Frey, Kip

Kip Frey is an entrepreneur, venture capitalist, educator, and community leader. He has served in senior leadership positions in multiple start-up companies and was a partner at Intersouth Partners – the largest and oldest venture capital firm in the Southeast. He joined Intersouth in 2000 as a venture partner and served as a full-time partner from 2003 to 2009, working with the firm’s information technology portfolio.

Prior to joining Intersouth, Frey ran several venture-backed companies. He served as executive vice president and general counsel of Ventana Communications Group, sold Ventana to the Thomson Corporation in 1994, and continued in an executive role at Thomson through 1997. In January 1998 he became president of Accipiter, Inc., and sold the company to CMGI, Inc., structuring the transaction so that the ultimate deal value exceeded $500 million. Later that year he 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 Magazine as the Southeast’s top entrepreneurial CEO. He received the Council for Entrepreneurial Development’s Entrepreneurial Excellence Award in 2000.

Frey practiced intellectual property law for five years before joining Turner Broadcasting System in 1990 as associate general counsel. While at Turner he ran several business units and contributed to the acquisition of Castle Rock Entertainment, the formation of the Cartoon Network, the construction of the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino and the preparation of several projects that for various reasons never saw the light of day.

Frey has been a professor at Duke for more than seven years. In addition to his appointment at the Law School, he is currently professor of the practice at Duke’s Sanford School of Public Policy, where he teaches intellectual property law and policy. Prior to that, he served as professor of the practice of entrepreneurial management, holding joint appointments with the Law School and the Fuqua School of Business. He is also a member of the boards of trustees of Durham Academy and The Emily Krzyzewski Center, and he serves on the Wells Fargo Bank North Carolina Advisory Board.

Frey is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Southern California School of Cinema and of Duke Law School, where he served on the Duke Law Journal. He has been a director at more than a dozen public and private companies.