Christopher R. McCleary

Christopher R. McCleary is a technology entrepreneur best known as the founder of former application service provider company USinternetworking, Inc (USi).[1][2]

Early life

He was born September 12, 1956 in Geneva, Illinois. His father, Robert McCleary, was a research engineer with USG Corporation, and his mother, Gloria McCleary, was a real estate agent with Century 21. McCleary is a graduate of the University of Kentucky.[3]

Business ventures

USinternetworking

Prior to USi, McCleary was the chairman and chief executive officer of Digex, a national internet service provider.[1] He took over CEO duties at Digex in 1996 before leaving in 1998 to launch USI in Annapolis, Maryland.[4]

During its first 18 months, USI raised nearly $500 million from investors.[4] It never posted a profit.[5] McCleary stepped down as CEO in July of 2000, but retained his position of chairman of the board.[6] Despite infusions of investor cash, the company went into chapter 11 bankruptcy in early 2001.[1] McCleary later stated that "his one regret is not having fought harder to save USi", but that it would not have been possible due to his family issues and the collapse of the World Trade Center all occurring at the same time.[1]

Evergreen Assurance

In 2003, McCleary founded Evergreen Assurance in Baltimore, Maryland. Evergreen was intended to assist businesses in recovering email and digital records in the event of a disaster.[1] Evergreen was acquired by its competitor, MessageOne, in 2004.[7]

Other positions

Since leaving Evergreen, McCleary has served on the board of directors of several tech companies.

In 2005, he was appointed chairman of the board of JackBe.[8] In 2006, McCleary was appointed the director of Blue Chip Venture Company. Blue Chip had previously invested in Digex, USI, and Evergreen Assurance.[9] In September 2006, McCleary was elected chairman of the board for Radware.[10] In 2008, McCleary joined the board of directors of Hosting.com, a managed services and colocation provider.[11]

McCleary serves on the city of Baltimore technology incubator board of directors and as chairman of the investment committee.[12][13] He is a member of the board of directors of the State of Maryland Venture Fund.[14] McCleary has served on the board of trustees of Anne Arundel Community College in Annapolis Maryland.

Other information

McCleary was awarded the Baltimore Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Software in 2000.[11]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Noguchi, Yuki (2003-03-07). "This Time, The Firm Turns Around The CEO". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  2. ↑ McCarthy, Ellen (2005-11-17). "Ellen McCarthy - Venturing In From Outside". ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  3. ↑ Gottlieb, Richard (2008-05-15). The Directory of Venture Capital & Private Equity Firms 2008: Domestic and International. Grey House Publishing. p. 104. ISBN 9781592372720.
  4. 1 2 "USi Out to Defy Wall Street Worries; After Layoffs, New Investments, High-Tech Firm Vows to Succeed". 2001-05-10.
  5. ↑ "USinternetworking Revenue Rose". 2000-07-26.
  6. ↑ Network World. IDG Network World Inc. 2000-07-31. p. 27.
  7. ↑ Weiss, Todd R. "MessageOne acquires Evergreen Assurance". Computerworld. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  8. ↑ "AJAX Provider JackBe to Fuel Growth with Series B Investment By Blue Chip Venture Company; Funding to Drive Investment in Product Development, Sales and Marketing". Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  9. ↑ "Blue Chip Venture Company Names McCleary as Director". MarketWired. 2006-01-24. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  10. ↑ Radware. "Christopher R. McCleary Elected Chairman of the Board". www.radware.com. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  11. 1 2 "Hosting.com Announces Christopher McCleary Joining Board of Directors".
  12. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-02-03. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  13. ↑ Dance, Scott (2007-03-16). "McCleary among four directors named to ETC board". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2018-01-15.
  14. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2009-02-23. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
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