SOURCE: VentureWire, August 13, 2003
AppForge Appoints Gary P. Warren Chief Executive Officer
ATLANTA -- AppForge, a provider of application development services for handheld and mobile devices, said it named Gary P. Warren as chief executive officer. Mr. Warren, an individual investor in the company, joined AppForge's board of directors earlier this year.
Mr. Warren succeeds founder and chairman Doug Armstrong, who had served as president and CEO. Mr. Armstrong will remain active with the company as chief technology officer and vice president of product development.
Most recently Mr. Warren, 41, worked at Symantec as senior vice president of product development, a position he held until May 2002. Previously, he worked at URLabs, a developer of content filtering software, from 1996 until 1999, until the company was acquired by Symantec.
Mr. Warren was introduced to AppForge through board member John Backus, managing partner at Draper Atlantic. Mr. Backus had considered investing in URLabs, where Mr. Warren was CEO, before it was purchased.
During his three year tenure at Symantec, Mr. Warren also held the titles of vice president of business and corporate development and senior vice president of the service provider solutions division. He has also worked at NASA Langley Research Center.
Mr. Warren said he will be focused over the next six months on selling the company's market-ready products. This includes increasing the company's distribution channels as well as expanding sales and marketing activities. He will remain based in Williamsburg, Va., and will commute to the company's Atlanta headquarters. He said the company plans to open a business office near his home in Virginia.
In mid-July, AppForge closed its Series B round oversubscribed at $8.3 million. The Grosvenor Funds, a new investor in the company, led the round, followed by Council Ventures, Draper Atlantic, and individual investors that included Tim Draper and Mr. Warren, who provided bridge financing for the Series B in early spring and followed-up his investment with additional new money before the round was completed.
Founded in December 1999, AppForge has raised $13.8 million to date. The company employs 40.