Raul Fernandez
Raul Fernandez is Vice Chairman of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, a private partnership which owns the NBA’s Washington Wizards, the NHL’s Washington Capitals and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics and owns and operates the Verizon Center. Monumental assumed full control of the consolidated entities on June 10, 2010, and Mr. Fernandez led the efforts for new equity in the transaction. As part of his role with Monumental, Mr. Fernandez serves as the alternate representative on the NBA’s Board of Governors’ for the Washington Wizards. Monumental Sports & Entertainment operates in the nation’s fifth-biggest media market and is one of the largest integrated sports and entertainment companies in the country.
Raul Fernandez is also the Chairman of ObjectVideo, a private technology company that develops video analytics software for automated security surveillance. He is also a Special Advisor to General Atlantic Partners, a growth equity firm with over $17 billion under management. As part of his work with General Atlantic, Mr. Fernandez serves on the board of two portfolio companies; TROW, a Toronto-based engineering and consulting firm and Network Solutions, the leader in web-based domain name and related services.
Raul Fernandez started his technology career when he founded Proxicom in 1991, with $40,000 of his savings. With 4 engineers at the start, Proxicom specialized in custom object oriented application development work for corporate and government clients. Working as an applications developer for NeXT computers, the company grew quickly and was very well positioned as a leading edge multi disciplinary development organization at the beginning of the internet boom. With early customers like Netscape, AOL, MCI and GE, Proxicom was able to position itself very effectively as a one stop shop for the development of business to business and business to consumer websites. With a vertical industry market focus and a concentration on business to business sites, Proxicom enjoyed a tremendous amount of growth in the 1996 to 2001 timeframe. The company went public in 1999 and ultimately sold in 2001. At the time of the sale, Proxicom had grown profitably to more than $200 million in revenue, offices in the US and Europe and had close to 2000 employees. Mr. Fernandez sold Proxicom to Dimension Data, a UK listed technology company based out of South Africa. Mr. Fernandez served as Proxicom’s CEO and Chairman from 1991 to 2001.
Currently Mr. Fernandez also serves on the board of Liz Claiborne and ValueOptions, the nation’s largest independent behavioral healthcare company.
Fernandez, a native Washingtonian, is an active philanthropist in DC regional non-profits, focusing his energy primarily on educational reform. In 2000, he co-founded Venture Philanthropy Partners, a philanthropic investment organization based out of Washington, DC. Fernandez sits on various non-profit boards, including America’s Promise, the DC College Access Program (DCCAP), the DC Public Education Fund, and the Fernandez Foundation. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Maryland.
