KTEC Pipeline: PIPELINE Mentors

Robert Herrington brings a wealth of experiences that makes him uniquely qualified to lead Horizon Analog. Herrington has been an entrepreneur throughout his life. He was raised in a technology-oriented family business that he eventually turned into a series of successful businesses. One of these companies, WOS Data Systems, developed the innovative and successful line of Timbuktu networking software, which he merged into Farallon Computing, Inc. in 1988. Over the course of the next five years, Herrington helped to grow the combined companies from $7 million in sales to over $50 million. After 5 years as Executive Vice President of Farallon, Herrington’s entrepreneurial spirit and vision for community networks led him to found GravityWorks, Inc., which was later merged into YourNet one of the first companies to develop a multi-function operating system for the smart card platform.

Herrington has fulfilled many roles in his companies including: visioning and developing successful networking and communications products, as well as acquiring or selling products and companies. Examples include: multi-million dollar technology license to Lotus for Farallon's ScreenCam product; joint ventures with NTT to co-label products in Japan; architect and negotiate a technology transfer from Novell to a public energy company; and funding startups, doing spinouts, creating new products, acquiring companies and technologies.

He has international experience working with companies such as NTT in Japan, Siemens in Austria, Intellect in Australia and Nortel in Canada. One of the most important roles Herrington has played, however, is that of the rare entrepreneur who is willing and able to attract and keep great partners/employees and allow them to grow to their potential while gathering the resources and partnerships necessary to implement a strategic vision.

Herrington is also a well-known figure in the technology industry, and he was involved in the early days of the personal computer revolution. He has been a speaker at many industry functions and has been a consultant/JV partner for companies such as Sprint, UtiliCorp, Novell, NTT, Bell Atlantic, Mercantile Bank and others. He continues to guest lecture at the University of Kansas and Kauffman Center in Kansas City. Herrington has served in many civic roles and on several corporate and advisory boards.