Speakers

Tolman Geffs

Co-President, The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc.

Tolman Geffs, Co-President of JEGI, represents digital media, marketing, business services and technology companies. Notable recent engagements include:
• Sale of Infogroup’s OneSource to Cannondale Investments and GTCR;
• Sale of ePrize to Catterton Partners;
• Sale of Travidia to a media consortium led by Gannett and Hearst;
• Sale of Focus Research to Ziff Davis Media;
• Sale of I-Behavior to WPP; and
• Sale of AdJug to Dentsu.
Mr. Geffs brings a unique combination of experience as a CEO and business builder in both traditional and new media companies, as well as in corporate finance. Prior to joining JEGI in 2004, Mr. Geffs was CEO of Internet Broadcasting Systems, a national network of 70 local television Web sites operated in partnership with NBC, Hearst, The Washington Post Company and other major broadcasters. With a staff of 250, IBS was one of the earliest old/new cross-media platforms to achieve both scale and profitability.

Previously, Mr. Geffs held a series of senior executive positions in magazine publishing. He began his career in the M&A department of Lehman Brothers, and also consulted for media companies with McKinsey & Company. He is a graduate of the University of California at Berkeley, with degrees in English and Engineering Physics, and Harvard Business School.

Michael Kessler

Managing Director, Veronis Suhler Stevenson

Michael B. Kessler is a Managing Director at Veronis Suhler Stevenson LLC, and a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. Mr. Kessler specializes in investing in the business services and business information sectors, which includes companies engaged in the collection, creation and/or processing of data, and the use of technology to distribute such content. He has a particular focus on companies engaged in marketing, human resources, and credit and risk management. He led the firm’s acquisition of SureSource and the simultaneous acquisitions of Qwiz and ePredix which created PreVisor. He oversaw PreVisor’s seven add-on acquisitions and its subsequent merger with SHL in 2011. Mr. Kessler played key roles in the acquisitions of TMP Worldwide, Market Strategies International, and CoreData (subsequently part of Ipreo via merger). Mr. Kessler currently serves as a Director of SHL, SureSource, Market Strategies and TMP, and previously served on the Board of CoreData.

Mr. Kessler had over 17 years of investment banking experience prior to joining VSS in 2003 from CIBC World Markets. At CIBC he was a senior member of the Enterprise Software and Business Services group, primarily focused on technology-enabled business services and software companies. He has extensive experience in public offerings, private placements, and merger and acquisition transactions. Prior to CIBC, Mr. Kessler was a Managing Director at Oppenheimer & Co. (acquired by CIBC in 1997), where he served as a senior member of the media and business services investment banking group. Prior to joining Oppenheimer in 1993, Mr. Kessler served in the capital markets divisions of Barclays Capital and Merrill Lynch.

Mr. Kessler has an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School, and a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Michael Kessler

Managing Director, Veronis Suhler Stevenson

Michael B. Kessler is a Managing Director at Veronis Suhler Stevenson LLC, and a member of the firm’s Investment Committee. Mr. Kessler specializes in investing in the business services and business information sectors, which includes companies engaged in the collection, creation and/or processing of data, and the use of technology to distribute such content. He has a particular focus on companies engaged in marketing, human resources, and credit and risk management. He led the firm’s acquisition of SureSource and the simultaneous acquisitions of Qwiz and ePredix which created PreVisor. He oversaw PreVisor’s seven add-on acquisitions and its subsequent merger with SHL in 2011. Mr. Kessler played key roles in the acquisitions of TMP Worldwide, Market Strategies International, and CoreData (subsequently part of Ipreo via merger). Mr. Kessler currently serves as a Director of SHL, SureSource, Market Strategies and TMP, and previously served on the Board of CoreData.

Mr. Kessler had over 17 years of investment banking experience prior to joining VSS in 2003 from CIBC World Markets. At CIBC he was a senior member of the Enterprise Software and Business Services group, primarily focused on technology-enabled business services and software companies. He has extensive experience in public offerings, private placements, and merger and acquisition transactions. Prior to CIBC, Mr. Kessler was a Managing Director at Oppenheimer & Co. (acquired by CIBC in 1997), where he served as a senior member of the media and business services investment banking group. Prior to joining Oppenheimer in 1993, Mr. Kessler served in the capital markets divisions of Barclays Capital and Merrill Lynch.

Mr. Kessler has an MBA in Finance from the Wharton School, and a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania.

Scott Peters

Co-President, The Jordan, Edmiston Group, Inc.

Scott Peters, a Co-President with JEGI, represents a wide array of consumer and business information, marketing services and online media companies in an M&A advisory capacity. Having successfully completed over 75 transactions with JEGI, Mr. Peters offers clients a comprehensive understanding of the media, information and marketing services industries, with extensive sell-side, buy-side and advisory expertise. Recent notable engagements include:
- Sale of Evanta to Leeds Equity Partners;
- Sale of Aspire Media to F+W Media;
- Sale of Northstar Travel Media to The Wicks Group of Companies;
- Sale of Experient to Maritz Travel;
- Sale of Future's US Music Division to NewBay Media; and many more.

Mr. Peters offers a unique blend of traditional investment banking and direct operating experience. Before rejoining JEGI, he was the co-founder of AngelSociety, an information, communications and transaction company serving the early stage investing or 'angel' investing market. Prior to his initial employment with JEGI, Mr. Peters was with Veronis Suhler Stevenson, where he served as director of research and later, director of business development for the investment bank and private equity fund.

Mr. Peters currently serves as a Media & Entertainment Sector advisor to The New York City Investment Fund ("NYCIF"), and he serves on the Advisory Board of Columbia Business School’s Social Enterprise Program. Mr. Peters earned an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BBA from Babson College.

David Baeder

CEO, Alert Solutions, Inc.

Dave Baeder is the founder and CEO of Alert Solutions, a leading provider of cloud-based, multi-channel messaging technology.

Since 1989, Dave has spearheaded the expansion of Alert Solutions’ communication suite from a general mass messaging platform to industry-specific multi-channel alert and notification solutions for education, healthcare and property management.

An expert in multi-channel messaging technology, he has extensive knowledge of integrated communication solutions and the importance of leveraging real-time contact data to enhance message deliverability.

Over the past 20 years, Dave has formed strategic partnerships with companies such as the New York Stock Exchange, General Electric, the New York Times, Raytheon, Pearson Education and Siemens.

Dave is an avid sailor and holds a Bachelor of Science from Florida Institute of Technology.

Ray Bixler

President, SkillSurvey, Inc.

Ray Bixler has been SkillSurvey’s President and CEO since 2006. During his tenure over the past 6+ years, SkillSurvey’s been recognized multiple times as one of the fastest growing companies by both Inc. 500/5000 and Deloitte Technology Fast 500.

Prior to SkillSurvey, Ray spent over 20 years in sales leadership and senior management positions for both small and large companies. Most of this experience focused on building and leading go-to-market sales, marketing and new business development strategies for early-stage companies. Most recently, Ray spent 3 years as a Regional and Senior Vice President with Caliper, an organizational development consulting firm. While there, Ray consulted with hundreds of small and mid-size businesses and several F500 organizations in developing better hiring, development, performance management and succession planning strategies. Before joining Caliper, Ray’s management experience included senior level sales management positions at RCN Corporation and WorldCom/MCI.

Ray’s education includes Materials Engineering at Drexel University and Business Management at Immaculata University.

Matt Blumberg

Chief Executive Officer, Return Path, Inc.

Benjamin Carpano

Chief Executive Officer, Reportlinker

As CEO of Reportlinker, Ben provides leadership to the company's management and is personally involved in the strategy, product development, financing and M&A activities. Ben spent 15 years driving growth and innovation, in the digital media industry. Personal interests include: Semantic technologies, Big data, Graph and Linked data and Market intelligence.
Benjamin earned a MBA in Entrepreneurship and Innovation from Bordeaux Business School. Prior to co-founding Reportlinker, Benjamin held a position of Product Development Manager at Ciao.com an internet start-up focused on consumer reviews. Prior to this, he was consultant in Strategic management services at Ernst & Young.

Paul Chachko

CEO and Chairman, V12 Group

Paul Chachko has over 30 years of experience in marketing services, with leadership speaking roles at DMA, NARM, iMedia and several technology councils. Prior to V12 Group, Mr. Chachko was the CEO of Datagence, a multi-channel direct marketing services company. In addition, Mr. Chachko was the founder and CEO of ConsumerNet, a leading Internet consumer database company that was merged with 24/7 Real Media in 1999.

Karl Cheng

Partner, Head of Information & Media Practice, The Parthenon Group

Karl Cheng is a partner in the Parthenon Group LLC Boston office, and leads Parthenon’s information and media practice. For over a decade, Mr. Cheng has advised a broad range of clients in the information, publishing, and media markets, including many of the market leaders in business-to-business information services. Mr. Cheng has also participated in numerous due diligence efforts on behalf of both financial and strategic buyers. Mr. Cheng’s functional areas of expertise include corporate strategy, pricing, and competitive assessment.

Mr. Cheng is a member of Parthenon’s Executive Committee and oversees the firm’s knowledge management and technology initiatives. He also has extensive international experience, having advised clients and worked in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Prior to joining Parthenon, he worked at Booz Allen Hamilton and ExxonMobil Corp.

Mr. Cheng received an AB from Harvard College, magna cum laude in economics, as well as an MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Michael Darviche

CEO, BlueCava Inc.

Robert W. Dickey

Partner, Morgan Lewis

Robert W. Dickey is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Business and Finance Practice. Mr. Dickey's practice focuses on domestic and cross-border mergers and acquisitions; he also counsels clients in connection with joint ventures, strategic alliances, private placements and general corporate and compliance matters. He has been involved in a wide range of public and private transactions in a variety of industries and has represented both strategic and financial acquirors, including private equity firms, and sellers and targets.

Brandon Edwards

CEO, Tax Credit Co.

Brandon Edwards is CEO of Tax Credit Co. and has been involved with the company since 1998. An expert in high-value tax incentive programs for businesses, Mr. Edwards is passionate about providing industry-leading solutions that deliver earnings and cash flow to clients. Mr. Edwards led a management buyout of Tax Credit Co. in January of 2009, building the firm from 30 to 90 individuals and boosting revenue by 50% per year over his first four years. He is a frequent speaker and has been featured in publications such as BusinessWeek, The Los Angeles Times, CBS Interactive, Huffington Post, Accounting Today, SHRM Staffing Management and SHRM Online.

Mr. Edwards holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Faiz Fatteh

MD, www.Iseeyou.MD

Robert Iskander

Founder & Chairman, EduTone Corporation

Robert Iskander is a global corporate executive who is passionate about changing the world by leveraging technology to improve the quality of life for all, with a special focus on education and medicine. Founder and CEO of VIP Tone, Inc. since September 2000, he is an entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in Information Technology. His prior positions include General Manager of Sun Microsystems Middle East from 1992 to 1996 and Director at Sun Microsystems, Inc. from 1996 to 2000.

Stephen Laliberte

President, Internet Production, Inc.

Stephen Laliberte is an experienced software publishing executive. He is the founder and CEO of Internet Production, Inc. and is the publisher of the Cloud Publishing Platform

Steve began his career was the publisher of Byte Magazine’s Byte Information Exchange (BIX) a membership online service with a paid circulation of 20,000. Steve helped McGraw-Hill sell Bix to General Video Text in 1991. At GVT, Steve pioneered consumer Internet access on the Delphi system in 1992. In 18 months revenues grew from five million per year to 15 million. The Delphi service was sold to News Corporation in 1994. Steve then became a partner in Newsbytes News Network the first online news service with 100% electronic delivery. Newsbytes was sold to the Washington Post in 1998.

Steve founded Internet Production, Inc. (IProduction), in 1998 to provide digital publishing systems designed for media companies. IProduction currently provides digital publishing systems to B2B and B2C publishers including; the CQ Roll Call / Economist, American Lawyer Media, Source Media, Remedy Health Media, and Belvoir Media Group.

The Cloud Publishing Platform includes modules for CMS, Audience Database Management, Email Marketing, E-commerce, Lead Generation, and web services for 3rd party system interaction.

Jim Lightsey

CFO, InsideView

As InsideView's Chief Financial Officer, Jim Lightsey leads the company's strategic planning, financial management, business operations/analytics, accounting and human resources functions. Prior to InsideView, Jim was a Managing Director with Crimson Consulting Group where he drove marketing strategy engagements and managed key client relationships with leading technology and healthcare companies including Cisco, Google, HP, Kaiser Permanente, Microsoft and Qualcomm.
Jim was also Founder/CEO of a SaaS healthcare company that he grew and sold to an Accor Services company and was previously Director of Corporate Development for the SpringStreet real estate rentals directory where he drove finance and corporate development initiatives and played a key role in successful positioning the company for sale to Homestore.com prior to its subsequent IPO. In addition, Jim worked with multiple Fortune 500 companies as a Senior Manager with Accenture's Strategic Service practice and has managed public company financial audits for Ernst & Young.

Jim is a CPA and holds an MBA in Multinational Management from the Wharton School, where he graduated as a Palmer Scholar, and a BA from the University of California Santa Barbara, with high honors.

Darwin Melnyk

President & CEO, IRON Solutions LLC

Darwin Melnyk is President and Chief Executive Officer of IRON Solutions, Inc., leading the recapitalization and growth of the company since 2006. He has 20 years of leadership experience in big data and cloud computing in both business information and technology sectors. Darwin is an innovator in the delivery of integrated application, transport and data services. In 1996, he founded an application service provider and shortly thereafter won high profile customers including Intel, Ziff Davis Publishing, Kodak and Hewlett Packard. He managed the company to profitability in 36 months and led a liquidity event producing excellent returns for investors. Earlier in his career, he developed content management and publishing services for a consortium of academic associations and research universities and co-founded one of the first digital pre-press services firms. Darwin grew up on a family farm in Western Canada and received his undergrad and graduate education at Friends University and Emory University.

Amir Moussavian

CEO & President, MIR3

With more than 20 years of technology management experience, Mr. Moussavian has specialized knowledge in nurturing innovative technology companies from start-up to dynamic growth.

As president and CEO of MIR3, Mr. Moussavian oversees the company’s strategic direction and operations, including leading the company’s expansion into the European and Middle Eastern markets in 2010.

Prior to joining MIR3, Mr. Moussavian was the chairman and chief executive officer of Contigo Software, one of the first companies to bring online meetings to the Internet. He led Contigo to a successful acquisition by Raindance Communications (NASDAQ: RNDC) in June 2000.
Mr. Moussavian’s career achievements also include the founding of HawkNet, Inc., a developer and publisher of performance management software for Novell networks, high-speed backup software and Microsoft NT servers. Within two years, Mr. Moussavian successfully led HawkNet from a start-up to its acquisition by BMC Software (NYSE: BMC). Prior to HawkNet, Mr. Moussavian served as President and CEO of GigaTrend, Inc., a pioneer in the 4mm data storage hardware and software industry.

Robin Neidorf

Director of Research, FreePint Limited

Robin Neidorf is the Director of Research for Free Pint Ltd., a UK-based publisher providing practical insight on tools, trends and resources in the information industry (http://www.freepint.com/). Robin manages internal, external and custom research projects for FreePint and its customers around the world. Prior to joining FreePint in 2006, Robin ran a research and communications consulting business for 10 years. As a consultant, she focused on strategic planning, using information to make better decisions, and creating effective audience-focused communications across different media. She currently sits on the Content Division board of the SIIA.

Matt Petersen

CEO, McMurry/TMG, LLC

Emilio Ragosa

Partner, Morgan Lewis

Emilio Ragosa is a partner in Morgan Lewis's Business and Finance Practice. Mr. Ragosa focuses primarily on securities, mergers and
acquisitions, corporate transactions and technology transactions. He represents both private and public high technology and biotechnology companies, as well as venture capital firms and underwriters. Mr. Ragosa
also has handled numerous corporate transactions ranging from corporate formations/restructuring and private placements to public offerings.
Prior to joining Morgan Lewis, Mr. Ragosa was a junior partner with a prestigious national law firm. While in law school, he worked at the New York Stock Exchange; prior to law school, he was an intern with Merrill Lynch.

Mr. Ragosa was named to the Order of the Coif after earning his J.D. with
honors from Rutgers Law School, and he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa
after earning his B.S. in finance and political science with high honors from
Rutgers College.

Mr. Ragosa is admitted to practice in New Jersey and New York.

David Roberts

CEO & Co-Founder, Green Mountain Digital, Inc.

David Roberts is Chm, CEO and Co-Founder of GMD. He has guided the business from inception, laying out the strategic direction, building the staff, and raising $5 million in start-up financing. He previously spent 27 years with Citigroup, including serving as the CEO of Citibank India (700 employees) and engaging in strategy at the most senior level. He helped visualize the idea for Impaxselling.com, subsequently sold to NASDEQ listed Skillsoft, and has served in leadership positions on the boards of Occidental College and Thunderbird Graduate School of Global Management.

Nick Schacht

President & COO, PetroSkills

David Tyler

Director, Strategic Partnerships, Green Mountain Digital

David is responsible for identifying, establishing, and maintaining Green Mountain Digital's strategic partnerships. David comes to GMD after 8 years of experience with Apple in their consumer and business enterprise facing businesses in San Diego. While in this role, David established and lead a business sales team in securing and maintaining lucrative high profile relationships with multiple Fortune 500 companies including Qualcomm, Lenovo, Intuit, and Sony Online Entertainment. David earned his bachelors degree in communications from the University of California San Diego. David is passionate about the outdoors and spends weekends hiking, kayaking, fishing, and when the weather's right snowshoeing, with his wife Michelle and his dog Mattie, in the beautiful Green Mountains of Vermont.

Reid Whitaker

Founder & Executive Director, STEMscopes

Dr. Reid Whitaker is currently the Executive Director of the Center for Digital Learning and Scholarship at Rice University as well as the founder and director of STEMscopes™. He began his teaching career with Teach For America as a 5th grade self-contained and elementary science teacher in Houston ISD at Port Houston Elementary. For his teaching, he was awarded the HEB Texas Excellence in Education Rising Star Award and the HISD Teacher of the Year Runner Up in 2005. Reid also has experience providing numerous hours of professional development training and coaching to teachers in Houston ISD by being a content specialist for the district and then as an Associate Director for the Center for Education at Rice University. Subsequently, Reid returned to Port Houston Elementary as principal. In his three years as principal, he raised the accountability rating of the school from Academically Acceptable to Exemplary, earning Port Houston Elementary a spot in the top 2% of all HISD schools for student growth. In 2009, Reid received the distinguished Houston’s Emerging Leader Award from the Greater Houston Partnership. In the summer of 2010, Reid returned to Rice University to create STEMscopes™. Reid received his undergraduate degree in communications from the University of Texas at Austin. He earned his Ph.D. from his alma mater in Educational Administration.