Pipeline: PIPELINE Mentors

Robert Herrington brings a wealth of experiences that make him uniquely qualified to lead Horizon Analog. Rob has been an entrepreneur throughout his life. He was raised in a technology-oriented family business that he eventually turned into a series of successful businesses. One of these companies, WOS Data Systems, developed the innovative and successful line of Timbuktu networking software, which Rob merged into Farallon Computing, Inc. in 1988. Over the course of the next five years, Rob helped to grow the combined companies from $7 million in sales to over $122 million.

After five years as Executive Vice President of Farallon, Herrington’s entrepreneurial spirit and vision for community networks led him to found GravityWorks, Inc., which was later merged into YourNet one of the first companies to develop a multi-function operating system for the smart card platform.

Rob has fulfilled many leadership roles in his companies. Examples include:

1. Multi-million dollar technology license to Lotus for Farallon's ScreenCam product.

2. Joint ventures with NTT to co-label products in Japan.

3. Architect and negotiate a multi-million dollar technology transfer from Novell to a public energy company.

4. Create and fund multiple startups, doing spinouts, developing new products, acquire companies and technologies.

He has international experience working with companies such as NTT in Japan, Siemens in Austria, Intellect in Australia, Nortel in Canada. One of the most important roles Rob has played, however, is that of the rare entrepreneur who is willing and able to attract and keep great partners/employees, and allow them to grow to their potential while gathering the resources and partnerships necessary to implement a strategic vision.

Rob is also a well-known figure in the technology industry, and he was involved in the early days of the personal computer revolution. He has been a speaker at many industry functions and has been a consultant/JV partner for companies such as Sprint, UtiliCorp, Novell, NTT, Bell Atlantic, Mercantile Bank and others. He continues to guest lecture at the University of Kansas and Kauffman Center in Kansas City. Rob has served in many civic roles and on several corporate and advisory boards. This background gives Herrington a strong foundation to communicate the vision of Horizon Analog to the marketplace and to develop strategic relationships that will fuel the success of the company. Herrington mentors companies for the State of Kansas and was the recipient of the 2008 Entrepreneurial Leadership award for KTEC PIPELINE.

He is currently an investor in and serves as a board member or board advisor to several private companies. Herrington is a native of Kansas and a graduate of the University of Kansas, where he studied sociology and psychology. He lives with his wife and family in Lawrence, Kansas. His hobbies include fly-fishing and auto racing.