Founders & Retired Partners
C. Richard Kramlich
Chairman Emeritus & Co-founder
Dick is Co-Founder of NEA and and previously Chairman of the NEA Management Company. He was Managing General Partner of the firm through NEA VII when he turned the reins over to Peter Barris and became a General Partner. During the 20 years Dick was the Managing General Partner of NEA, the partnership achieved top quartile returns for its Limited Partners. Dick began his venture career in 1969 as a General Partner with Arthur Rock and Co. after nine years in general management as Manager of Financial Planning at the Kroger Co. and in investment management as Executive Vice President at Gardner & Preston Moss Company in Boston. In 1977 Dick was an early investor in Apple Computer for his own account. Since co-founding NEA in 1978, he has been involved in ten companies that have grown from start-up or near start-up stage to companies with market value in excess of $1 billion
Chuck Newhall
Co-Founder & Retired General Partner
Chuck has been at the forefront of innovation in healthcare since co-founding NEA in 1977, with a focus on healthcare services, healthcare information technology and biopharmaceutical investments. His long track record of successful investing includes numerous companies that achieved market capitalizations in excess of $1 billion, and through those investments Chuck has played an integral role in transforming the health care delivery system. He has served as a director of more than 50 venture-backed companies, and currently serves on the boards of Interfusio, Neuropace, Supernus Pharmaceuticals, and Vitae Pharmaceuticals. His prior board memberships include AMERIGROUP, Bravo Health, Caremark, Chomerics, CoGenesys, Comp Health, Genetic Therapy, LifeMetrix, Life Technologies, PatientKeeper, Russ Pharmaceuticals, Senseonics, Scandipharm, Sepracor, Surgical Health, and Zymark Corporation.
In founding NEA, Chuck and his co-founders wanted to build a ‘100-year-firm’—a unique perspective that ultimately enabled NEA to transition, transform and scale as venture capital evolved. Chuck's role in shaping and institutionalizing NEA's collaborative, entrepreneur-focused culture is a key factor in the firm's continued success. In addition to that legacy, Chuck played an integral role in the broader industry's maturation, not only as an investor but as a thought leader and advocate. He founded the Mid-Atlantic Venture Capital Association (MAVA), which now has over 80 venture capital firms that are members, and is one of the most active regional venture associations in the country. He is Chairman Emeritus of MAVA. Chuck continues to be deeply engaged as a venture capital industry advocate and is frequently invited to speak to organizations and institutions about the state of the industry. Recently he worked with Peter Bancroft, a well-known former venture capitalist, the NVCA, and Harvard University to record the oral histories of leading VCs so that the histories of the firms will not be lost. Sixty interviews have been conducted or scheduled so far. He is a Trustee of the Baltimore Museum of Art and a Member of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County Board of Visitors.
Before co-founding NEA, Chuck was Vice President of T. Rowe Price Associates (Vice President of their New Horizons Fund). He served in Vietnam, commanding an independent platoon including an initial reconnaissance of Hamburger Hill. His decorations include the Silver Star and Bronze Star V (1st OLC.). He received his MBA from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business and his BA in English Literature with honors from the University of Pennsylvania.
Frank Bonsal
Co-founder & Former General Partner
Since retiring from his General Partner role at NEA in 2003, Frank has remained an active angel investor as Founder and Managing Partner of Bonsal Capital, LLC, as Special Partner of New Markets Venture Partners, and as advisor to and Limited Partner in numerous funds in North America, the United Kingdom, and Europe, including Amadeus Capital Partners (UK), Boulder Ventures (MD/CO), Novak Biddle Venture Partners (MD), Sterling Ventures (MD), Trellis Partners (TX), Venturehouse (DC), and Windward Ventures (CA).
James Barrett, Ph.D
Retired General Partner
Jim joined NEA in 2001, he is a retired General Partner who specialized in biotechnology and worked with members of NEA's healthcare investment group on medical devices and specialty pharmaceutical companies. Previous board memberships include Amicus Therapeutics, Cardioxyl Pharmaceuticals, Cerecor Inc., Clovis Oncology, GlycoMimetics, Inc., PhaseBio Pharmaceuticals, Psyadon Pharmaceuticals, Roka Bioscience, Senseonics, Supernus Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Targacept, Inc. (NASDAQ: TRGT) and Zosano Pharma, Inc. Jim formerly served on the boards of exited companies: CoGenesys (acquired by Teva Pharmaceutical Industries), Iomai Corporation (acquired by Intercell AG), MedImmune, Inc. (acquired by AstraZeneca), Pharmion (acquired by Celgene), Inhibitex, Inc. (NASDAQ: INHX, acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb), and Peptimmune, Inc. Prior to NEA, Jim served as Founder, Chairman and CEO of Sensors for Medicine and Science (1997 - 2001). Prior to that, he led three NEA-funded companies, serving as Chairman and CEO of Genetic Therapy, Inc. (1987 - 1995), President and CEO of Life Technologies (1985 - 1987), and President and CEO of Bethesda Research Labs (1982 - 1983). Prior to 1982, Jim worked in various divisions of SmithKline. Jim received a PhD in Biochemistry at the University of Tennessee, his MBA from the University of Santa Clara, and a BS in Chemistry from Boston College.
Peter Barris
Chairman Emeritus & Retired Managing General Partner
Peter joined NEA in 1992 and was the firm’s Managing General Partner from 1999-2017. After retiring, Peter served as Chairman from 2019-2023. During his 18 years at the helm, NEA's assets under management grew from $1B to over $20B and the organization scaled its operations to become one of the world’s largest venture capital firms. Under Peter’s leadership, NEA invested in industry-transforming technology companies like CareerBuilder, Tableau, Groupon, Jet.com, Juniper Networks, Salesforce.com, TiVo, WebMD, and Workday. He has been named several times to the Forbes Midas List of top technology investors, to Washington Tech Council’s Hall of Fame, and to the Washington Business Hall of Fame. Peter has personally led investments in over three dozen technology companies that have successfully completed public offerings or mergers. He serves on the board of public companies Berkshire Grey (BGRY), Groupon (GRPN) NextNav (NN), and Sprout Social (SPT) and is currently director of several private companies including Catalytic, Tamr, Tempus, ThreatQuotient, and ZeroFox.
Prior to joining NEA, Peter was President of LEGENT Corporation (LGNT) and Senior Vice President of the Systems Software Division of UCCEL Corporation (UCE). Both companies were ultimately acquired at valuations that were record breaking for their time. Earlier, Peter spent almost a decade at General Electric Company in a variety of management positions, including Vice President and General Manager at GE Information Services. He is Vice-Chair of the Northwestern University Board of Trustees and serves on the boards of the Brookings Institution, P33, and In-Q-Tel. Peter previously served on the Executive Committee of the Board of the National Venture Capital Association, the Tuck School Board of Overseers, and was a founding member of Venture Philanthropy Partners, a philanthropic organization in the Washington D.C. area. Peter received his BSEE from Northwestern University and his MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth.