SALT LAKE CITY, May 3 /PRNewswire/ -- vSpring Capital today announced the 2006 class of the vSpring Capital Top 100 Venture Entrepreneurs, also known as the v|100.

The v|100 was conceived by vSpring as a tool to recognize the region's outstanding entrepreneurs and to support and promote partnering and collaboration among the state of Utah's top entrepreneurs. Each year, vSpring asks members of the Utah business community to nominate individuals with ties to the state of Utah who are most likely to lead a successful startup venture in the next five to seven years in the IT (information technology) or biotech industries in a chief executive or chief technical officer role.

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"The v|100 recognizes leadership and innovative excellence and fosters better networking in the entrepreneurial community within the state," said Dinesh Patel, managing director of vSpring Capital. "This year's v|100 includes some very remarkable people. The list itself serves as an instructive demonstration of the state's potential for growth and development, especially in the technology sector."

"The v|100 has emerged as a highly relevant group in Utah," said Michael Levinthal, v|100 member and former managing director of Mayfield Fund in California. "It has become an important indicator of the tremendous growth that we have seen in the last few years."

Once the nominations are submitted, nominees are invited to participate in a confidential online survey to vote for the top 10 individuals they feel would most likely meet the selection criteria. Those nominees who garner the most votes from their peers in this annual process are then elected into the v|100. The result is a community-nominated, peer-selected group of the top IT and biotech entrepreneurs in the state. These individuals are then invited to participate in an array of ongoing interactions throughout the year designed to provide increased exposure, resources and collaboration among this important group.

"Developing and growing a small business can be a very challenging experience," said Ron Heinz, chief executive officer at Helius and repeat-nominee to the v|100. "Having been a member of the v|100 for a while now, I have enjoyed the camaraderie of the group, and appreciate the gathering of bright people who share a common vision for success in Utah."

Facts about the v|100 Class of 2006

The 2006 class of the v|100 includes a unique combination of dynamic young entrepreneurs, technology thought leaders and experienced leaders in the technology and biotechnology industries. This year 104 new members were inducted into the v|100.

A complete list of members in the 2006 v|100 is enclosed below. Be advised that positions/companies noted were current as of the date of the compilation of the 2006 v|100 list of members. For additional information about the v|100 or vSpring Capital, please contact vSpring's Dennis Wood at 801-942-8999(wk) or dennis@vspring.com, or David Politis of Politis Communications at 801-523-3730 or dpolitis@politis.com.

    Bill Aho              ClearPlay Inc.                  CEO
    Curt Allen            Agilix Labs, Inc.               CEO
    Paul Allen            Infobase Ventures               CEO
    Will Allred           Firepoll                        CEO
    Dallin Anderson       Montigen Pharmaceuticals, Inc.  President and CEO
    Bob Barnes            Vacation Rentals Online         CEO
    Coleman Barney        Cogito, Inc.                    President and CEO
    Grant Beckmann        WiLife, Inc.                    Chief Operating
                                                           Officer
    Dr. Ragula Bhaskar    FatPipe Networks                President and CEO
    Brent Bishop          ContentWatch Inc.               Chairman
    Brock Blake           FundingUniverse.com             CEO
    Paul Brockbank        Enhance Interactive, Inc.       CEO
    Fraser Bullock        Sorenson Capital                Managing Director
    Greg Butterfield      Altiris                         President and CEO
    Patrick Byrne         Overstock.com                   President and
                                                           Chairman
    David Carter          S5 Wireless, Inc.               President and CEO
    Edwin Catmull         Pixar Animation Studios         President and
                                                           Founder
    Steve Christensen     Broadweave Networks             CEO
    Gavin Christensen     Kellogg School of Management    MBA Candidate
    Brad Christensen      Church of Jesus Christ of       Manager of Product
                           Latter-Day Saints               Managers
    Carine Clark          Altiris                         Vice President of
                                                           Marketing
    Josh Coates           Mozy.com / Berkeley Data
                           Systems, Inc.                  Founder, CEO
    Dr. Gregory
     Critchfield          Myriad Genetics Labs            President
    Gary L. Crocker       Crocker Ventures/Merrimack      President of CV
                           Pharmaceuticals                 LLC, Chairman of
                                                           Merrimack
    Nicole Toomey Davis   Centers of Excellence -- GOED   Director COE and
                           and Enclavix                    Pres./CEO
    Ed Donakey            Church of Jesus Christ of       Snr. Product
                           Latter-Day Saints               Manager of
                                                           Strategic Relations
    James Dreyfous         UV Partners                     Partner
    Adam Edmunds           Allegiance, Inc.               President/CEO
    James Endicott         Exact Wave (formerly Veevix),
                            Distriba                      President and CEO
    Brett Error            Omniture                       CTO / EVP Products
    Bjorn Espenes          Infopia, Inc.                  President and CEO
    Robert Frankenberg     NetVentures                    CEO
    JD Gardner             Monarch Partners               General Partner
    Darin Gilson           Banyan Ventures                Partner
    Alan E. Hall           MarketStar Corporation/ Grow
                           Utah Ventures                  Founder and Chairman
    Mike Hall              Senforce                       President and CEO
    Christopher C.         Omniture, Inc.                 President, Global
     Harrington                                            Sales & Client
                                                            Services
    Matthew Hawkins        Technology Division, Henry     Vice President
                           Schein, Inc.                    and General Manager
    Ron Heinz              Helius                         Chairman and CEO
    Josh James             Omniture                       CEO
    Steve Jones            Auction Trust Network          President and CEO
    Kimberley Jones        Verite, Inc.                   CEO
    Jeff Kearl             Logoworks                      Chief Marketing
                                                           Officer
    Gary Kennedy           RemedyMD Inc.                  President, CEO, and
                                                           Chairman
    Blake Kirby            Inovar, Inc.                   President/CEO
    Fred Lampropoulos      Merit Medical Systems, Inc.    Chairman and CEO
    Bruce K. Law           Sprout Marketing               President and
                                                           Founder
    Darren Lee             NextPage                       President and CEO
    Scott C. Lemon         Agilix Labs, Inc.              Technical Evangelist
                                                           / Strategist
    Michael Levinthal                                     Individual Investor/
                                                           Former MD --
                                                           Mayfield Fund
    Ransom Love           Genealogical Society of Utah    Director Strategic
                                                           Relationships
    Drew Major            Movie Networks                  Founder
    Ty D. Mattingly       Independent Consultant
    Darl McBride          The SCO Group, Inc.             President and CEO
    David B. McGinn       Agilix Labs, Inc.               Chief Operating
                                                           Officer
    Scott McKinley        Neumont University              Chief Executive
                                                           Officer
    Peter D. Meldrum      Myriad Genetics, Inc.           President and CEO
    Glen Mella            Control4                        Chief Marketing
                                                           Officer
    Craig Miller          Church of Jesus Christ of       Director Member
                           Latter-Day Saints               Needs
    W. Tim Miller         Echelon Biosciences Inc.        President
    Clarke Miyasaki       LogoWorks                       Vice President
                                                           Business
                                                           Development
    Blake Modersitzki     Utah Ventures                   General Partner
    Ryan Money            HireVue                         CEO
    David Moon            EsNet, Ltd.                     General Partner
    Shawn Nelson          LoveSac Alternative
                           Furniture Co.                  Chief Sac
    Jan Newman            Altiris                         VP of Business
                                                           Development
    Dr. Tom Ngo           NextPage                        CTO
    Leslie Norris         Snapp Norris Group PR           President and
                                                           Managing Partner
    Eric Olafson          Tomax Corporation               CEO
    Dr. Michael Paul      LineaGen Research Corporation   COO and President
    Brad Pelo             NextPage                        Chairman of the
                                                           Board
    John Pestana          Omniture, Inc.                  Co-founder,
                                                           Executive Vice
                                                           President
    Ben Peterson          Spark Networks
    Gregory Peterson      GH Peterson Holdings            Managing Partner
    Prof. Glenn           University of Utah              Presidential Prof of
     Prestwich                                             Medicinal Chemistry
    Michael Proper        DirectPointe, Inc.              President and CEO
    Dallan Quass          Church of Jesus Christ of
                           Latter-Day Saints              Contractor
    Amy Rees Lewis        Mediconnect                     CEO
    John Richards         BYU Center for
                           Entrepreneurship               Associate Director
    Larry Rigby           ZARS pharma, Inc.               Vice Chairman
    Bryce Roberts         O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures     Co-Founder and
                                                           Managing General
                                                           Partner
    Eric Ruff             QuickKutz                       President, CEO,
                                                           Founder
    Rich Running          Church of Jesus Christ of       Manager, Product
                           Latter-Day Saints               Management
    Kevin Santiago        Cymphonix                       CEO
    Chuck Sharp           Sharp Analytics Inc.            CEO
    Craig Sherman         Gaia Interactive                CEO
    Derek Smith           Oakley Networks                 CEO
    Eric Smith            Control4                        CTO
    Anthony Soohoo        Yahoo! Inc.                     Vice President
    Jim Sorenson          Sorenson Media                  CEO
    Tom Stockham          MyFamily.com                    President and CEO
    Jack Sunderlage       ContentWatch, Inc.              President and CEO
    Benoy Tamang          Digital Media Publishing Group  President and CEO
    Cindi Tetro           NextPage                        Vice President
                                                           Marketing
    Daren Thayne          MyFamily.com                    CTO and SVP of
                                                           Development
    Mikko Valimaki        Blue Coat Systems, Inc.         Vice President
    Jay Verkler           Church of Jesus Christ of       Managing Dir. of
                           Latter-Day Saints               Family & Church
                                                           History
    Doug Waddoups         Batteries and Bands
    Brett Walker          VitalSmarts                     Chief Marketing
                                                           Officer
    Brad Walters          MaxStream, Inc.                 Chairman, CEO and
                                                           President
    Will West             Control4                        CEO
    Dr. Phillip Windley   BYU Computer Science            Assoc. Professor
    Michael Wolfgramm     MyFamily.com, Inc.              VP of Development
    Ralph Yarro           ThinkAtomic, Inc.               President and CEO


    About vSpring Capital

vSpring Capital (www.vspring.com) is an early-stage venture capital fund focusing on investment opportunities in Information Technology and Life Sciences. vSpring capitalizes on the managerial skills and operating experience of its principals to successfully invest in and mentor early-stage companies. vSpring has offices in Salt Lake City, Utah and Los Alamos, New Mexico.