Management
The combined management team of Net Shepherd, Answers.com, and the Business Intelligence company can only be described as a good blend of experienced people who all have a diverse and complementary skill set. There is a high level of experience in starting and growing growth companies, and working in large well respected international corporations. This combination provides a level of innovation and stability that will be invaluable as their business plans unfold and the organization expands.
Several of the key management people have received awards along with industry, and peer, recognition for their achievements.
This management group is one who will not be easily dismissed as lacking the depth and experience to "pull it off".
Net Shepherd' Management Team
NSI's Board of Directors who are not Executives of NSI
Owen Pinnell P. Eng. - Chairman of the Board, is the founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Anadime Corporation, an oil field service company listed on the Toronto stock exchange. Prior to founding Anadime Corporation in 1992, he founded and was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Newalta Corporation, a leading environmental service company listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange in 1982.
James H. Coleman - Director, is the Chairman of Macleod Dixon, Barristers and Solicitors, a Calgary-based law firm with offices in Toronto, Moscow, Almaty and Caracas. Mr. Coleman is also a director of a number of other publicly-traded corporations.
JD (Jan-Dirk) van de Geer - Director, is a Corporate Ambassador for the Vanenburg Group, headquartered in The Netherlands and has been heavily involved in several investments from the Vanenburg Group. Mr. van de Geer joined Baan Development in 1993 as a product consultant, and was subsequently appointed Director of the Automotive line of Business in the Baan Global Business Centre. Mr. van de Geer then joined the Baan Institute as a Research Director, focusing on Business Networks and Logistics, Supply Chain Infrastructure, Electronic Commerce, Power Shifts in Chains, Internet Based Supply Chain Planning, ECR and Retail Distribution. Since January 1998, Mr. van de Geer has been in his Corporate Ambassador role. Mr. van de Geer studied at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, The Netherlands and holds a Master's degree in Business Economics and Logistics Management and is Certified in Production and Inventory Management (CPIM).
Jake (Jacob) T. Halldorson - Director, is the Manager of New Technology with Colt Engineering Corporation, a Calgary-based private engineering firm, and has held various positions with Colt Engineering Corporation since 1973, the year he co-founded Colt Engineering Corporation. Mr. Halldorson was directly involved in the creation of the Syncrude Strategic Alliance and the Imperial Oil/Colt Alliance, which he managed for a two-year period. Mr. Halldorson has also acted as Vice-President of Production for Airborne Technologies Inc. since 1975 and has been the Chairman of Anadime Corporation, an industrial and commercial waste management and environmental services company, since 1994.
Richard P. Borden - Secretary, is a partner with Macleod Dixon and has been with Macleod Dixon since 1983. Mr. Borden is also a Director of McCarthy Corporation PLC, a UK-based venture capital company listed on The Alberta Stock Exchange.
NSI's Executive Directors
Donald S. Sandford - President and Chief Executive Officer/Director of the Corporation. He also founded Newfrontiers Management Group Inc. in 1995, a company focused on the launch of tomorrow's new knowledge based enterprises. Prior to joining the Corporation in October 1996, Mr. Sandford was President and Chief Executive Officer of the International Centre for Agricultural Science and Technology, which focused on commercialization of research and development, a position he held from 1992 to 1994. From 1973 to 1992, he was with Imperial Chemical Industries PLC (ICI) in Canada and the UK where he held several senior management positions in international marketing and sales, business management, logistics, new ventures and business development in chemicals, agriculture, environmental improvement and high technology electronics markets. Mr. Sandford received a B.Sc. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Calgary and completed the advanced management program at INSEAD in France.
Phil Doublet - P. Eng. Executive VP and Chief Operating Officer/Director, is a founder of CSI and has been its President and Chief Executive Officer since its incorporation in 1988. During that time he managed CSI's growth from a small start-up venture to its present position as one of the recognized leaders in systems integration in western Canada. In 1988, Mr. Doublet was the Manager of Information Services for the XL-Centennial Joint Venture, a $500 million food services organization. From 1979 to 1986, he worked in increasingly senior technology roles with Gulf Canada's Information Services department. Mr. Doublet is a 1983 graduate of the University of Calgary with a B. Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering.
NSI's Senior Mangement
Richard Charron - has been the Chief Financial Officer for Net Shepherd Inc. since 1998 and the CFO for Answers.com Inc. of Pasadena, California, a wholly owned subsidiary of Net Shepherd Inc. since its acquisition in 1999. Prior to joining Net Shepherd in 1998, Ric owned and operated Arron Consulting, which provided financial and management consulting services to startups and companies preparing to go public. Ric has in excess of 20 years financial management experience in the private and public sectors. Ric holds an MBA from Queens University in Kingston, Ontario and an Honours degree in Economics & Mathematics from Brock University in Ontario.
Peter S. Hunt - Vice President Corporate Affairs, is responsible for external and internal communications and human resources. He has 20 years experience in Corporate Communications, Sales, Marketing and Planning. Prior to working for Net Shepherd, Peter was the International Communications Manager for the Royal Dutch/Shell Group of companies. Based in London, England, this was the latest in a series of senior management positions that he held within Shell. Peter has a Joint Honours B.Sc. in Economics and Politics from Bristol University in England.
R. J. (Ray) Marchand - Vice President, Business Development, Marketing & Sales, has over 20 years leadership experience in sales and marketing driven organizations in both the telecommunications and downstream energy industry. He has led the successful launch of several new products at both the consumer and business-to-business levels. Ray has held senior positions in General Management, Quality and Customer Service, Product Management, Marketing, Sales and Operations during his career. Prior to joining Net Shepherd, Ray was with Shaw Communications where he held the positions of Vice President, Shaw@Home and General Manager, Shaw Advertising Services. There, he was instrumental in the successful launch of Shaw's high speed Internet Service. Ray also held various senior management positions with Petro Canada and ICG Propane where he was a key player in the launch and significant market growth of the alternate fuel, Auto Propane. Ray holds a B. Comm. (Hon) from the University of Manitoba and a Certificate in Marketing Management from the Richard Ivey School of Business. He is responsible for the development of business opportunities, marketing and sales for Net Shepherd.
David Rose - Vice President Operations, comes to Net Shepherd through the acquisition of Chronologic Systems Inc., where he held the position of Operations Manager. As Vice President of Operations, Dave is responsible for internal strategic IT planning and the successful delivery of all customer projects. He coordinates and manages the activities of all of Net Shepherd's professional consultants. Dave's extensive experience in operations and management cumulated over 15 years ensures that all Net Shepherd projects run smoothly and are delivered on time and on budget. Dave brings to Net Shepherd significant experience in managing software development, systems planning and implementation, project management and customer support. Dave holds a B.Sc. in Computer Science from the University of Manitoba and brings to Net Shepherd comprehensive knowledge and expertise on the health care and post secondary education industries
Ron (Ronald) W. Warris - Founder & Vice President Technology, is the architect of the unique concepts behind Net Shepherd Inc. Prior to assuming a full-time position with the Corporation, he was with Private Net Shepherd. In February 1996, Mr. Warris was Systems Support Department Head for Colt Engineering Corporation, a position he held since 1990, as well as software co-engineer for the same firm. In the past 15 years Mr. Warris has been instrumental in the invention, design and development of military qualified battery charging systems, large stationary battery charging systems, computerized tobacco conditioning equipment, steer-by-wire systems, and waste compaction systems (with patents). In some of these cases Mr. Warris was instrumental in the organization and operation of the companies that produced these technologies.
John Wester - Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Prior to accepting his current senior management position at Net Shepherd, John most recently held the position of Chief Technology Officer at Chronologic Systems Inc. where he lead the company's team of consultants for close to a decade. John's level of technical excellence accompanied with his wealth of knowledge and over 27 years experience have made him a tremendous asset to Net Shepherd as Vice President, Technology. John began programming and designing systems in 1972 while in high school and has worked with a variety of platforms. John has designed and implemented systems for government, oil and gas, telecom- munications and food processing industries to name a few. John brings to Net Shepherd a broad base of experience in systems architecture, database design, systems analysis, research & development and project management. John holds a B.Sc. from The University of British Columbia and is leading our research into automated content categorization, intelligent agent technologies and knowledge management and representation
NSI's Management
Ray Marchand -VP Business Development. (from Shaw Communications where he was responsible for the @Home Internet service)
Brad Fogal - NSI as Director of Sales. (from Cadvision)
Corey Don - Director, Marketing. (from McLean Marketing where he consulted to several high technology companies on marketing strategy)
Thomas McGovern - Heads the Sales Force Automation Business. (from Pitney Bowes)
Ray Marchand - Vice President, Business Development (from Shaw Cable)
Answers.com's Management Team
Bill Fogg - CEO. Formerly from with ideaLab! and its various businesses.
Mike Morrison - President. Is a veteran of numerous Internet start-ups. Was the founder of HomePage.com. Prior to HomePage, he was involved in the early stage development of KidsOnLine.com (an idealab company), the LearningStation, Web Entertainment, Inc., WT, LLC, and KidzStation. From 1993-97, he founded KnowWare, Inc., a multi-media development firm that has developed award-winning products for companies such as CitySearch (an idealab company), SmartGames (an idealab company), The Learning Company, Knowledge Adventure, and Broderbund.
Cynthia O'Keefe - VP of Product Development. Prior to Answers.com, she was involved in the starting and building out of several start-ups, including Electric SchoolHouse, KidsOnLine.com (an idealab! company), the LearningStation, Web Entertainment, Inc., and KidzStation. She has an IS background, specializing in Executive Information Systems (this involves gathering information from disparate sources and presenting it in a consistent, consolidated format for management to make critical business decisions in a timely manner).
Tad Benson - VP of Sales and Marketing. Prior to joining Answers.com, he worked for GoTo.com and, for a time, managed the company's online marketing efforts. He then developed and managed the company's first business-to-business marketing program to acquire more advertisers. Within eight months the company increased its active advertiser base by over 625%. Before GoTo.com, he worked for a direct response advertising agency managing his clients' print, direct mail, outdoor, and Web campaigns.
Sean van Leuven - Director of Customer Service Technologies. Prior to Answers.com, he was the Manager for the Quality Assurance department in the IT Products Group at Visio Corporation. From 1991-1995 he worked at The Learning Company running QA and producing children's productivity products. Mr. van Leuven has a back ground in product management and quality assurance, specializing in DBMS Modelling Tools and Business Productivity products.
Business Intelligence's Management Team
At the present time, there has only been one management position announced.
David Herman - CEO. He will head up NSI's new business intelligence operation. Mr Herman joined the Business Intelligence company from Dun & Bradstreet, where he was Partner for Global Business Development. He had been deeply involved in developing Internet strategies for D&B.
He has twenty years experience in business intelligence. He was among the first to see the commercial potential of the Internet and launched one of the world's first commercial websites, way back in 1993. He has recently helped lead the development of eccelerate.com, D&B's global e-commerce operation. His track record shows that he knows how to scale ideas and grow businesses. He has the strategic grasp, the understanding of business relationships and the contacts that will be needed to make this business grow."
As Partner of Global Business Development, he was part of the executive team that created a subsidiary that has developed global electronic commerce solutions for Dun & Bradstreet. He developed a business plan that resulted in funding commitment for the firm. He acquired and equipped headquarters office in Silicon Alley and hired key personnel for relationship management. He also negotiated key global channel agreements in support of the proof of concept test.
Before this, he was the Director, Global Marketing Organization, from late 1996 to October 1998. In this role, he developed the corporate strategy for electronic commerce, including the management of key alliances in the digital certification, directory and registration markets. He also developed the data collection program for Internet data.
From 1993 to 1996, he worked as the Director - Electronic Commerce, where he successfully led the development and deployment of one of the first commercial sites on the Internet. This team was the first in the industry to interactively develop and deliver products over the Internet using secure web servers.
His Awards, Presentations and Papers include:
* 1991 and 1993 - Received Chairman's "Customer First" award.
* 1993 - one of seven people selected as Change Agents by the President.
* Provided staff and leadership to standards bodies including Internet Society (1994 - 1998), CommerceNet (1993 - 1997), National Information Infrastructure Test bed (1993 - 1995), and Internet Engineering Task Force (1994 - 1997).
* 1997 - Presented White Paper on Governance in Electronic Commerce and consulted with Department of Commerce on key issues.
* 1994 - 1998 - Regular speaker at electronic commerce conferences globally, participating in forums in China, Europe and the United States.
Partners & Licensing Agreements
As the potential of NSI's technology is still relatively unknown within the industry, many of the licensing agreements they have entered into with clients have to be considered primarily as pilot or demonstration projects. These initial contracts have been structured to demonstrate the technology and prove its reliability. As a result, if and when these pilot projects prove successful, they should open the door to many other revenue contracts in Europe, N. America, and then world wide.
Due to the innovative and complex nature of their technology, it means that their sales cycle is measured in months rather than weeks. As a result, the frequency of revenue press release will be intermittent until their clients become comfortable with what they have been shown. The company's desire to communicate news can also be hampered by customers not wanting publicity. This can result either because they want to see their projects successfully completed before they are announced, or because NSI's work brings them a competitive advantage.
Some of NSI's more notable partners and licensing agreements which have been announced . . .
Vanenburg Group BV
The Vanenburg Group owns 14% of Net Shepherd. Vanenburg Group holds a seat on the Board of Net Shepherd Inc.
Vanenburg Group, is a private, Netherlands Company that was formed in 1994. During the last years, Vanenburg Group main activities included providing venture capital funding for technology companies world wide and investing in companies that supply innovative services and products in the enterprise applications market. newswire.ca
Vanenburg's decision to increase its equity stake in Net Shepherd was driven by the commercial potential of Net Shepherd's technology to drive more value from enhanced tools and the use of the technology within other Vanenburg companies.
Net Shepherd Announced Market Representation Agreement with Vanenburg Group to bring to market, sell and distribute NSI's new scalable Internet Community Platform technology around the world. Under the Market Representation Agreement, the Vanenburg Group will represent Net Shepherd through Click Choice Europe (a Vanenburg Group company) exclusively in Europe. newswire.ca
The Vanenburg Group owns Vanenberg Business Systems (formerly known as BAAN Business Systems - BBS).
BAAN is one of the most prominent ERP application providers in the world. Their enterprise business software is in use in approximately 12,000 customer sites worldwide. The BaanWeb of companies employs over 2,500 professionals in VBS offices in more than 60 countries. NSI was recently asked to become a part of Vanenburg's Intranet which links all of their affiliate businesses. NSI recently was asked to participate in the BAAN World Exhibition held in Vienna.
The Corporate Ambassador for BAAN sits as their representative on Net Shepherd's Board of Directors.
Dun & Bradstreet - dnbcorp.com
Dun & Bradstreet is still working with NSI on pilot projects, such as Web Center.
Dun & Bradstreet consists of two primary businesses.
Dun & Bradstreet - Dun & Bradstreet Corporation is one of the world's leading marketers of information and services for business decision-making. Its operations can be divided into two business segments: Risk Management Services and Directory Information Services. Dun & Bradstreet is one of the world's largest providers of business-to-business credit, marketing and purchasing information and receivables management services. Companies throughout the world use D&B's products and services to evaluate and make decisions about their working relationships with customers and suppliers. The operating company helps businesses throughout the world build profitable, quality relationships with other companies. Their information is drawn from a global database of more than 50 million businesses.
Moody's Investors' Service - The world's leading rating agency, helps investors make decisions and borrowers gain the broadest possible access to global capital markets. They state that they are thriving on the quality of our analysis and the limitless creativity of the financial community.
Idealab!
Net Shepherd acquired 100% interest in Answers.com from idealab! by issuing 400,000 shares of Net Shepherd stock to idealab!
Idealab! is an integrated incubator for starting and growing Internet businesses. Founded in March of 1996, the company has more than 20 businesses in various stages of development. They have been responsible for bringing E-Toys, MP3.com, and Go2.com to IPO. In addition to seed capital, idealab! provides creative capital resources to infuse start up companies with the development strategies and financial support needed to rapidly introduce innovative products and services. idealab! itself currently employs just 25 people, while idealab! companies employ more than 1000.
newswire.ca
Bill Gross, the head of idealab! also has a venture-capital fund, idealab Capital Partners (ICP). This firm provides financing beyond seed capital to idealab! companies and other Internet start ups.
icp.com
hhtp://www.icp.com/news/bweek.htm
WEBB - webb.net
WEBB and Net Shepherd have a license agreement in which Net Shepherd will utilize Webb's CommunityWare (TM)/XML technology. WEBB has developed a set of community building tools which facilitate communication and inter activity among individuals on the world wide web. This technology increases the power, scope and effectiveness of Net Shepherd's Internet-based Virtual Community and that helps to enrich the on-line life of our Community's members.
This agreement helps to build a real community, and it expands the number of people with unique expertise and their ability to undertake economically viable activities.
This technology is world-leading in its combination of XML and Internet communities.
Webb's flagship product, CommunityWare/XML, provides an interactive framework of services that enable its customers to strengthen the relationship between online buyers and sellers. Using the latest XML technology, this application platform is comprised of publishing, community-building, communications and transaction tools that are designed to improve the effectiveness of businesses in the local e-commerce marketplace.
newswire.ca
Orbital
Answers.com entered into an agreement with Orbital Software to use Orbital's patent-pending Organik software. It will be used by Answers.com to identify on-line experts and offer their commercially valuable expertise in both the business-to-consumer and business-to-business marketplaces. This software will enable Answers.com to charge a range of fees for providing a variety of increasingly expert answes to questions. The more expert the answer, the higher its potential commercial value will be.
Orbital also become an investor in the Answers.com business and will provide its experience in both the business-to-business and consumer space.
Pivotal Corporation
Net Shepherd has purchased a licence to re-sell Pivotal's products and integrate them with Net Shepherd's products. Pivotal Corporation is the world's leading supplier of software that manages a company's relationship with its customers across electronic networks.
In the short term, the arrangement with Pivotal enables NSI to offer world-class e-commerce Relationship Management solutions to their customers. In the longer term, the combination of the technologies will mean that NSI can offer a unique capability to companies to electronically manage their relationship with customers within an Internet-based community.
Government of The Netherlands
NSI has signed a 'demonstration contract' with the Dutch Government for a community of Dutch teachers to categorize the educational usefulness of different Internet sites for varying grade and ability levels. The demonstration project will structure mathematics information on the Internet for grade 7 through to University level.
NSI will be sorting the information on the Net into useful categories for customers' use. As NSI has stated, "connectivity is not enough - there also needs to be access to relevant content."
Competitive Advantage
For organizations who need to gather information or respond to queries, Net Shepherd's Internet Community is highly productive and it can operate at much lower cost and faster speeds than traditional methods. Their new platform is scaleable, and can be easily replicated to provide tailored solutions for a range of customers within an industry segment. The platform is also flexible and will be employed in many different applications. The significance of this is that any small, medium, or large firm interested in conducting any market research and/or competition modelling can now use Net Shepherd to perform this task for them. The information will be accurate, comprehensive, and in some instances - real time. This dramatic improvement in the speed of response will effectively remove much of the need for customers having to wait days, or weeks, for critical and strategic information to be collected and presented to them.
NSI's cost of maintaining this community is minimal. Their only real cost is associated with the provision of free e-mail, community management support and compensation of the tasks the community members have undertaken.
The technology sharing between NSI and WEBB is world-leading in its combination of XML and Internet communities. XML is basically a new standard for identifying elements of data. For example, there will be XML tags for things like invoices, invoice line numbers, invoice quantity, etc. The key is that XML will be a dominant standard that when widely adopted, it will enable easier searches for data and information. It makes the web one giant database. When we all begin to use the same language to describe the same data elements, it will also facilitate and greatly enhance business to business (B2B) communications. The ramifications on supply chain management is enormous. ERP systems drive supply chain management. This new language change fits right into the NSI business model.
The members of the Internet community provide a trained, dispersed, low-overhead approach which can provide a quality-controlled response service for companies at a far lower cost than traditional customer service centres. NSI is finding that their community members are a highly productive group of people. They feel that the bulk of their current membership will be with them over the long term thus ensuring a stable and consistent pool of talent.
Net Shepherd has submitted a patent application in Canada and the US for its community technology model. This patent is to protect the way NSI uses the technology to collect and categorize information. The use, and scalability of their proprietary technology will enable Answers.com's customers to radically reduce their costs, improve quality, and increase the speed of responses.
John Wester (NSI's Chief Technology Officer) was asked what would stop some other company from mobilizing a group of people to mimic what NSI is doing. He replied that aside from their patented process, what makes their researchers different is that NSI has spent many man-years fine tuning and developing the community support for these people. They have taken extraordinary care to ensure that they also have several layers of data quality controls built into the system. Given the years that NSI has spent developing and fine tuning their model (along with their patents), it can be safe to assume that, for the foreseeable future, NSI will be able to maintain their competitive advantage and maximize their first to market leverage. |
