September 2002
For those of us who watched the summer stock market with alarm and despair, Peter Barris offers a bit of solace. America has survived many boom-and-bust cycles and emerged stronger. “No other country has an economic system that is as flexible and creative,” says Peter, a VPP investor, board member, and the general managing partner of New Enterprises Associates (NEA), a venture capital firm with $5 billion under management.
While the economic roller coaster of the last decade has left many gasping for breath, “it brought efficiencies to corporate America,” Peter observes. “In a short period of time we were able to marshal a vast amount of human and financial investment and create a trillion-dollar economic platform. The Internet backbone was built; email was established as an acceptable form of communication, and e-commerce created processes such as customer support, sales, and inventory management.”
NEA, which invests primarily in information technology and health care services and devices, has slowed its volume of investments considerably, but Peter still sees value in making careful investments in young, innovative companies. Increasingly, he says, large corporations are looking to small, venture-supported startup companies for innovation and research and development.
Peter brings this wealth of knowledge and experience of capital markets to VPP. He sees his function on the board as making sure that everyone understands what the venture capital model is and what aspects might be “leverageable in the nonprofit world.” He relishes his role as an outspoken board member who asks a lot of questions. Sometimes, he says, he makes statements that he doesn’t completely believe as a way to stimulate discussion and ensure “intellectual honesty.” Peter adds, “I’m learning that it’s different in the nonprofit world…but I’m not burdened by having to work within its constraints, so I bring some fresh thought.”
Thoughtfulness is the reason Mario Morino invited Peter to invest in VPP and sit on the board. The two met in the mid-1980s when Peter was running the software division of UCCEL. In 1987 Mario asked Peter to become president of Morino Associates, the software firm Mario co-founded in the early 1970s. “Peter is smart and deals in facts,” says Mario. “He probes and he challenges, and that’s good for us at VPP.”
Peter says he came to VPP to learn how to help people and to prepare himself for a different lifestyle. He was raised in Chicago in a close-knit Greek family—a family not unlike the one depicted in the movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding, according to his oldest daughter.
Education and pursuit of a promising career was important in the family. After earning an engineering degree from Northwestern and a business degree from Dartmouth, Peter began his career at General Electric. Work has consumed him ever since.
Peter hopes that whatever he does after NEA will afford him the time and ability to use his money and skills to benefit others. He believes VPP will help prepare him for that. Right now, he admits, his family’s giving is unfocused and reactive. “If something comes our way that we relate to, we give.” He says his experience at VPP is opening his eyes to new ways of thinking. But, he admits, he has much more to learn and pass on to his daughters.
