Mike Forster
50+ Years in Sales & Marketing, Software and IT

Mike Forster is a retired executive with more than 50 years of sales, marketing, and general management experience in the information technology industry.  Most recently he served as the CEO and Chairman of CommerceQuest, Inc., a SaaS (software as a service) company located in Tampa, FL.

Mike is an electrical engineering graduate of MSU and began his career in high tech as a salesman for the IBM Corporation.   Twenty-four years later, he was a division Vice-President responsible for IBM’s nationwide marketing to colleges and universities.   He left IBM to join Computervision as president of their international division, a position which took him to Munich Germany for 3 years.  There he had responsibility not only for the company’s deep presence in Western Europe, but also for its developing business throughout the Asia-Pacific region.  Since his return to the USA in 1993, he has been the CEO of 2 software companies, managing successful liquidity events for both companies.  For the past 12 years he has been in the venture capital world as a Managing Director of the Internet Capital Group, a public company specializing in software as a service (SaaS) company investments.

Mike’s deep operations experience in sales and marketing make him an ideal mentor for companies seeking to develop effective channel strategies to achieve their growth objectives.

Since his return to Mississippi, he has served on Mississippi State University’s Engineering Advisory Council and participates regularly in student and faculty activities at the University. Mike is vice chair of Innovate Mississippi, and president of his local airport board. He is also active in Winston County’s economic development activities.