EDWARD M. CLUSS, JR.

Who is EDWARD M. CLUSS, JR.?

Ed Cluss, president and chief executive

officer of NextHop Technologies, is responsible for

all funding, planning, policy, operational and strategic

decisions for the company. Most recently, Mr. Cluss

served as an executive-in-residence at New Enterprise

Associates, a venture capital firm in Silicon Valley,

collaborating on investment opportunities and assisting

portfolio companies. Previously, he was a vice president

at Cisco Systems Inc., where he structured strategic

relationships with wireless LAN (802.11) partners. Prior

to that, Mr. Cluss was the president and CEO of InfoGear

Technology Corp., an Internet pioneer that developed

and delivered software to manage services on multiple

types of Internet appliances. Under Mr. Cluss' leadership,

InfoGear was acquired by Cisco Systems just prior to

a planned initial public offering. Before that, he held

several vice president positions at Aspect Telecommunications.

During his tenure, Aspect's revenues grew from zero

to more than $200 million in annual sales, and market

value surpassed $1 billion.

Mr. Cluss holds a master of business

administration with high distinction (Baker Scholar)

from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business,

and bachelor and master of science degrees in mechanical

engineering with Tau Beta Pi academic honors from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology.