COMPANY
Board of Directors
The Gomez board of directors brings a wealth of intercontinental business and technology insights to ensure synchronicity with customer requirements across the globe. With distinguished backgrounds in key areas such as international finance, product and services marketing and information technology, the board serves as active advisors to the management team.
The Gomez board includes:
Richard Brekka, Chairman of the Board & Managing Partner, Dolphin Equity Partners
Jaime Ellertson, Chief Executive Officer
Ivan Farneti, Principal, Doughty Hanson
Thomas Krueger, Founder and Managing Partner, AdAstra
Carl Pavarini, Ph.D., Independent Board Member
Jim Sanger, Partner, ABS Ventures
Richard Brekka
Mr. Brekka founded Dolphin in 1998. Mr. Brekka is Chairman of the Board of Gomez, Inc. (the leader in web application experience management). Mr. Brekka is a board member of Epic Cycle Interactive (an Internet services firm providing integrated e-business solutions), The Guild (leading online source for artist-made home décor products shipped direct from artists' studios), InQ (an outsourced online chat services company), Island Data Corporation (enterprise feedback management solution), Mobile Armor (a leading provider of enterprise mobile data security), SeaPass Solutions Inc.(an on-demand connectivity solutions for the insurance industry), Silver Carrot (online lead generation provider) and Terago, Inc (TSX:TGO, Canada’s leading wireless broadband service provider to businesses), all of which are Dolphin portfolio companies. In addition, Mr. Brekka was a board member of Enpocket, Inc. (a provider of carrier-grade mobile media, mobile marketing and mobile advertising services) until it was sold to Nokia, Inc. in October, 2007. Mr. Brekka has specialized in software as a service, mobile content, communication services, and internet investing for nearly 17 years.
Prior to founding Dolphin, Mr. Brekka was a Managing Director of CIBC's private equity investment unit and the President of CIBC's U.S. private equity investment subsidiaries. On behalf of CIBC, he served as a director on the board of 10 communications companies. Representative investments included Telesystems International Wireless, Orion Network Systems, Transit Communications and OneComm Communications. Prior to joining CIBC, Mr. Brekka was with Chase Capital and led the investments in Nextel and DisCom Communications. Prior to becoming a private equity investor, Mr. Brekka was an account officer at Swiss Bank Corporation from 1984 until 1987.
Mr. Brekka holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance from the University of Southern California and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Chicago.
Ivan Farneti
Ivan Farneti joined Gomez’s board of directors in 2003 following the company’s acquisition of WebPerform, a leading European Internet Performance Management company. At London-based Doughty Hanson & Co., one of Europe’s largest independent private equity fund managers, Mr. Farneti focuses on enterprise software investments (among other sectors). In addition to Gomez, he is currently a board member of Fenestrae and Tridion, in The Netherlands.
Mr. Farneti joined Doughty Hanson in 2000 from Deutsche Bank Venture Capital in London. At Deutsche Bank, he completed several investments in the enterprise application and Internet infrastructure software sectors, co-investing with leading European and U.S. venture capital and financial firms.
Mr. Farneti began his career at Bain & Co., where he worked in Italy and the U.S., focusing on the telecommunications technology and financial services sectors. At Bain, he advised several large Italian companies on divestiture strategies and acquisition of new businesses.
Thomas Krueger
Thomas Krueger founded AdAstra in 2000 and is its Managing Partner. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of ADI Innovation, publicly-listed Asknet, publicly-listed Augusta Technologies and Gomez Inc.. Former Board responsibilities include Baeurer (now part of Sage) and SuSE Linux (now part of Novell). Before founding AdAstra, Mr. Krueger was a Managing Director of the Private Equity Unit of HypoVereinsbank, then second largest German Bank, acquired by Italy's Unicredit in 2005. Mr. Krueger has also held positions with Gleacher & Co., a Mergers and Acquisitions and Investment Banking firm specializing in large U.S. and cross-border transactions, as well as Deutsche Bank Securities, both in the U.S.. Mr. Krueger began his career in 1987 as an account officer for multinational corporate clients at Citibank in the U.S. and Germany.
Mr. Krueger studied Business Administration at the Berufsakademie – University of Cooperative Education – in Stuttgart and is a graduate in business administration (BA).
Carl Pavarini, PhD
Carl Pavarini is currently an advisor to technology-based start-up companies in the telecommunications, Internet infrastructure, optical and communications components, and applications software markets. He works actively with angel investors and VCs, and serves on the boards of several start-ups. Dr. Pavarini is also currently an adjunct professor in the School of Engineering at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and visiting executive in the School of Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology.
Prior to his advisory roles, Dr. Pavarini was a vice president and a corporate officer with Lucent Technologies and AT&T, enjoying a successful career spanning more than 25 years at these organizations. During his early tenure, he spent 10 years at Bell Laboratories in applied research and product development. Subsequently, he held numerous business management positions at AT&T and then Lucent, most often with profit and loss responsibility for global products and services. Dr. Pavarini’s responsibilities ranged from over $1 billion in existing businesses to internal start-ups in new market and new product areas.
Dr. Pavarini holds a BS, a MEng, electrical engineering, and a PhD, systems engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Jim Sanger
Jim Sanger joined the board in 2004 when ABS Ventures assumed responsibility for managing the venture capital investments of Deutsche Bank, a Gomez backer since the company’s 2003 acquisition of WebPerform.
At ABS Ventures, Mr. Sanger is responsible for identifying, evaluating and managing investments in emerging technology companies. Earlier, he served as a Managing Director in Deutsche Bank’s Venture Partners and Corporate Investment groups, and as CTO and Director of Tech Investment for Deutsche Bank’s London-based corporate venturing organization. Previously, he held management positions in IT at Deutsche Bank, Barclays Bank and Bell Atlantic (now Verizon Communications). Besides Gomez, he serves as a director for several private companies.