Robert Grady of Carlyle Venture Partners Elected Chairman of National Venture Capital Association; Six Others Named to the Board of Directors

San Jose, CA– The National Venture Capital Association’s (NVCA) Board of Directors today named Robert E. Grady as its 2006-2007 Chairman. His term began at the association’s 2006 Annual Meeting in San Jose, California. Mr. Grady is a managing partner at Carlyle Venture Partners, The Carlyle Group’s U.S. venture and growth capital organization.

In his role as NVCA chairman, Mr. Grady will be responsible for setting the public policy agenda and overall strategic direction of the country’s premier venture capital association. He joined the NVCA board of directors in 2002 and has served on the Capital Formation, Membership and Government Affairs committees. He also served as the 2002 NVCA Annual Meeting chairman. Mr. Grady succeeds Austin Ventures general partner Joe Aragona, who has completed his one-year term as NVCA Chairman.

"For the last 30 years, the venture capital industry and the startup companies it funds have been the job creating engine of the U.S. economy," said Robert E. Grady, incoming Chairman of the National Venture Capital Association. "I look forward to working with my venture capital colleagues to make sure that this will remain the case. We plan to launch a major initiative in support of efforts to improve U.S. competitiveness, and we will continue to work on public policy initiatives such as reforming unduly onerous Sarbanes-Oxley provisions that are damaging small companies, supporting an open trading environment, ensuring the smooth functioning of U.S. capital markets, and ending patent abuse, as these issues are critical to the continued contribution of venture capital-backed companies to the U.S. economy," Grady added.

"Bob Grady has a personal passion that will serve our members well as we broaden our public policy focus," said Mark Heesen, president, National Venture Capital Association. "Further, our new board members bring to the association additional energy and enthusiasm for the industry’s largest challenges and we are looking forward to another productive year," Heesen added.

The new NVCA Board members are: Keith Crandell of ARCH Venture Partners; Barbara Dalton of Euclid SR Partners; Diana Frazier of FLAG Capital Management; John Jaggers of Sevin Rosen Funds; Robert Kibble of Mission Ventures; and Terry McGuire of Polaris Venture Partners. Each will serve a four year term.

"I am pleased to have served the venture capital association at a significant point in our history," said Joe Aragona, general partner, Austin Ventures. "In the last year we have reached record membership levels, created the human capital forum, and continued progress on Section 409 and SOX reform. I am confident in Bob’s ability to continue to carry the industry forward."

Mr. Grady is a former director of Blackboard (Nasdaq: "BBBB") and currently serves on the board of directors of Carlyle portfolio companies AuthenTec, Choice Media, Ingenio, Panasas, Secure Elements, Verari Systems, and USBX. Prior to joining Carlyle, Mr. Grady was a Managing Director and member of the Management Committee at Robertson Stephens, one of the leading underwriters of emerging growth companies throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and a successful venture capital backer of numerous technology and health care market leaders. Mr. Grady previously served in the White House as Deputy Assistant to President George H.W. Bush and as Executive Associate Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). Mr. Grady also served for a decade on the faculty of the Stanford Graduate School of Business as a Lecturer in Public Management.

The National Venture Capital Association (NVCA) represents approximately 480 venture capital and private equity organizations. NVCA's mission is to foster the understanding of the importance of venture capital to the vitality of the U.S. and global economies, to stimulate the flow of equity capital to emerging growth companies by representing the public policy interests of the venture capital and private equity communities at all levels of government, to maintain high professional standards, facilitate networking opportunities and to provide research data and professional development for its members. For more information, visit www.nvca.org/ .