Home » Author Archive
About: Peter J. Boni

As President and Chief Executive Officer of Safeguard, Peter J. Boni draws on more than 25 years of experience as the CEO of technology companies in all stages of growth, and as an operating partner with a large global private equity firm. With both the deal savvy and operating expertise that a successful career affords, Peter is responsible for developing and executing Safeguard’s corporate strategy. His goal is to build upon the company’s legacy of identifying businesses in the life sciences and technology sectors with superior growth potential, and to apply Safeguard’s capital, strategic, operational and management resources to enhance long-term value for shareholders, partner companies and employees.
Since assuming his role at Safeguard in August 2005, Peter repositioned the company, exited non-strategic legacy businesses, returned more than $630 million from those exits and deployed approximately $300 million into high-growth businesses.
Peter is recognized as a leader in both building businesses and restoring troubled companies to growth and profitability. In addition to acting as CEO for several publicly-traded and privately-held companies, he has served as a chairman, a Fortune 500 corporate executive, a NYSE Fortune 1000 president, a management consultant, board member, investor and advisor to institutional investors in both early- and later-stage hardware, software and technology-enabled services firms. After his CEO experience, Peter served as an Operating Partner at Advent International, a leading global private equity firm managing $10 billion.
Under Peter’s stewardship, several noteworthy firms were funded, grown and positioned for liquidity at premiums. Others were recognized among the Inc. 500 as fastest growing private companies. Several were brought to IPO. Some acquired and integrated with the acquired businesses, and/or were themselves acquired by industry leaders such as Computer Associates and Cisco Systems. As a result, Peter was recognized by Ernst & Young as an Entrepreneur of the Year finalist in New England.
A decorated combat veteran, Peter served as an Army infantry officer in Special Operations in Vietnam. Through this life-altering experience, he developed a personal philosophy about the importance of surrounding himself with highly competent, well-trained and motivated individuals. It’s a philosophy he continues to lead his life by and one that he applies to his work every day at Safeguard.
The opportunity to lead Safeguard appealed to Peter’s desire to apply both his strategic and deal-making experience to a forward-thinking company. His insights and lessons learned enable him to add value to Safeguard’s portfolio companies in areas where Safeguard can best apply its expertise, such as strategic planning, business development, sales, marketing, operations, mergers, acquisitions and finance.
Our Q&A series turns now to one of our newest partner companies, Spongecell, and its CEO and Co-founder Ben Kartzman.
Spongecell is a digital advertising technology company that enhances standard banner ads with rich interactive features including...
For the next installment of our partner company Q&A series, we turn to the life sciences side of our portfolio and interviewed Jean Hoffman, Founder, President and CEO of Putney. Jean has enjoyed a successful career, both before and after her venture...
This year, we launched a Q&A Series with our partner company CEOs to provide insight, lessons learned and first-hand knowledge about what it takes to start and grow successful businesses.
This month, we interviewed Rich Milgram who has been CEO...
Entrepreneurship and innovation are about building ideas into a reality, ultimately creating successful businesses. Tools and tips can help make order out of chaos and drive your company forward.
Last August, I highlighted my five favorite books for...
Welcome to the inaugural blog post for Safeguard Scientifics’ Q&A Series, featuring our partner company CEOs! We believe that our blog is a perfect medium to dig into what makes our partner companies tick. So, we’re going straight to the...
Socrates believed that persistence—above trust, genius, or education—was the characteristic that most frequently led to success.
I’ve adhered to that philosophy since I first read it and have applied it to many aspects of my life—both personally...