Richard K. Howe
President and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Howe previously served as Chief Marketing/Business Strategy and M
&A Officer at the Acxiom Corporation (NASDAQ: ACXM), a $1.4 billion annual
revenue global interactive marketing services company. While at Acxiom, Mr. Howe
had been responsible for building the company’s Asia Pacific business, consulting business,
targeted display advertising business and for managing the information products and analytics
business. Previously, Mr. Howe served as general manager of the $110 million
Global Marketing Services unit of Fair Isaac & Company. He was also instrumental
in Fair Isaac’s purchase of HNC, a software company at which he worked from 1997 to 1999.
Before joining Fair Isaac, he founded and was chairman and CEO of ieWild Inc.,
a marketing applications “software as a service” company whose clients included
leading financial services institutions. Mr. Howe earned a bachelor’s degree with
distinction in structural engineering from Concordia University,
Canada, and he earned his master’s degree in engineering from McGill University, Canada.
Mitch Tuchman
Chairman of the Board
Mr. Tuchman brings more than 10 years experience in venture
capital, public finance and technology to his board position.
From 2006 until 2007, Mr. Tuchman was a consultant to Crestview
Capital, a micro-cap hedge fund. He has also served as a
sub-advisor to Apex Capital, LLC, on its technology micro-cap
and special situations portfolio, which grew from $30 million
to $200 million during that time. Mr. Tuchman continues to
co-manage the $28 million Net Market Partners, LP venture
capital fund with Apex. From 1997 to 2000, Mr. Tuchman invested
in and advised venture funds focusing primarily on Internet
and technology during which time he was instrumental in
facilitating several key transactions including C2B
Technologies’ sale to Inktomi, Net Market Makers sale to
Jupiter Communications, and Chrome Data Systems sale to
DealerTrack. He co-founded TestMart, a marketer of government
information technology services and products via the internet.
A Silicon Valley veteran, Mr. Tuchman began his career at
Atari, Inc. and served as an operating executive for several
Silicon Valley companies while leading them through strategic
transformations for eventual sale. He currently serves on the
Board of Directors of Workstream Inc. (Nasdaq:WSTM) and Kintera
(Nasdaq: KNTA). Mr. Tuchman received his MBA from Harvard
Business School and his BA from Boston University.
M. Charles Pope
Independent Director and
Chairman of the Audit Committee
Mr. Pope, brings more than 30 years of experience in executive
management, finance and accounting to his director position. Mr.
Pope is the Chief Financial Officer of Aerosonic Corporation
(AMEX:
AIM -
News), a worldwide manufacturer
of aircraft instruments. From 2005 through 2007, he served as the
Chief Financial Officer for Reptron Manufacturing, a manufacturer
of electronic and engineering services. From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Pope was Chief
Financial Officer of SRI/Surgical (NasdaqGM:
STRC -
News), which provides central
processing and supply chain management services to hospitals and
surgery centers across the United States. Previously, Mr. Pope
served as Chief Financial Officer for UTEK Corporation
(AMEX:
UTK -
News), a business development company
that acquires and funds the development of new university technologies.
Earlier in his career, Mr. Pope was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers
LLP. He holds a B.S. in economics and accounting from Auburn University,
and is a Certified Public Accountant in Florida.
Robert T. Geras
Member of the Board of Directors,
Chairman of the Compensation Committee
In 1978, Mr. Geras founded and has since been President of
LaSalle Investments, Incorporated, an early stage Chicago
venture capital investment company. In April 2005, Mr. Geras
became Interim President, director and CEO of Arryx, Inc., a
Chicago nano-technology company which employs holographic laser
steering at nano and microscopic levels to expedite groundbreaking
research of many kinds. Mr. Geras co-founded and is a director
of Merge Healthcare (MRGE) which provides radiology workflow
products. He is currently a director of VideoHomeTours, Capital
Growth Systems, Exadigm, Think Partnership, Advanced Diamond
Technologies, Bias Power, and OrthoScan.
Mr. Geras is a founding member and a director of the Illinois
Venture Capital Association that presented Mr. Geras with the
Fellows Award for "Extraordinary leadership in early stage
venture funding in Illinois" in 2004. Mr. Geras also received
the "Angel of the Year 2002" award by the Chicago Software
Association at their Annual CityLIGHTS ceremony. On March 1,
2006, Mr. Geras was inducted into the Chicago Area
Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame. Mr. Geras and his wife,
Dawn founded the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation. Mr.
Geras graduated from Northwestern University in 1961.
George Mellon
Mr. Mellon has served as a director since June 2006. Following
graduation from college in 1968, Mr. Mellon spent 16 years with
INA/CIGNA, and in 1984 founded North American Special Risks
Associations Inc. (NASRA). NASRA operated as a Managing General
Underwriter (MGU) representing several A+ rated insurance companies
in the accident and health employee benefits area. Mr. Mellon
served as chairman, president and chief executive officer of NASRA.
In 1996, NASRA merged with HCC (NYSE) where Mr. Mellon remained
active until 2000 serving as chairman, president and chief
executive officer of HCCES, a division of HCC. He continued
with HCC as a consultant. Mr. Mellon graduated from North
Dakota State University in 1968 with a B.S. degree in Economics.
Joshua Metnick
Mr. Metnick currently serves as chairman and chief executive
officer of Chicago.com, Inc., as well as Managing Member of
Associated Cities LLC, which he formed with the owners of
NewYorkCity.com, Atlanta.com and LosAngeles.com. Mr. Metnick
currently serves as Chairman of Heilio, Inc., a Chicago-based
network and online security services firm, and is a co-founder
of Unified Consulting, Inc., a transactionally oriented Internet
services development company started in 1999 and based in Los
Angeles, California. In 2000, Mr. Metnick founded ePrairie.com,
a news aggregator and blogging website for the Chicago and Midwest
technology business community. Mr. Metnick holds a bachelor's
degree in finance from the University of Illinois and is a
graduate of the Illinois Institute of Aviation.
Jack Balousek
Mr. Balousek brings more than 20 years experience in executive
management and board leadership to the Kowabunga! director
position. From 1991 to 1996, Mr. Balousek served as President
and Chief Operating Officer of Foote, Cone & Belding Communications,
at the time, one of the largest global advertising and
communications networks. He has served as Chairman and CEO
of True North Technologies, a digital and interactive services
firm affiliated with True North Communications and as a Director
at FCB Communications and True North Communications from 1989 until
1997. Mr. Balousek co-founded, and from 1998 to 1999, served as
executive vice president of PhotoAlley.com, a San Francisco-based
marketing photographic equipment, supplies and online services
company. Prior to 1991, he held various senior executive
management positions with FCB and brand management positions
with Procter & Gamble Co. Mr. Balousek has served as a director
at a number of publicly held companies, and currently serves on
the Board of publicly held Central Garden & Pet Co. He received
his undergraduate degree from Creighton University and his
graduate degree from Northwestern University.