Gregory Koss—Chairman of the Board // Gregory Koss is an industry veteran with over 28 years experience at executive level positions within the networking and communications industries. Previous to BTI Systems, Greg was CEO of SavaJe Technologies, developer of advanced Java-based mobile phone operating systems company (sold to Sun in 2007), Executive Chairman of Reef Point Systems, provider of scalable security gateway solutions for the fixed mobile convergence market and a Consultant to Warburg Pincus in New York, a leading global private equity firm.
Prior to that, he was CEO of carrier-grade Optical Ethernet systems provider Internet Photonics, a spin-out of Lucent/Bell Laboratories, which was acquired by CIENA Corporation in 2004 and CEO of Sonoma Systems, which was acquired by Nortel Networks in 2000. Earlier in his career he held senior management positions within technology companies such as Andrew Corp., CrossComm (co-founder,IPO in 1992), Fibronics, Analog Devices and Proteon (co-founder). He holds a BSEE from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Allan M. Kline—Chief Financial Officer // As Chief Financial Officer, Allan will work with the BTI leadership team to define financial and corporate development strategies as well as to further develop the company’s global structure. Most recently Allan was Vice President and Chief Financial Officer (CFO) for Skyworks Solutions, Inc. Prior to joining Skyworks, he was the CFO for Fibermark, a producer of specialty fiber based materials. From 1996 to 2002, he was CFO for Acterna Corp., a global communications test and management company. Prior to this, he served as CFO for CrossComm Corp., a provider of internetworking systems, and for Cabot Safety Corp., a subsidiary of Cabot Corp., a basic materials manufacturer. He was also a vice president at O'Connor, Wright Wyman, Inc., an M&A advisory firm. In 1969, he began his career at Arthur Young & Co. where he was a partner for six years. Today he serves on Massachusetts Network Communications Council board of directors.
Allan earned his bachelor's degree in business administration at the University of Massachusetts in accounting, and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. He is a certified public accountant.
Marco Pagani—Independant Board Member / CEO, Nakina Systems //
Marco Pagani has enjoyed a distinguished career as a senior leader in the telecommunications industry and currently focuses his efforts on providing advisory services as an Executive Management Consultant to numerous technology companies and to the Venture Capital Investor community. During an 18 year tenure at Nortel Networks, Marco developed and led many successful global business divisions, with his most recent position being President - Optical Ethernet Networks and Storage Solutions. He previously held the positions of President - Metro Optical, President - Core Networks and General Manager - Carrier Data Networks. Marco is a recognized leader in the optical ethernet and storage markets, and has worked with Service Providers and industry stakeholders around the world to define service offerings and the requisite network and management infrastructure required to deliver on customer commitments.
Marco holds a Bachelors of Computer Science degree from Carleton University.Dave Furneaux— Co-Founder and Managing General Partner, Kodiak Venture Partners //
Prior to Kodiak, Dave co-founded Furneaux & Company, LLC in 1996, a seed stage high technology venture investment company. He was the founding investor and active Chairman of the Board of Extreme Packet Devices (acquired by PMC-Sierra) and Philsar (acquired by Conexant). Dave also was a founding investor, Vice President of Business Development, and member of the board of Skystone Systems (acquired by Cisco Systems), a founding investor in Solidum Systems (acquired by IDT) and an early investor in Telica Systems (acquired by Lucent). At Kodiak, he was an active early investor in AuroraNetics (acquired by Cisco Systems), Watchfire and Raza Microelectronics.
Previously, Dave was a member of the early team of Chrysalis Symbolic Design (acquired by Avanti), an innovative semiconductor design company in the electronics design automation industry. There, he directed East Coast and Major Account Sales. He was also a telecommunications analyst with the National Conference.
Boards: ALIS Corporation, BTI Photonic Systems, Cape Semiconductor, Cortina Systems, Potentia Semiconductor, Silicon Dimensions, Simpler Networks, Tribotek, Tropic Networks and Vette Corp.
Dave holds a B.A. from Colorado College.
Pat DiPietro—Managing General Partner, VenGrowth Private Equity Partners Inc. // Pat joined VenGrowth in 2001, and has than 28 years of experience in high technology.
Pat serves as a member of the board of directors of VenGrowth investees, including chairman of the board of Neterion and BelAir Networks and director for SiGe Semiconductor Inc., BTI Systems, Liquid Computing Corporation, Nakina Systems Inc., Ottawa Centre Research and Innovation (OCRI), and a former board member of Sandvine, now a public company.
Before joining VenGrowth, Pat was a Vice President of 3G Wireless Systems at Nortel Networks. He previously occupied senior managerial roles in R&D and operations within Nortel and BNR. Pat has been responsible for product development, operations and marketing across wireless, optical, switching, data, and enterprise sectors and has launched several highly successful network products, winning the Nortel President's award for innovation in 1997. Pat has also been an angel investor, advisor and board member helping to start a few local high-tech enterprises.
Pat holds a B.Sc. in Electrical Engineering from Queen's University.
Richard Charlebois—Vice President, Investments, Information Technology, GrowthWorks //
Richard Charlebois joined GrowthWorks in March 2005, bringing 25 years of venture capital experience in the Ottawa area. Before joining GrowthWorks, he was the president of Capital Alliance Ventures Inc., which was merged with GrowthWorks Canadian Fund in December 2005. Prior to that, he was a vice president and co-founder of Noranda Enterprise Ltd., the venture capital arm of Noranda Inc.
Richard has a bachelor of Mathematics degree from the University of Waterloo and is a Chartered Accountant.
Richard is currently responsible for the GrowthWorks office in Ottawa.
Mike Unger—Executive Business Consultant // Mike Unger, an Executive Consultant since March 2000, formerly served as the President of Nortel Networks $10 billion Optical Networks business unit, with responsibility for the development and implementation of global, IP-optimized managed networks, services and solutions.
Appointed Group Vice-President, Transport Networks in 1992, Mike was the driving force in the development and implementation of the business strategy which resulted in the global growth and leading market share of Nortel Networks highly successful optical networking product lines. These included the industry-leading OC-48 and OC-192 systems, the complete portfolio of Dense-Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) products, local Internet, network management solutions and Nortel Networks optical components businesses, all focusing on customers' data networking applications. A veteran of the telecommunications industry, Mike has also held key roles in operations, manufacturing and strategic planning, including General Manager, Digital Transmission; Vice-President Operations, Digital Transmission; and Director Strategic Planning and Financing, Digital Transmission.
In addition to serving on Nakina Systems' Board, Mike is currently on the Board of Directors of six companies: Exfo - Opto-Electrical Engineering, ITF - Optical Technologies, Tropic Networks, Spectalis, Tundra Semiconductor and Iolon Corporation.
Tom Houston— Corporate Secretary/Managing Partner, Fraser Milner Casgrain // Tom Houston, is Managing Partner of Fraser Milner Casgrain, a leading national full service law firm, is corporate Secretary to BTI, an investor in the Company, and Advisor since August 2000. In addition to his corporate counsel services to BTI, Tom advises the Company on issues related to governance, intellectual property, financing, and corporate structure. www.fmc-law.com
Mike Dagenais—Independant Board Member / CEO, Continuous Computing //
Mr. Dagenais joined Continuous Computing as CEO in December 2006. He was most recently CEO and president of Optical Solutions, Inc., a market leading supplier of fiber to the home access solutions. Mr. Dagenais led Optical Solutions through a period of unprecedented growth, culminating in the successful acquisition of Optical Solutions by Calix Networks, a large telecom equipment supplier focused on access solutions for broadband service delivery. He brings over 25 years of experience in the telecommunications industry, including prior executive and management positions at Convergent Networks, Lucent, and Nortel. Mr. Dagenais has a M.Eng. and a B.Eng. in electrical engineering from Carleton University in Ottawa, Canada.
