Stephen holmes
StephenHolmes
General Partner & COO

Stephen Holmes joined InterWest in 1989 and is responsible for all of the company's financial, fundraising, investor relations and administrative functions.
Stephen received the Private Equity International's ("PEI") 2013 Private Equity Manager Leadership Award in recognition of his efforts in laying the groundwork on fair value reporting and elevating the role of back-office professionals within the industry. He is a frequent guest speaker at conferences hosted by the NVCA, Venture Economics, PEI and the International Business Forum. He coauthored the chapter on "Limited Partner Financial Reporting" for PEI's Investor Relations Manual (published in 2011).
In 2012, Stephen was appointed to the Security and Exchange Commission's newly-formed Investor Advisory Committee. This 21-member, permanent committee was formed to advise the commissioners on regulatory priorities and initiatives to protect investor interests and the market's integrity. Mandated by the Dodd-Frank Act, the committee was appointed by all five SEC commissioners and represents a wide variety of stakeholders, including individual investors, institutional investors, academia, mutual funds, private equity, and state securities regulators. He is also a member of the Market Structure Subcommittee.
From 2008-2012, Stephen was a director of the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), and is a founding member of its CFO Task Force. As the voice of the venture capital community, the NVCA advocates policies that encourage innovation, spur job creation and reward long-term investment in startup companies.
Stephen is a member of the International Private Equity and Venture Capital Valuation Guidelines Board (IPEV Board). The IPEV Board was created in 2005 to develop and promote valuation guidelines and to provide guidance on the application of those guidelines to all worldwide stakeholders in the private equity and venture capital industry, including practitioners, investors, regulators and auditors. IPEV has also developed Investor Reporting Guidelines, which were developed and are intended to be used by both general partners and limited partners.
Stephen is a founding member of the Financial Accounting Standards Board's (FASB) Small Business Advisory Committee, representing the venture capital industry. He was also a founding member of the Private Equity Industry Guidelines Group (PEIGG) in 2002. PEIGG, the private equity industry's first broad-based alliance, included general partners, limited partners and service providers participating in both the venture and buyout segments in the U.S. and overseas. The group's objective was to promote consistent and transparent valuation and reporting guidelines for the private equity industry.
Prior to joining InterWest, Stephen was vice president, finance and administration, of the highly successful venture-backed international manufacturer, Specialty Brands, a $140 million specialty foods company headquartered in San Francisco.
Stephen is a graduate of Lehigh University (summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa) and the Harvard Business School (with distinction). Prior to his business career, Stephen served as an officer in the U.S. Navy, where he volunteered for a tour of duty in Da Nang, Vietnam.
Stephen's Buzz
Stephen's bio
Stephen's buzz




