RALEIGH, N.C. — K4Connect, the Raleigh-based tech company that offers the K4Community seniors housing technology, has added Ben Yu and Stephen Morton to its board of directors.
Yu is managing director at Sierra Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture fund that has raised over $1.2 billion for investments in early-stage startups. Prior to Sierra Ventures, he was a senior systems architect and project manager at 3Com.
Yu holds both a Ph.D. and master’s degree from Princeton, as well as a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of Western Australia.
Morton is currently a board member and angel investor in a range of companies in the senior living, senior care technology and services, real estate and hospitality industries. Previously, he was the president and CEO of Bell Senior Living, where he was brought in to improve a portfolio of 32 underperforming communities. While there, he improved occupancy, operating margins and the overall value of the portfolio, leading to a $300 million sale to Five Star Senior Living. Prior to that, Morton was the co-founder, president and COO of Southern Assisted Living Inc., where he oversaw 41 communities in the Southeast, before it was acquired by Brookdale in 2006.
Morton received his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of California, Irvine.
The appointments were made in connection to K4Connect’s recent $8 million Series A funding, which was led by Intel Capital. Both new board members also participated in K4Connect’s $2 million Series Seed funding in 2015 and have long-term connections with K4Connect’s co-founder and CEO, Scott Moody. Morton was involved in the development of K4Community, and Yu was an investor and board member of Moody’s previous startup, AuthenTec (acquired by Apple in 2012 and renamed Touch ID).