Cresta Testing
Management Summary
The Cresta management team is comprised of “seasoned” IT and management executives, competent in all facets of IT, professional services sales and delivery, finance, law and marketing, and with more than seventy-five combined years of related experience.
7.1 Management Team
Timothy Ray, CEO
Tim joined Cresta from Vytek Solutions, a wireless and mobile computing solutions provider. He is qualified and experienced in sustaining, transitioning and building companies such as Cresta. He most recently scaled Vytek’s sales from $4 million to $14 million in the space of two years and has driven numerous business-transforming initiatives among struggling and fast-growing companies alike.
Prior to Vytek, Tim practiced as a corporate attorney for over ten years, counseling large and small clients through strategic mergers and acquisitions, public and private financings and employment issues, as well as various litigation matters.
Dr. Samuel Waithe, CTO
Samuel is regarded as one of the strongest QA and testing practitioners in the industry. He developed Cresta’s consulting methodology, the Structured Systems Testing Methodology™ (SSTM™), and is one of the few architects capable of delivering this methodology through another of his innovations – The Enterprise Wide Testing Strategy (EWTS).
Samuel wrote his doctorate in philosophy (parallel processing and large databases) at Sheffield University in the UK. He works with blue-chip organizations throughout the world including, most recently: Bear Stearns & Co., GlaxoSmithKline, JPMorganChase, Microsoft, Credit Suisse First Boston, Paramount Pictures, UBS Warburg, and Banc of America.
Stephen Lapthorne, VP Finance and Administration
Stephen is a member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants with over nine years experience in management accounting and business process re-engineering. Most recently, Stephen led the implementation of Great Plains Dynamics software throughout the Cresta group of companies. Stephen’s career began at Ernst and Young in the early 90’s. He has practiced financial management with entities ranging from global corporations, to regional and independent subsidiaries in manufacturing, retail, finance and professional services.
Paul Gallico, VP Sales and Business Development
Paul is a seasoned technology professional services executive with 24 years experience in the design, development, implementation and deployment of cutting-edge IT systems and professional services. Paul joined Cresta in July 2002 after a successful and rewarding association with industry-leading companies including AIG, JPMorganChase, Prudential, Toys R Us and Merck Pharmaceuticals. Paul is well-regarded among the blue-chip entities with whom he has worked as a direct contributor to domestic and international business growth and profit performance. He leverages his proven track record in strategic growth planning, building and directing cost-effective, resource efficient, technology service organizations.
Cuan White, U.S. Business Development and Operations
Cuan handles packaging and publicity strategies, and supports sales campaigns around Cresta’s professional service offerings. Cuan has led legal and IT business development initiatives into The Far East (Tokyo, Hong Kong, Singapore); Africa (Johannesburg, Cape Town); Europe (London, Paris, Frankfurt, Hamburg); Asia and the Nordic Region (Moscow, Stockholm); and cities throughout the U.S. and Latin America. He has completed business studies and ROI analyses for IT initiatives at CSFB, SBLI USA, GlaxoSmithKline, Ulster Bank and Bank of America. Other clients that Cuan has worked with include: Merrill Lynch, Mayfield Fund Partners, Qwest Communications, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Amtrak and PG&E.
Advisory Board
To assist in rounding out its operations, sales, marketing and finance team, Cresta has created an Advisory Board of seasoned professionals. In addition to Cresta’s management, the initial members of the Advisory Board include:
Matthew Lombardi, President Vytek Solutions, Inc.
Mr. Lombardi was a co-founder of Planet Technology Solutions, a wireless solutions provider, where he served as president and chief operating officer for three years. From 1983 to 1998, Mr. Lombardi served as the vice president of information technology for Toys-R-US. In this capacity, he managed more than 200 IT professionals and played a key role in developing and maintaining wide and local-area networks, point-of-sale systems, inventory management systems, Internet, and electronic commerce systems for Toys-R-US. Prior to this, Mr. Lombardi taught the computer science curriculum at the Chubb Institute and served as a consultant to AT&T during its divestiture in 1982-83. Mr. Lombardi is a graduate of Elizabethtown College, Elizabethtown, Pennsylvania, with a BS in business administration and majors in marketing and education.
Rudi Valli, CEO Valmar and Associates, LLC
Rudi is a 25-year veteran of the high-stakes communications and IT businesses. He is well-regarded among some of the industry’s key players, having served various pioneering roles with professional services organizations within Accenture, Ernst & Young LLP (E&Y) and IBM. Rudi joined the Cresta advisory board as a strategic advisor in the sales and marketing area. His business practice is built around boardroom-level expertise in due diligence reviews and road shows for strategic and corporate financings and M&A deals.
Rudi’s practice at Accenture focused in communications and media/entertainment. He was managing partner in the evaluation and development of Accenture’s “emerging” broadband, digital and interactive applications. As managing partner of E&Y’s Broadband Industry Team, his team returned $75+ million in their first year. Rudi was instrumental in E&Y’s participation in the Leadership Connection – A Research Initiative and Industry Dialogue to Define the Future of Global Communications, a key intellectual component of Forum 99, an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) conference in Geneva, Switzerland.
Rudi started his career at IBM in 1978, where he earned multiple Golden Circle and 100% club awards with sales that kept him in the company’s top 5% of revenue earners. He is credited with pioneering IBM’s indirect channels of distribution for his region, including implementation of the VAR and SSO programs. He used this expertise in an entrepreneurial venture – XL/Datacomp (XLDC – NASDAQ) – to help grow the business from $30 million/year to $400 million/year within five years.
7.2 Personnel Plan
The following table summarizes our personnel expenditures for the first three years. We believe this plan is a fair compromise between fairness and expedience, and meets the commitment of our mission statement. The detailed monthly personnel plan for the first year is included in the appendix.
Personnel Plan | |||
2003 | 2004 | 2005 | |
Production Personnel | |||
People | 7 | 10 | 14 |
Average per Person | $66,964 | $78,750 | $82,688 |
Subtotal | $468,750 | $787,500 | $1,157,625 |
Sales and Marketing Personnel | |||
People | 4 | 5 | 5 |
Average per Person | $68,750 | $105,000 | $110,250 |
Subtotal | $275,000 | $525,000 | $551,250 |
General and Administrative Personnel | |||
People | 3 | 5 | 6 |
Average per Person | $116,667 | $122,500 | $128,625 |
Subtotal | $350,000 | $612,500 | $771,750 |
Other Personnel | |||
People | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Average per Person | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Subtotal | $0 | $0 | $0 |
Total People | 14 | 20 | 25 |
Total Payroll Expenditures | $1,093,750 | $1,925,000 | $2,480,625 |