| Sasha Pesic | Stephen Dix | Brett Halle | Jim Marggraff |
Livescribe's management team has significant consumer hardware and software experience and includes key executives from HP, LeapFrog, Palm, Apple and IBM. Livescribe is a privately held company with initial funding from VantagePoint Venture Partners.
Gilles Bouchard
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
For 25 plus years, Gilles Bouchard has thrived in the consumer and technology industries as an engineer, manager and senior executive. As a leader, he has a proven track-record for setting strategic direction, growing businesses, building consumer brands and has repeatedly solved complex operational challenges. He joined Livescribe as CEO in December 2011.
Previously, Gilles was CEO and COO of Opnext, a spinoff of Hitachi and maker of fiber optic components for the telecom and data networking industries. As CEO, he orchestrated the company’s revitalization, driving record sales by renewing the product line by 70 percent, cutting expenses by $25 million and reducing currency exposure threefold following the rapid appreciation of the Yen.
Prior to Opnext, Gilles spent much of his career at Hewlett-Packard, concluding his 17 years at the Silicon Valley stalwart as executive vice president of Global Operations. Reporting directly to CEOs Carly Fiorina and Mark Hurd, Gilles was instrumental in the company's dramatic turn-around in the mid-2000s. He oversaw HP’s $50 billion supply chain and sales operations, reducing overall costs by $1 billion per year and streamlining IT costs and complexity by 50 percent. While serving in a dual role as CIO, Gilles was named to CIO Magazine’s Top 100. He also served as executive sponsor to global clients such as Samsung, AMEX, British Telecom, Vodafone, UPS and Nokia. Earlier in his time at HP, Gilles led the Pavilion consumer PC division in North America and made the brand the dominant market leader capturing 40 percent retail share in just two years.
Prior to HP, Gilles served as a research engineer at IBM Watson Laboratories and at the University of California, Berkeley.
A native of Paris, France, Gilles is an avid cyclist, diver, climber and skier with a certification as a backcountry ski guide. Gilles and his wife Elizabeth have been active supporters of the CMTA, a non-profit organization dedicated to finding a cure for the neuro-muscular condition called Charcot-Marie-Tooth.
He holds an MS in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley and a BS in engineering from Ecole Centrale de Lyon, France.
Jim Marggraff
Founder and Vice-Chairman
For more than 20 years, Jim Marggraff has dedicated his energy, vision and inventiveness to developing products, content, technologies and IP to improve communication, learning, productivity and advance human thought. Jim founded Livescribe in 2007 and served as CEO through December 2011. During this time, he invented and brought to market the award-winning Echo and Pulse smartpens, designed to enhance the capture, access, and sharing of written and spoken information. Prior to Livescribe, Jim held numerous 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 globally renowned LeapPad Learning System and the Fly Pentop Computer, Jim’s commitment to innovation and dedication to learning drove sales of over $1 billion of LeapPads and educational content worldwide, and impacted the lives and education of over 50 million children. 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; IPO in 2002), was on the founding team of StrataCom (IPO in 1992; acquired by Cisco), and since 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.
Jim has received many honors throughout his career; most recently the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year® 2011 Northern California Award in the technology category. This award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who demonstrate excellence and extraordinary success in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. Jim was also named in the MIT 150 list of Ideas, Inventions and Innovators who helped shape our world in 2011. Jim continues to push the boundaries of what’s possible and is named on more than two dozen patents and patent applications.
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.
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 higher education sales manager for Apple Computer in Cupertino, California and Tokyo, Japan. While in graduate school 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. Andy has founded several education-related companies including Smart.fm (formerly Cerego) of Tokyo, Japan and Livescribe of Oakland, California. As Chief Scientist and Senior Science Advisor, he has earned a number of patents on technologies focused on increasing the effectiveness, efficiency, and accessibility of teaching and learning. He is presently an Assistant Professor of the Practice at Vanderbilt University where he teaches undergraduate and graduate-level courses in research methods, instructional design, and technology forecasting. 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 15 years of experience working with high-tech companies, concentrating on corporate strategy, corporate governance, financings, business development, technology licensing and intellectual property, and distribution, sales and commercial transactions. Prior to co-founding Livescribe, Sasha served as senior legal counsel of three public companies: as Assistant General Counsel at CNET Networks, Senior Counsel at LeapFrog Enterprises, and Assistant General Counsel at Lexar Media. His responsibilities have ranged the full spectrum of legal activities, including corporate governance, securities, structuring and negotiating major corporate transactions, intellectual property and securities litigation, patents, trademarks, licensing, anti-piracy, product safety and quality, online privacy, advertising, government affairs, and employment. He has also managed corporate development activities including merger integration, global sales expansion to 50+ countries, and the creation of international subsidiaries. Prior to moving in house, Sasha worked at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, specializing in intellectual property licensing, counseling, and litigation, and at Latham & Watkins in San Francisco, specializing in intellectual property and complex business litigation. 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.
Brett Halle
Senior Vice President, Engineering
Brett has dedicated more than 30 years pursuing his passion in the software development and hardware industries. With 21 years at Apple™ under his belt, Brett brings a diverse range of technical and managerial skills to Livescribe’s engineering department. Most recently, Brett served as Apple’s senior director of networking and kernel technologies. In this role, he was responsible for the direction, creation and implementation of the common operating system technologies shared across all Apple products and platforms, including the Apple iPad®, iPhone® and iPod®. Previously, Brett was the senior director for Final Cut Studio, where he oversaw the creation of a suite of applications for video and audio editing, special effects used by everyone from major movie and TV studios to independent film producers to aspiring consumers. He managed key technology and partner relationships with Sony™, Panasonic™, the BBC and CNN. Earlier in his Apple tenure, Brett served in a variety of roles focused on software development, management and technological innovation. Brett attended California State University at Long Beach and majored in electrical engineering and computer science.
Wendy Brauchler
Vice President, Human Resources
Wendy is an experienced human resources executive, having led the HR functions at several innovative Silicon Valley companies. Her expertise encompasses staffing and recruitment, compensation, process improvement, performance management, employee relations, and training and development. Her experience includes international HR, acquisitions, restructuring, and startup environments. Prior to Livescribe, Wendy served as vice president of Human Resources for SupportSoft, Inc., a global provider of support automation software, which ensures technology critical to real-time businesses functions properly. While there, she led staffing of a first-class virtual call center, which scaled to more than 300 agents, reorganized the existing workforce to optimize efficiency in the enterprise business, and developed an overall compensation plan to support the company’s evolving objectives. Wendy also led Human Resources at several other start-ups, including AppStream, a software company providing application streaming technology, which was later acquired by Symantec, and Trace Analytical, a manufacturer of semiconductor test equipment, which was later acquired by SAES Getters. For several years, Wendy has also applied her organizational development and team-building skills as a volunteer mentor at MIT’s Venture Mentoring Service in the Bay Area, helping young technology entrepreneurs accelerate their paths to success. Wendy earned her bachelor’s degree in Social Work at the University of Wisconsin. She has a Senior Professional in Human Resources certification and is an active member of Society for Human Resource Management.
Stephen Dix
Senior Vice President, Sales
Stephen has spent more than 25 years in sales management, helping domestic and international technology companies manage consumer channels and expand distribution and operations. Prior to joining Livescribe, Stephen spent nine years with Malliet Consulting, most recently as a partner. There, he evaluated and analyzed new market opportunities, developing strategies and execution plans to help his clients capitalize on them. His clients included Proxim, Asante Technologies, Infrant and Buffalo Technology – a company he helped grow into the Top NAS vendor in the United States. In the fifteen years prior to Malliet, Stephen successfully oversaw sales and marketing operations at a variety of companies both large and small, such as Borland International, Farallon Computing, and SysKonnect and NETGEAR. During his seven years at NETGEAR, Stephen was directly responsible for profitably growing the business from $0 in 1996 to $300 million in 2003.
Frank Lucero
Vice President of Finance
Frank Lucero is a seasoned finance executive with twenty years of experience managing and scaling finance and accounting organizations for technology and consumer products companies. Frank is responsible for Livescribe’s financial strategies and worldwide finance organization. He manages strategic planning and analysis, financial reporting, accounting, treasury andtax compliance. Prior to joining Livescribe, Frank served as the vice president of finance for NeoPath Networks, the industry leader in network attached storage virtualization. NeoPath Networks was acquired by Cisco for $100 million in 2007. In addition to his work with Neopath, Frank has also developed broad expertise serving in senior strategic finance roles for various technology companies, including Intel, LightLogic (a leader in optical/electrical components for fiber optic networks; acquired by Intel for $400 million in 2001), Nortel Networks, Clarify Software (a leader in CRM software; acquired by Nortel for $4 billion in 2000), Ernst & Young, Asyst Technologies and Koala Beverages (pioneer in the “new age” beverage industry; acquired by Nestle Beverages in 1996). Frank holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting and an MBA in International Business from California State University, Hayward.
