Don Basile

Don Basile, PhD, also known as Donald Basile, is a San Francisco–based entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and technology executive with more than two decades of experience across hardware, software, telecommunications, healthcare, cloud infrastructure, data storage, and private equity.

Don began his engineering career as a data networking engineer at Bell Labs. He earned a BS in Electrical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and later completed an MS and PhD in Electrical Engineering at Stanford University.

After Stanford, Don Basile joined Lenfest Capital, a subsidiary of Lenfest Media Group, where he served as a vice president and pursued technology investment opportunities, including CAM Systems, where he became president. He later held operating and leadership roles at RemarQ Communities and Netfish before joining Raza Foundries, where he served as managing director and vice president.

From 2000 through 2003, Basile focused on investments in emerging broadband communications companies, including IntruVert Networks and Lambda OpticalSystems. He subsequently consulted with Oak Investment Partners and held executive responsibilities at UnitedHealth Group.

In the data-storage sector, Don Basile served as chairman and later CEO of Fusion-io, which was acquired by SanDisk in 2014. In 2009, he became CEO of Violin Memory, leading the company through multiple funding rounds and its 2013 public listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol VMEM.

Don Basile’s current areas of interest include artificial intelligence, cryptocurrency, smart glasses, wearable technology, graphene applications, cloud infrastructure, digital commerce, and emerging technology markets. He writes about technology, innovation, entrepreneurship, and investment at donbasile.com and donbasile.me.