Management - Company Leaders

Management / Directors

Advisors

Chairman & Founder - Michael T. McKibben - Chairman's Blog

COO, Director - James E. Sobwick

Production Chief - Tim W. Fathbruckner

Senior Technologist - Steven M. Nester

Sr. Project Developer/Webmaster - Edward Crockett

Telecom Systems - Paul Petronelli

Director, Policy - Maynard Anderson

Director, Security & Strategy - William DeGenaro

Director, M&A - John Mott

Administration - Douglas Clay

Director, Marketing - Richard Fullerton

Databases - David Eaton

Sales & Marketing - Steven Gonzalez

Advisor - Ron Severance

Management / Director Bios

Michael T. McKibben, Chairman & Founder - Chairman's Blog
Mike McKibben founded Leader Technologies® in 1997 to develop and market software to provide better leadership communications to large and small enterprises. This effort has led to the award of the first of numerous patents pending by the United States Patent and Trademark Office - U.S. Patent No. 7139761. This patent is the foundation of the Digital Leaderboard® platform engine that drives all Leader® products and services. This web-based platform enables large-scale voice, video and data collaboration without all the overhead and cost normally associated with integrated communications. Currently Leader offers next-generation conference calling services through its LeaderPhone® brand and voice alerting services through its Leader Alert®  brand. Previously, as Founder and CEO of Planning Works, Inc. Mr. the rapid redevelopment of AT&T's flagship unified messaging software AT&T AccessPlus on all Microsoft Windows platforms in close cooperation with AT&T Bell Labs and multiple AT&T messaging and Internet business units. He has also designed and built software applications for decision support, knowledge management, executive information, personal information management, and personal digital assistants on various platforms. Before transforming his consulting practice into software development, Mr. McKibben spent over ten years as a strategic management and productivity consultant with clients such as IBM, NCR, AT&T, Gillette, PaineWebber, The Bank Administration Institute, The Ohio State University, Chemical Abstracts, National Aerospace Plane Project, and Lennox Industries. He is a graduate in civil engineering from The Ohio State University and has authored numerous books and publications on leadership and management. He was a finalist for the Columbus Technology Council's 2007 TOP CAT Award for Executive of the Year, under 50 employees. Leader was also a finalist for Service of the Year. Mr. McKibben's Leader responsibilities are company vision, strategy, strategic relationships, marketing and sales, investor relations, product design, and recruiting.

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James E. Sobwick, Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Sobwick has twenty-three years of experience in telecommunications. Most notably, as CEO of ConQuest Telecommunications, he engineered the $100 million sale of ConQuest to SmarTalk (NASD:SMTK), a pre-paid calling card company, that subsequently sold to AT&T. In the merger, he became the CTO/CIO of SmarTalk and built out an infrastructure capable of supporting $1 billion in revenue with such customers as the U.S. Postal Service and leading mass merchandisers, consumer electronics retailers, supermarkets, hotels, home office superstores and convenience stores throughout North America and the U.K. Mr. Sobwick has served in various corporate capacities including CEO, CTO, CIO, Director, CFO, Strategic Planning and Operations. From 1984 to 1987 was a co-founder of LCI International, a Midwest based fiber optic carrier, that eventual sold to Qwest. Mr. Sobwick's most recent position was CEO/Director of Communications III, a video conferencing and competitive local exchange carrier. He received Bachelor of Science degrees in Mathematics, Computer Science and Operations Research eventually with an MBA in Quantitative Management Techniques from Kent State University.

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Tim W. Fathbruckner, Production Chief
Mr. Fathbruckner is a lead developer of the Digital Leaderboard® system and has been involved in every phase of design, development, implementation and deployment. Prior to Leader Mr. Fathbruckner was Chief Engineer for Fischer Backus Corporation whose major clients included ABB Automation, Eaton IDT and Mettler Toledo. He attended The Ohio State University and graduated from Franklin University with a degree in Computer Science

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Steven M. Nester, Senior Technologist
Prior to his senior role at Leader where he specializes in object-oriented technologies, Mr. Nester was a consultant specialist with EDS for over ten years where he was responsible for development of deliverables pertaining to the General Motor's Tool Control System as well as the JPAS (Joint Personnel Adjudication System) for the US Department of Defense from its inception. He has also performed development and consulting for RNJ Insurance Inc. Mr. Nester holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from The Ohio State University as well as a Masters in Business Administration from Ashland University.

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Edward Crockett - Senior Project Developer/Webmaster
Prior to joining Leader where he specializes in web application development and content management, Mr. Crockett served as web consultant to The Ohio State University Marching Band and was on the development team for the Borden Chemical intranet where he also served as the primary SAP-BW consultant. Mr. Crockett has over twenty years experience in the IT industry in central Ohio including Nationwide Insurance, Online Computer Library Center (OCLC) and The Ohio State University.

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Paul L. Petronelli, Telecom Systems
Mr. Petronelli is a chief systems architect for Leader and is CEO of Palm Associates, Inc. His clients have ranged from start-ups to the Fortune 10 and his projects have involved corporate product development and quality assurance to training engineering staffs and managing high-pressure development environments. His focus is in cellular systems, voice-centric, management and embedded systems. His clients have included Bank of America, T-Mobil, Sprint, Verizon, Cingular, Magellan, WebTV, Nokia, Telocity, Stratacom, Cisco, Network Appliance., Qualcomm, Vertical Networks and Lucasarts.

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Maynard Anderson, Director
Mr. Anderson is currently President of Arcadia Group. He is a former United States Deputy Undersecretary of Defense for Security Policy and was the United States representative to NATO. He was responsible for providing staff advice and assistance to the Under Secretary of Defense in the development of overall defense policy for international security programs, national disclosure policy, special access programs, NATO security, the Foreign Disclosure and Technical Information System (FORDTIS), and related security policy automations systems, as well as emergency planning and preparedness, crisis management, and special and sensitive activities. Mr. Anderson received the Presidential Rank Award of Meritorious Executive in 1985 and 1992 and the Department of Defense Distinguished Civilian Service Award for exceptional contributions to the national security. His Leader responsibilities include policy, strategy, intellectual property, security, government and corporate relations.

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William (Bill) DeGenaro, Director, Security & Strategy Advisor
Bill DeGenaro is President of DeGenaro & Associates, a business intelligence services firm. He was the Director of Business Research & Analysis for 3M Company. He also served 3M Company as Director of Innovation Resources and Strategic Planning Director. He served the White House as Director of Strategic Countermeasures Planning under Presidents Reagan and Bush. Mr. DeGenaro is the co-founder and principle of The Center for Operational Business Intelligence and he is a Fellow and Director of the Society of Competitive Intelligence. He holds a management degree from the University of Illinois and advanced degrees from Harvard University, Columbia University, the Joint Military Intelligence College, and the University of Minnesota. His Leader responsibilities include business intelligence, intellectual property, security and strategic planning.

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John Mott, Director, M&A
Mr. Mott is currently a partner in Corporate Financing Associates, an investment banking firm. He has over 35 years of experience in senior corporate leadership including strategy, development, P&L line management, mergers and acquisitions, professional services and various senior executive roles with EDS, Ernst & Young, Perot Systems, AMR Information Services, BSG Corp, and MCI.  He served as President of EDS Korea and EDS (worldwide) Director of Mergers and Acquisitions. His Leader responsibilities include finance, business development and intellectual property.

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Douglas Clay, Administration
Mr. Clay was a longtime business manager of The Ohio State University Athletic Department, having worked for six different Athletic Directors, most recently Andy Geiger. His last task at the university before retiring was to oversee the opening of Ohio State's state-of-the-art, multi-purpose Schottenstein Center sports complex. He oversaw the management and finances for all 36 intercollegiate sports for the university, including writing the legendary coach Woody Hayes' checks every month. Mr. Clay has been an active Leader shareholder and assists with various administrative activities.

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Richard Fullerton, Director, Marketing
Mr. Fullerton is President of TSG/Empire Great Lakes, Inc. where he manages a full-service sales, marketing and retail services organization specializing in and supporting over $200 million in grocery and food general merchandising revenue for companies like The Kroger Co.

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Advisors - Leader Technologies

David Eaton, Database Architect
Mr. Eaton joined Leader in 1999. He has been chief architect on numerous large-scale Fortune 1000 and government databases and ERP systems. Mr. Eaton's Leader responsibilities include architecture, programming and testing.

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Steven P. Gonzalez, Sales & Marketing
Mr. Gonzalez is currently a partner at the investment banking firm of Bernstein & Co. Previously he was Senior Vice President of Affina, a Customer Relationship Management company. Formerly, Mr. Gonzalez was Senior Vice President of Sales, Field Marketing & Customer Care for Dantis Corporation. Prior to joining Dantis, Mr. Gonzalez was Vice President of Sales for Opus360 Corporation, an Internet staffing supply-chain solutions provider and with Sanford C. Bernstein and Co., Inc. in their Private Client Asset Management Practice. Before joining Bernstein, Mr. Gonzalez held various positions with AT&T, serving most recently as Sales Vice President, U.S. for AT&T's internet, e-commerce, and data networking businesses. In this capacity, Mr. Gonzalez led AT&T's sales of web hosting services, internet access, and data networking offerings. In this capacity, Mr. Gonzalez led AT&T's sales of web hosting services, internet access, and data networking offerings. He managed in excess of $4 billion in annual AT&T revenues. Mr. Gonzalez brings more than 20 years of sales and sales leadership experience to the Leader advisory board, encompassing computer, data networking, internet hosting, and internet connectivity disciplines. Mr. Gonzalez holds a B.S. in Marketing and Finance from Illinois State University.

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Ron Severence, Advisor
Mr. Severance is President & CEO of R&S Seve Corp., the largest mobile food service provider in the United States. His company specializes in high volume, rapid setup and delivery food service. He provides services to many well-known national and international events including the Super Bowl, NBA Final, NASCAR, Patriots Stadium, and Live Aid and transportation centers including the Massachusetts Turnpike and Hereford Airport. Mr. Severance supplied vital services at Ground Zero in New York and in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Ron has been an active Leader director and shareholder.

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