KINGSTON, R.I. — October 22, 2008 — Ashley Stephenson, co-founder of Reva Systems and two other high-tech start-up companies, will discuss his entrepreneurial experiences in a lecture at the University of Rhode Island on Wednesday Nov. 5 in Cherry Auditorium in the Kirk Technology Center on URI’s Kingston campus.

The lecture, part of the Anthony J. Risica Endowed Lecture Series on Innovation and Entrepreneurship and sponsored in collaboration with the URI College of Business and College of Engineering, begins at 3 p.m. and is free and open to the public.

Stephenson will discuss the development of three revolutionary technologies and the companies he started to manufacture and market them: the failed start-up Stellar Computer, the successful sale of Xedia Corp., and his current company, Reva Systems.

With Reva Systems, Stephenson helped develop Radio Frequency Identification network infrastructure products and Tag Acquisition Processor appliances, which facilitate improved system preferences, manageability and accuracy. Founded in 2004 and headquartered in Chelmsford, Mass., Reva products are deployed worldwide in industries such as aerospace, manufacturing, consumer electronics, logistics, and healthcare.

Prior to establishing Reva Systems, Stephenson was chairman of Xedia Corp., a developer of advanced Internet access equipment, until its acquisition by Lucent Technologies in 1999. While at Xedia, Stephenson was awarded “CEO of the Year” by the Massachusetts Telecommunications Council. Previously, Stephenson was vice president of marketing at ISIS Distributed Systems, a provider of software and integration services for Reliable Group Messaging, which was acquired by Stratus Computer. He began his career at IBM in Great Britain.

In recent years, Stephenson has taught entrepreneurship as an adjunct professor at Babson College and has served on the advisory board of Middlesex Community College’s Radio Frequency ID Training Program. He has also served on the board of directors of several venture-backed start-ups and industry consortia.

The Anthony J. Risica Endowed Lecture Series on Innovation and Entrepreneurship was established in 2003 with a donation from Tony Risica, a URI engineering alumnus who was involved with two telecommunications start-up companies, Arris Networks and Sonus Networks.

For more information about the lecture, call the College of Engineering dean’s office at 401-874-2186.

Ashley Stephenson, co-founder of Reva Systems is shown above.