Raul Fernandez (entrepreneur)

Raul J. Fernandez (born c. 1966 in Washington, D.C.) is an entrepreneur, investor, philanthropist and strategic partner. He is the founder of the website and internet services developer Proxicom and vice chairman of Monumental Sports & Entertainment.

Career
Fernandez was born circa 1966. He founded Proxicom, an internet development and consulting company, in 1991. Fernandez is the vice chairman of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, as well as a Special Advisor to General Atlantic Partners. Fernandez also serves on the board for Broadcom, of DXC Technology, GameStop, and was previously a Director from 2001-2017 and Chairman of the Compensation Committee for Kate Spade & Company before they were sold to Tapestry in July 2017. He is a current Chairman of the Board for RemoteRetail, and ObjectVideo, a technology company sold to Alarm.com in 2017, and named a 2005 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum.

Fernandez, a native Washingtonian, is an active philanthropist in D.C. regional nonprofits, focusing his energy primarily on educational reform. In 2000 he co-founded Venture Philanthropy Partners (VPP), a philanthropic investment organization based in Washington, DC. Mr. Fernandez is a board member of DC College Access Program (DC-CAP), the DC Public Education Fund, and the Fernandez Foundation, and was previously the Chairman of Fight for Children.

Early life and education
Fernandez grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland with his family. He is the son of a Cuban father and an Ecuadorian mother. While a student at St. John's College High School, he attended a Capitol Hill fundraiser for Hispanic Republicans with his father. One of his father's friends introduced him to Congressman Jack Kemp's chief of staff leading Fernandez to a part-time intern position translating Spanish documents. During this time, he was given his first laptop computer and was his high school yearbook caption read, "Most remembered for being the first to have a computer."

Proxicom
In 1991, Fernandez left his job at Digicon and founded Proxicom with $40,000. In late 2000, Proxicom gathered interest from two buyers: Compaq and Dimension Data. A bidding war ensued and Proxicom was bought by Dimension Data.

From 2000 to 2002, he served as Chief Executive Officer for Dimension Data North America, and as a Director of its parent company, Dimension Data Holdings Plc, in 2001.

Monumental Sports & Entertainment
Fernandez is the vice chairman and a limited partner of Monumental Sports & Entertainment, a sports and venue management company that owns the Washington Capitals of the NHL, the Washington Wizards of the NBA, and the Washington Mystics of the WNBA.

Other ventures
Fernandez is an active technology investor in disruptive companies across multiple verticals across all growth stages. He is the Chairman of a leading SaaS fashion company, RemoteRetail that is partnered with top brands such as Cosabella and ELOQUII. Fernandez is also an investor in Radius Networks, a leading provider of proximity technology solutions for major retailers, restaurant chains, sports and entertainment complexes. He is an investor in the Professional Fighters League, the world's only major mixed martial arts league. In addition to traditional professional sports teams, Fernandez has invested in the top team in eSports, Cloud9, a North American eSports team out of Los Angeles.