|
William J. Barhydt - President, CEO
Bill is responsible for the vision, strategy and overall corporate leadership for m-Via, the global leader in providing international money transfer via any mobile phone. Bill brings almost 20 years of experience in the telecom, online and consumer financial services industries.
Bill has held various executive management, board level, advisory and consulting positions at over a dozen companies including: Sennari, Netscape, Plaxo, WebSentric, KnowNow, Goldman Sachs and NASA. Bill has been involved in generating hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue and has helped raise close to $100 million for various start-up companies. As CEO of Sennari, Bill and his team established customer and partnership relationships with Verizon, Vodafone, Motorola, First Data, RadioShack, Qualcomm and others. Bill was an early employee of Netscape and served as Technical Director in the telecom sales group supporting sales in 15+ countries and generating over $100 million in revenue over 3 years. Bill, along with several colleagues, started WebSentric in 1998 as the first web browser/web2.0 start-up building group collaboration capabilities into standard web pages. At Plaxo, Bill was brought in by the CEO to establish viral marketing and distribution strategy in the earliest days of the business. Bill has several patents issued and pending in the areas of groupware technology, mobile commerce, and Internet commerce.
Bill is a graduate of the Stevens Institute of Technology where he received a B.S. in Computer Science and has also done graduate work in Computer Science and Corporate Finance.
Peter Kelly - VP Business Development
Peter is responsible for strategic relationships, channel sales and distribution. Pete's expertise and passion for bringing compelling mobile services to market spans 20 years. During that time, he has helped accelerate the success of venture capital-backed early stage mobile companies such as Obopay and Spontaneous Technology as well as established leaders Opera Software, MCI & Skytel respectively.
During his tenure at Obopay, where he was head of Business Development, he helped launch the first comprehensive mobile payment service in the US. This included forming Obopay's key partner relationships including with Qualcomm, VivoTech and others. As Vice President Business Development for Spontaneous Technology, he helped launch "wireless sync" with Verizon Wireless in 2003, positioning it for a successful acquisition by Intellisync shortly thereafter. Pete has also served established leaders such has Skytel and MCI.
Kenneth D. Kruszka - VP Product Development
Ken is responsible for driving m-Via's technology vision and leading the engineering organization in the development of industry-leading products and services.
Most recently, Ken served as CEO of mFS, a pioneer in mobile financial services. Before that, as CTO of SVC Financial Services, Ken provided strategic technical leadership and managed the development of the company's groundbreaking mobile remittance solution.
In addition to Ken's success in leading innovative technology-based financial services initiatives at mFS, SVC Financial Services, Mellon Capital Management, and Wells Fargo, Ken also brings to his role extensive experience in the development and marketing of software and solutions for the telecommunications, energy, and automotive industries, as well as for the US Department of Defense, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and NASA.
Ken holds a BS with distinction in Computer Science from Cornell University, an MS in Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and an MBA in Entrepreneurial Management from the University of San Francisco.
Alfredo Narez - VP Marketing / CMO
Alfredo joins m-Via with more than 18 years of experience in marketing, product management, advertising and brand development. Alfredo is also an expert in Latin American marketing, a key component of m-Via's launch plans. He currently leads the m-Via marketing, brand, and product marketing initiatives.
Most recently, as CMO of Sennari, Alfredo led brand and product marketing initiatives globally, successfully adding Tier 1 carriers and handset manufacturers to the client roster. Prior to Sennari, Alfredo served as VP of Marketing for Air2Web, a leading mobile messaging and marketing company, where he played an important role in shaping the landscape of the company's messaging and product offering. Alfredo has also held leadership positions at Web.com, Verizon, AT&T, Telscape Communications, and Epoch Internet.
Alfredo holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Stanford University, a Master's of Business Administration from the University of Southern California, and has completed post-graduate programs at MIT and Kellogg. He is also an active member of the CMO Council, Standard & Poor's Society of Industry Leaders, and the Mobile Marketing Association.
Brian Shuster - VP Strategic Development
In the last several years, mobile convergence technology has been the focus of Brian's career and he currently leads m-Via's strategic partnership initiatives.
Prior to joining m-Via, Brian was the CEO and Founder of Clikit Technologies, an innovator in mobile-based order management.
Brian has been awarded patents related to technologies that are core to controlling devices in digital mediums, including the Internet and mobile cell networks. Brian has been instrumental in conceiving, funding and commercially exploiting these and other digital interactive and media related technologies. Mr. Shuster has successfully negotiated licensing deals, partnerships and marketing relationships for his companies with Time Warner/Turner Division, NBC, AOL, and Teen People/Nordstrom. Brian has negotiated and setup software bundling relationships and partnership marketing deals with AOL, AT&T, and EarthLink. Prior to entering the technology sector Brian was a Founder and the President of Hit Entertainment Inc. and United Film Distributors, where he produced and marketed independent feature films throughout the world.
Christopher Sorensen - VP Operations
Chris leads m-Via's operational and financial relationship initiatives. Chris is a recognized thought leader on financial services innovations, a published author on the topic, and a frequent speaker at numerous industry forums including: the Intelecard Expo, the Inter American Development Bank Conference, the London Prepaid Conference, and the American Bankers Association Conference.
Prior to m-Via, Chris served as COO of SVC Financial Services, where he created the first mobile remittance service commercially available in the United States. Chris was a founding member of the Advanced Technology Group at Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), and has worked with numerous financial services firms including Northern Trust and Allstate to design and implement mission critical applications.
Chris holds a Bachelor's Degree in Economics and an MBA in Finance from the University of Illinois, and a Master's of Computer Science from Northwestern University.
|
Management
