Dixon Doll Presented with Lifetime Achievement in Venture Capital Award

WASHINGTON, DC – The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) today presented Dixon Doll with the 2021 Lifetime Achievement in Venture Capital Award. The Lifetime Achievement in Venture Capital Award recognizes venture professionals who have dedicated their professional lives to creating and building successful and highly competitive venture firms as well as portfolio companies that have made a significant contribution to the growth and success of the U.S. economy.

“The successes and contributions of Dixon Doll are a major chapter in the history of the venture capital industry,” said Bobby Franklin, President and CEO of NVCA. “Over the course of his career, Dixon has co-founded several venture capital firms and made dozens of highly successful investments into companies that made him a fixture on the Forbes Midas list for years. Dixon was also an influential Chairman of NVCA and worked on many important initiatives on behalf of the industry. Dixon is a true luminary of our industry, and we are honored to present him with the Lifetime Achievement in Venture Capital Award.”

For more than 35 years, Dixon Doll has influenced and guided entrepreneurs, investors and executives in the computer, communications, and internet industries. Dixon was named to the Forbes Midas List for four consecutive years and received the 2013 Special Achievement Award in VC from the International Business Forum. He was elected to the Board of the National Venture Capital Association in 2005 serving on the Executive Committee and as Chairman in 2008/9. Under Dixon’s leadership, the NVCA developed a widely embraced set of recommendations (NVCA 4-Pillar Plan) to stimulate liquidity in the U.S. venture capital industry. This plan resulted in bipartisan Congressional support for new job creation legislation and simplification of the IPO process for young emerging companies. Known as the JOBS Act, President Obama signed it into law in 2012.

In 1996 Dixon co-founded DCM Ventures, where he has led investments in About.com (Acquired by The New York Times Co.), @Motion (Acquired by Openwave), Clearwire (Nasdaq: CLWR), Coradiant (Acquired by BMC), Force10 Networks (Acquired by Dell), Foundry Networks (Nasdaq: FDRY), Internap (Nasdaq: INAP), Ipivot (Acquired by Intel), and Neutral Tandem (Nasdaq: TNDM). He is the past Chairman of Network Equipment Technologies (NWK) and serves on the Board of Directors of DIRECTV (DTV).

Prior to co-founding DCM Ventures, Dixon launched the venture capital industry’s first fund focused solely on telecom, investing in such noteworthy companies as Alantec, Bridge Communications, Centillion Networks, Network Equipment Technologies, Optilink, Picturetel, Polycom and UUNet. He also founded and ran a strategic technology consulting firm, served on the faculty of the IBM Systems Research Institute in New York City for 10 years and published a seminal text Data Communications which was adopted as course text by more than 60 universities worldwide.

Dixon has traveled extensively to six continents to serve on advisory boards and give highly sought after presentations on entrepreneurship, technological trends, job creation, government policy and innovation. He also serves on the Executive Committee and Advisory Board for the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research Institute (SIEPR) and is on the Board of Overseers at the Hoover Institution at Stanford. His non-profit activities also have included serving as Chairman of San Francisco’s Asian Art Museum and as a trustee at the University of San Francisco where he currently chairs the Investment Committee.

About the Lifetime Achievement in Venture Capital Award

The Lifetime Achievement in Venture Capital Award recognizes venture professionals who have dedicated their professional lives to creating and building successful and highly competitive venture firms as well as portfolio companies that have made a significant contribution to the growth and success of the U.S. economy. Recipients of the Lifetime Achievement Award were instrumental in the formation and growth of the venture capital industry and have consistently set high performance standards for the entire industry.

Previous recipients: Howard Cox, John Doerr, Pete Bancroft, Bill Draper, Chuck Newhall, Mike Moritz, Mark Heesen, Arthur Rock, Sam Colella, Felda Hardymon, James Blair, Brook Byers, Jean Deleage, Anthony Evnin, Grant Heidrich, Jim Swartz, Bill Hambrecht, Sandy Robertson, Thomas Weisel, Edward Glassmeyer, Peter Crisp, Henry McCance, Paul Wythes, Lionel Pincus, Pitch Johnson, Richard Kramlich, Stanley Golder, Burton McMurtry, Reid Dennis, Peter Brooke, Thomas Perkins, Stanley Golder and David Morgenthaler.

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About the National Venture Capital Association
The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) empowers the next generation of American companies that will fuel the economy of tomorrow. As the voice of the U.S. venture capital and startup community, NVCA advocates for public policy that supports the American entrepreneurial ecosystem. Serving the venture community as the preeminent trade association, NVCA arms the venture community for success, serving as the leading resource for venture capital data, practical education, peer-led initiatives and networking. For more information about NVCA, please visit www.nvca.org.