Directors


Timothy Biltz - Chairman

Tim assumed his role as Chairman of the Board of Directors in March, 2007.  He sits concurrently on the board of NTELOS, a publicly traded wireless and wireline services provider, and is Chairman of Tidal Creek Capital, a private investment company.  Tim also recently served as Chairman of iPCS, a publicly traded wireless services provider, from November 2005 until Sprint's acquisition of the company in October 2009.  From 1999 to 2005, Tim was the Chief Operating Officer and Executive Director of SpectraSite (SSI), a publicly traded wireless and broadcast signal tower company that merged with American Tower (AMT) in August, 2005.  Prior to that, 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.  He is a pioneer in speech technology, especially focused on human-computer user interfaces and mobile devices. 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 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.

Igor has over a dozen patents pending in this field, was named an industry luminary by the editors of Speech Technology Magazine and was a Gaelen Entrepreneurship Speaker for Penn State's College of Engineering. He is a member of the Applied Voice Input/Output Society and 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 of 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
COO of Yap Inc.

Victor is a Yap co-founder and has served as its COO since inception. He was pivotal in growing the Company from its original vision of solving the texting while driving problem and into the cloud-based speech recognition platform it is today. Victor oversees all business development, finance, legal, marketing, product management and sales functions within the organization.

Prior to Yap, Victor executed advanced R&D and product development at ATI and Siemens for a myriad of customers in the aviation, defense, medical and power generation industries.  He performed fundamental research at the Los Alamos National Lab, authored a number of peer-reviewed technical articles and has filed more than 10 patent disclosures. He holds B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Materials Engineering from the Pennsylvania State University and an MBA from Wake Forest University.

Wayne Hunter - Director
Managing Partner of 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.

Andrew Seamons - Observer
Managing Partner of Pittco Capital Partners

Andrew is the Managing Partner of Pittco Capital Partners. He brings more than a decade of experience working with companies of all sizes on tackling tough strategic issues and driving rapid and significant financial and operational improvement.

Pittco Capital Partners is a closely-held private equity investment firm providing equity and mezzanine capital to entrepreneurial organizations throughout the United States, but with an emphasis on the Southeast. Pittco builds on trusted relationships and frequently invests alongside other private equity firms and management teams.

Prior to forming Pittco Capital Partners, Andrew was a partner with Paradigm Capital Partners, a Southeastern focused private equity firm. Previously, he was a member of the senior management team at LendingTree, the leading success story in online financial services. He was also a consultant with McKinsey & Company, an international management consultancy, where he assisted management teams with issues of strategy and operational improvement across a variety of industries. Andrew currently serves on the boards of directors for Internet Pictures Corporation (NASDAQ: IPIX), Memphis Networx, LaneScan, Monogram Solutions and Qcept Technologies. He is also on the philanthropic boards of directors of Emerge Memphis and the Memphis chapter of the Association for Corporate Growth.

Andrew holds a B.S. in electrical engineering (summa cum laude) from Duke University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar.

Alumni

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.