Where Are They Now: Atlas VCs Reemerge

Earlier this year, Atlas Venture thinned its personnel roster after raising far less than it had hoped for its eighth fund ($293m compared to $500m target). Four partners either left or were demoted, while some younger staffers began to consider other options. So where are the departed?

Martin Gibson: A London-based partner who focused on IT investments for Atlas, Gibson just recently reemerged as a venture partner with Accel Partners. Not bad timing, given that the firm’s London office today is celebrating its agreement to sell Playfish to EA for up to $400 million.

Gibson’s Atlas portfolio companies had included DisplayLink, Phyworks and Zinwave. He also worked closely with Azea Networks, Icera Semiconductor, Orthogon Systems, RadioScape, Ubiquisys and xelerated. He does not yet appear to have done an Accel investment.

Ahmet Ozalp: A Boston-based partner who focused on IT investments, Ozalp in June was named CEO of Telenity, a provider of converged services platforms and applications for communications networks. Ozalp still retains a pair of Atlas-era boards: Extend Media and MyVu. (seems his official bio on the Telenity site is out of date)

Eric Hjerpe: A Boston-based partner focused on IT investing, Hjerpe was originally demoted to venture partner before leaving the firm entirely in April. He soon signed on as the second fulltime investing partner with Kepha Partners, joining firm founder Jo Tango.

While with Atlas, Hjerpe worked on such deals as Active Endpoints, Fireclick (sold to Digital River), Globoforce, OpenRatings (sold to Dun & Bradstreet), OwnerIQ, Performix Technologies (sold to Nice), SimpleTuition, SupplyWorks (acquired by Intuitive), TrueAdvantage (acquired by InsideView) and
Virtual Logix.

Peter Shannon: A Boston-based principal focused on the cleantech space, Shannon was not part of the original cuts, but recently left to join Firelake Capital.

Barry Fidelman: A Boston-based partner focused on the IT space, Fidelman assumed a venture partner role as part of the “restructuring.” He’s the most senior of the group, having joined Atlas in 1988 after spending time in executive positons with such companies as Data General, Apollo Computer and Alliant Computer.

Fidelman remains with Atlas, and does not appear to have taken another fulltime or part-time job. His current board seats are Arbor Networks and Isilon.