Michael L. Dowling is a private investor and
consultant with extensive experience in corporate finance and banking.
Since 1994, he has been president of the corporate general partner of
Sawgrass Electronics Group, Ltd. (Sawgrass), a Florida limited partnership
and established Sawgrass Seacoast Management Corp. Sawgrass
financed and managed the turnaround of Micro Networks Corp., which now
serves a $50M blue-chip customer base of optical networking, computer and
aerospace manufacturers. Until 1984, Mr. Dowling was treasurer of Harris
Corp., of Melbourne, Fla., the $3.5-billion-sales, multinational
electronics firm. At Harris, Mr. Dowling handled evaluation, due
diligence and post-acquisition integration of communications and
information processing companies such as Sanders Data Systems (Sanders'
parent is now Lockheed/Sanders), Lanier Business Systems, and the Farinon
group of microwave, PBX and telephone equipment companies. He was
co-founder and sponsor of a management buy-out of Redgate Communications
(now a subsidiary of America Online Inc.) and of Unipower, an Inc. 500
producer of high-end power supplies. From 1968 to 1976 he worked for First
Interstate Bank of California, founding the Hong Kong-based
merchant-banking subsidiary and managing its southeast Asian and Australia
expansion. Earlier, for eight years, he was with the U.S. Foreign Service
in the Middle East. He is a 1959 honors graduate of Harvard College, and
was an exchange student at the Free University of Berlin in Germany, and
studied accounting and business subjects at UCLA and the American
Institute of Banking.
John P. Kemp is an independent software
consultant, and a co-founder of the Berkshire Technology Coalition. Until
October, 1999, Mr. Kemp was senior software engineer at Employease Inc. an
Atlanta-based supplier of simplified administration and communication of
employee-benefits information to Fortune companies and administrators,
advisors and vendors who serve them. Previously, Kemp contributed
significantly to the Clickshare code as a consulting programmer. A
freelance writer, designer, and software developer, he holds a degree in
Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence from the University of
Sussex, Brighton, England, and has over 10 years experience in providing
mission-critical computer systems to commercial users, including the
Woolwich Building Society, London, England, the third-largest mortgage
corporation in Great Britain. He is a competitive triathlete and
runner.
Dr. Leslie D. Ball is chairman of the management
information systems department in the management school at Northeastern
University, and was formerly assistant dean of information systems at the
UMass-Amherst Isenberg School of Management. For the previous 10 years he
was a partner with Computer Science Corp.'s (CSC) Integration Company
where he managed an international business processing re-engineering
management consulting practice. Before CSC, he was on the faculties of
Babson College, Arizona State University, and Northeastern University. He
has consulted with over 100 companies in the United States, Europe, and
South America, helping senior executives understand the business impact of
new computer technologies. Dr. Ball is the author of over 80 journal
articles and two books. He serves on the executive Board of the Society of
Information Management. BS, Northeastern University; He holds an MBA from
Boston College; and Ph.D., from the University of Massachusetts-Amherst.
Edward J. Bride is a Lenox, Mass.-based
marketing and editorial consultant specializing in high- technology
(principally software) firms which emphasize network
computing. Mr. Bride has 30 years of experience in the
computer/publishing industry, including stints as the youngest-ever
editor of Computerworld magazine. He established the first
divisional-level public-relations function at Hewlett-Packard Co.'s
engineering-workstation unit. From 1981-1991 he rose to senior vice
president and executive editor at Software Magazine, and was also in
charge of public-relations for Sentry Publishing Co. Inc., the
magazine's owner. He has been an active member of the Massachusetts
Software Council, editing its series of business-practices reports
under contract to Price Waterhouse. In 1988, he was voted one of the
five most-influential writers on personal computers by the subscribers
of MediaMap, an analysis service for high-tech marketing
executives.
Edward J. ("Ted") Fleming III is a private
investor based in Springfield, Mass. From 1984-1996, he was president of
DMGT Corp., executing a turnaround of what became under his leadership the
largest credit-card processor for the catalog direct-marketing industry
until its 1996 sale to First USA Inc. In its last year of independence,
Nashua, N.H.-based DMGT was clearing over $5 billion annually for 900
clients, including Sara Lee Corp., Bloomingdales, Talbots and J. Crew, and
had revenues exceeding $115 million. Earlier, Fleming was retained by a
bank consortium to turnaround Taylor Rental Corp., which was sold to The
Stanley Works, increasing stockholder value by 500% over two years. From
1970-1982, he served in various roles at Milton Bradley Co., exiting as
vice president of its education division, including the Playskool product
line. Mr. Fleming holds a B.S. in finance from the University of Notre
Dame, and a certificate from the advanced management program at the Tuck
School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College.
Sharon R. Shepard is a partner in the
Boston Community Venture Fund, which invests in businesses that create
stable jobs and economic independence in low-income communities around
New England. Prior to that, she was senior vice-president at
Massachusetts Ventures Management Inc., a quasi-public regional
development consultant for Western Massachusetts. Shepard has 16
years experience in business development, marketing and software
product development, primarily in the Pittsburgh, Pa., area, where she
founded and led the regional MIT Enterprise Forum and was honored as
Woman Entrepreneur of the Year. She has served as president of a
computer hardware company, vice president of marketing/sales of a
$5-million engineering-software company, and division manager of a
$30-million communications company. She holds an M.S. in mechanical
engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a
B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Vermont.
