In memory and honor of our admired friend and colleague, Bill Coleman, who passed on December 2, 2020.
Bill Coleman was a Special Partner for Vitruvian Partners (Growth Equity) and a Venture Partner for Alsop Louie Partners (Early Stage Venture Capital). Previously he was an Operating Executive at The Carlyle Group (Large Private Equity). Bill had become Chairman of the Board of Azul just a few months before, and already the growing momentum of the company reflects the pattern of Bill’s career as a software visionary and successful serial entrepreneur.
Bill was the CEO of Veritas, the global leader in Information Management, from Jan 2016 until Jan 2018. In 2012 and 2013 he was also Chairman and CEO of Resilient Network Systems, a cybersecurity software company. Bill was Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Cassatt Corporation, an enterprise cloud computing company acquired by CA in 2009. As Founder, Chairman, and CEO of BEA Systems in the late 1990s, Bill led the team that invented middleware, created the most successful app server for the Internet, and built the fastest software company to reach $1B in annual revenue. Earlier in his career, Bill was instrumental in the success of Sun Microsystems and the development of Solaris. He began his career in the USAF as chief of satellite operations, Office of the Secretary.
Bill held a bachelor’s degree in computer science from the U. S. Air Force Academy and master’s degrees in computer science and computer engineering from Stanford University. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Colorado, where he founded the Coleman Institute for Cognitive Disabilities (www.colemaninstitute.org).
