Bobby Lent

 

Bobby Lent grew up in Burlingame and Hillsborough. He met his wife Fran at the Brandeis-Bardin Summer College Institute in the Simi Valley in 1975, and their participation at Brandeis-Bardin lead to an increased Jewish commitment and observance. After graduating from the University of California at Berkeley, Bobby began his career as a CPA. He soon realized he was not very interested in the auditing, and attended to Harvard Business School for an MBA. After HBS, Fran and Bobby moved back to the Peninsula and Bobby began a marketing and business development career in the Valley. In 1995, Bobby became an Entrepreneur in Residence at Crosspoint Ventures and conceived the idea of a business to business internet company. Along with his co-founders, he raised capital and launched Ariba in 1996. Ariba went public in 1999. Today, Ariba (acquired by SAP) and the Ariba Network is a strategic component of the business to business internet commerce. Bobby retired from Ariba in 2001 to focus on his children, Bradley and Hannah (both KJHS class of 2010), and devote time to the founding and funding of Kehillah Jewish High School. In 2003, Bobby launched Hillsven Capital, a seed venture firm focused on Silicon Valley and Israeli startups. As a result of his focus on Israeli high-tech companies, Bobby travels to Israel frequently. After spending several summers there with their children, Fran and Bobby acquired “a piece of the Rock,” a home in Jerusalem. In spring 2008, just after the birth of Roz, their youngest daughter (and future member of Kehillah’s Class of 2025), the family moved to Jerusalem for 6 months so that Brad and Hannah could attend an Israeli high school for a semester.