C. Lloyd Mahaffey

C. Lloyd Mahaffey (born December 31, 1954) is an American businessman, entrepreneur, outdoorsman, pilot, sailor, inventor, and author. An early pioneer in the personal computer industry, Mahaffey was instrumental to the launch of the Apple Macintosh, and helped change the way students learn by implementing computer labs in classrooms through his leadership of the Apple Education division. Given his success, he was asked to lead Apple’s Federal Systems Group in Washington, D.C., to carve out a market in the U.S. Department of Defense, which included both civilian and intelligence agencies. He went on to lead the team that closed the transaction that completed VeriFone’s acquisition by Hewlett-Packard for a $1.18 billion dollar stock swap in 1998. A serial entrepreneur, Mahaffey has run, financed, and served on the Board of Directors of numerous organizations and currently is the president of SmartStory, a big data, video-based customer engagement, and e-commerce platform. Mahaffey holds a patent for the thermal chemical conversion of waste and has several patents pending in conjunction with SmartStory. In total, he has raised over $1.6 billion in funding in both public and private equity.
Early life and education
Mahaffey was born on December 31, 1954 in Rock Hill, SC to Nancy and Lloyd Mahaffey. When he was a child, his father, an entrepreneur, co-founded PCA International, an affordable retail color portrait studio located in K-Mart, Walmart, and other major US retailers.
In 1974, he enrolled at The Citadel, The Military College of South Carolina (The Citadel) in Charleston, South Carolina, where he graduated with honors with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. In college, Mahaffey’s parents funded his education, but with the stipulation that he work to fund any additional expenses and give back to the community. As a result, he trained to become a paramedic and spent three years working in an ambulance, the first two as a paramedic and the last as a crew chief.
In 2013, The Citadel honored Mahaffey with the Distinguished Life Alumnus Award, which recognizes alumni who are considered to be influential and are impacting the lives of others.
In 1987, Mahaffey enrolled in the Stanford University Graduate School of Business Technology Executive Program, where his attendance was sponsored by Apple.
Professional career
After graduating from The Citadel in 1978, Mahaffey accepted a position at PCA International, where he used Honeywell industrial process controls to manage water and air temperature to ensure quality photographs. He was then recruited by Honeywell as a sales engineer for The Carolinas in 1980, where he achieved the top producer position in both volume and profits in that division within his first year. In 1891, Mahaffey was promoted to Sales Manager over the Carolinas division, which made him the youngest sales manager in the country.
In 1983, he finished his three-year tenure at Honeywell and was recruited by Apple to be a District Manager for the Carolinas and Tennessee where he participated in the launch of a project, the Macintosh, that would change the foundation of the technology industry.
In 1984, he was promoted to Regional Manager for the Southeast United States and managed a territory that spanned from Maryland to Mississippi. Mahaffey successfully launched the Macintosh computer across all markets and channels in the Southeast Region. During his tenure, he continued to grow the territory and also secured the Basic Skills First computer contract from the State of Tennessee, which was, at the time, the largest contract ever awarded to Apple by a state. The $15-million-dollar contract was the first of its kind, and it outfitted every 8th grade classroom in Tennessee with Macintosh computers.
In 1985, Mahaffey was promoted to Director of Apple’s Education Group where he relocated to Apple’s Cupertino, California headquarters. For three years, he drove and managed a sales model focusing on K-12 schools and universities, and turned Apple Education into a billion-dollar business unit. Mahaffey’s team created school computer lab bundles, ensured compliance with state contracts, and helped secure low-interest loans so teachers could purchase computers. In addition, they retailed directly to students through university campus bookstores. All of these factors quickly made the Apple Macintosh a dominant player in the education market, allowing it to go head to head with its main competitor, IBM. In 1988, he was awarded Apple’s Higher Education Impact Award for his significant contributions to Apple’s dominant position in Education.
Given his success in the Apple Education division, in 1988 he was asked to [https://books.google.com/books?idrEilRN4XgNgC&pgPT60&lpgPT60&dqC.+Lloyd+Mahaffey&sourcebl&otsBrD53q7-AP&sigdgAWDIkOXQz9xAsUnZsqAlsRgH8&hlen&saX&ved0ahUKEwigss-VmJ3PAhUFHB4KHffvCTY4ChDoAQhIMAg#vonepage&qC.%20Lloyd%20Mahaffey&f=false lead] Apple’s Federal Systems Group in Washington, D.C., to carve out a market in the U.S. Department of Defense, which included both civilian and intelligence agencies. From 1988 to 1990, he created inroads by working with government agencies that had the flexibility to purchase non-standard and non-contract computer systems. Mahaffey built a systems integration team to handle complex implementations that would allow these agencies to move away from the predominant MS-DOS solutions. With major contract procurements such as The United States Department of Defense, NASA, and the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Mahaffey and his team was awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in new business for the Apple Federal Systems Group.
In 1990, Mahaffey chose to leave Apple to pursue technology consulting endeavors in Washington, D.C. He also served as the Board Director and Chief Executive Officer of Start, Inc., from 1990-1994, and on the Board of Directors at First Patriot Bancshares, FDIC from 1989-1994.
In 1994, Mahaffey relocated back to the West Coast to join VeriFone as the Vice President of Consumer Products. Mahaffey later served as the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Internet Software Services and, eventually, as Chief Operating Officer. VeriFone specialized in credit card processing terminals, Smartcards, and lead the effort to create and patent the “Personal ATM” that could download currency to smartcards. As the internet’s reach grew, VeriFone focused its development efforts on internet purchasing, and developed software to capture and encrypt online credit card payments so information could be sent to merchants in a secure manner. As the COO, he led the team that closed the transaction that completed VeriFone’s acquisition by Hewlett-Packard for a $1.18 billion dollar stock swap in 1998. The transaction was the fourth largest tech acquisition in the world that year.
After the acquisition of VeriFone was completed, Mahaffey opted to pursue a career in venture capital at Redleaf Venture Management, a firm specializing in early-stage ventures in AdTech, network services, cybersecurity, and payments. Based in the Silicon Valley, Mahaffey served as a Managing Partner from 1998 - 2004, where he raised a $15-million-dollar entity fund, followed by a $220-million-dollar fund. While at Redleaf Venture Management, he was a member of the Board of Directors at Avidyne from 2000-2005, and at Lightningcast from 1999-2006.
In 2004, Mahaffey relocated to his property in Eagle, Idaho, where, in 2005, he founded the Carloma Group; a holding company with interests in real estate, renewable energy, and aviation assets.
While in Idaho, he continued to serve on a variety of boards and, from 2004-2008, he served as the Chairman of the Board of Directors for Sento, where he qualified for Sarbanes-Oxley requirements. In addition, from 2005-2009 he served as the Chairman of the Economic Advisory Council for the Idaho Department of Commerce, which distributed federal grants for rural public works projects and regional economic development. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors for Unity Media Group and Cradlepoint, Inc. from 2009-2011 and 2010-2012, respectively.
In 2013, Mahaffey teamed with Michael Boerner to launch SmartStory™ Technologies, located in Silicon Valley. SmartStory is a SaaS platform that pairs loyalty data with different point of sale data and subject matter expertise to provide personalized content and videos to its customers. The company is privately owned. During his tenure as president, the company has developed a dominant position with firms like Rite Aid, CVS, UPMC, United Healthcare, Samsung, Ford and HP.
Publications
Snake River Valley - American Viticulture Area: As Chairman of the Economic Advisory Counsel, Mahaffey was one of three authors of the proposal to create an American Viticulture Area called the Snake River Valley AVA in Southwest Idaho, along with Ron Bitner and David Wilkins. It was approved by the US Treasury and is now recognized as a wine appellation in the United States.
He is also currently writing his first novel.
Patents
Mahaffey is the holder of US patent for a system to convert waste to thermal energy. He is also listed on several pending patents from his tenure at SmartStory.
Awards
*Economic Development Excellence Award, City of Eagle, Idaho
*Apple Higher Education Impact Award, Apple, Inc.
*Snake River Valley American Viticulture Area, United States Treasury
*The Citadel Distinguished Life Alumnus Award - 2013, The Citadel
*:The highest honor awarded to alumni who have achieved excellence in their professions.
Personal life
Mahaffey has two children, a daughter, Caitlyn, age 23, and a son, Ian, age 25. Caitlyn is a Fashion Stylist located in San Francisco, and Ian is a Deputy Sheriff for the Alameda County Sheriff Department.
When he was 15, Mahaffey soloed his first aircraft, which began a lifelong love of flying. Today, he holds Commercial and Instrument ratings as well as a Tailwheel Certification. He is a sailor and member of the prestigious St. Francis Yacht Club in San Francisco, holds a General Class Amateur Radio Operator license, is an avid free climber, fly fisherman, and motorcycle enthusiast.
He is a member of the Aviation Owners and Pilots Association (AOPA), the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), the Harley-Davidson Owners Group (HOG), and The Citadel Alumni Association.

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