Some heavy hitters are associated with KANA--see this post and the one after:
Tuesday July 14, 8:03 am Eastern Time
Company Press Release
SOURCE: Kanakaris Communications, Inc.
Frank Firestone Ake, Craig Jones and Colby Marceau Provide Kanakaris Communications, Inc. New Leadership As Company Reorganizes Board And Focuses
On Making NetBooks.Com An Online Content Leader; McNerney Is Promoted To Senior V.P., Acquisitions and Revenue
MALIBU, Calif., July 14 /PR Newswire/ -- Kanakaris Communications, Inc. (OTC Bulletin Board: KANA - news) has announced the appointment of Frank Firestone Ake to its Board of Directors, the promotion of Kenneth McNerney to Sr. Vice President, Acquisitions, Colby Marceau as National Sales Manager and Craig Jones as Acting Chief Financial Officer. The Company also announced the successful completion of a 504 private placement, and stated that it anticipates Standard & Poor's ''blue sky'' listing in the near future. The Company will focus on the digital downloadable book site NetBooks.Com and the proprietary OPCON Module System for enclosing computer command operations. It will make other Kanakaris proprietary web site concepts, such as 3rdM, Cyberpop and the Financial Super Channel available for licensing and partnerships.
Frank Firestone Ake Jr. joined the Board stating, ''I have known CEO Alex Kanakaris and followed Kanakaris Communications, Inc. development, and believe I can play a part in helping the Company to become an online content leader with powerful relationships for growth.''
Mr. Firestone Ake has been involved in Southern California and Japan related major financing, primarily as a consultant to international developers and architects . For Lundgren Associates, St. Paul, he arranged $30,000,000 IRB financing with Goldman Sachs & Co. which enabled UDAG and TIF financing for proposed mixed use urban development. For Ben Thompson & Associates, Boston, he consulted on financing for the $200 million Westwood project. For Concept International, Burlingame, he has consulted on several projects including recent ones in Manila, San Francisco and Beijing. For Nansay Corporation he has been project manager/consultant/mortgage broker for several apartment developments and Good Nite Inns. For Pan Pacific Portfolio/DAI ICHI Real Estate he initiated the proposed purchase of the $2 billion Landmark Land Co. for $739 million by a major Japanese real estate firm He began his career as an intern banker at his family formed $5 billion First Merit Bancorporation in Akron, Ohio.
Acting Chief Financial Officer Craig Jones, CPA, stated, ''Kanakaris has good ideas for the Internet, and we're here to help them from a full-service accounting standpoint. We also hope to introduce Kanakaris to potential sources of revenue and capital.''
Mr. Jones background includes experience with Price Waterhouse and as a tax manager at Ernst & Young. He is a principal and co-founder of Hines & Jones, a full service accounting firm and he has a relationship and office in California's largest law firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher. Current clients of Hines & Jones include high net worth individuals in Southern and Northern California, as well as the largest furniture manufacturer in Asia, the first Hispanic economic development corporation in Los Angeles, as well as prominent figures in politics and entertainment.
Mr. Colby Marceau has been promoted to National Sales Manager, where he will be in charge of recruiting and managing independent sales representatives for the Desience OPCON Module System product line. He will also personally handle sales in certain Western United States territories. Mr. Marceau has over thirty years experience in the general field of information systems. He is thoroughly capable of programming in COBAL, FORTRAN, PLI and assembly languages. He is intensely familiar with systems design and analysis.
At General Electric, Mr. Marceau with involved in the design and programming of numerous financial and manufacturing applications. At Computer Science Corporation, he was manager of information systems where he oversaw the processing projects of fifty professional programmers and system analysts. He reviewed all programming logic and coding.
As co-founder of Sigmatics, Mr. Marceau was instrumental in the continued growth of this computer support firm. The main product of CAC was a computer delinquency collection system called the ''Collector,'' which was designed for major banks, financial institutions and consumer loan companies. As an independent computer specialist he has sold to numerous Systems Management Software products to major corporate and financial institutions.
Kenneth McNerney, promoted to Senior Vice President, Acquisitions and Revenue, stated, ''I look forward to concentrating my efforts on behalf of Kanakaris Communications toward the development of improved sales revenue and introductions which could lead to mergers and acquisitions which are consistent with the Kanakaris growth plan.''
David Valenti, President, Sales, stated: ''I look forward to devoting 100% of my time towards generating sales revenue for the Kanakaris web site NetBooks.com. We received a tremendous response at recent events where the NetBooks product was demonstrated, including the 1998 White House Conference on the Internet in Los Angeles, the L.A. Times Festival of Books, and major book and speaker events.''
The downsized Kanakaris Board of Directors now includes:
Alex Kanakaris, Chief Executive Officer: Mr. Kanakaris has assembled the Board and Advisory Board, created the basic concepts of the Company, and leads the day-to-day operations. He has an extensive entrepreneurial background, is a recognized industry leader on the Internet, and has a diversified background in marketing, writing, publishing, as well having been a stockbroker. Mr. Kanakaris personally oversees the development of the Company's product line, and is working on the launch of TalkingNetBooks, a product utilizing Microsoft(R) NetShow(R) technology.
Frank Firestone Ake, Jr, Director: In addition to credentials mentioned above, Mr. Firestone Ake has educational experience at Investment Banking School, Baraben/Interfirst,; Mortgage Banking School, The Mortgatge Network; Illinois Institute of Technology, Bachelor of Architecture, Chicago. For the Oriana Corporation, Chicago, he financed, constructed, managed and sold a sixty three employee restaurant. For Skidmore Owings & Merrill, Chicago, he was a project architect for over seven billion dollars of projects including architects, office towers and hotels for the world's largest architecture firm at their headquarters office. His professional licenses include Architect, Illinois; Real Estate Broker, Illinois. He is a member of the World Trade Center Association and a past member of the board of directors of the American Institute of Architects (AIA), Chicago.
Branch Lotspeich , President, Desience OPCON Products: In the designing and placement of command and control environments for Fortune 500 corporations, Branch has worked directly with AT&T, IBM, IRS, Ford Motor Co. [NYSE:F - news] and other clients to develop data and networking centers. (1992-1997) Mr. Lotspeich worked as an independent consultant in telecommunications acquiring accounts including Proctor & Gamble and Cincinnati Bell Telephone. His worked encompassed site design, broad band communications, world-wide group project communications, as well as telephony. (1988-1992)
For 10 years Mr. Lotspeich was the manager of the Medical Media Center at the University of Cincinnati. He designed and oversaw the building of the first Medical Media Center in Hangchou, China. He served as television and media consultant to the Children's Hospital in Krakow, Poland. Branch has an expertise in computer programming, including Internet applications of HTML, CGI and Java. (1978, 1988) For 6 years (1980-1986), he served as an appointment of the mayor of Cincinnati to the Citizens Cable Regulatory Board. Education: University of Cincinnati, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Television Broadcasting. Graduated Summa Cum Laude.
John R. McKay, President, Marketing and Internet Operations: Mr. McKay has an extensive advertising and marketing background, including being Advertising Manager for Kelly Moore Paint and Sales Promotion, Manager for Alliance Electronics/ORA
The Advisory Board has been divided into four groups which will report to the Board on a regular basis, and currently includes:
Craig Jones, Acting Chief Financial Officer: In addition to the credentials listed above, Mr. Jones was Financial Director of Asia and Latin America for EF, the world's largest student travel company. As the financial executive, Mr. Jones responsibilities included the organization's financial plans and policies, accounting practices, executive direction over treasury, budgeting, audit and tax activities and company expansion in Asia and Latin America. Mr. Jones has been formation team member of several large joint ventures in Asia. Mr. Jones is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, National Society of Tax Professionals, Japan-America Society, Asia Society, Chinese Chamber of Commerce and a founding member of the International Society of Public Accountants. Mr. Jones was the former Chairman of the China Exploration and Research Society and is currently a Director of Kham Aid Foundation.
David R. Valenti, President, Sales: Mr. Valenti was Senior Account Manager at the Telesoft Corporation [Nasdaq:TSFT - news] where he had over twelve years experience in integrating computer systems with PBXs, local and wide area networks for wholesale distributors, Fortune 500 companies and government municipalities, hospitals and medical centers.
Mr. Valenti has been very active in his community, leading and participating in benefits for the homeless and other positive social causes. Mr. Valenti's formal education includes two years of Business Studies at Amarillo College in Texas as well as one year at West Texas State University.
Kenneth McNerney, Senior Vice President, Revenue and Acquisitions: As Vice President and Senior Manager, Strategic Business Development (Entertainment and Technology), The Nippon Credit Bank Ltd., Mr. McNerney's responsibilities included: Strategic marketing, supervision, analysis, industry positioning, product creation and development of banking relationships. Managed groups of marketing and analytical Vice Presidents, and corresponding staffs. Monthly marketing calls continue at 10 companies monthly. (1986-1997) At Nippon Credit Bank, Ltd., he was involved in corporate and Project lending to the Fortune 500 companies, centered in Entertainment, High Technology, Energy, Food and Manufacturing. Marketing all companies at 11 Western States which individually generate a minimum of $200 million in annual revenues. He started and staffed the following groups: Real Estate, Leverage Buyouts, Entertainment, High Technology, Mergers & Acquisitions, Syndications & Aircraft. Mr. McNerney negotiated major transactions involving Viacom, Twentieth Century Fox, Disney, Blockbuster, Advanced Micro Devices, Quantum, Ralphs, Safeway, Northrup, others. Mr. McNerney formerly worked for Bank of Montreal [NYSE:BMO - news] and Societe Generale. Member of Board of Directors: Tiernan Communications Inc., San Diego Former Advisory Board Member: Oak Communications Inc. Memberships: International Bankers Association, Stock Brokers Association, Los Angeles Athletic Club, Lutheran Church Education: Graduate of University of California, Santa Barbara.
Jeff Hall , Advisor: Mr. Hall is the owner/publisher of the Brentwood Media Group. In late 1991, Mr. Hall started the Brentwood News, the springboard for his budding media concern. This 17,500 circulation monthly newspaper quickly became the paper of Brentwood, capturing the hearts and minds of the residents in this small but highly influential community. Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan, a Brentwood resident, is among those who is an avid reader of the Brentwood News. In 1993, Mr. Hall launched a second paper, the Westwood News. In April 1994, he launched the Santa Monica News. In the fall of 1995, he launched the Century City Chronicle. In January 1996, the company launched the Beverly Hills Chronicle. Today, Mr. Hall is the leading publisher of community newspapers in some of the most affluent areas in Southern California.
In 1988, Mr. Hall was recruited to join the Los Angeles Times as Vice President, Marketing Services. A year later, he was named the first President of the Los Angeles Times San Fernando Valley edition. He also launched, in the capacity of President, the L.A. Times Ventura County edition. Jeff was one of twelve individuals honored to be selected from 855 applicants nationwide to serve one year as a White House fellow.
Mr. Hall started his professional newspaper career as a general assignment reporter for the Kansas City Star, A Capital Cities/ABC newspaper. Mr. Hall served in many capacities at that newspaper, rising at age 30 to Vice President, Marketing. Education: M.B.A. from Harvard Business School (1978). Mr. Hall is a graduate of Stanford University with a B.A. in Communications (1974).
William H. Hoversten , Advisor: As President of Cinema Select Video; Westwood, CA, Mr. Hoversten was responsible for the establishment of a distribution network for home video product throughout the United States and Canada. Personally handled marketing and distribution to independent video distributors. Conducted mail campaigns and attended trade shows to support sales efforts. Trained and supervised sales representatives handling retail accounts. As National Marketing Director for Edde Entertainment; Chatsworth, CA, Mr. Hoversten's duties included establishing and directing the operation of Prime Video label. Introduced several British Broadcasting Corp. titles to American video market, wrote promotional copy and designed flyers and video boxes. Obtained national television and print publicity. Handled sales to national wholesale and retail accounts. Assisted with training and supervision of forty sales reps at subsidiary A.B. Video Distributors.
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