William Oakes Jr.
Managing Director
wroakes@acornllc.net
Mr. Oakes is the founder and chief executive of The Acorn Group, which invests in and coaches early stage technology companies in the information technology, internet, telecommunications and biosciences industries. He received his BAE, with honors, in 1959 from Georgia Tech. Over the next four years, he alternated work with the former Douglas Aircraft and the Rand Corporation (ANSER) with graduate school, receiving a SM in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT in 1961 and a MBA from Harvard in 1963. Mr. Oakes joined Booz Allen&Hamilton for two years before forming a start-up engineering firm in 1965 with two other HBS graduates.
Mr. Oakes contributed significantly to the successful growth of the Company, then called Kappa Systems,Inc., a publicly traded firm. The organization, based in the Washington DC area, grew to a multidisciplinary engineering, health care, systems analysis and computer sciences consulting firm with a staff of over 400 located in seven offices nationwide. He served in many roles, from copy machine maintenance technician (his job security in the early days), to project manager, to chief executive (President). Mr. Oakes and his partners sold their majority interest in 1981, as the Company was taken private.
From 1981 to 1996 Mr. Oakes has invested in, and contributed management skills, to over ten small engineering, specialty manufacturing, space transportation, computer science, and government consulting companies. In five of these firms, he served as president. These firms ran the gamut from being acquired, becoming ESOPs, and, in one case, failing. In late 1996, he "retired" from assuming operating responsibilities in his investments, and founded the Acorn Group to invest in and be an active Board member of technology start-ups.
Mr. Oakes presently serves on the Board of, and as an advisor to, over twelve early stage software, information technology solution and bioscience/health technology companies, including Neurostar Solutions, Inc., Universal Implant Systems, Inc., JustSales.Com, Buildtopia, Inc. InfoEther Inc., and Stheno,Inc. He is an investment partner in Blue Water Capital, LLC, a later stage venture capital firm, and Director and co-Founder of the Maryland Angels' Council, a group of angel investors supporting start-up technology and bioscience companies in the region. He is the immediate past Chairman of the Washington Heart Leadership Board, and serves on the Board of the Washington Hospital Center Foundation. In 2005, Mr. Oakes was selected as a member of the Board of the Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, where he also serves on the Finance Committee. He served for nine years as a Director of MedSource, a non-profit health care delivery organization serving developmentally disabled adults in the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC. He also has been a Director of The Technology Council of Maryland for eight years, and formerly served as Chairman of its Information Technology Network. He is a 45 year member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). Mr. Oakes is an elected member of the Georgia Tech Academy of Distinguished Engineering Alumni as well as the Georgia Tech Hill Society, and an appointed member of the Georgia Tech College of Management's TI:GER Program Advisory Committee and the Georgia Tech President's Advisory Board.
Mr. Oakes is active in the Washington DC metropolitan area in supporting entrepreneurship in technology fields, in raising investment funds via angel networks, and in mentoring aspiring entrepreneurs.
He is a member of the Four Streams Golf Club locally and of the Country Club of Hilton Head and The May River Golf Club in South Carolina. In addition, Mr. Oakes is the founding director of The Oakes Foundation.
July 2005(updated)
William Oakes III
Director
bill.oakes@acornllc.net
Mr. Oakes is a Director of The Acorn Group, which invests in and coaches early stage technology companies in the information technology, internet, telecommunications and biosciences industries. He received his BS Management, in 1991 from Georgia Tech.
Upon graduation, Mr. Oakes took a position with ProServ, Inc where he managed operations for over 40 Professional Tennis and Volleyball Tournaments on the ATP and AVP Tours respectively. He eventually became one of 13 Tournament Directors for the Men's Professional Tour, where he served on the International Committee for Advanced Media Development. While at ProServ, his tournaments were regularly recognized by the ATP for excellence and received awards for Best New Facility, Most Outstanding Promotions, and Best Event Operations.
In 1998, Mr. Oakes took a position in the Product Development Group of Southern LINC, the Consumer Wireless Division of the Southern Company. As part of his duties, he managed and coordinated the release of Southern LINC's email to phone product, which was awarded the Most Innovative New Product of 1998 by Wireless Week Magazine.
Mr. Oakes currently serves as the Director of Sales and Marketing for the USTA Southern Section, where he oversees all Sales, Marketing, Public Relations, and Promotions for a subsidiary of the USTA (the governing body for Tennis in the United States) that includes over 25% of the National USTA Members and over 33% of all Recreational Players in the United States.
Mr. Oakes presently serves on the Advisory Board of Midtown Bank and Trust, a community bank located in the Midtown area of Atlanta. Since 1993, Mr. Oakes has served as an officer for Georgia Alpha Builders, Inc which is the Housing Corporation for the Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity at Georgia Tech, and currently is serving his third term as the Chairman of the Board. In addition, he is currently chairing the Fundraising and Building Committees, while a new housing facility is currently under construction. Under his leadership, Georgia Alpha builders has arranged over $2,000,000 in financing for the project.
He has served in many Alumni volunteer capacities for Georgia Tech, including as the Alumni Member for the Greek Area Sector Planning Committee, founded the Greek Alumni Council and served as its inaugural Vice-Chairman. He served a three year term as a member of the Alexander-Tharpe Board of Trustees, the development arm of the Georgia Tech Athletic Association.
Mr. Oakes can be seen as a Host and Analyst on the Nationally Televised Show, "MatchPoint America", which is broadcast on the Tennis Channel and the NBC Affiliate in Atlanta.
He is a member of the May River Golf Club in Palmetto Bluff, South Carolina and the Atlanta Athletic Club in Duluth, Georgia, where he currently serves on the Membership Committee and Carnegie Group Steering Committee, and previously served on the Tennis Committee. Mr. Oakes is a member of Peachtree Road United Methodist Church in Atlanta, where he serves on the Administrative Board. In addition, Mr. Oakes is the President and Managing Director of The Oakes Foundation.
July 2005(updated)
Patricia Poulos Oakes
Director
patricia@acornllc.net
