Candidate for
Council Member; Town of Atherton

Rick has lived in Atherton (off Atherton Ave) for more than 14 years. He moved to Atherton to raise his sons, Ben (26) and Alex (29). He is married to Karen Francis, a technology company CEO. He is a dedicated family man who loves gardening, growing vegetables and making wine. He learned about gardening from his grandparents, who lived on Catalpa Ave. in Lindenwood for 43 years from 1941 to 1984. He also loves skiing, swimming and backpacking.

In November 2013, with 62% of the vote, Rick was elected to the Atherton City Council to fill a one year vacancy created by the resignation of Jerry Carlson. In December 2013, Rick was elected by the Council to be Atherton's Vice Mayor. Rick is currently a council liaison to the Civic Center Advisory Committee, the Finance and Audit Committee and the Park and Recreation Committee. He also helped establish and serves as a Council liaison on the newly created ad hoc Aircraft Noise Committee and the ad hoc Technology Committee. Finally, he is a Governing Board member on the San Mateo County Library Governing Board.

Rick is a senior software executive and business consultant who has worked in Silicon Valley for more than 30 years as a business attorney (Wilson, Sonsini), a serial entrepreneur (Genesys Telecommunications, Apptera, IP2USE, Green Wireless Systems, InVisM and Cimbal) and ten years as a consultant for high tech companies in the area of strategic relationship building and management.

Mr. DeGolia was a partner with Wilson, Sonsini, Goodrich & Rosati, where for more than 11 years (1984-1996) he represented emerging growth companies in the software, retail and telecommunications industries. He also represented many venture capital firms, as well as several investment banks (Goldman Sachs, Robertson Stephens and Alex Brown) in connection with their underwriting practices. During this time, he participated in more than 100 venture capital financings and 25 public stock offerings.

In 1996, Mr. DeGolia left Wilson Sonsini to help launch Genesys Telecommunications as Senior Vice President, Strategic Planning and Business Development, where he was responsible for structuring the call center software company's key strategic relationships with MCI, ATT, Cisco, Alcatel, HP, Siemens, and many others. During that time (1996-2001), he was instrumental in securing three rounds of venture capital, managing the company's initial public offering in 1997 and selling the company to Alcatel in 2000 for $1.9 billion.

After taking a summer to hike the John Muir Trail with his 16 year old son, in 2002 Mr. DeGolia launched Apptera, a software company that provided hosted, automated speech recognition solutions to enterprise customers. He raised three rounds of venture capital funding and served as CEO, Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer, until 2006.

From 2006 to 2008, Mr. DeGolia was a member of The Angel's Forum, a venture capital partnership, where he focused on cleantech and enterprise software opportunities. In 2009, he was CEO of Green Wireless Systems, a water management and irrigation products company that offered a smart controller and radio-controlled water valves and during 2009/2010 he was Executive Chairman of InVisM, a highly innovative educational software company that focused on best-in-class interactive training material for the US military. InVisM won several national awards from the US military for its training videos that teach respect for cultural differences and how to best manage instances of intense cultural conflict, as well as traumatic brain injury.

From December 2010 to 2014, Mr. DeGolia was Executive Chairman of Cimbal, an all-software platform for mobile payments and promotions, and since August 2012 he has been Chairman of Little Pickle Press, a highly acclaimed publisher of award-winning children's media that is dedicated to helping parents and educators cultivate conscious, responsible young people. In 2013, LPP was named Independent Publisher of the Year by ForeWord Reviews, a well-regarded industry forum. From November 2011 to May 2013, Mr. DeGolia was a partner with Exigen Capital, where he focused on cloud and enterprise-based software investments.

Mr. DeGolia is currently a member several Silicon Valley Advisory Boards and a member of the Board of Directors of The Cleantech Open, The Clean Coalition, Cimbal and Retrofit America and Board Chairman of Little Pickle Press and Lextron.

Mr. DeGolia is a charter member of Environmental Entrepreneurs (E2), where we lobbied in Sacramento for AB 32 and in Washington DC for environmental legislation. He has also been active in supporting political initiatives and candidates that promote environmental protection and a clean technology agenda.

Mr. DeGolia is a principal inventor on eleven issued and two pending US patents, representing six families of technology inventions, mostly in the customer relationship management space. He holds a B.A. in American Studies from the University of California at Berkeley, where he graduated magna cum laude and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa. He also has a J.D. from Harvard Law School.