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Screening Room

View this video in the Pratt Screening Room.

Larry Lenihan

Just where can a degree in engineering take a motivated individual? Every issue of the DukEngineer spotlights a different alumnus who has taken an engineering degree from Duke to new places and new heights of success. Featuring Larry Lenihan (Class of 1987), this issue is no different. At Duke, Larry Lenihan studied electrical engineering while being active in Theta Chi, his fraternity. In fact, Larry's introduction to serious leadership responsibility may well have started with his involvement with Theta Chi and his position as Vice President of the then much more important and influential Inter-Fraternity Council.

After graduating with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering, Larry joined IBM in 1987 as a sales associate. Larry chose to take the job at IBM because it would expose him to the ground level of the technology industry where customers were actually applying a broad range of technologies to create solutions addressing their business needs. Moreover, as Larry put it, he wanted to work for IBM because it was the only place one could see everything from mainframes to communications to software.

Larry quickly rose through the ranks in the sales division at IBM, winning the "Rookie of the Year" award in 1988 and gaining his first big promotion after only 18 months. By 1990, Larry was leading an international sales team responsible for more than $200 million fri equipment sales. After his success in sales, Larry founded a start-up software business within IBM in early 1991. Pioneering for the time, this new business worked in the then brand new, cutting-edge field of interactive multimedia developing transactional retail kiosks which utilized digital video servers. Although the business was doing very well, IBM was going through a rough transitional period with a new CEO and a new focus, and therefore was not interested in expanding the new business. Moreover, they did not want to let go of the company, which left things basically in stasis. So, as Larry put it, "rather than fight it, I moved on."

While developing the start-up business, IBM sent Larry to the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, where he earned an MBA in 1993. After getting his MBA and feeling constrained at IBM, Larry decided to get back into the tech industry, only this time doing Merchant Banking. In 1993, Larry joined the small merchant banking firm Broadview Associates LLC, which focused on technology-oriented investment banking and venture capital. At Broadview, Larry worked as a senior member of the mergers and acquisitions team responsible for several of the first major M&A deals in the networking industry, conducting transactions with leading companies such as Cisco, Cabletron, and Bay Networks.

Larry left Broadview in 1996 for a position at Pequot Capital Management, Inc. (then Dawson Samberg Capital Management) leading the formation of its venture capital investment arm, Pequot Private Equity Group. Pequot has grown to more than $8 billion in capital under management; and, Larry, as one of eight Managing Directors of Pequot Capital and co-head of Pequot's five venture funds, is responsible for all of Pequot's venture initiatives. Larry began with a single fund with $148 million in assets and now heads funds with nearly $2 billion in committed capital for venture investments. Pequot invests in and then takes an active role in helping earlystage start-ups and emerging companies build a competitive advantage to become leaders in sectors such as telecommunications, e-business, network infrastructure, and technology-enabled healthcare. Pequot has completed venture investments in industry leaders such as Bowstreet, Arrowpoint, Sycamore Networks, Tellium, and Netegrity. Larry, as a prominent member of the technology venture investing community, currently sits on the boards of several public and private companies, including eLance, USSearch, Performaworks, and Netegrity among others.

However successful or focused an individual is, there is life beyond work. In addition to being devoted to his professional life, Larry is a dedicated husband and father. At 28, Larry married Marion Fischer and the two now have three boys, ranging in age from 1 to 4 years. A quick glance at the ages reveals the fact that Larry's first child was not born until he had already reached the age of 32. So, when asked if there had been any particular motivation for his delay in starting a family, Larry admitted concerns over having sufficient financial resources as well as the ability to spend the time with his children that they deserve. Furthermore, as Larry stated it so concisely, "raising children is incredibly rewarding, but strenuous."

Being successful in business, however, has its benefits. Larry, as the Managing Director, often has the ability to adjust his schedule so that he can spend quality time playing with his children in the evenings before reading them a bedtime story. In fact, when not traveling, Larry always attempts to make it home by 7:30 PM allowing him to spend time each evening with his wife and children.

In addition to his commitment to work and family, Larry also finds time to serve on the Pratt School of Engineering Board of Visitors. Furthermore, Larry has been very generous in his philanthropy to the PSOE, having already made a million dollar commitment which he hopes will be the only first in a series of donations aimed at giving scholarships to inner-city minorities. Larry hopes the program will allow these students to return to the inner-city after graduation so that they can serve as role models in and help further revitalize their communities. When asked why he was interested in helping these students to receive an engineering education, he responded with gratitude for his own education in engineering. It taught him how to approach problems and questions, while at the same time making him comfortable with change and technology - the hallmarks of the future.

Larry hopes the (scholarship) program will allow these students to return to the inner-city after graduation so that they can serve as role models in and help further revitalize their communities.

John Kenneth White, Jr. is a senior majoring in political science.
DukEngineer, Fall 2001