Management Profiles

Frank Wilde
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Frank Wilde, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, is a five time veteran CEO who has led both public and private companies and has over 25 years of sales, marketing and business development experience in the computer industry. He has held executive management positions at IBM, Dell Computer Corporation, Memorex Telex Corporation, Wicat Systems, Collaborative Technologies Corporation, Summagraphics, Academic Systems Corporation and Ravisent Technologies Corporation. He has over 20 years P&L experience and has led or been a team member of companies that raised over $380 million in equity financing, completed 34 merger and acquisition transactions and returned significant returns for shareholders. He previous public assignment was as  CEO and President of Tarantella Inc., an enterprise software company delivering secure remote access products to Fortune 1000 companies worldwide, which was acquired by Sun Microsystems in 2005. Prior to that he led Ravisent Technologies Inc which was a Fast 50 Software Company that he took public in 1999 and sold in 2001. Ravisent received numerous awards under hs leadership including three times PC Magazine Editors Choice awards for product excellence, Frost and Sullivan award for excellence in strategy, Technology Pioneer award from the World Economic Forum and three time Deloitte and Touche Fast 500 award, including one year when the company was number 1 in its region and 9th nationally.

Mr. Wilde received a Bachelor's degree in business administration from Seton Hall University. He served on active duty in the United States Army between 1973 and 1979 and retired from the United States Army Reserve in 1994. He has been committed to the personal and professional development of his management teams, received the 1999 Republican Businessman of the year award,  is a member of numerous fraternal organizations and is married with 3 chidren.

Richard Connelly
Chief Financial Officer

Mr. Richard Connelly joined the Company as Chief Financial Officer in April 2007. Mr. Connelly previously served as Chief Financial Officer at Citadel Security Software Inc., a security software enterprise from March 2002 to April 2007.  Citadel was acquired by McAfee, Inc. in December 2006.  He also served as Chief Financial Officer of CT Holdings Enterprises, Inc. a business technology incubator. Mr. Connelly brings 32 years of financial management experience to the Company primarily in technology companies.  Prior to this, he served as Chief Financial Officer for several venture funded technology companies, including from February 2001 until December 2001 at ASSET InterTech, Inc., a boundary scan software tool developer; from September 1998 through November 2000 at JusticeLink, Inc., an ecommerce legal services provider; and from April 1997 through July 1998 at AnswerSoft, Inc., a developer of computer telephony software. From February 1987 through March 1997, Mr. Connelly served in various financial management capacities at Sterling Software Inc., an enterprise software development company, including Vice President Corporate Controller, Vice President Treasurer and Group Vice President Finance & Administration of Sterling's Systems Management Group.  He also has prior experience as a financial manager with Texas Instruments and an auditor with Ernst & Young LLP. 

Mr. Connelly holds a BS in Accountancy from the University of Illinois, MS in Finance from the University of Texas at Dallas and is a Certified Public Accountant in Texas.

Philip Loeffel
President

Mr. Philip Loeffel, President, has over fourteen years of experience leading high-growth, technology companies. Mr. Loeffel was a co-founder of Riptide Software, Inc. and served as its President and Chief Executive Officer until its acquisition by Shea Development Corp. in 2007. Under his leadership, Riptide Software grew from a small software start-up into a leading provider of sophisticated software solutions with over $10 million in annual revenue. During Philip's tenure, Riptide was recognized as one of the 500 fastest growing companies in North America by Deloitte & Touche for three consecutive years. In 2002, Riptide was the fastest growing technology company in Florida with an impressive five year revenue growth rate of 6432%.

Philip's unique understanding of the technology sector is based on years of technical project leadership responsibilities at the enterprise level in addition to hands-on technical activities. He leverages this combination of leadership, management, and fiscal responsibility to execute key decisions with a deeper understanding of both technical and business issues. Philip remains a hands-on leader and has created a company culture where ensuring the complete satisfaction of every Riptide client is the highest priority for every employee. His perspective helps guarantee delivery and a profitable return on investment for Riptide's customers and investors.

Prior to founding Riptide Software, Philip held key information technology positions with Software Technology Inc., a leading provider of command and control systems for communication and global positioning satellites and subsequently with Harris Corporation in the Government Aerospace Systems Division.

Mr. Loeffel attended the Florida Institute of Technology (Florida Tech) where he earned a Bachelor's Degree in computer engineering then graduated with honors with a Master's Degree in computer science and software engineering. In March 2004, Philip received a prestigious Gold Award in recognition of being the university's "outstanding graduate of the last decade" for his contributions to the field of software technology.

Tom Wheeler
Vice Chairman

Mr. Tom Wheeler was the founder and previously served as the CEO of Information Intellect, Inc. a leader in providing industry specific technology solutions to utilities. Prior to founding Information Intellect in 1997, Mr. Wheeler worked as a Division Vice President and member of the Utilities Industry Leadership Council for Electronic Data Systems (EDS) where he was responsible for the financial systems practice within the Utilities Business Unit. Prior to joining EDS in 2001, Mr. Wheeler worked in Public Accounting, managed and owned his own tax practice, worked for Illinois Power Company and was a shareholder and employee of Energy Management Associates (EMA) a privately held software and consulting firm specialized in the utilities industry sector. EMA was acquired by EDS in 2001.

Mr. Wheeler graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Accounting from Eastern Illinois University in 1983 and became a CPA in 1984 in Illinois. Mr. Wheeler has been active in various industry associations and delivered speeches on relevant industry and technology topics. Some of the organizations Mr. Wheeler has publicly addressed include: Edison Electric Institute, American Gas Association, United States Telephone Association, Association for Computers in Taxation and several others. In addition, Mr. Wheeler has volunteered his time and assistance in working on various committees of these organizations and has provided expert insight and testimony to relevant industry topics over several years.

Joe Vitetta
Executive Vice President and Corporate Secretary

Mr. E. Joseph Vitetta Jr., Executive Vice President, Mergers and Acquisitions, has over eighteen years in the high tech industry. His technology career began as the first outside sales person for Dell Computer in 1988 and grew to management roles at Dell, Memorex, CompUSA, Academic Systems, Ravisent Technologies and Axeda Systems. Mr. Vitetta has extensive background in international sales customer development both in EMEA and China. He is responsible for all M&A activity for the company’s strategy as well as the company’s Corporate Secretary. During his tenure at Ravisent, Mr. Vitetta held key leadership positions during the company’s IPO process to include –VP, World Wide Sales, General Manager of Internet Appliance Division and most recently, VP of Corporate and Business Development focusing on Mergers and Acquisitions. He contributed over $20m in revenue with multi-million dollar contracts with Gateway, Sony and HP. Mr. Vitetta was responsible for the divestiture of Ravisent’s three business units for over $75m. In addition, Mr. Vitetta has over ten years of selling experience in the retail industry with companies like Adidas. He received his BS, Industrial Design from the College of Architecture of Arizona State University. Mr. Vitetta has also completed Executive Education programs from Columbia University, Wharton and Center for Creative Leadership.

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