Highland Capital Partners, a leading venture capital firm focused on helping great people build great companies, today announced that Hugh Simons has joined the firm as Chief Operating Officer (COO). In this new position, Simons will be responsible for driving ongoing development and implementation of the firm's growth strategy, as well as managing all aspects of the firm's operations.

Simons was formerly a Senior Partner and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a 500-person partnership with operations in 37 countries. "We are absolutely thrilled to have Hugh join the Highland team," said Bob Higgins, Managing General Partner with Highland. "His experience leading a truly global and people-centered partnership will be invaluable as Highland moves to the next level in working with the best entrepreneurs and companies around the world."

As Highland's COO, Simons will strengthen and drive the firm's planned expansion into Europe and Asia. He will also continue the strategic development of the firm's investment strategies and organizational structure, leveraging experience from the firm's increased attention to the consumer space. In addition, Simons will have responsibility for the development of Highland's internal functions - administration, finance, human resources, information systems, marketing and recruiting.

Prior to joining Highland, Simons spent 17 years at BCG, serving for the last seven as CFO, a member of the firm's Executive Committee, and leader of all internal global functions. Prior to assuming the position of CFO, Hugh was a client service Partner in the Boston office, where he focused on strategic and corporate development issues facing clients in the telecommunications and technology industries.

"Highland has a long established history as one of the top venture capital firms in the U.S.," said Hugh Simons. "I am looking forward to working with Highland to ensure their continued leadership in this vital sector of the global economy."

Simons holds a B.A. from Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland; a Ph.D. in engineering from Cambridge University, England; and an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, where he was the Ford Scholar.

About Highland Capital Partners
Highland Capital Partners was founded with the mission of helping great people build great companies. Since its inception in 1988, the firm has taken a sector-focused approach to investing in exceptional communications, consumer, digital media, healthcare and information technology companies. With more than $2.6 billion of committed capital, Highland has invested in and worked to create such firms as Altiga Networks, Ask Jeeves, Avid Technology, Be Free, CheckFree, Conor Medsystems, Continental Cable, EXACT Sciences, Lycos, MapQuest, New Oak Communications, Ocular Networks, Odyssey Healthcare, Sybase, Telica, VistaPrint and WebLine Communications. For more information, visit Highland's web site at www.hcp.com.

For more information, contact:
Highland Capital Partners
Michael Gaiss
Senior Vice President
(781) 861-5517