As Vice President and Managing Director in Safeguard Scientifics' Technology Group, Erik works closely with Safeguard’s technology partner companies to provide operational and strategic support as well as market analysis and industry insight. He focuses on Internet/New Media, Software and Technology-enabled Services companies, and currently sits on the board of directors for Safeguard’s partner companies Beyond.com, MediaMath, and Swap.com.

Before joining Safeguard in 2006, Erik was a partner at WWC Capital Group, LLC , an investment banking and venture capital firm. Erik joined WWC Capital in 2001 and managed WWC Capital’s venture capital investments. He targeted investments in a broad range of areas, including Internet/New Media, software and technology-enabled services. He led the Firm’s investments in DoublePositive, Lightningcast (acquired by AOL), Lighthammer (acquired by SAP), Sentori (acquired by MIND CTI), and ServiceBench, Inc. (acquired by NEW), and was involved with other WWC Capital investments including WeatherBug and First Equity Card.

Erik currently serves on the Steering Committee for the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (MAVA) and was a Co-Chair for MAVA’s Capital Connection Venture Conference in 2009, one of the largest venture conferences on the East Coast. Erik earned a BA degree in Economics from Lake Forest College and an MBA from Boston College’s Carroll School of Management.

Nigel Morris is the managing partner of QED Investors, a direct investment fund focused on high-growth companies that leverage the power of data strategies. In addition, he works in an advisory capacity with General Atlantic Partners and Oliver Wyman Consulting. He serves on the board of numerous for-profit companies, including TransUnion, Red Ventures, Network Solutions, Prosper, Clearspring Technologies, MediaMath, and Mobile Posse. He is also on the board of the Brookings Institution, National Geographic Ventures, and the London Business School.

Previously, Nigel co-founded Capital One Financial Services in 1994. Under Nigel’s leadership, Capital One pioneered an information-based strategy that fundamentally transformed the consumer lending industry. Combining advanced statistical marketing techniques with nascent information technologies, the company reduced costs to conventional borrowers, extended capital to overlooked consumers, expanded internationally, and produced extraordinary returns for investors.

During Nigel’s ten-year tenure, Capital One’s sales grew at a compound annual rate of more than 40%. Over this same decade, earnings per share growth and return on equity both exceeded 20% per year, a financial performance attained by only a handful of American companies. Upon his retirement in 2004, Capital One’s 15,000 employees across the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom managed over $80 billion of loans for 50 million customers. Generating over $1.5 billion in earnings, Capital One had successfully transitioned from an emerging start-up into an established public company valued at over $20 billion.

Nigel has a BSC in Psychology from the East London University and a MBA with distinction from London Business School, where he is also a Fellow. Nigel lives with his wife and four children in Virginia.