Networks

Kip Frey

Kip Frey is a Blackstone Entrepreneurs Network North Carolina entrepreneur-in-residence. He is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and educator. Frey has served as CEO of several startup companies and as a partner at venture capital firm Intersouth Partners. He has also held senior positions on the management teams and boards of companies using media and intellectual property.

Prior to joining Intersouth, Frey ran several venture-backed companies. From 1994 to 1998, he served as executive vice president and general counsel of Ventana Communications Group, having sold the company in 1994 to Thomson Corporation. In 1998, he became president of Accipiter, Inc. and sold the company to CMGI, Inc., structuring the transaction so that its ultimate value exceeded $500 million. Later that year, Frey became president and CEO of OpenSite Technologies, Inc., which was acquired in 2000 by Siebel Systems for $542 million. OpenSite was named NCEITA Software Company of the Year in 1999, and Frey was honored by Digital South as the Southeast’s top entrepreneurial CEO. He received the Council for Entrepreneurial Development’s Entrepreneurial Excellence Award in 2000.

Frey is a lawyer by training and practiced intellectual property law for five years before joining Turner Broadcasting System in 1990. While at Turner, he ran several business units and contributed to the acquisition of Castle Rock Entertainment, the formation of the Cartoon Network, and the construction of the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino.

In addition to his day job, Frey has been a professor at Duke University since 1997. As a professor of the practice at the Sanford School of Public Policy, he teaches intellectual property law and policy. He also serves as director of the Law & Entrepreneurship Program at Duke Law School. Previously, he served as professor of the practice in entrepreneurial management, holding joint appointments at Duke Law School and the Fuqua School of Business. He currently serves on the boards of several private companies and one publicly-traded company, Inspire Pharmaceuticals Inc.