OpenView Venture Partners Carves Out New Role in VC Industry

May 6, 2015

John McCullough, former Rocket Software Director of Corporate Development, joins Boston-based venture capital firm to facilitate alliance partnerships and orchestrate strategic exits

Leading expansion-stage B2B venture capital firm, OpenView Venture Partners, announced today the addition of John McCullough as the firm’s first-ever Director of Corporate Development. In this new role, McCullough will work to proactively build relationships and facilitate conversations between OpenView portfolio companies and potential strategic partners, drive M&A outcomes and help strengthen business and corporate development activities within the portfolio. McCullough’s dedication to facilitating conversations between the portfolio and potential buyers makes his addition to the team yet another unique value-add offered by OpenView.

Prior to joining OpenView, McCullough served in a similar role at Rocket Software, a global enterprise software company based in Waltham, Massachusetts. At Rocket, McCullough drove business development activities and executed strategic acquisitions, including public company carve-outs, stock purchases and cross-border transactions. McCullough, who holds an MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business, will focus on many of the same responsibilities at OpenView, but with a heavier focus on serving as a liaison between strategic partners and the firm’s portfolio.

“I was immediately drawn to OpenView because of the firm’s incredible reputation as a true value-add investor. The opportunity to establish a new role not only at OpenView, but within the VC community is especially exciting,” said McCullough. “Too often conversations between potential acquirers and portfolio companies happen on a sporadic, one-off basis, and I’m looking forward to streamlining this process for all parties.”

By establishing a new role dedicated to outreach and engagement with strategic acquirers and partners, OpenView hopes to bring more structure and purpose to the M&A and corporate development processes.

“John’s addition to the team creates huge value for both strategic acquirers and our portfolio,” said OpenView founder and managing partner Scott Maxwell. “This new role enables portfolio companies to establish early relationships with parties that can help them grow or potentially acquire their businesses. We’re excited to have John on board as yet another unique benefit to our portfolio.”

About OpenView Venture Partners
OpenView Venture Partners is an expansion-stage venture capital firm based in Boston that invests exclusively in B2B software companies. In addition to its investment team, OpenView also has a dedicated team of 15 consultants who work with its portfolio companies to help them scale faster and more efficiently than competitors (http://www.openviewlabs.com). Founded in 2006, the firm invests globally and has nearly $700 million in total capital under management.

Former Director of Marketing

As Director of Marketing, Gail oversees all marketing activities for OpenView.