Jay Gardner

DFJ Mercury

Venture Advisor

Biography

Jay is a Venture Advisor for DFJ Mercury. He serves as a Board Director of Phurnace Software, Inc. and with Fluensee, Inc. as vice president, business development. His consulting portfolio includes an executive management and strategic development project with Sirius Solutions.  He works with a non-profit organization, Halftime, as a partner and mentor/coach, in addition to serving as a member of the organization's leadership team.

Mr. Gardner held several executive roles in BMC Software, where he worked from 1988 through the end of 2006. With BMC, Mr. Gardner held positions as vice president of sales of North America, vice president of Global Field Operations, vice president of Corporate Operations, and Chief Information Officer. He also launched the company's On Demand business, which focused on delivering "software as a service". Before joining BMC, Mr. Gardner worked for 10 years at IBM Corp. in various sales and sales management positions.

Gardner's broad experience across the various business functions has given him an excellent understanding of business processes and the value that information technology brings to the organization.  In addition to a strong track record of success as a sales executive, his responsibilities have included sales planning and operations, product operations, distribution, field support, pricing, education, telemarketing, offshore outsourcing, real estate, travel, corporate events, community relations, and information technology.

He has also been recognized within the information technology community for his team's successful initiatives and has served as a featured speaker for leading industry conferences. He was selected as a finalist for the prestigious Gartner Group CIO Choice Award and honored as a 2003 Premier 100 IT Leader by IDG's Computerworld.

Mr. Gardner has a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and an MBA from Texas Christian University. Outside of work, he is active in his community and has served in several civic and church roles, as well as coach for several youth sports organizations. Jay has held a variety of board positions, including Young Life and Fort Bend Education Foundation. Presently, he is a member of the Board of Trustees for River Pointe Church in Sugar Land, a member of the CIO Advisory Board at Texas Christian University's e-business school, and serves on TCU's regional council.