Dr. Rick LeFaivre is a partner at OVP Venture Partners, working out of the firm’s Kirkland, Washington office. His investment focus spans traditional information technology ventures as well as companies working at the intersection of computer science, biology and nanotechnology as applied to advanced biotech and energy solutions.

Rick has over thirty years of accomplishment as a computer scientist, professor, R&D executive, venture investor and board member working at leading universities, high-technology companies and venture capital firms. He has served as VP of the Advanced Technology Group at Apple Computer, as SVP of R&D and CTO at Borland International, and held R&D leadership positions at Silicon Graphics, Sun Microsystems and Tektronix. He was a founding partner of IdeaEdge Ventures, a San Diego-based venture development organization, and the Software Patent Institute, which advises the government on issues related to software patentability. He started his career as a professor in the computer science department at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, teaching and carrying out research in artificial intelligence and advanced programming technology. He later returned to campus as executive director of the Von Liebig Center for Entrepreneurism and Technology Advancement at the University of California, San Diego, and as director of New Ventures at the University of Washington Center for Commercialization, focused on the effective commercialization of university-developed technology. Rick has published extensively in the computer science literature, has served on a number of industry and academic advisory boards, and has testified before the Congress of the United States on matters of technology policy.

Dr. LeFaivre received his AB in mathematics from the University of Missouri, and his MS and Ph.D. in computer sciences from the University of Wisconsin. He was the founding chair of the University of Wisconsin Computer Sciences Board of Visitors, and is a member of the University of Washington College of Engineering Visiting Committee, the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory Energy and Environment Directorate Review Committee, the Washington State Energy Strategy Advisory Committee and the Pacific Northwest Energy Angels Advisory Board. In 2011 he was appointed by the Governor of Washington to the Washington State Economic Development Commission. He previously served as a member of the Board of Directors of WatchGuard, Inc. (NASDAQ: WGRD) until the company was taken private in 2006.