James Swartz

Jim Swartz has been active in venture capital for four decades and particularly enjoys working with start-up teams that are defining new industries. He has served as a Director for over fifty successful companies and has been closely involved as lead investor with the emergence of numerous industry pioneering firms including Avici Systems, BroadBand Technologies, FastForward/Inktomi, FVC.com, Illustra/Informix, Medical Care America, Netopia/Motorola, PictureTel, Polycom, Remedy Corporation/BMC Software, Riverbed Technology (current lead director) and Ungermann-Bass. Before founding Accel Partners, Jim was founding General Partner of Adler & Company, which he started with Fred Adler in 1978 after his tenure as a Vice President of Citicorp Venture Capital. Early in his career Jim worked as a management consultant, entering the venture capital industry in 1972. Active in industry affairs, Jim is former Chairman of the National Venture Capital Association and a 2007 recipient of its Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a graduate of Harvard University with a concentration in Engineering Sciences and Applied Physics (he mostly remembers something about playing football) and holds an M.S. in Industrial Administration from Carnegie Mellon University. Outside interests include serving as Chairman of the Swartz Foundation and the Christian Center of Park City, Director Emeritus of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Foundation, Trustee of the Sundance Institute and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA), and the Board of Advisors of Tepper School of Business, and Pacific Community Ventures. Jim also led the establishment of the Deer Valley Music Festival as a Founder and the YMCA of Martha's Vineyard as Co-Chairman of the Major Gifts Committee. From 1999 to 2002, he served on the Management Committee of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee for the Winter Olympics of 2002 (SLOC). He is the recipient of a Merit Award from Carnegie Mellon University and an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the Western Governors University. Jim and Susan Swartz reside in Park City, Utah. Susan Swartz is an accomplished painter with a particular love for landscapes and nature. Together they founded Impact Partners a financing and advisory firm advancing independent cinema that addresses pressing social needs including Academy Award Winners Born Into Brothels (2005) and The Cove (2010) and numerous Academy Award Nominees.