| Sasha Pesic | Jim Marggraff | Dan Keller | David Wenning | Holly De Leon | Gopal Kary |
Livescribe’s management team has significant consumer hardware and software experience and includes key executives from LeapFrog, Palm, Apple and IBM. Chief Executive Officer Jim Marggraff is an entrepreneur and inventor best known for creating the LeapPad and the LeapFrog FLY Pentop Computer. Livescribe is a privately held company with initial funding from VantagePoint Venture Partners.
Jim Marggraff
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
For more than 20 years, Jim Marggraff has dedicated his energy, vision and inventiveness to developing standards, tools, applications and services for companies committed to creating innovative technologies, improving communication, and advancing human thought. Prior to his current tenure with Livescribe, Jim held a number of executive positions at LeapFrog Enterprises. Under his leadership and vision, Jim helped propel the company from $31 million to $680 million annual sales in five years. As the inventor of the LeapFrog FLY Pentop computer and creator of the globally renowned LeapPad Learning System, Jim’s foresight into innovation and resounding dedication to learning and paper-based multi-media helped sell over $1 billion of LeapPads and educational content worldwide. Jim served as the company’s executive vice president of worldwide content and was the founding president of its Internet division. For many years, Jim focused his career on building companies from the ground up. He co-founded Explore Technologies (acquired by LeapFrog), StrataCom (acquired by Cisco), and now has founded Livescribe. Jim holds both a bachelor’s degree and master’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 2004, he was recognized by the American Diabetes Association and Father’s Day Council of San Francisco as “Father of the Year.”
Helen Thomas
Vice President, Asian Operations
A native of China, Helen Thomas has more than twenty years of experience in bridging eastern and western businesses with partnership building, sales leadership and marketing. As the former vice president of China operations for Pivotal, Helen drove the vision of providing a locally-focused, but globally-capable set of solutions to help companies solve critical business problems and utilize change as a competitive advantage. Previously, Helen served as the founder and chief executive officer of LeapFrog China Edu-Tech Co., Ltd, where she was responsible for leading strategy and establishing LeapFrog China in 2006. While there, Helen successfully managed partnership deals with multi-billion dollar educational and gaming companies in Japan, created English learning centers with a market leader in Korea, managed licensing agreements with Disney and EFL publishers, and negotiated relationship building between western and eastern cultures. In addition, Helen has held positions at international companies including Star Fine Foods and Premiere Roasters, where she oversaw global business development and Tri Valley Growers, where she managed sales for the area for a multi-billion dollar co-op food processor and marketer in the U.S. Helen holds a master’s degree in business administration from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley and earned her bachelor’s degree in international finance at Renmin University of China in Beijing.
Tim Bender
Executive Vice President of Sales
As an entrepreneurial leader and strategic executive, Tim Bender has more than 23 years of experience cultivating some of today’s most recognized consumer products. His expertise in retail channel management, consumer marketing and global market development has transformed start-ups into powerful forces in the industry. Before his current tenure at Livescribe, Tim spent nearly a decade at LeapFrog Corporation, where his leadership directed the growth of LeapFrog into a highly valued U.S. consumer brand and enabled the company to gain prominence within six major international markets. As the President of LeapFrog’s consumer division, Tim advanced a $16 million educational company into a $643 million consumer brand. Prior to LeapFrog, Tim served as the vice president of sales for Yes! Entertainment Corporation, a developer and manufacturer of children’s toys. While at Yes! Entertainment, he grew sales in three years to $85 million through strong trade marketing and guerilla tactics with competitors. During his 10 years at Lego Systems Incorporated, Tim’s led business national businesses such as Target and Kmart. Tim received a bachelor's degree in marketing from Bradley University in Peoria, Illinois.
Dan Keller
Vice President of Software
Dan Keller has a 25-year track record for cultivating products and delivering results for some of today’s most successful technology companies. Most recently, Dan served as senior engineering director for WebLogic Workshop with BEA Systems. There he oversaw the company’s transition from proprietary software to eclipse-based tools and open source involvement. Prior to his tenure at BEA, Dan spent four years with Palm in roles ranging from vice president of European engineering and vice president of software engineering to director of product engineering. His knowledge and leadership enabled him to significantly expand engineering operations world-wide and deliver three new Palm operating system releases. Dan has also executed programs with companies including Taligent, Apple and Hewlett-Packard. During his 12-year career at Apple, Dan formed an elite design team and spearheaded the growth of a revolutionary integrated software development product. He is also credited for leading and expanding Apple’s engineering organization in Japan, co-developing the workhorse Macintosh software development tool set, and developing the desktop human interface for the LISA computer. Dan holds a bachelor’s degree in computer engineering from the University of California, San Diego.
Andy Van Schaack, Ph.D.
Senior Science Advisor
Andy Van Schaack’s professional experience bridges the worlds of high technology and academia. Early in his professional career, Andy served as technical support engineer and sales manager for Apple Computer and Echelon Corporation in California and Tokyo, Japan. Andy was the founder of three start-up companies that each focused on the development and distribution of educational technologies, including Cerego Corporation of Tokyo, Japan, where he served as chief science officer and invented and patented several of the company’s core technologies. In addition Andy worked as a licensing associate in the Office of Technology Commercialization where he was responsible for the protection, development, and commercialization of faculty inventions and creative works while attending graduate school. He is presently a senior lecturer at Vanderbilt University, where he teaches undergraduate and graduate-level courses in research methods, instructional design, and the use of technology to support teaching and learning in the classroom. Andy holds a bachelor’s degree in instructional psychology and doctorate in instructional technology from Utah State University.
Byron Connell
Chief Marketing Officer
Byron Connell has spent the last 20 years helping consumer technology companies define, develop and launch new products and services. His experience as an executive with both high-tech startups and many of Silicon Valley’s most successful companies is a testament to his strategic thinking and dedication. Prior to his current role as Livescribe’s Chief Marketing Officer, Byron served as principal and chief marketing officer of 1st Gear Consulting. Prior to 1st Gear, he co-founded and served as the senior vice president of marketing of Tapwave. For four years, Byron was responsible for the worldwide definition, introduction and management of all branded handheld computers, communicators, accessories, peripherals and OEM products for Palm, Inc. While at Palm, Byron wore a number of hats including vice president of the consumer markets group and vice president of marketing. He scaled the product management organization from 7 employees to over 70, and introduced many highly acclaimed products that grew company revenue from $114 million to $1.5 billion. Byron has also previously held management positions with Hewlett-Packard and Apple Computer. He received a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Southern California and a master’s degree in business administration from Northwestern University.
Sasha Pesic
Executive Vice President, Corporate Development,
Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary
Sasha Pesic has over 14 years of experience working with high-tech companies, concentrating on business strategy, corporate development, equity financing, strategic licensing, intellectual property and legal affairs. Prior to Livescribe, Sasha briefly served as the assistant general counsel of Lexar Media, where he participated in directing the company's legal and strategic licensing work, including intellectual property protection and enforcement, patent licensing, strategic licensing deals, sales and distribution deals, and litigation. Prior to Lexar, Sasha managed a legal team of four and an $8 million budget for LeapFrog Enterprises. He was responsible for managing intellectual property enforcement, litigation and global anti-piracy protection, code of ethics compliance, privacy, antitrust compliance, CPSC matters and supply chain controls, congressional lobbying and governmental affairs, and employment matters. Prior to LeapFrog, Sasha was assistant general counsel of CNET Networks, where he negotiated complex licensing, sales and advertising deals, and participated in acquisitions and joint ventures. Sasha was responsible for all intellectual property, privacy policy and litigation and worked closely on CNET’s global branding strategy. Sasha was also an attorney at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati and Latham & Watkins. Sasha holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and history from the University of California, Davis and received a law degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Gopalakrishnan Kary
Vice President, Supply Chain and Logistics
Gopalakrishnan Kary brings a remarkable record of effective leadership and proven results to Livescribe. His background in supply chain and production management includes nearly 20 years at Motorola Inc., where he most recently served as leader of the company's Manufacturing Excellence Program. In this role, Gopal directed the global reallocation of key Motorola resources, a project encompassing five international facilities and over half a billion dollars in business volume. Throughout his career, Gopal has dramatically improved efficiency and cost metrics at any site to which he has been posted, both domestically and abroad in nations including China, India and Singapore. Gopal holds a bachelor's degree in engineering from the National University of Singapore.
Jim Allison
Senior Vice President of Engineering
James (Jim) Allison builds and scales award–winning products and global product teams in consumer electronics, mobile services and software. Prior to joining Livescribe, Jim was cofounder and vice president of engineering at Xumii, a mobile 2.0, rich–messaging service. He also served as senior vice president of products at Beachhead Solutions, a mobile data security vendor, and vice president of engineering at U3, a joint venture of SanDisk and M–Systems. He also was the vice president of engineering at iVAST, developer of an interactive media platform. These roles followed a three year tenure at Palm Inc., where as a director of engineering and a cofounder of Palm.net, Jim contributed to releasing the Palm III, V, Vx and VII product lines and helped to grow the company to more than $1 billion in annual revenue. He previously held vice president, director, senior manager and engineering roles at Cruise Technologies, Pensoft Corp. Autodesk, Inc. and Odesta Corp., respectively. Jim holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill.
Holly De Leon
Vice President Sales, K–12
Holly De Leon has spent more than 30 years working for educational causes that advocate for underserved children and populations. Prior to joining the Livescribe team, Holly co–founded Senior Work Solutions in Austin, Texas, to address changing demographic trends in the U.S. labor market linked to an unprecedented number of baby-boomers retiring within a short time frame. Previously, Holly held several president and vice president positions, developing sales and marketing strategies that supported the rapid growth of large, multi–million dollar companies including Retention Education, Inc., American Reading Company and Capitol City Consulting. These positions followed a five–year tenure with LeapFrog SchoolHouse, where she served as the vice president of sales and a founding member of the company's educational division, driving sales from $300,000 in 1999 to a projected $80,000,000 in 2005. Holly began her career as a speech and language pathologist for the Fort Worth Independent School District and Mid Cities Learning Center in Texas, which led her to become the owner and manager of Mid Cities Speech and Hearing Clinic – the first private speech and hearing clinic in Fort Worth, Texas. Holly holds both a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in speech/language pathology from the University of North Texas.
David Wenning
Vice President of Sales
David brings 25 years of consumer electronics sales expertise to Livescribe. He has held a variety of sales and senior sales management roles in his career and has developed a keen understanding of retail, commercial and distribution sales channels. Prior to Livescribe, David led the North American sales and marketing efforts for Parrot Inc. He also served as the vice president of North American sales at TomTom, where his team drove sales from $7 million to $150 million in 18 months. This followed a tenure at Tapwave, a startup that launched product in the U.S., U.K., Singapore and South Korea in 2003. Other past assignments include sales roles at Apple as well as senior sales management roles at Palm, where he managed all channels of distribution for the Americas. David holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science from Western New England College in Springfield, Mass.
