Sanford R. Robertson is a partner at Francisco Partners, a large technology buyout fund. With a focus on structured investments in technology and technology-related businesses, Francisco Partners is a pioneer in the private equity category of Technology Buyouts. Prior to founding Francisco Partners, Sanford was the founder and Chairman of Robertson, Stephens & Co., a leading technology investment bank formed in 1978, and sold to BankBoston in 1998. Sanford was also the founder of Robertson, Colman, Siebel & Weisel, later renamed Montgomery Securities. Sanford was one of the pioneers in the creation of West Coast technology banking as an industry in the late 1960s, and has remained one of the industry’s most renowned participants to this date. He has had significant financing involvement in over 500 growth technology companies throughout his career, including 3Com Corporation; America Online, Inc.; Applied Materials, Inc.; Dell Computer Corporation; E*Trade Securities, Inc.; Siebel Systems, Inc.; and Sun Microsystems, Inc. Sanford currently serves on the boards of directors of Pain Therapeutics, Dolby, RPX and Salesforce.com.
