We are business builders. Our team has worked in leadership posts at the world’s most highly regarded software companies and investment firms. Collectively, we share a vision for what enlighted ownership looks like: light touch, always available, expert at what we do.
For 25 years Whit has passionately supported the growth of market leading technology companies. He’s founded two private equity firms and partnered with scores of CEOs to achieve top quartile returns.
Prior to Noble Rock, Whit founded 3i US, the US arm of the $25 billion international investment firm. In the ‘90s and ‘00s, Whit built his track record at Geocapital Partners and Bain Capital Ventures. He has held several operating roles, including Director of Marketing at Internet software pioneer, Open Market, as the Company scaled from $1M to $60M in revenue. A graduate of Harvard College and Harvard Business School, Whit started his career as a US Peace Corps Volunteer.
Whit loves sailing, skiing, and cycling. He’s sailed across the Atlantic, tries to keep up with his adult kids on the slopes, and hopes to cycle across the US one day. Whit is an active supporter of Journalism (VII Foundation) and International Relations (Council for Foreign Relations, Weatherhead Center).
Nic has over 30 years of investing experience and is the Senior Partner and Executive Chair of Hg, a European and transatlantic software & services investment firm with over $65 billion AUM.
Nic joined Hg in 2001 as the founder of the firm’s Software team and served as CEO from 2007-2017. He began his investing career in 1990 with 3i and has focused exclusively on software / technology for nearly 30 years. Nic graduated from the University of Salford in the United Kingdom.
Nic is a self-confessed techy, electronic engineer, and Star Wars nerd. He’s passionate about helping the planet and those who have had less of life’s luck as a core supporter of the Duke of Edinburgh International Awards, The Royal Foundation, Impetus, The Nature Conservancy and SEO (Sponsors for Educational Opportunity).
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Rob has 30+ years experience investing in and building companies in the US and Asia.
Prior to Noble Rock, Rob invested in 100+ private technology companies in the US at Integral Capital Partners and Trident Capital, and in China, at Mustang Ventures. Rob also held a range of operating roles, including CFO and co-founder of Andes STR, a property tech startup, Director of Business Development at Risk Management Solutions, and manufacturing engineer at Murata Manufacturing in Japan. Rob graduated from Stanford University with degrees in electrical and industrial engineering.
Rob loves sports and the outdoors and is passionate about education.
Bill Hobbib is a three-time chief marketing officer with over 30 years of experience driving exponential growth and generating significant value for private and publicly-held companies.
Bill is currently Chief Marketing Officer of Varicent, a leading provider of sales performance management software solutions. He oversees all marketing activities, including product and category messaging and positioning, demand generation, enablement, brand awareness, and customer and partner marketing. He played key roles in the success of six unicorns and his experience includes senior marketing leadership roles at firms such as Oracle, Bullhorn, and AI/ML pioneer, DataRobot. Bill has a B.S. degree in Computer Science & Engineering from MIT and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Matt leverages diverse professional experiences ranging from start-ups to the Fortune 100 to drive operational alignment around the end-to-end customer experience.
Matt Null is the SVP of Integrations, Systems and Operations at GPS Insight, where he leads operational integration. Matt has been driving operational initiatives for the majority of his professional career, where he has earned a strong reputation in operational leadership roles at Aryaka, Businessolver, Micro Focus and Zywave. Matt has an Electrical Engineering degree from Penn State University and received an MBA from Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management.
Matt currently resides in Denver with his wife and 2 children, where they enjoy all the outdoor things that Colorado has to offer.
Stacey McFarlane is a Human Resources executive with over 25 years of leadership experience.
Stacey has led strategic employee communication, talent management and talent acquisition in the Space, Aerospace and Defense and Energy industries. Stacey has subject matter expertise in compensation design, benefits, HR mergers, acquisitions and divestitures in banking, fintech, and tech companies in Silicon Valley. She has extensive consultative experience in startups and mid-sized companies, providing strategic advisory in scaling businesses via workforce planning, organizational structure and design, and people-centric cultural alignment. Stacey is an executive coach to leaders and C-suite executives and provides investigation and mediation services in employee relations matters.
Stacey holds a Masters Degree from Columbia University and a Bachelors degree from Boston University. She also completed the Strategic Human Resources Management Executive Program at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.
Rick is an experienced technology executive who has built several high-performing organizations and accelerated company growth and profitability.
Rick is a Co-Founder of Universily and previously served in sales leadership roles including CRO and VP, Sales at Greenlight Technologies, Yubico, SAP, Aravo, PeopleSoft, and Oracle. He was a Managing Director in Vista Consulting Group, the value creation team at Vista Equity Partners, a technology private equity firm with $100+ billion AUM. Rick graduated from Harvard College.
Rick and his wife split their time between San Francisco and Hawaii. Rick is an avid waterman and is active in all sports on, in, and under the water.
Parag has over two decades of experience as a global sales and channel leader overseeing Field Operations, end-to-end GTM strategy, Business Development and sales execution.
Parag is currently the Global VP of Sales at Entrust, a large provider of payments and identity solutions to Enterprise and Mid-Market customers. Previously he served in sales leadership roles at Forcepoint, and VMware where he played a pivotal role in helping the company grow from 500 employees to over 35,000. While working at VMware, Parag was responsible for bringing VMware’s hyper-converged platform to market and scaling to over 10,000 customers. Similarly, Patel led a successful effort to create transformational partnerships at C3.ai, a leader in enterprise artificial intelligence. Parag has an Electrical Engineering degree from Stanford and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. He is a past Term Member of the US Council on Foreign Relations and Asia21 Fellow of the Asia Society, both in New York City.
Parag has also served as an United States Peace Corps Volunteer. Parag grew up in Katy, Texas, and is now based in Palo Alto, CA. He is an avid outdoorsman who enjoys hiking, skiing, kayaking, fishing and camping – and building mud huts in the Sahara desert.
Luka has 8+ years of experience both operating and investing in software businesses.
Prior to Noble Rock, Luka was an investor at CVC Capital, with a focus on enterprise software and tech-enabled services. Luka also co-founded Roadforge Software, a venture-backed SaaS startup in the transportation / logistics industry. Luka graduated from the University of Virginia with a B.S. in Commerce.