Below are biographies of selected investors and executives:

John Doerr /Managing Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

“V-Vehicle Company coming to Louisiana, I think, is a great statement and a great catalyst for all kinds of new, innovative economic opportunities.”

John Doerr is a partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Together with KPCB’s partners, John has backed many of America’s best entrepreneurial leaders, whose ventures have created more than 150,000 new jobs. In 1974 John joined a small chipmaker, Intel Corporation, just as they invented the legendary 8080 microprocessor. He worked in engineering and marketing and became a top-ranked sales executive. John joined KPCB in 1980 and soon stated Silicon Compilers, a VLSI CAD software company, and @Home, the first broadband cable Internet service. John is a techie and inventor, holding patents for computer memory devices. He earned a B.S. and M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rice University and and MBA. from Harvard.

Ray Lane /Managing Partner, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers

“The thing that excites me the most about V-Vehicle is that it is a holistic change, so we’re thinking about -- from beginning to end -- how to reconstruct a car company.”

Ray Lane is a Managing Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Since joining KPCB, Ray has sponsored several investments for the firm in enterprise and consumer technology, as well as clean and alternative energy. Before joining KPCB, Ray was president and chief operating officer of Oracle Corporation, the second-largest software company in the world and the leading enterprise software and services company. Before joining Oracle, Ray was senior partner with Booz Allen Hamilton, where he pioneered and led the Information System Group, a worldwide consulting practice targeted at helping senior management achieve better results from information technology. Prior to Booz Allen Hamilton, Ray served as division vice president with Electronic Data Systems (EDS). In addition, he spent ten years with IBM in various product-management, sales and marketing positions. Ray received a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and an honorary Ph.D. in science from West Virginia University (WVU).

Tom Matano /Director of Design, V-Vehicle Company

“My belief is to do a good design that lasts longer. It’ll make people happy.”

Tom has 30 years of experience in the automotive design industry. In addition to his responsibilities at VVC, he serves as the executive director of the School of Industrial Design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Tom joined Mazda in 1983 and progressed trough numerous design positions, ultimately becoming general manager of Mazda Design, with responsibility for the chief designers’ group that created Mazda’s entire line of car designs, as well as the European and North American studios. His accomplishments at Mazda include the MX-5, the RX-7, the 929 Miata “M-Coupe” concept car, and many other projects by the design teams he managed and created. Earlier in his career, he held design positions at General Motors and BMW.

Horst Metz /Vice President-Assembly Operations, V-Vehicle Company

“Designing a car in America, building a car in America, selling the car in America -- we’re going to show that it can be done.”

Horst has an undergraduate degree from MIT and an MBA from the Kellogg School. He spent 10 years in industry before joining Booz Allen Hamilton in Chicago. Throughout his 20-year career at Booz, where he rose to Senior Partner and Director, Horst served automotive and other engineered product industry clients, focusing on manufacturing strategy and operations improvement. His clients included most of the automotive OEMs in both the U.S.A. and Europe. Since retiring from Booz in 1998, Horst has maintained an independent consulting practice serving a small group of clients including three European car companies and a European locomotive builder. He joined VVC early last year as vice president - final assembly, and, in that role, oversees VVC’s logistics and assembly operations.

T. Boone Pickens /Founder and Chairman, BP Capital Management

“I’m excited to be an investor... and I believe that the automobile industry will survive in America, but it won’t look like it did in the past.”

Pickens, founder and chairman, BP Capital Management, is principally responsible for the formulation of the energy futures investment strategy of the BP Capital Commodity Fund and BP Capital Equity Fund. Pickens is aggressively pursuing a wide range of other business interests, from water marketing, alternative wind power and ranch development initiatives to Clean Energy, a clean transportation fuels company he founded and took public in May 2008 (the eighth entity he has helped go public in his career). Through Mesa Water, Pickens is the largest private holder of permitted groundwater rights in the United States. He was founder of Mesa Petroleum in its various forms beginning in 1956. During his long and distinguished career, Pickens has served on numerous boards and industry associations and has been a generous philanthropist, giving away nearly $700 million. He earned a degree in geology from Oklahoma A&M (now Oklahoma State University) in 1951.

Frank Varasano /Founder and CEO, V-Vehicle Company

“This is the most exciting thing I’ve ever done.”

Previously, Frank served as Executive Vice President of Oracle Corporation, where he was responsible for marketing, sales and consulting and served on the Board of Directors and its Executive Committee. Also, Frank held several senior management positions during his 26-year tenure at Booz Allen Hamilton. As a Senior Vice President, he led Booz Allen Hamilton’s largest practice (Engineering and Manufacturing), largest office (New York), and largest regional profit center (United States). Frank earned his MBA from Harvard and is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. 

V Vehicle Company 

V-Vehicle Company (VVC) is a new American car company that will produce a high quality and fuel-efficient car for the U.S market. Its goal is to provide the American car buyer greater product value and a superior automotive experience. By designing and building its cars in the U.S., VVC wants to help re-establish American leadership in the global automotive industry.

•  VVC was founded in 2006 by Frank Varasano, a former Oracle Corporation and Booz Allen Hamilton executive. The vehicle design team is led by Tom Matano, who is best known as the ‘father or Miata,” which was recently named the “most iconic” car of the past 25 years by BusinessWeek. Headquartered in San Diego, California, VVC intends to locate its first manufacturing facility in Monroe, Louisiana.

First Plant Location Selected

• VVC selected Monroe as its first plant site after an extensive and competitive, multi-state evaluation of potential candidates against a detailed list of critical factors. Key to its decision was the existing facility itself, the quality of the labor pool, its confidence in the state and local leadership and a creative incentive package developed by the Louisiana Economic Development team that addressed core needs and provided value where it was most needed. KPMG advised VVC in the selection process and CBRE acted as real estate broker. 

•  VVC plans to renovate, re-tool and expand the former Guide headlamp facility in Monroe, approximately doubling its size with the addition of about 325,000 square feet of production space. The construction project is expected to begin later this summer. Gray Construction of Lexington, Kentucky has been chosen to design, engineer and supervise the project. CKPG/PW and Associates of Troy, Michigan will provide process and manufacturing engineering support. Both organizations have impressive resumes in automotive plant design and construction. 

• Once completed and at full capacity, the Monroe facility will employ over 1,400 workers. The majority of these workers will be employed by VVC, with approximately one-third employed by several co-located supplier companies. VVC intends to take full advantage of the Louisiana FastStart program to help recruit, screen and train a world-class workforce. Production hiring is expected to begin in the summer of 2010.

Funding In Place

• VVC has been funded thus far by the venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield & Byers (KPCB) under the stewardship of VVC Board Members and KPCB partners Raymond Lane and John Doerr. KPCB is one of the world’s leading venture capital companies, with success stories including Genentech, Amazon, Compaq and Sun Microsystems. VVC and KPCB are currently in the process of closing a second round of equity funding.

• VVC has applied for engineering and manufacturing loans under the Advanced Technology Vehicle Manufacturing Loan Program (ATVM) - a $25 billion loan program established by Congress in 2007 and administered by the U.S. Department of Energy to spur innovation in automobile technology.

Strong Management Team

• Frank Varasano, Founder and CEO - From 1999 to 2001, Frank served as Executive Vice President of Oracle Corporation, where he was responsible for marketing, sales, and consulting and served on the Board of Directors and its Executive Committee. 

Previously, Frank held several senior management positions during his 26-year tenure at Booz Allen Hamilton. As a Senior Vice President, he led Booz Allen Hamilton’s largest practice (Engineering and Manufacturing), largest office (New York), and largest regional profit center (United States). Frank earned his MBA from Harvard and is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy. 

• Tom Matano, Director of Design - Tom has 30 years of experience in the automotive design industry. In addition to his responsibilities at VVC, he serves as the executive director of the School of Industrial Design at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. Tom joined Mazda in 1983 and progressed trough numerous design positions, ultimately becoming General Manager of Mazda Design, with responsibility for the chief designers’ group that created Mazda’s entire line of car designs, as well as the European and North American studios. Earlier in his career, he held design positions at General Motors and BMW.

• Horst Metz, Vice President - Assembly Operations - Horst spent ten years in indusry before joining Booz Allen Hamilton. Throughout his 20-year career there, he rose to Senior Partner and Director and served automotive and other engineered product industry clients, focusing on manufacturing strategy and operations improvement. His clients included most of the automotive OEMs in both the U.S.A. and Europe. Today he has an independent consulting practice serving a small group of clients including three European car companies and a European locomotive builder. He joined VVC early last year oversees VVC’s logistics and assembly operations. Horst has an undergraduate degree from MIT and an MBA from The Kellogg School.

• David Hitchcock, Director - David joined VVC in September 2008 and has been focused on site selection and special projects. Prior to joining VVC, David completed over 20 years service in the Marine Corps as an F/A-18 Hornet pilot. During his career he held leadership roles in operations, aircraft maintenance, training, strategic planning, logistics, and squadron command. David is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and earned his M.A. from the Naval War College.

The Economic Impact of Project Liberty Operations on Louisiana and Select Parishes  (excerts only)

(Prepared by: Dek Terrell, Freeport McMoRan Professor and Director, Division of Economic Development, Louisiana State Univesity)

The (complete) report summarizes estimates of the economic impact of Project Liberty located in Ouachita Parish. The impact covers three areas, the state of Louisiana, Ouachita Parish and a 7-parish area. The 7-parish area includes Caldwell, Jackson, Lincoln, Morehouse, Ouachita, Richland and Union Parishes. The Project Liberty commitment is to spend a specified amount on wages, taxable purchases and capital expenditures over a 15 year period. The operation will directly employ 1,400 workers when it reaches full capacity.

• By the end of 2012, the Project Liberty commitment will reach $56 million in annual payroll.
• The Project Liberty commitment constitutes an injection of $887 million ($598 million when discounted to 2009$) in Louisiana earnings by the end of 2024 through operations alone.
• Accounting for both direct and indirect economic effects, the Project Liberty construction phase will generate over 1,800 Louisiana jobs. When operations reach full capacity in 2012, Project Liberty will support roughly 3,200 Louisiana jobs. 
• Louisiana can expect over $19.6 billion ($13.3 billion when discounted to 2009$) in new output over the 15 year horizon as a result of the injection created by the Project Liberty agreement.
• When indirect effects are included, the Project Liberty operations should increase Louisiana wages and salaries by over $1.9 billion ($1.3 billion when discounted to 2009$) over the 15 year horizon.
• The Project Liberty commitment should generate over $131 million ($89 million when discounted to 2009$) in Louisiana state tax revenue over the 15 year horizon. In addition to this, $32 million ($22 million when discounted to 2009$) of these taxes will occur in Ouachita Parish. State taxes exclude corporate income tax and local taxes exclude property taxes.
• Ouachita Parish will be the primary beneficiary of this activity. Operations will support 2,700 jobs in Ouachita Parish and 3,100 jobs in the 7-parish area.

Economic Impact of the Commitments on the Louisiana Economy

Like a rock dropped into a pond, an injection of new dollars into an economy ripples throughout an economy. Spending by the firm and its employees directly creates new sales in the community. Area businesses that benefit from those expenditures in turn hire additional workers. Spending by those businesses and their employees then creates another round of sales for other businesses and the process continues. Economic impact analysis provides us with the tools to quantify the full impact of these ripples in an economy using jobs, earnings, and output multiplier...

Total Louisiana Employment Attributable to the Project Liberty Operations

Accounting for the multiplier effect, Louisiana can expect a total of $13.3 billion (2009$) in additional output over the next 15 years as a result of Project Liberty operations. Louisiana can expect a net present value of $1.3 billion (2009$) in additional earnings over the next 15 years. 

Local Area Economic Impact

Over the 5 year period, Operation Liberty commitment will add over $13.1 billion in  output and almost $1.2 billion in earnings to the 7-parish area economy. During normal operations the facility will employ 1,400 workers directly and support roughly 3,100 total local jobs. 

Conclusion

This report analyzes the economic impact of a major agreement for construction and operations (Project Liberty) of an automobile manufacturing facility in Ouachita Parish. Perhaps the easiest way to summarize the impact of this agreement on Louisiana’s economy is to focus on the injection of jobs into the state. With direct employment peaking at 1.400 it should come as no surprise that the 7-parish area will benefit substantially from Project Liberty’s presence. Once the multiplier effects are considered, our computations indicate over 3,100 7-parish area jobs can be expected from  operations. The impact is not limited to the 7-parish area. After construction phase is complete, total employment across the state will rise by roughly 3,200 as a result of attracting Project Liberty.