Management

Sam Cece

Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

Sam Cece's executive management expertise is the result of over 18 years in enterprise software and systems sales, marketing and operations. Before StrongMail Systems, Mr. Cece joined BEA Systems pre-IPO and held a number of key, world-wide, senior management positions during his tenure, including President of the Global Services Division; Vice President and General Manager of BEA's WebXpress Division; and Vice President of Worldwide Marketing. Prior to joining BEA, Cece held a number of marketing management positions in Silicon Valley. Cece holds a B.S. degree from Woodbury University. Read Sam's blog »

Michael Della Penna

Executive Vice President

Della Penna is a respected marketing thought leader with a solid track record of launching successful marketing, branding and sales strategies for leading public and private companies. Most recently, Michael served as chief marketing officer for Epsilon, a leading provider of multi-channel, data-driven marketing services. While at Epsilon, Della Penna led all corporate marketing, branding, market positioning, lead generation and communications efforts. Prior to joining Epsilon, Della Penna was CMO at Bigfoot Interactive, which became Epsilon after its 2005 acquisition. Before that, he was vice president of strategic development at CNET Networks, Inc., where he designed key strategic plans to increase revenue and grow and retain key audience segments. Previously, Della Penna was vice president of marketing at ZDNet, which was later acquired by CNET Networks and lead direct response marketing efforts for a leading enterprise software provider, Cheyenne Software (now CA/Computer Associates). Michael received a B.B.A and an M.B.A. from Hofstra University.

Bill Griffin

Chief Financial Officer

As chief financial officer, Bill Griffin manages all finance, administration and human resource activities for StrongMail Systems. Griffin is a respected industry veteran with more than 20 years of senior management experience in public and private accounting. Most recently, Griffin served as CFO of InsWeb Corporation (Nasdaq:INSW), where he was responsible for the executive oversight of accounting, finance, investor relations and treasury. During his 6-year tenure with InsWeb, Griffin helped manage the restructuring of the company to become a profitable and successful online insurance marketplace. Prior to InsWeb, Griffin was executive vice president and co-founder of ZipSend, Inc., an Internet infrastructure company. Previously, as CFO of Inference Corporation (Nasdaq: INFR), Griffin orchestrated private placements and launched the company's initial public offering, which helped transform the small, privately held CRM software company into an international, publicly held organization.

Griffin began his career as a certified public accountant with Ernst & Young, where he developed the firm's Los Angeles-area software industry practice. Griffin holds a BA degree in business economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara.

Matthew W. McLaughlin

Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales

Matthew McLaughlin is a seasoned sales executive who has consistently outperformed growth targets during a remarkable 15-year career spanning pre-revenue companies and multi-billion organizations. As vice president of worldwide sales, McLaughlin is responsible for StrongMail's global sales strategy and actively manages its distributed sales force.

Prior to StrongMail, McLaughlin served as vice president of worldwide field operations at Azul Systems, where he a built a global sales force and accelerated customer acquisition of numerous marquee brands, including Citi, Credit Suisse, and Goldman Sachs. Previously, McLaughlin served in a number of executive sales positions at BEA Systems, including vice president of global accounts. During his seven-year tenure, he managed and grew the sales and marketing efforts of BEA's largest and most strategic customers. McLaughin was responsible for setting several sales milestones, including 144% year over year license revenue growth. Additionally, as BEA's vice president of Asia Pacific, McLaughlin transformed the region into BEA's most profitable with growth in excess of 300%.

Previously, McLaughlin held senior sales management positions at BackWeb Technologies and Insignia Solutions. McLaughlin holds a BS in economics and finance from Lock Haven University.

Tim McQuillen

Chief Information Officer and Founder

Tim McQuillen most recently managed all technical operations for L90, Inc. Mr. McQuillen successfully directed L90's technical operations and engineering teams for this top-tier advertising network with over $40 million in annual revenue. McQuillen was also responsible for all of the systems and network operations that supported adMonitor™, an email and online marketing application service provider that reached over 65% of all Internet users.

Prior to L90, Mr. McQuillen was Director of Business Development and Marketing for TigerEye Consulting, LLC, an online-based executive technical recruiting firm and Associate Partner of Quest Worldwide, an executive technology staffing company. McQuillen holds a B.A. in Psychology from the University of Texas at Austin. Read Tim's blog »

Bob Tekiela

Chief Technology Officer

As Chief Technology Officer, Bob Tekiela is responsible for StrongMail's product and technology direction, product design and implementation. An industry veteran, Tekiela has 20 years of experience driving technology vision and strategy, building, motivating and leading technology organizations, and designing and building technology systems and products. Most recently, Tekiela served as CTO of social media marketing innovator PopularMedia, which StrongMail acquired in 2009. Prior to PopularMedia, Tekiela was Vice President of Technology at Sapient Corporation and CTO at Digitas. He has also led development of Internet and marketing technology solutions for numerous global brands, including GM, Janus, Microsoft, Wells Fargo, Williams-Sonoma and VeriSign. Bob holds a MS from AGH University of Science and Technology in Krakow, Poland.

Bill Wagner

Executive Vice President of Business Operations

As EVP of Business Operations, Bill has overarching responsibility for StrongMail's Marketing, Client Services, Strategy and Product functions. Bill brings 15 years of management, marketing, product and operations experience with enterprise software companies to StrongMail Systems. Prior to joining StrongMail, Bill spent 10 years at BEA Systems in senior management positions where he helped take the company from startup to $1B in revenue. Most recently, Bill was Vice President of Sales Operations at BEA with global responsibility for sales enablement and related projects. Prior to BEA Systems, Bill held management positions with other companies in the technology and aerospace sectors, including Novell, Unix Systems Laboratories and Smiths Industries where he had global product responsibility. Bill earned a BS Degree in Engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, and an MBA from Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Shirish Puranik

Executive Vice President of Engineering and Product

Shirish Puranik has over 16 years experience in the software industry. Most recently, he was with @Road, Inc. where he was a member of the management team that successfully grew the company from a startup to a profitable public company with annual revenues of over $60 million. As Vice President of Software Development, he built the software team in US and India , delivered reliable, scalable web-based software that handled over 3 million transactions per day and delivered key features including web-based mobile location services and real-time wireless messaging capabilities. As Vice President of Pocket Applications, he successfully spearheaded the initiative to expand @Road's applications into the new GPS phone market.

Prior to @Road, Mr. Puranik served for 7 years at Oracle Corporation. As Director of PL/SQL and interMedia Text, he managed development, release engineering, product management and technical marketing, and delivered major customer features and performance improvements. Before joining Oracle, he was a senior software engineer at Digital Equipment Corporation. He holds 2 patents with 2 more in the application process.

Puranik has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay , an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida and an M.S. in Engineering Management from Stanford University.

Paul Conley

Vice President of Technical Services

Paul Conley is a 20-year veteran of the software industry, with extensive worldwide experience in customer support and software application development. Most recently, Paul served as Sr. Director of Worldwide Backline Operations at BEA Systems, where he ran an organization responsible for global backline support of BEA’s entire product portfolio – an organization consisting of more than 100 engineers in 14 support centers around the world. During his 7 year tenure with the company, Paul held a series of management positions, through which he transformed the company’s ability to proactively support over 15,000 customers worldwide including the majority of the Fortune Global 500. Prior to BEA, Paul held technical development and management roles at Bell-Northern Research and at TCSI, a consulting firm serving the global telecommunications industry. Paul holds an Honors degree in Computer Science from the University of Ottawa, Canada.

Ryan Deutsch

Vice President of Emerging Media

An online marketing veteran and industry thought leader, Deutsch has more than 12 years of direct marketing experience across the catalog, retail and publishing industries. An addition to a bi-weekly MediaPost column, Deutsch is a regular contributor to multiple industry publications, including DM News, BtoB Magazine, and Chief Marketer. Deutsch has been and remains a frequent speaker at industry events, including the DMA Annual, eTail, ad:tech and the MediaPost Email Insider Summit.

Most recently, Deutsch served as vice president of marketing automation at Premiere Global Services, a global outsource provider of email and business process solutions. In that role, he was instrumental in brokering customer relationships with numerous global brands. Previously, Deutsch was vice president of sales and marketing for Twelve Horses North America, where he was responsible for its email marketing suite of products. Additionally, as vice president of SpringDot, Inc., Deutsch managed key account relationships and oversaw operations of the Cincinnati-based commercial print and email provider. Deutsch holds a BS in accounting from Indiana University. Read Ryan's blog »

Kristin Hersant

Vice President of Corporate Marketing

An interactive marketing veteran, Kristin Hersant has more than 14 years of experience managing successful integrated marketing programs to raise awareness and generate demand. An active voice in the industry and regular contributor to marketing trade publications, Hersant has risen to become a respected leader in the field of email marketing and social media for B2B and B2C marketing. Since joining StrongMail in 2004, Hersant has spearheaded all corporate marketing efforts, which have helped fuel the company’s strong growth and industry reputation.

Most recently, Hersant served as the global marketing communications manager for Mindjet, where she implemented innovative marketing programs and branding initiatives that helped increase global sales by 20 percent. Prior to Mindjet, Hersant played a pivotal marketing role at L90, where her efforts helped lead the company to its highly successful IPO in 2000. Hersant’s marketing experience also spans influential positions at Better Brand Management, FeatureCast and Buzz Magazine. Hersant holds a BA in history from UCLA. Read Kristin's blog »

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