Directors
Timothy Biltz - Chairman of the Board
Tim assumed his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors in March, 2007. Tim is concurrently on the boards of iPCS, a publicly traded wireless services provider, NTELOS, a publicly traded wireless and wireline services provider and as Chairman of Tidal Creek Capital, a private investment company. He serves on the Audit Committee at NTELOS and iPCS and has served as the Chairman of iPCS since November 2006. From 1999 to 2005, Tim was the Chief Operating Officer and Director of SpectraSite (SSI), a publicly traded wireless and broadcast signal tower company that merged with American Tower (AMT) in August, 2005. He was employed by Vanguard Cellular Systems from 1989 to 1999, exiting as the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer when the company was merged into AT&T in May of 1999.
Igor Jablokov - Director
CEO of Yap Inc.
Igor has served as Yap's CEO since its inception in 2006. Igor is a true pioneer in speech technology, with many years of multimodal innovation under his belt. Prior to co-founding Yap, Igor served as Program Director of IBM's multimodal and voice portal groups. During his tenure there, he led his team to create the world's first ever speech-enabled web browser. Additionally, he served as a business mentor for IBM's elite Extreme Blue internship program and represented the Company as chairman of the board of directors for the VoiceXML Forum, an industry group driving an open standards-based vision of speech computing.
Previously, Igor held positions with IBM's Pervasive Computing, PartnerWorld, Global Industries and Microelectronics divisions. He has over a dozen patents pending in advanced speech technology and in 2008 Speech Technology Magazine named Igor an industry luminary. Igor holds an undergraduate degree in computer engineering from Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from the University of North Carolina.
Paul Grim - Director
General Partner, SunBridge Partners
Paul is a General Partner at SunBridge Partners with an investment focus in wireless communications and retail systems. Paul co-founded SunBridge Partners and its predecessor Equitek Capital. He has been actively involved in each of the firm's investments from initial sourcing through due diligence to post-investment strategic guidance, including Flarion Technologies (QCOM), Yap, Zipit Wireless, Alien Technology, Eclipse Aviation, The New Media Group and W5 networks. Paul is currently a Board Director at Zipit Wireless and Yap, and Board Observer at W5 networks and DFT Microsystems. Prior to venture investing, Paul worked across Europe with Gemini Consulting in the Telecoms/Media and Retail sectors. At Gemini he focused on market entry strategies and new business ventures in wireless, ISPs, e-commerce and IP/broadband services. Prior to Gemini, Paul worked with Coopers & Lybrand's Financial Services Strategy Group in Paris and CGI, an IBM company in software and IT services. Paul received an MBA from the M.I.T. Sloan School of Management and a B.Sc in Mechanical Engineering from M.I.T.
Victor Jablokov - Director
President & COO of Yap Inc.
Vic has served as the COO since co-founding Yap in 2006. He has been instrumental in helping grow the firm from a simple idea to the organization it is today and brings an impressive and diverse skill set to Yap's leadership team. Previous to Yap, he had over 8 years of product development, operations, R&D, and manufacturing experience at both Siemens and ATI.
As a Program Manager at Siemens, he was charged with new product development and helped to establish and maintain their global supplier base through extensive vendor qualification and auditing activities both in the US and internationally. At ATI, he held various roles in operations, manufacturing and R&D, where he was charged with new product development and improvement.
He has performed research at the Los Alamos National Lab, has authored several peer-reviewed technical articles and has filed more than 10 patent disclosures. He holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. Degree in Materials Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from Wake Forest University.
Wayne Hunter - Director
Managing Partner, Harbert Venture Partners
Wayne is Managing Partner of Harbert Venture Partners ("HVP"), a venture capital fund focused on early stage growth companies in the information technology and life sciences industries. HVP is an affiliate of Harbert Management Corporation, an investment management firm focusing on alternative asset classes with approximately $20 billion under management.
Prior to joining Harbert, Wayne was Managing Director and Head of Wachovia's Technology Investment Banking Group. Additionally, he was a member of Wachovia's Private Equity/Venture Capital Fund Investment Committee and served on Wachovia's Investment Banking Management Committee. Prior to Wachovia's acquisition of Wheat First Butcher & Singer in 1998, Wayne was the founder, Managing Director and Group Head of Wheat's Communications and Technology Group. He has more than twenty years of experience working with leading entrepreneurs and venture capitalists in the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. In the November 2007 issue of TechJournal South, Wayne was named one of the publication's "25 of the Most Influential People in the Southeast Technology Community." He currently serves on the Boards of Harbert portfolio companies WindChannel Communications, BroadSource, Privaris, TapRoot Systems and Unitrends. Wayne received a J.D. from the University of Alabama School of Law and a B.S., Economics, from Auburn University.
Former Directors
Mark Stabingas - Director
Vice President at Amazon.com
Mark was our first outside director and served prior to returning to a senior executive role at Amazon.com. He was previously a Partner in Red Ventures, a customer acquisition marketing company based in Charlotte, North Carolina. Prior to that, he served at Amazon.com as Senior Vice President of Business Development and served as a member of the Management Committee. He led the business and corporate development organizations and was instrumental in launching Amazon's Services business. He originally joined the company as Vice President, Finance, and led the finance team for Amazon's US Retail business. Previous to that, Mark held a variety of positions at PepsiCo, most recently serving as Vice President, Corporate Strategy and Development. He began his career in corporate finance at Mellon Bank and then joined the leveraged finance team at GE Capital. Mark holds an MBA from Northwestern University and a BA from the University of Pittsburgh.