Brenda’s background includes executive management roles as CEO Global Connexus, President Codenomicon US Operations, CIO ReadRite, VP Application Services AristaSoft, VP Professional Service CompuCom, Director IT Safeguard Business Systems and Director IT Prime Minister Trudeau’s office.

As an integral part of these management teams two of these start-ups grew to $1.5B in sales in less than 5 years each and successfully raised over $200mil in Venture Capital.

As a result of these positions Brenda has been involved in a number of vertical markets in the US and Asia and very familiar with their business processes, products, services and competition.  She has also been responsible for an outsourced operation in Hyderabad India.

Brenda Fox has personally worked closely over the past five years with many Finnish companies to assist them in launching and building their networks in North America and including two plus years as President of Codenomicon’s US Operations.

Brenda holds degrees in Math and Computer Science from the University of Waterloo. Co-author of book: CIO Wisdom, Publisher: Prentice Hall, Spring 2002, ISBN:0-13-141115-2

• The ability to match the technology to the market, and position companies for major growth.
• The ability to maximize the use of early stage funding and minimize the risk of investment loss.
• The ability to recognize new opportunities in the pursuit of the original goal, and the ability to rally the stakeholder community to the most successful outcome.

Mark Cavendar
Founder and Managing Director
The Chasm Institute

Mark Cavender is Founder and Managing Director of Chasm Institute. With over 15 years of experience in enterprise software, Mark has a unique blend of strategic and tactical marketing skills coupled with a strong background in software sales. Mark has worked with numerous leading enterprise software and telecommunications companies such as Acterna, Business Objects, Hyperion, Lawson Software, Microsoft, Nextel, Nokia and SunGard as well as growing firms such as Docent, iManage, and Logility. He has also done joint strategy work with IBM and their key enterprise software business partners. Prior to founding Chasm Institute, Mark spent 9 years as a Managing Director with The Chasm Group and four years with Oracle Corporation, most recently as Director of Marketing, Financial Applications. Before joining Oracle, he was Marketing Manager with J.D. Edwards & Co. He has also held various sales and marketing management positions with GEAC (formerly Dun & Bradstreet Software / McCormack & Dodge), and Ceridian (formerly The Service Bureau Company). Mark holds an MBA in marketing from the University of North Texas and a BS in general business from John Brown University

Michael Johnston

Our world today is littered with visual clutter. Standing out is a major challenge for all businesses — veteran brick and mortars and start-ups alike. In order to break through and rise above the clutter, companies must arm themselves with the right tools and distinguish themselves from their competitors. PredoMedia Group directs, leads and elevates clients above and beyond their competitors. By carefully designing and molding the companies brand and creating a unique and original approach to their advertising and design needs, we enable our clients to successfully surpass the others. We do not create or recreate the ordinary, but rather transcend the obvious and push creative boundaries.

PredoMedia Group opened shop in January of 1995. After working at several local advertising agencies, founder and Creative Art Director, Michael Johnston began to question the bureaucracy that was in the way of effectively servicing clients. Growing tired of the unspoken rule, "hierarchy before creativity," and feeling like the system put clients at the losing end, Michael set out to start his own design agency. And with a small budget and a strong vision of the agency he aspired to have, PredoMedia Group was created.
 

Linda Capcara

As Senior Account Director, Linda manages and creates strategy for LVA clients in addition to executing global communications plans. In her 15 years of experience in the technology sector, Linda has developed expertise in executive counsel, key message development, writing, media and analyst relations, collateral creation, Internet marketing and sales force communications.

Prior to joining LVA, Linda worked as a Marketing Programs Manager at Intel Corporation where she was responsible managing the internal and external image of Intel in storage products and technologies.

Linda's previous experience also includes positions at Brodeur Worldwide, a global communications consultancy, and Motorola Semiconductor Products Sector. In these positions, Linda led international public relations programs to establish Fortune 500 companies as leaders in the consumer, medical, networking, storage and wireless market segments.

Linda holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and a Master of Mass Communications from Arizona State University and an Associate Degree in Electronic Engineering from Columbus Technical Institute in Columbus, Ohio.

Ken has served as Director of the Global Software Program, an entrepreneurial training program sponsored by Oulu University. This program trained over 100 Finnish high tech companies in globalization business strategies. Mr. Jacobsen served as Editor in Chief of the Global Software Program textbook, and provided specific consulting services in the areas of market analysis, business planning, strategic alliances, and networking.

Strategic Consulting
Ken served as a principal consultant in the Pocket Intelligence Program at SRI International in Menlo Park, California. The Pocket Intelligence Program was a cross matrix multi-client research, development and consulting group focused on emerging technologies for mobile computing and communications. He was also on the Technical Advisory Board for Samsung for seven years.

OEM Sales and Technology Brokering
Ken has extensive experience in brokering and direct sales of high tech products and technologies on a worldwide market. He was recruited by Hewlett Packard (HP) for the purpose of brokering and licensing HP patented technologies.

Standards
Ken created and organized the InfraRed Data Association (IRDA) and pushed through the acceptance of worldwide standards for infrared wireless data exchange. Ken has also played a key role in the conception and organization of the PC Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA).

Barbara L. Schultz

Barbara L. Schultz’s unique professional background includes extensive experience in Organization Change and Development, Leadership and Organizational Communications and Coaching, and both external and internal Corporate Communications. Working within the intersections between these disciplines, she collaborates with clients to strategize and execute divisional and system-wide change initiatives.

Drawing from extraordinary acuity, insight and creativity, Barbara weaves the qualities of clarity, consistency, credibility, authenticity and interactivity into the entire change process. Her unique approach focuses on achieving an effective balance between demonstrated leadership commitment and active employee engagement.

For over 20 years, Barbara has offered consulting, training and coaching services to leaders and teams within a wide range of both commercial and technical industries, as well as socially-focused organizations. She received her B.A. in Journalism from the University of California at Berkeley, and completed her M.A. in Organization Leadership through The Center for Leadership Studies in Milford,Connecticut.

Gloria is an experienced professional with a focus on telecom sector business development. She has significant experience with both Fortune 500 companies and startups. At Global Connexus Gloria uses her more than 20 years of senior sales and business development experience in the Information and Communications Technology Industry to reduce the client's time to market.

She has held senior positions with AT&T, Packetstream, Unimobile/EFI, Gearworks and most recently F-Origin. She has been Vice President of Business Development and Sales at Packetstream, a Voice Over IP and Telecommunications company, Vice President & GM at Unimobile/EFI, a wireless software company, Gearworks wireless applications with GPS and F-Origin. She was a General Manager at AT&T managing Silicon Valley, Nevada and Sacramento sales and business activities.

In these positions Gloria developed Sales and Business Development strategies, partnership programs and channel sales, managing over $400 million revenue, built and managed groups of over 100 in staff. Gloria was a part of successful merger of Unimobile/EFI and on the team managing funding of many of these companies.

She received the distinguished TWIN awards, Top Women in Industry in Silicon Valley, and holds a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering from University of Texas at Arlington and a Masters in Engineering Management from NTU.

Paul C. Watkins, S.M.

Mr. Watkins has over 20 years of experience in biotechnology, life science, genomics and pharmaceutical companies. He was responsible for business development, scientific affairs, new product identification and intellectual property strategy and portfolio management at Ancile Pharmaceuticals, Inc. Mr. Watkins held senior management positions in business and corporate development at Axys Pharmaceuticals (formerly Sequana Therapeutics) specializing in licensing, technology transfer, strategic alliances and joint ventures. Mr. Watkins directed R&D groups in molecular genetics while at Life Technologies Inc. and Integrated Genetics Inc. He has been awarded an issued U.S. patent and is an author on over 80 international scientific publications. Mr. Watkins obtained his B.S. in Microbiology & Public Health at Michigan State University and his S.M. in Interdisciplinary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Peter Vapaamies

M.Sc. (Eng), MBA, Certified Turnaround Professional (CTP)

Peter Vapaamies is a native of Helsinki, Finland. Prior to establishing his firm in 1992, Peter worked for Finland-based Valmet corporation (Fortune 500) as a trouble-shooter for its international operations in Finland, Sweden, Germany, and the United States.

Education
Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Helsinki University of Technology, Finland and a Master of Business Administration from McColl School of Business, Queens University, Charlotte, North Carolina

Military
2nd Lieutenant in Reserve, Coastal Commando Battalion Special Marine Forces, Finland, Green Beret awarded 1985

Paul Patterson

Acknowledged pioneer on the cutting edge of emerging technologies and opportunities, Paul has been responsible for analyzing technologies and markets while developing collaborations around the globe. Serving in a role akin to that of Vice President of Business Development for Epson (Japan), he created and managed collaborations with innovative organizations across several sectors such as displays, semiconductor materials and the emerging printed electronics industry. Collaborations include an extensive number of companies such as Intel, Samsung, Nokia, RIM, Fujitsu, Sony, Toshiba, Dell, E-Ink, Cambridge Display Technologies, and many more.   Mr. Patterson is currently the CEO of Display Photonic Systems and serves as an advisor to investors and several leading innovation companies: coaching on topics such as strategy, business development, lifecycle management, intellectual property, management practices and investor relations.  He is a long time attendee to leading innovation summits such as Intel Capital CEO Summit and Microsoft’s Global Technology Summit.
 
Mr. Patterson has 20 years of experience designing and defining high-tech products for international markets.  His broad experience includes P&L, operations and marketing, cross-cultural and cross-functional matrix management for both hardware and software products, and extensive business development functions. His education includes a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Oregon State University, the Stanford-NUS Executive Program in International Management, and training at the London Stock Exchange in Corporate Valuations for Mergers and Acquisitions.  Mr. Patterson holds PMP (Project Management Professional) and CBM (Certified Business Manager) certifications. He also holds several core patents. Additionally, Mr. Patterson is author of “Beyond The Beaker: How to Achieve Market Adoption for Emerging Technologies” published May 2009.