Mplayit

John Backus

Founder and Managing Partner New Atlantic Ventures

John is a seasoned technology investor and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience investing in and managing rapidly growing, high-technology companies. Prior to founding New Atlantic, John was a founding investor and the President and Chief Executive Officer of InteliData Technologies, a Fast 50 company in both 1997 & 1998.  John led InteliData’s predecessor, US Order, through a successful $65 million IPO in 1995. John currently manages a $250MM venture portfolio at New Atlantic. He currently serves on the board of directors of Mplayit, FTRANS, Koofers & RemitPro. He is also the past Chairman of the Wolf Trap Foundation Board of Directors, past Chairman of the Northern Virginia Technology Council, and was appointed by former Virginia Governor Mark Warner to co-chair the Virginia Research and Technology Advisory Commission (VRTAC).

Todd Hixon

Founder and Managing Partner New Atlantic Ventures

Todd has over 26 years of experience as a High-Tech investor and consultant. Todd currently holds a seat on the Board of Directors of Ember, Luminus Devices, GateRocket and Velox. Prior to joining NAV, he was a co-founder and Managing Director DFJ/NE. Before that, he was a Senior Vice President of the Boston Consulting Group (BCG), where he founded the Technology and Communications Practice and managed it for twelve years during which it grew to $100 million of revenue, and subsequently became a partner in BCG’s venture investment business. Todd was also the officer responsible for BCG’s $50 million internal information technology activity.

Stuart J. Miller

Founder and Managing Partner New Atlantic Ventures

Mr. Miller has extensive success in growing value at technology-based enterprises by converting leading-edge technologies to growing business enterprises – ranging from privately held start-up companies to “intrapreneurial” units in large technology corporations.  In Chief Executive Officer roles, he generated significant investor value at Software AG, a mid-stage publicly traded company and successfully executed turn round situations at Cortex Corporation and Linus Technologies.  Subsequently, he served as Vice-President for Verizon Communications where Mr. Miller spearheaded the development and deployment of the $1B information systems and network operations supporting the wholesale local competition business. 

Prior to 1984, he served as VP and General Manager of Sperry Computer Systems Communications and Terminals Division and was responsible for the development and sales of the world’s first fully integrated office automation system. 

Mr. Miller served on the Boards of SoftSwitch, Inc. and ETAK Inc. as well as on those where he had the CEO role.  He also served on President Reagan’s OMB Information Technology Advisory Committee and on the Executive Committee of the Computer and Communications Industry Association.  Mr. Miller has also testified on several technology issues before Congressional Subcommittees.  He presently serves on the Boards of SecureIT, MPowerPlayer and INC.spire, the Reston, VA-based business incubator, and is a counsellor with the Service Corps Of Retired Executives.  He lives in Arlington, Virginia.

Michael Powers

Founder, Chairman and CEO

Michael Powers, Founder, Chairman and CEO, started Mplayit to connect independent content developers to mobile content consumers and to utilize online social networks to further expand that market. Previously he founded an independent mobile applications publisher, shipping applications for the first commercially available Java-enabled handsets for the Nextel network in 2002, and those products won awards from Motorola and Sun Microsystems for best-in-class productivity software. Turning to the smartphone market, his applications and games launched on the original T-Mobile Sidekick and continue to be top-sellers in their category. As Mplayit’s CEO, he continues to be a thought leader in the evolving mobile content industry. Powers is a graduate of Princeton University.