Ken Bender is the Founder and Managing Director of Software Equity Group. During the past twenty-five years he has advised, counseled and guided thousands of software entrepreneurs, executives and equity investors worldwide. Industry newsletter Software Success and others have recognized him as “The nation’s leading expert in midcap software and internet M&A transactions.”
Ken is former President and Chairman of the Arizona Software Association, and is a recipient of the Association's prestigious Software Industry Leader of the Year award. He subsequently served for five years as a Director of the San Diego Software Industry Council. An acclaimed speaker, Ken has keynoted or addressed conferences and seminars sponsored by such groups as Software Business Magazine, Software Publisher's Association, VAR Magazine, Software Success, SoftLetter, The Daily Deal, Tech Coast Angels, The Venture Network, ACETECH (Canada's leading association of software CEOs), NZX (New Zealand Stock Exchange) and the Colorado, Arizona, Chicago, Denver, Southern California, Boulder and San Diego Software Associations. He has been widely quoted by such leading publications as The Wall Street Journal, Information Week, U.S. News & World Report, USA Today, The Daily Deal, The Street.com, Mergers & Acquisitions, Entrepreneur, Reuters, Software Business, Software Success and SoftwareCEO. Ken is also the featured speaker at quarterly M&A Web seminars sponsored by leading software provider Softrax.
Before founding our firm in 1992, Ken was Vice President, Software and Chief Administrative Officer of MicroAge, Inc., a Fortune 500 systems integrator/aggregator. Ken also served as Founder & CEO of Access Solutions, Inc., a value-added distributor of vertical solutions to software companies serving vertical markets, and as Executive Vice President and General Manager of Information Systems Consultants Inc., a software developer and systems integrator. An attorney by training, he was Assistant General Counsel of Honeywell Inc. and Honeywell Bull, specializing in corporate and computer law, software licensing, and mergers and acquisitions.
He was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree (Political Science and History) from Pennsylvania State University and a Juris Doctor degree from New York University School of Law. He is a member of the State Bar of Arizona and the New York State Bar.
Ken currently serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Avanquest Software (AVQ.NX), a Paris-based public software company trading on the Euronext Exchange, and eSUB, Inc., a private software company based in Southern Califiornia. Long active in community service, he has served as Chairman of the Board of Arizona Senior Olympics, Chairman and Founder of the Arizona Law & Technology Institute of Arizona State University, and as Vice President and Executive Board Member of United Jewish Federation of San Diego.