David Spencer is a successful business and civic entrepreneur with a passion for technology. Spencer formed his first technology company in 1990, but his career as a serial entrepreneur took off in 1996 when, Kelly Air Force Base, his then-employer, closed. Using his back bedroom as an office, Spencer founded OnBoard Software, Inc., with his best friend Steve Kluck. The software development and information technologies firm provided the Department of Defense and government contractors with innovative engineering, logistics and intelligence solutions.
From that initial staff of two, OnBoard Software, Inc., grew in eight years to more than 90 employees and $17 million in annual revenue. In early 2005, Spencer sold the company to MTC Technologies, Inc., for $34 million.
In August 2005, Texas Governor Rick Perry appointed Spencer to a two-year term as the inaugural chair of the Emerging Technology Fund (ETF) Advisory Committee, a $200 million investment, commercialization and company formation fund. In San Antonio, the ETF was instrumental in bringing Ravi Sandhu, Ph.D., a cyber security expert, to UTSA, in addition to investing in several local companies as well as the UT Health Science Center at San Antonio. Today, Spencer continues to serve on the ETF Advisory Committee as a member/past chair.
Spencer's other activities in technology commercialization include being a founding board member and board co-chair of the San Antonio Technology Accelerator Initiative (SATAI), a regional effort aimed at company formation and growth. He played an instrumental role in founding UTSA'S Center for Infrastructure Assurance and Security, the research and operational component of the university's burgeoning information assurance academic program. He also helped create the Information Technology Security Academy for high school students, as well as helped retain over $2.5 billion in information security workload at Lackland Air Force Base during the last round of national base closures. This year, he received the AT&T Technology Hero Award at the SATAI Technology Achievement and Recognition Awards.
Since 2000, Spencer has served as an "angel investor" to technology start-ups. His firm, Mandelbrot Ventures, founded in 2005, is a boutique investment firm specializing in early, pre-seed and seed-stage investments in Texas-based technology or tech-related companies.
Spencer is an active participant in several charitable, business, academic, entrepreneurial, public policy and technology economic development organizations. Currently, he serves on the board of trustees of the Comal Independent School District.
Spencer earned a B.S. in electrical and computer engineering from UT Austin in 1988. He completed the United States Air Force Air Command and Staff College in 1995. His wife, Jennifer, earned a B.S. in mathematics from UTSA in 1993. They have four young sons and reside in San Antonio.
His vision is to build a San Antonio where his children are not compelled to leave to build their careers, but instead say, "Are you kidding? This is where the action is!"
The University community is honored to present the Tom C. Frost Award to David Spencer.