The Systems Alliance Advisory Board was created to provide guidance and insight to the executive team in the areas of acquisitions, product and service development and long term planning. The Board's members are deeply skilled corporate leaders with proven track records of building public and private companies in industries such as telecommunications, financial services and higher education. Examples of the Advisory Board's involvement include assessing market opportunities in the development of service offerings and assisting in the identification of candidate companies for acquisition and consolidation. Members Jim Brennan
Jim Brennan is a consultant to software and IT services firms with over 25 years of experience in helping businesses change and grow to be more successful. Previously, Brennan was vice president of North American Services and Global Systems Integrators for Cognos Corporation, where he led a team of over 350 people with responsibility to drive license and service revenue. He joined Cognos following its acquisition of Adaytum, where he was responsible for implementing an enterprise sales strategy that propelled the company to market leadership for performance management applications. Earlier, Brennan was a partner with PricewaterhouseCoopers. As head of the firm’s strategic alliance program, Brennan created multiple innovative alliance structures and implemented new compensation and reward models with an emphasis on achieving defined business metrics. His efforts drove revenue growth in excess of 100 percent, far exceeding the firm’s overall growth rate. Before PWC, Brennan was founding partner and CEO of Target Media, Inc. and a business-development executive with Oracle, where he helped create, build and grow the Oracle Big 6 Alliance program from inception to a $60 million dollar business unit.
Rick Faint
President and CEO, Cornerstone Professional Group
Rick Faint is the CEO of The Cornerstone Professional Group. He also serves as the Chief Operating Officer of Galaxy Technology, a subsidiary of Galaxy Scientific Group. Galaxy Technology was created as a result of the acquisition of Impact Labs by Galaxy. Rick joined Impact Labs in September 2002, leading a transformation of the company's sales, marketing and product management organizations. Before joining Impact, Faint was Vice President of Product and Solutions Marketing for Citrix Systems, which he joined after Citrix acquired Sequoia Software where he had been CEO. Faint joined Sequoia in 1996 and focused on building the company's sales and business development efforts. He also guided the company through three rounds of venture financing and its initial public offering (IPO). In May 2000, prior to Sequoia, Faint participated in the management led acquisition of Performance Learning Group, which merged with Mergent Technologies Group. Faint served as CFO until the company's sale to Prentice-Hall, Inc. In April 1996, from 1984 to 1994, Faint was a co-founder and CFO of PersonaCare until its merger with TheraTx. He was a member of the management team that led Theratx through its successful IPO prior to its eventual sale to Vencor. Earlier in his career, Faint was an attorney practicing business law. He received a bachelors degree in accounting from Towson University and an MBA and JD from the University of Baltimore.
Rick Geddes
Associate Professor and Director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University
Rick Geddes is associate professor and director of Undergraduate Studies in the Department of Policy Analysis and Management at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. From August 2004 to July 2005 he was a senior staff economist on the President’s Council of Economic Advisors in Washington, DC. He is currently a commissioner on the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission. An authority on corporate governance and the regulation of industry, Geddes’ work has been published in the American Economic Review, the Journal of Regulatory Economics and numerous other journals.
Ric Hughes
President and CEO, Systems Alliance
Ric Hughes has more than 20 years of management consulting and technology implementation experience, including six years at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Ric has worked closely with CIOs and other C-level executives to design and manage enterprise scale projects. He has served clients globally including Verizon, BellSouth, Genuity, AT&T, Discovery Communications, ESPN, Sealand and Nabisco. Ric's entrepreneurial past includes the successful creation of companies in the financial services technology industries. Ric holds a BS degree in Management Science from the University of Baltimore. Michael Netzer
Dean, School of Applied and Information Technology, Community College of Baltimore County
With over 25 years of experience, Michael Netzer brings strong management experience and technical knowledge within the voice, video and data industry. A leader with a proven track record for building and maintaining organizations, in his current position as Dean, Netzer created the School of Applied and Information Technology which serves the Baltimore region as a leading provider of information technology training, certification and undergraduate education. His background includes several entrepreneurial ventures, including the start-up of PrimeNet, Inc. and the merger of that firm into IES, Integrated Electrical Services, Inc. Netzer received his M.S. and B.S. degree from Johns Hopkins University and is an adjunct faculty member of UMBC. He is a graduate of the Leadership Maryland Class of 2000. He serves on several boards including the Arthritis Foundation and the Catonsville Community College Foundation. Dale Young
President& CEO, Decent LLC
Dale Young is an industry veteran with more than 30 years experience in the design, build, installation and operation of financial, administrative and manufacturing information systems. Dale is a past Executive Vice President of Systems Alliance. He has played significant roles in building technology consulting, software integration and outsourcing businesses, holding Partner leadership positions at PricewaterhouseCoopers in the U.S. and Asia. He is on the Board of Advisors of Metanet Inc. and iStrategy Solutions and was Charter Member of the David D. Lattanze Center for Executive Studies in Information Systems. Dale holds a BS in Information Systems Management from the University of Maryland, College Park |
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