture Partners Web site