For more than 30 years, Dixon has influenced and guided entrepreneurs, investors and executives. In recognition of his accomplishments in the communications and venture capital industries, Dixon has been named by Forbes Magazine as one of the top 50 venture investors on the 2003 and 2004 Midas lists, as well as "one of the top 100 personalities involved in creating the information highway" by Upside Magazine and Micro Times.
Since the early 1980s, Dixon has been a telecom and Internet venture capital pioneer. Prior to founding DCM, Dixon spent eight years at Accel Partners where he co-founded the venture capital industry's first telecom-focused fund. The companies that Dixon has helped build include Network Equipment Technologies (NYSE: NWK), Centillion Networks (acquired by Bay Networks, now part of Nortel), Alantec (acquired by Fore Systems, now part of Marconi), Bridge Communications (acquired by 3Com), ZeitNet (acquired by Cabletron), and Optilink (acquired by DSC Communications, now part of Alcatel).
Prior to becoming a venture capitalist, Dixon was the founder and CEO of the DMW Group, an internationally recognized strategic consulting firm focused on the telecommunications and networking sectors. From 1972 to 1980, Dixon also served as a faculty member of the IBM Systems Research Institute in New York City, and then served on the IBM Networking Systems Organization's External Advisory Board from 1983 to 1991.
In 1978, Dixon authored the seminal text, Data Communications (published by John Wiley & Sons), which over 50 colleges and universities adopted for use as a course text. Dixon also authored a column for MIS Week for six years; his second book, a compendium of these columns, entitled "Dixon On-Line", was published in 1986.
In 1989, Dixon was selected as Alumni Venture Manager for the University of Michigan Business School's Growth Fund; in 2000, he was appointed to the Visiting Committee, its external advisory/steering group, and delivered the Spring Commencement address. In 1993, Dixon was honored as the Alumni Fellow for the College of Engineering at Kansas State. In 1997, Dixon was elected to the Board of Trustees of the University of San Francisco. As of 2002, Dixon also serves on the Boards of the San Francisco Art Institute, the Asian Art Museum, and the Advisory Board of the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research (SIEPR).
Dixon received his B.S.E.E. degree (cum laude) from Kansas State University, as well as M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan, where he was a National Science Foundation scholar.
Originally from Texas, Dixon grew up in Kansas. His football career at KSU cut short by injury, Dixon re-channeled his energies into the pursuit of graduate engineering degrees. Still an avid fan of Michigan Wolverine athletics, Dixon currently lives with his wife, Carol, in San Francisco; his three sons all live in the Bay area and are pursuing their own entrepreneurial dreams.
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