Key Management
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James M. Powers, Jr.
Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer View LinkedIn Profile |  |
James M. Powers, Jr. has served as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of iLinc Communications, Inc. (iLinc) since December 1998. Powers is responsible for the overall business strategies and vision, helping position the company as one of the top Web conferencing and desktop video collaboration software in the industry. Prior to joining iLinc, Powers was Co-Founder and Chairman of Clearidge, Inc., a privately held bottled water company in Nashville, TN from 1993 to 1999. He led Clearidge through 13 acquisitions over three years to become one of the largest, independent bottlers in the Southeast, and the company was sold in 1999. Powers was also a Founder, President (Organizational), and Director of Barnhill’s Buffet, a company that developed, owned and operated a chain of 50 restaurants in the Southeast that was sold in 2005. Powers was a Founder, Chairman and President of Liberty Dental Alliance that began business in Nashville, TN in 1997 and merged with Pentegra Dental Group (AMEX: PEN) based in Phoenix, AZ in December of 1998. Pentegra was iLinc’s predecessor company, and Powers joined the company as Chairman, President and CEO. Pentegra Dental Group sold its dental practice assets in 2002-2003 and acquired five software companies that enabled web based training. The company name was changed to iLinc with a focus on web and desktop video conferencing delivered as software-as-a-service (SaaS) and on premise solutions. Powers received a Doctorate of Dental Surgery Degree from The University of Tennessee, a B.S. degree from the University of Memphis, and an MBA from Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management.
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James L. Dunn, Jr. JD., CPA
SVP, Chief Financial Officer & General Counsel View LinkedIn Profile |  |
James L. Dunn, Jr., assisted with the formation of the Company and was an integral part of the Company's initial public offering. Dunn has over 20 years of experience in finance, law, business and technology. As Chief Financial Officer from 2005 to 2009, Mr. Dunn was responsible for leading financial initiatives and corporate strategy for iLinc. Since the Company's inception, Dunn has been responsible for all corporate development activities, including the acquisition of its Web conferencing and audio conferencing assets. Dunn also serves as General Counsel for iLinc, a role he assumed in March of 2000. In this role, he managed the legal transition of iLinc from its legacy business beginnings to its current Web and audio conferencing focus. He holds a law degree from Southern Methodist University School of Law and a B.A. in business administration - accounting from Texas A & M University.
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Jason Walker
Vice President, Sales View LinkedIn Profile |  |
As Vice President of Sales, Jason Walker leads the company's winning sales strategy in growing customer base and client success. Walker brings nearly 15 years of software sales and operations experience to iLinc Communications. Before joining the company, he served as Director of Corporate Sales for ACT!, Sage Software CRM Division, where he increased revenue from $12.3 to $19.2 million during the course of two years and was responsible for account management and growth of 35,000+ corporate customers. As Director of Sales Operations for Cyclone Commerce (now Axway Corporation), Walker launched and grew the company's inside sales team, generating more than $1 million in new revenue and eventually accounting for more than 20% of the company's overall revenue. At QRS Corporation, Walker held the position of Director of Customer Enabling, managing 100 employees responsible for selling and implementing software and services to create secure and profitable trading communities across the global supply chain. Previously, Walker headed research and development of new sales channels at CellularOne. Certified by the Project Management Institute as well as Six Sigma, Walker holds a BA from California State University, Chico and an MA from The University of San Francisco.
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Frank X. Gartland
Vice President, Product & Technology View LinkedIn Profile |  |
Frank Gartland brings nearly 16 years experience in the software industry holding executive and upper management positions in product strategy and development, marketing, sales, business development and publishing. Before joining iLinc, he served as Vice President, Solution Strategy & Development at Incentive Logic, a custom online incentive solution provider, where his teams were responsible for client implementations, enterprise architecture, application development, operations, network operations and IT. Prior to that he served as Director of Product Development at KnowledgeNet, where Gartland helped pioneer the delivery of instructor-led training over the Web. He is recognized as a leader in virtual classroom technology and proven approaches to content delivery over the Web. His teams delivered more than a half-million hours of virtual classroom instruction and built thousands of hours of expert-led recorded training helping to fuel triple-digit growth over a five-year span. When KnowledgeNet was acquired by Thomson, Inc., Gartland became the Director of Product Management and led the process of creating and deploying tools for a newly combined sales force and successfully integrated the overall product strategy and budget of the two companies. Prior to KnowledgeNet, he played an integral role with Mastering Computers as they went from less than 20 employees in 1991 to a publicly-traded company in 1996 (formerly NASD: MASC) and was sold to Platinum Technology in 1998 for $225 million. Gartland holds a BA from Purdue University.
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Tamara Saunders
Vice President, Finance & Corporate Controller |  |
Tamara Saunders joined iLinc in January 2006 and serves as Vice President, Finance & Corporate Controller. In this role, she is responsible for the company’s accounting, payroll, human resources, forecasting, management and external reporting, and financial analysis efforts. Prior to joining iLinc, Tamara held several finance leadership positions in the private sector. She spent five years in the external audit practice of Arthur Andersen in Dallas, Texas and London, England. Ms. Saunders is a CPA and holds both an MS and BS in Accounting from Texas Tech University.
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Ethan Abrams
Vice President, Product Development View LinkedIn Profile |  |
Ethan Abrams is a proven leader with a decade of experience in information technology. As Vice President of Product Development, Abrams is responsible for Product Development, Quality Assurance, and Information Technology. He joined iLinc Communications with the acquisition of Learning Edge, Inc. in 2000 and has overseen the technology integrations of subsequent acquisitions. Abrams continues to build and maintain highly effective teams that produce award-winning products for content authoring, content delivery and web-based communications. Prior to his tenure with Learning Edge, Abrams served as the Vice President of Technology and Marketing for Ergo Links, Inc., a national ergonomics consulting company and has also spoken at multimedia and development conferences across the United States. He holds a BA degree in Architecture, cum laude, from the University of Arizona.
| Mechelle Childs Director, Customer Experience |
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As Director of Customer Experience, Mechelle Childs is responsible for managing iLinc’s Account Management and Technical Support departments. Childs has over 20 years of experience in strategic management within leading technology companies. In every position held during her career, Childs has been successful in building and maturing organizations focused on delivering the highest levels of customer care. Childs joined iLinc in 2008 from Lumension Security, where she served as Director of Technical Services. There, she was instrumental in starting up and managing the companies global technical services organization providing technical support, training programs, and custom development offerings to a global customer base spanning multiple vertical markets. Prior to Lumension Security, Childs held management positions with publicly-traded Rockford Corporation and AT&T Financial Services.
Board of Directors
James M. Powers, Jr., Chairman, President & Chief Executive Officer
(Refer to biography in management section.)
Michael T. Flynn
Mr. Flynn joined the iLinc Board of Directors in June 2007. He served as a Director of WebEx (Nasdaq: WEBX) from January 2004 until May 2007. Flynn has over 39 years of telecommunications experience in the wireline, wireless, long distance and competitive local exchange telecommunications services and equipment sectors with Southwestern Bell Telephone, SBC, AT&T, Bell Communications Research, Inc. and Alltel. Flynn currently serves on the Boards of Directors of Airspan Networks, a publically held, worldwide, wireless broadband equipment manufacturer; Standard Renewable Energy, a provider of energy efficiency and alternative energy solutions; GENBAND, a privately held provider of VOIP infrastructure solutions; and Calix, a privately held manufacturer of broadband access platforms. Flynn holds a BS degree in Industrial Engineering from Texas A&M University.
Kent Petzold
Kent Petzold is a Senior Managing Director with Alare Capital Partners, LLC, an investment banking firm. Since 2001 Mr. Petzold has been a general partner of Arris Ventures, LLC, a venture capital firm. From 1998 thru 2001, he was Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Cyclone Commerce, Inc., a provider of supply chain management software. Mr. Petzold has held positions in several public software companies, including Chief Executive Officer of Novadigm, Inc. and Senior Vice President of the $165 million Systems Software Division of Pansophic Systems, Inc. He also served as Chief Executive Officer of privately held Viasoft, Inc. Mr. Petzold is a Director of Xenos Group, Inc. (TSE:XNS), JRiver, Inc., Precept Ministries International and is Chairman of Valley Capital Bank, N.A. He is on the Advisory Boards of Arizona State University’s College of Engineering and Computer Science, Arizona Angels, LLC and the state board of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. Mr. Petzold holds a B.A. in Management from the University of Texas.
James H. Collins
Mr. Collins has served as a corporate executive in financial/operational management for over 25 years, completing twelve corporate turnarounds/restructurings and start-ups, served as an investment banker for 10 years in the public/private capital markets, and served five years with an international accounting firm. Mr. Collins is Chief Executive Officer of Janus Health, Inc., an information technology and services company to physicians providing in-home care. He has been Managing Partner of Collins & Company, a financial consulting firm since 2000. He was Managing Director of AFS Industries, Inc. from 2002 to 2004. Previously, he was the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Vindrauga Corporation, a private equity and financial services firm and from 1998 until 2000, Mr. Collins served as President, Chief Operating Officer, Chief Financial Officer, and Director of Scripps Clinic, La Jolla, California. Mr. Collins is a Certified Public Accountant. He received B.S. and M.B.A. degrees from the University of Southern California.
John D. Rhodes III, M.D., F.A.C.C.
Dr. Rhodes is a general and interventional cardiologist board certified in Internal Medicine and Cardiovascular Diseases. He received his B.A. from the University of Kentucky in 1976 and his M.D. from the University of Louisville School of Medicine in 1980. He served as Chief Fellow in the Division of Cardiology, University of Louisville from 1984 to 1985. Dr. Rhodes was a founding investor in Texas Roadhouse Restaurants, Glyphics Communications and Beacon Solutions Group. He served on the Board of Directors at Beacon Solutions Group and Glyphics Communications where he also served as Chairman of the Board. He was also a member of the Advisory Board at Texas Roadhouse Restaurants.