BOARD OF ADVISORS
Matt Cassin
Matt Cassin was co-founder and President of Live Advice (InfoRocket.com), a
company anonymously connecting consumers to independent professionals via a web
and telephony system. In February 2003, LiveAdvice was sold to Keen, Inc (d/b/a
Ingenio, Inc.) For five years Matt was a key figure on LiveAdvice's business,
marketing and product development teams, a board member, and he served in
several operational roles. He was sole fundraiser for Series A and B rounds
raising $28.3 million for Live Advice (lead investors were Draper Fisher
Jurvetson and The Carlyle Group respectively.) Prior to LiveAdvice, Matt
attended Georgetown University, receiving a BA in 1998. Matt is currently
studying at the Columbia School of Business.
Jeffrey Hecktman
Jeffrey B. Hecktman is Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Hilco Trading
Co., Inc., one of the most active and successful asset repositioning firms in
North America and Europe. Hilco Trading is a dynamically-integrated holding
company for The Hilco Organization, which is comprised of ten subsidiaries, each
providing specialized, asset-based services to retailers, wholesalers,
distributors, manufacturers and their lenders. Mr. Hecktman is an active member
of the National Retail Federation, the Commercial Finance Association, the
Turnaround Management Association and the American Bankruptcy Institute.
Robert La Blanc
Bob La Blanc is the former Vice Chairman of Continental Telecom Corporation and
a former general partner of Salomon Brothers, Inc. Bob is President of Robert E.
La Blanc Associates, Inc., an information technologies consulting and investment
banking firm, and is active in the field of venture capital. He is also a
director of Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd., Computer Associates,
Salient 3 Communications, Inc., Storage Technology Corporation, The Titan
Corporation, and a family of Prudential Mutual Funds. While at Salomon, Bob La
Blanc was voted the leading Wall Street telecommunications industry analyst for
each of the six years from 1973 to 1978.
William Pappas
Will Pappas is the Director of Sales for SNL Financial and serves on its board.
Will has over 12 years of financial services, business and sales experience.
Since 2002, Will has been with SNL Financial, the premier information specialist
for the banking, insurance, financial services, real estate and energy sectors,
together over 25% of the U.S. equity market. Will came to SNL via an
acquisition: he started a financial analytics software company, Y-Merge, in 1999
and sold it to SNL in 2002. From 1996 to 1999, Will served in many sales and
business development capacities at Multex, an aggregator of research and
financial information, acquired by Reuters in 2003.
Stuart Sindell
Stuart brings 40 years of experience as a legal advisor to Wall Street. The firms he has advised in roles ranging from Compliance Attorney to General Counsel represent a roster of blue chip firms including D.B. Zwirn & Co., L.P., Dillon Read, Lehman Brothers, and Datek Online. Among his past professional activities are President of the Compliance and Legal Division of the Securities Industry Association, member of the NASD Business Conduct Committee (District 10) and member of the Legal Advisory Committee of the Board of Directors of the New York Stock Exchange. He is a graduate of the New York University School of Law and Brooklyn College.