The Silicon Valley 50 – Surnames K-M


6 Mar 2012

The top 50 Irish/Irish-American global technology leaders – surnames K-M:

Tom Kelly, managing director, The Blackstone Group

Tom Kelly, originally from Castlerea, Co Roscommon in Ireland, has been helping companies raise money in the private capital markets since 1998. 

He specializes in raising capital for companies from venture capital funds, hedge funds, mutual funds, sovereign wealth funds and strategic investors. 

He has been adviser on more than 100 transactions amounting to more than $5 billion in proceeds for clients in various sectors. He is also an active angel investor and has been an early investor in several technology start-ups.

Kelly has 16 years of experience as an investment banker providing strategic advisory and capital-raising services to corporate clients.  He has extensive experience in negotiating, structuring and executing transactions on behalf of private and public companies. 

Kelly began his investment banking career with Merrill Lynch in London and New York before moving to Silicon Valley in 1999 to launch Merrill’s private placement business on the west coast.  He subsequently worked for Robertson Stephens, Banc of America Securities and Montgomery & Co.  He now runs the Global Private Capital Advisory practice at Blackstone.

Kelly obtained his MBA from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he was the recipient of a John F. Kennedy scholarship and a fellowship from the Royal Academy of Engineering. He previously obtained a bachelor of science degree with first-class honors from the University of Bradford, United Kingdom. 

Tom Kelly


Claire Lee, Emerging Business International Lead, Microsoft 

Claire Lee leads industry partnerships for the Emerging Business Team at Microsoft, engaging partners globally to support early stage software developers and start-ups. She also formed part of the team that created the BizSpark program in November 2008, which now has more than 45,000 start-ups in 110 countries and 2,400 partners.

Lee moved to EBT HQ in Silicon Valley in early 2011, having previously been in the UK and focused on building the program in Eu­rope, the Middle East and Africa.

BizSpark partnerships include leading banks, incubators, universities, foundations, accelerators, government agencies, entrepreneurship groups, technology community associations, and organizations that enable and support early stage technology companies.

Before Microsoft, Lee worked as a self-employed consultant supporting start-ups in the UK, and prior to this with Compaq at the global distributor, Ingram Micro. At Marconi Communications, Lee managed the global relationship with Siemens.

Lee began her career in the IT industry as a graduate with IBM Ireland.

Claire Lee


Colm Long, director of online operations, Facebook

Colm Long has spent the past eight years of his career building and scaling international operations for some of the world’s most successful technology companies. 

He joined Facebook in 2009 to establish its EMEA headquarters in Dublin, Ireland, before moving into his current role where he runs the company’s Global User Operations teams based in Menlo Park, California.

Prior to working at Facebook, Long held several senior roles at Google, including director of online sales and operations for northern Europe and director of sales operations for emerging markets.

Previously, Long worked in senior positions at Barclaycard International and French online stockbroker Self Trade.

A native of Derry, Long has a bachelor’s degree in applied linguistics from the University of Brighton.

Colm Long


Matt Maloney, head of Cleantech Practice, Silicon Valley Bank

Matt Maloney leads Silicon Valley Bank’s Cleantech Practice with a national and global presence and hundreds of clients across the spectrum of Cleantech innovation, ranging from early stage technology development to large, public companies.

Maloney joined SVB in 2002, and before establishing SVB’s Cleantech Practice in 2008, he held various senior-management positions, leading relationship management and sales in California that covered the span of SVB’s niche practices.

Prior to joining Silicon Valley Bank, Maloney co-founded Enflexion Capital, a speciality debt provider for alternative communications companies.

From 1989 to 2000, Maloney held various business development and senior-management positions in GATX Capital’s Technology Services.

Maloney earned an AB from Guilford College and a MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Matt Maloney


William S. McKiernan, founder and executive chairman, CyberSource

Bill McKiernan founded CyberSource Corporation in 1994. He served as chairman and CEO for the first 16 years of the company’s existence.

In 2010, Visa, Inc. acquired CyberSource in a transaction valued at $2 billion.

McKiernan now serves as executive adviser to Visa, Inc. and is the president of the McKier­nan Family Foundation.

He serves on the boards of Boston College, Bellarmine College Prepatory, the American Ireland Fund, the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation and the Harvard Business School California Research Center Advisory Board. He is also the West Coast chairman of the Boston College Technology Council.

McKiernan holds a BS from Boston College and an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Bill McKiernan


Peter G. Milner, MD, FACC, co-founder and executive VP Corporate Development, Optivia Biotechnology

Peter G. Milner co-founded ARYx Therapeutics and CV Therapeutics, which Gilead acquired in 2009 for $1.5 billion.

Milner restructured his family company ML to form Vectura, a maker of inhaled pharmaceuticals.

Working at Washington University, Milner discovered pleiotrophin (PTN), a novel growth factor that regulates stem cell differentiation, organ development and the epithelial mesenchymal transition (EMT).

He serves as clinical professor at Stanford University School of Medicine and as a board member of the California Healthcare Institute (CHI).

His hobbies include fox hunting, polo and breeding horses at Dungar, his farm in Ireland.

Peter Milner


George Moore, chairman and CEO, TARGUSinfo

George Moore served as chairman and CEO of TARGUS Information Corporation and managed the strategic direction of the parent company and its subsidiaries, Amacai and Localeze, prior to Neustar’s acquisition of TARGUS. He is now managing partner, Ravensdale Capital.

Moore is a pioneer in the development of consumer analytics technology for business applications. Prior to founding TARGUSinfo, he was executive vice-president and a principal of National Decision Systems, a target marketing company.

He was also executive vice-president with Equifax following its acquisition of NDS and senior vice-president with CACI International.

Moore is chairman of Erne Heritage Holdings, chairman of the Virginia Distillery Company, and a member of the board of directors of the New Ireland Fund.

In addition, he is a board member of the Economic Advisory Board to the Prime Minister of Ireland, Northern Ireland Trade & Investment Council, The Flax Trust, and trustee of the Northern Ireland Memorial Fund.

His honors include “US Top 100 in Business: 1991-2011,” Irish America Magazine, “Outstanding Alumnus 1991 Award,” from University College Dublin, and several Ernst & Young entrepreneurial awards.

In 2007, Queen Elizabeth I recognized Moore for his contribution to the Northern Ireland economy and for his international work on behalf of all of Ireland with an Honorary CBE – Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire.

Moore holds both economics and MBSc degrees from University College Dublin, and an MBA and DBA from George Washington University, Washington, D.C. He has also been awarded an Honorary Doctorate in Sciences by the University of Ulster in 2006.

Moore lives in the Washington, D.C., area with his wife, Angela. They have three children.

Read our interview with George Moore.

George Moore


Martin Murphy, managing director, HP Ireland

Under Martin Murphy’s leadership, HP has experienced a strong and sustained commercial and financial performance and is now the largest technology services provider and a leading IT employer in Ireland, north and south.

An active industrial policy and education advocate, Martin is chair of JobBridge, Ireland’s first National Internship Scheme; is a member of the Irish government’s Top Level Appointments Committee (TLAC) and serves on the board of the Smurfit Business School and the Institute of Directors and is a member of the Council of Dublin Chamber of Commerce. 

Murphy is a vocal campaigner across Ireland and within HP for the development of Ireland as a competitive global innovation and R&D hub and as a center for the development and exploitation of intellectual property. 

He holds a BA BAI (Hons) in engineering and maths, and a MSc in electronic engineering from Trinity College Dublin.

Murphy is married to Anna and has three children.

Read our interview with Martin Murphy.

Martin Murphy


Matt Murphy, partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

Matt Murphy is a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. He joined the firm in 1999 and manages the iFund, an initiative with Apple that focuses on funding and building defining applications on the iOS platform and mobile internet.

Murphy’s expertise is in mobile solutions and cloud infrastructure technology. He is either a director or works with the management teams of Aerohive Networks, AppDynamics, Apperian, AutoNavi, Booyah!, Egnyte, GOGII, RGB Networks, Puppet Labs, SessionM, Shazam, shopkick, Stoke and WorkSmart Labs.

Previously, Murphy served as board observer at Google (from initial investment to IPO) and led KPCB’s investment in AutoNavi. He also served as a director at Pelago (acquired by Groupon in 2011), Ocarina Networks (acquired by Dell in 2010), Dash Navigation (acquired by RIM in 2009) and Peakstream (acquired by Google in 2008).

Before joining KPCB, Murphy led product management at Netboost (acquired by Intel) and worked at Sun Microsystems, where he led business development for the Network Systems Group and worked as product line manager for networking platforms.

Murphy also worked in strategic and technical consulting for several years at Booz Allen Hamilton and Accenture.

Murphy holds a BS degree in electrical engineering from Tufts University and an MBA from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business.

Matt Murphy


Read more about the Silicon Valley 50:

Surnames A-C

Surnames D-H

Surnames O-R

Surnames S-W