Ira Ehrenpreis Presented with Outstanding Service Award at NVCA Leadership Gala

MENLO PARK, CA – The Nation­al Ven­ture Cap­i­tal Asso­ci­a­tion (NVCA) today pre­sent­ed Ira Ehren­preis, Man­ag­ing Part­ner of DBL Part­ners, with the 2018 Out­stand­ing Ser­vice Award at the 2018 NVCA Lead­er­ship Gala.  Held at the Rose­wood Sand Hill in Men­lo Park, CA, the NVCA Lead­er­ship Gala cel­e­brates the ven­ture indus­try and hon­ors those who have made sig­nif­i­cant con­tri­bu­tions to fos­ter inno­va­tion, advance tech­nol­o­gy and dri­ve new com­pa­ny formation.

“For over two decades, Ira has been a fix­ture of the ven­ture com­mu­ni­ty and wide­ly rec­og­nized as one of the most well-con­nect­ed ven­ture investors in the coun­try,” said Bob­by Franklin, Pres­i­dent and CEO of NVCA.  “Respect­ed for his com­mit­ment to ener­gy and impact invest­ment, what makes Ira tru­ly spe­cial is all he does to give back to the ven­ture com­mu­ni­ty through his ongo­ing work to con­vene the ven­ture indus­try and facil­i­tate con­nec­tions among investors.  We con­grat­u­late Ira for his well-deserved recog­ni­tion and thank him for his out­stand­ing con­tri­bu­tions to our industry.”

Ira Ehren­preis is Founder and Man­ag­ing Part­ner of DBL Part­ners.  Ira is a rec­og­nized leader in both the ven­ture cap­i­tal indus­try and the ener­gy inno­va­tion sec­tor.  In 2007, Ira was named one of the “Top 50 Most Influ­en­tial Men Under 45″ and in 2014 was induct­ed into the Inter­na­tional Green Indus­try Hall of Fame.  For many years, Ira led Tech­nol­ogy Part­ners’ ven­ture prac­tice invest­ing in ener­gy inno­va­tion oppor­tu­ni­ties.  Ira has invest­ed in a wide range of com­pa­nies, includ­ing SpaceX, and serves on the board of Tes­la Motors, Map­box and numer­ous oth­er companies.

In the ven­ture com­mu­nity, Ira has served on the Board and Exec­u­tive Com­mit­tee of the Nation­al Ven­ture Cap­i­tal Asso­ci­a­tion (NVCA), was Chair­man of the 2010 NVCA Annu­al Meet­ing, and serves as the Pres­i­dent of the West­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Ven­ture Cap­i­tal­ists (WAVC).  Ira also serves as the Co-​​Chair­man of the VCNet­work, the largest and most active Cal­i­for­nia ven­ture cap­i­tal organization.

Ira is an active leader at Stan­ford Uni­ver­sity, where he has served on the Board of Vis­i­tors of Stan­ford Law School and has been an advi­sory board mem­ber of the Stan­ford Glob­al Cli­mate and Ener­gy Project (GCEP).  Ira has also been a guest lec­turer at Stan­ford, includ­ing help­ing to teach a course on Ven­ture Cap­i­tal.  In addi­tion to the fore­go­ing, Ira served for many years on the Advi­sory Board of the Forum for Women Entre­pre­neurs (FWE) and served as Co-​​Chair­man of the Sil­i­con Val­ley Tech­nol­ogy and Entre­pre­neur­ship Forum (SVIEF).  Ira received his JD/​​MBA from Stan­ford Grad­u­ate School of Busi­ness and Stan­ford Law School, where he was an Asso­ciate Edi­tor of Stan­ford Law Review.  He holds a B.A. from the Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia, Los Ange­les, grad­u­at­ing Phi Beta Kap­pa and Sum­ma Cum Laude.

About the Out­stand­ing Ser­vice Award

The Out­stand­ing Ser­vice Award was cre­at­ed to rec­og­nize the excep­tion­al ser­vice of an NVCA Direc­tor or NVCA mem­ber who has com­mit­ted an extra­or­di­nary amount of time, resources and ded­i­ca­tion to Asso­ci­a­tion efforts that in turn ben­e­fits the entire ven­ture indus­try.  The ded­i­ca­tion has raised the vis­i­bil­i­ty of the indus­try to key leg­is­la­tors and reg­u­la­tors and helped to edu­cate them regard­ing the piv­otal role of ven­ture cap­i­tal to this economy.

Pre­vi­ous recip­i­ents: Ross Jaffe, Diana Fra­zier, Josh Green, Kate Mitchell, Steve Fred­er­ick, Ted Schlein, War­burg Pin­cus, Jack Laser­sohn, Sarah Reed, John Mar­tin­son, Robert Pavey, Rod­ney Gold­stein, E. Roe Stamps, M. Kath­leen Behrens, Steven Lazarus, Har­ry T. Rein, Patri­cia Clo­her­ty, John Doerr and Christo­pher Brody.