Former Marquis Jet CEO William J. Allard Joins Polaris Venture Partners as an Executive in Residence

Business Wire, Oct 24, 2006

WALTHAM, Mass. -- Polaris Venture Partners, a $3 billion private equity firm, today announced that William J. Allard has joined the firm as an Executive in Residence.

Prior to joining Polaris, Allard was chairman and CEO of Marquis Jet Partners. Marquis Jet, through an exclusive partnership with Netjets (a Berkshire Hathaway company), provides private jet travel for individuals and corporations. Allard led the company through its growth from 0-$500 million in sales in five years.

As executive in residence, Allard will mentor entrepreneurs and advise various Polaris portfolio companies while also identifying new investment opportunities for the venture capital firm. Allard currently sits on the board of Athletes' Performance, a Polaris portfolio company, for which he was recruited by Polaris.

Prior to Marquis Jet, Allard served as president and COO of SFX Sports Group where he directed all business development, acquisition strategy and overall corporate operations for the Sports Group's four core competencies: Event Management; Marketing; Talent Representation; and Television & Entertainment. Under Allard's direction, the Sports Group developed and produced internationally televised sporting events, managed and marketed hundreds of professional athletes, supported the sports marketing activities of numerous Fortune 500 corporations, and produced a wide range of sports-themed television series and feature films.

Allard stated, "I was attracted to Polaris because of their extraordinary 20-year track record of investing - from seed through buyout - in a wide range of industries. But, perhaps most compelling, is that the Polaris partners include incredibly accomplished former operating executives, investors, and company founders who take a long-term, entrepreneur-friendly approach to investing in and building successful businesses."

"Adding executive talent like Bill's to our team is a tremendous opportunity for us as well as our portfolio companies," said Jon Flint, co-founder and managing general partner for Polaris Venture Partners. "Through his executive leadership at Marquis Jet and SFX Sports Group, Bill has amassed a level of operating experience that is truly impressive, and will be hugely valuable to our management teams. We're confident that his strategic advice plus his ability to source and ideally join new investments will deliver great value."

Prior to SFX, Allard served as president and chief operating officer of ProServ, Inc., an integrated sports marketing firm. Allard has appeared on The Sporting News "The Top 100 Most Powerful People in Sports" for three years, in 1999 was also named one of Sports Business Journal's "Forty Under 40," and was listed by the international paper The Guardian as one of the 50 most powerful people in the world of sports. Allard graduated with a MBA from the Harvard Business School in 1989 and received a BS from Babson College in 1983.

About Polaris Venture Partners:

Established in 1996, with offices in Waltham and Seattle, Polaris has over $3 billion under management and has helped build numerous market leading companies, including Advanced Inhalation Research (AIR) (sold to Alkermes); Akamai Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ: AKAM); Allaire Corporation (sold to Macromedia); Aspect Medical Systems (NASDAQ: ASPM); Art.com; Centra Software (NASDAQ: CTRA), deCODE genetics (NASDAQ: DCGN); Exchange.com; Heavy.com; Powersoft Corporation (sold to Sybase); and TechTarget.com. More information about Polaris Venture Partners is available at www.polarisventures.com.