Management
Jim Janicki, President & Chief Executive Officer
Jim, President and CEO, brings more than 25 years of executive leadership with extensive entrepreneurial and software technology experience. Most recently, he served as President and CEO of Calpont, a privately-held company that focuses on database solutions. He also served as Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) at Austin Ventures. Prior to that, he was the co-founder and CEO of MetaSolv Software (Nasdaq:MSLV), a leading global provider of operations support system solutions for communications service providers around the world. MetaSolv Software grew from three employees to more than 600 and went public in 1999 with revenues reaching $130 million in 2001. During this period, Janicki was named Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Before co-founding MetaSolv, Janicki spent more than a decade in various positions at Texas Instruments. He has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Information Systems from Arizona State University.
Gary Hofer, Chief Financial Officer
Gary brings over 25 years of financial and operational leadership experience in venture-backed and start-up high tech companies. Most recently, Gary was the CFO at Toluna USA, Inc., Dallas, TX, a publically traded, global market research company. At Toluna, Gary was responsible for finance, accounting, legal, and human resources. Before Toluna, Gary was a CFO / Sr. Associate for VCFO a provider of strategic leadership in the areas of finance and accounting. At VCFO he served a variety of clients across the high tech industry. Prior to VCFO, Gary was the CFO of Calpont Corporation, Plano, TX, a venture-backed high tech company. He has also been the Vice President of Corporate Services of MetaSolv Software, Inc., Plano, TX, where he focused on the high tech industry and gained valuable start-up, financial, operational and IPO experience. Gary holds a B.S. in Accounting from Arizona State University.
Fabian Gordon, Chief Technology Officer
Fabian brings almost 30 years of extensive technical expertise in the development of emerging and strategic technologies, pioneering industry-changing Internet-based applications and adds a strong background in audio and video production. Prior to Ignite, Fabian was senior vice president and chief technology officer for RealPage, where he was responsible for all technology strategy and standards. Prior to RealPage, Fabian was chief technology officer for CLR/Fasttax (now RIA, a Thomson company), where he led the teams responsible for two complete paradigm shifts in tax preparation and research technologies. Fabian was co-founder of Vision FX, Inc. an Internet company focused on Internet applications, consulting services, website design, and web hosting services. Fabian has also held several technology leadership positions in various companies and has provided advanced technology consulting services to numerous Fortune 1000 companies and government agencies. Fabian graduated from New York's Institute of Audio Research and Northeastern University where he majored in electrical engineering with a strong focus in music and performance.
Jimmy Jobe, Vice President, Operations
Jimmy brings more than 25 years of entrepreneurial leadership in operations/IT management and product development as well as building and managing new businesses. Most recently, Jimmy served as Partner/Founder of Summa Technology Group providing a B2B product platform with managed solutions and senior "C" level services for interim or new company critical positions. In this capacity, he has served as CIO/CTO, CEO, and COO within various global companies. Prior to Summa, Jimmy served as COO and CTO of Coherent Networks Inc./Steleus and CEO of Coherent, India focused on developing products and services for operational support systems (OSS) and real time network management and data transformation products including, monitoring, analysis, alarming and reporting. Prior to Coherent Networks, Jimmy served as Senior Vice President of Product Development and Product Management for DSET Corporation with products and services including B2B interconnection products and gateways targeted for service providers, platform development tools, custom applications and consulting services. Jimmy spent two decades at Texas Instruments/Sterling Software in multiple management roles developing real time embedded software for avionics, and missile defense systems as well as developing global enterprise IT products. Jimmy's experience includes private and public companies including operations, product development, deployment and support of licensed products, mission critical applications and managed/hosted solution services/SaaS. These products and solutions are currently in production across a large number of industries including energy, supply chain, telecommunications, network management, and specialized enterprise IT applications and products. Jimmy received a Bachelor of Science, Management Information Systems at University of Texas at Dallas.
Vasu Avadhanula, Vice President, Product Management
Vasu bring 15 years of strong technical expertise in developing complex software solutions combined with deep experience in market analysis, product strategy, planning, and product marketing. Vasu's unique competency is combining strong technical skills with proven product management experience and business acumen. Prior to Ignite, Vasu pioneered the design and development of 2-d bar codes and print engines for Thomson Reuters' Corporate tax software division. Vasu has held managerial positions at Banque Paribas, Abbot Labs and Corel where he was responsible for bringing to market highly scalable software systems. Vasu holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Engineering from University of Madras, India and is Pragmatic Marketing Certified.
Michele Thomas, Director, Business Development
Michele is responsible for identification and development of strategic alliance relationships with complementary technology and channel partners. Michele brings more than 14 years of experience in various software technology growth companies, with the last five years specifically dedicated to the Content Delivery Network (CDN) market. Prior to Ignite, Michele was Senior Account Manager responsible for Strategic Accounts and Business Development at Highwinds, a content network and hosted IP services business that offers a comprehensive suite of services including CDN, IP transit, content storage and IP software. Michele has also served as the Senior Director of Sales and Marketing for PureGig, a privately-held company focused on Colocation and offering a variety of IP services. She spent the beginning of her career with top industry IP providers such as MCI WorldCom and XO Communications in strategic senior account executive roles where she was responsible for Global 1000 business accounts worldwide.
