Craig Brennan's career spans more than two decades of leading enterprise software companies and within executive line management positions at global technology firms. Recently, Craig served as president and CEO of Brio Software Inc., a $100+ million publicly traded enterprise software company focused on delivering easy-to-use business intelligence and analysis tools. While at Brio, Craig led a company-wide transformation. He returned the company to profitable growth, resulting in the best overall operating performance for the company. Craig has held leadership positions at Tumbleweed Communications Corporation as president and CEO, senior vice president of the Customer Relationship Management Group at Oracle Corporation, and partner at Deloitte Consulting, where he built and led the Siebel-CRM practice. Craig earned an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, and a BA degree from the University of Michigan.
Neil Patil is responsible for Overtone’s product strategy, product marketing, and marketing communications functions. He brings a strong track record of managing award winning software products and leading high impact marketing teams. Most recently, Neil was vice president of marketing for W5 Networks, a 2008 Red Herring 100 winner focused on developing wireless systems for retail chains. Prior to W5 Networks, Neil led the re-branding, company positioning, and new market strategy as vice president of marketing for business management software company, Activant Solutions. During his tenure the company nearly doubled in size and grew revenues to over $350M. As vice president of product marketing for Brio Software, a developer of business intelligence and analysis tools, he guided the vision and introduction of six major software releases used worldwide by over 10,000 organizations. He held product marketing and operations positions at Oracle, 3M, and General Mills. Neil received a BS Degree from The Ohio State University.
Mr. Vohnout possesses more than 15 years of corporate financial management experience with high technology growth companies. At Overtone, he is responsible for the Company's relationships with its venture capital partners. He also oversees the day-to-day financial operations and contributes to the contractual and legal aspects of customer account management. Prior to Overtone, Mr. Vohnout held key positions with Catalyst Capital Partners and Admor Memory. He also served in the information and technology practice of KPMG for 4 years. Mr. Vohnout graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a B.S. in Business Administration and a concentration in Accounting. He also holds a CPA license.
Alex has over 15 years of consulting, product management, and strategic marketing experience at both established and early stage technology companies. Prior to assuming the role of VP of Professional Services, Alex was the VP of Product Marketing at Overtone and also led the deployment of the company’s largest customer implementations. Prior to joining Overtone, Alex served in a variety of management and strategic advisory roles at high growth CRM, Technology Consulting, and ERP software companies. Alex has authored several white papers and thought leadership articles on customer listening, sales effectiveness, and CRM strategy. Alex holds graduate and undergraduate degrees in Organizational Studies from Stanford University.
Board of Directors:
Craig Brennan, President and CEO
Richard J. Brekka, Director
Mr. Brekka, Founder and Managing Partner of Dolphin Equity Partners, has specialized in software as a service, mobile content, communication services, and Internet investing for nearly 17 years. He is Chairman of the board of Gomez, Inc. and a board member of Enpocket, Inc., Epic Cycle Interactive, The Guild, InQ, and SeaPass Solutions Inc. Prior to founding Dolphin, Mr. Brekka was a Managing Director of CIBC's private equity investment unit and the President of CIBC's U.S. private equity investment subsidiaries. Prior to joining CIBC, Mr. Brekka was with Chase Capital and led the investments in Nextel and DisCom Communications. Before becoming a private equity investor, Mr. Brekka was an account officer at Swiss Bank Corporation. He holds a B.S. degree in Finance from the University of Southern California and an M.B.A. degree from the University of Chicago.
Dennis O'Connell, Director
Dennis O'Connell is a Partner at Dolphin Equity Partners. He brings to Dolphin 25 plus years of successful operating experience in all segments of the communications industry. Dennis presently serves on the Board of Directors of five of Dolphin's investments: AVST, Touch Commerce, Overtone Terago and Rate Integration. Prior to joining Dolphin, Dennis served as the North Region President of XO Communications, a leading integrated communications provider, where he led market operations in the Northeast and Midwest. He successfully built it into a $200 million business. He was also the Northeast Region President for AT&T Wireless. He successfully led the AT&T Wireless operations in New York and Pittsburgh, and oversaw the successful launch of the Washington/Baltimore, Philadelphia and Boston markets, which had annual revenues in excess of $1 billion and over 1.5 million customers. Dennis was a member of the original McCaw Cellular Communications management team. He was with McCaw Cellular for 10 years, from the initial launch of McCaw's first market in 1985 through its sale to AT&T in 1995. While at McCaw, Dennis had a variety of increasing senior operating responsibilities across the U.S. He holds a BS in Marketing from the University of Maryland.
John Rehfeld, Director
Mr. Rehfeld is a seasoned visionary, marketing-driven professional who has been CEO of 5 companies and an outside board member of over 10 different companies, including public, venture funded, and private companies. His background includes 25 years of software, content, and hardware experience in the PC, digital imaging, and multi-media industries. He also has significant international strategic relationship experience, especially at a senior level with Asian companies. Mr. Rehfeld began his career in systems engineering at IBM and subsequently received an M.B.A. at Harvard. Some of his key accomplishments include: designing and launching the first laptop computer for Toshiba, while growing sales from $0 to $400M in three years; growing sales for Seiko Instruments from $89M to $200M in 4 years; helping lead Wonderware through a successful IPO, founder CEO transition, and cash sale of the Company for $400M; and being involved in the sale of three other companies as a CEO and board member.
Jim Sanger, Chairman of the Board
Mr. Sanger is Partner at ABS Ventures where he focuses on investments in growth stage software, network communications, and business services companies. Previously, he analyzed, valued, and helped construct the portfolio acquired by ABS from Deutsche Bank. Mr. Sanger served as a Managing Director in Deutsche Bank's Venture Partners and Corporate Investment groups. He also served as Chief Technology Officer and Director of Tech Investment for Deutsche Bank's London-based corporate venturing organization. Prior to his work in private equity, he held management positions in IT at Deutsche Bank, Barclays Bank, and Bell Atlantic (now Verizon Communications). Mr. Sanger has been a board member of several private companies and is now a director at Inxight Software and Gomez, Inc. He received a B.A., cum laude, from the University of Pennsylvania.
Thayer Swartwood, Director
Thayer Swartwood is a Principal at ABS Ventures. He invests in the software and technology enabled business services sectors. Before joining ABS Ventures, he was with Deutsche Bank Venture Partners. Prior to that, he served in the Corporate Development group at ZEFER, participating in a variety of corporate finance and strategic activities. He was also part of the Technology Investment Banking group at Alex. Brown & Sons. He is on the board of directors of Certona and Overtone. Thayer received his BA from Vanderbilt University.
H. Gabe Whelan, Director
Mr. Whelan has more than 20 years of professional investment experience in Silicon Valley. Prior to founding Whelan & Gratny Capital Management (now Encinal Capital Management) in 1990, he worked in portfolio management for Morgan Stanley, Hambrecht & Quist, and most recently, Alex Brown & Sons. Mr. Whelan has a B.A. in Economics and Political Science from the University of Oregon and an M.B.A in Finance from Santa Clara University.
