 Robert M. Jaffe co-founded Sorrento Associates with a number of prominent San Diego business leaders. With over 30 years experience as a venture capitalist and investment banker, he has been involved in substantial areas of technology and new venture development, as well as corporate finance for emerging companies. These include more than 100 financings, mergers and acquisitions.
Mr. Jaffe is currently a director of A-Life Medical, Inc., IPMobilenet, Inc. and Perlan Therapeutics, Inc. Mr. Jaffe served as Chairman of the Board of Hot Topic, Inc. for 9 years. Under his leadership, Hot Topic grew from 6 to 310 stores, and annual revenues have grown from $2.9 million to $257.2 million. Since first going public in 1996, Hot Topic has delivered average earnings growth of 48% per annum and its market capitalization has grown from $88 to $700 million. Hot Topic was recently ranked 13th on Fortune magazine's list of "Fastest Growing Companies in America" and 13th on Forbes magazine's list of "Best Small Companies." Mr. Jaffe previously served as a director of Keylime Software, Inc., (acquired by Overture, Inc.), Vice-Chairman of Bebe Stores, Inc., and as a director of E.S.I. Software, Inc. (acquired by Macromedia, Inc.) and Combichem, Inc. (acquired by Dupont Co.).
From 1983 until co-founding Sorrento Associates in 1985, Mr. Jaffe was Vice President of Merrill Lynch Capital Markets where he was responsible for corporate finance activities of high technology companies in the Western United States. From 1980 to 1983, Mr. Jaffe was Vice President of Corporate Finance at Salomon Brothers, Inc. where he co-formed a group to advise high technology companies on financings and mergers and acquisitions. From 1976 to 1980, he was an Associate in Corporate Finance at Goldman, Sachs & Co., where he worked on the partnership's investments in 1979 and 1980. Previously, Mr. Jaffe was a member of the technical staff at Hughes Aircraft Company and a consultant at McKinsey & Co.
Mr. Jaffe received a Master of Business Administration in 1976 from the Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar, the School's highest academic honor. He was the recipient of The Loeb Rhoades Fellowship; an honor awarded to the outstanding graduate in Finance. He graduated in 1974 with a Master of Science as a Hughes Fellow from The California Institute of Technology in Electrical Engineering, and received a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (Summa Cum Laude, Phi Beta Kappa) in 1972 from The University of California at Berkeley in 3 years at the age of 20.
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