Enrico Pesatori
Chairman
Enrico was appointed C.E.O. of Penguin Computing in November 2003 and Chairman in 2004. Before joining Penguin Computing, Enrico was CEO of BlueArc, a network attached storage company. Before BlueArc he served as senior vice president and group general manager of Compaq's enterprise solutions and services group. Enrico was also president of Tandem Computers, Inc. and joined Compaq when it acquired Tandem Computers in 1997. Before joining Tandem, Enrico was vice president and general manager of Digital Equipment Corporation's Computer Systems Division. Enrico earned a Masters degree in Electronic Engineering from Polytechnic Institute in Turin, Italy.
Charles Wuischpard
President and Chief Executive Officer
Charles joined Penguin Computing in January 2007. Formerly vice president of worldwide sales at GoldenGate Software, Charles brings 22 years of in-depth enterprise experience, including 16 years with IBM. Prior to joining GoldenGate Software, Charles was vice president of field operations for Versant Corporation, driving all revenue producing activities in the Americas and Asia. Before joining Versant, Charles served as managing director of Perficient, a Java-based internet consulting practice. Charles started his career in sales at IBM in 1986. He rose quickly up the ranks to hold a series of executive positions, ultimately heading up sales and marketing for IBM's Application Integration Middleware Business Unit for the Americas where he was instrumental in driving significant growth in the Business Unit's high-growth segments. Charles has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Purdue University.
Ed Ekstrom
Director
A high tech pioneer, Ed Ekstrom is managing director of vSpring Capital. Before joining the vSpring team, Ed served as vice president of the Intel Communications Products Group and general manager of the Intel Utah Software Development Center, a post given to him after Intel acquired LANSystems where Ed was a principal. Prior to Intel, Ed was a vice president at CeriSyn and a founder at Cericor, which was acquired by Hewlett Packard in 1985. Ed is a trustee at Westminster College and a director of the Economic Development Corporation of Utah. Ed is the former chairman of the Utah Information Technologies Association. Ed holds a BS in computer science from Brigham Young University and a MBA from Westminster College. Ed led the firm's investment in Cemaphore, Fatpipe Networks, Gandiva, LanDesk Software, Levanta, XAware, and Soronti which was acquired by Avocent (NASDAQ: AVCT).
Scott Potter
Director
Scott is the founding managing director of San Francisco Equity Partners (SFEP), a private equity firm that invests in expansion stage companies. Scott was also managing director of LMS Capital, the private equity arm of London Merchant Securities plc, the parent organization of SFEP. Before joining London Merchant Securities, Scott was senior vice president of field operations at Inktomi Corporation and president and chief executive officer of Quiver, Inc. before it was acquired by Inktomi in August of 2002. Prior to that, Scott was executive vice president at World Res. Scott's technology career began as an attorney for Silicon Valley law firm Venture Law Group. Scott holds a BA from the UC Berkeley and a JD Degree from UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law. He is also on the board of directors for Method Products, MCF Corporation, Modviz, and Rave Motion Pictures.
Sam Spadafora
Director
Sam is Chairman of both Chegg.com, a revolutionary textbook rental company, and TuVox, an innovator in contact center solutions. In the past he served as Chairman and CEO of Chordiant Software and has more than 30 years of high-technology management experience and a proven track record in successfully developing early-stage companies. Before joining Chordiant, Sam was Sun Microsystems Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations for the microelectronics business. He was responsible for customer and OEM relationships, field sales and marketing, customer engineering and service in support of the SPARC, Java processor and Java embedded consumer product lines. During that time, he led the growth of a worldwide customer base and increased industry acceptance of SPARC and Java-based technologies and revenues. Sam also served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Field Operations for the Santa Cruz Operation. He was also previously a key executive for Altos Computer Systems where he was Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, and Memorex where he was Vice President of U.S. sales operations. Sam holds a bachelor's degree in marketing from Eastern Michigan University.
Cameron Steele
Director
Cameron Steele is a Partner at San Francisco Equity Partners, focusing on consumer Internet and technology investments. Currently, Cameron serves on the boards of directors of the Guild and Penguin Computing and has board observation rights with Luxury Link. Until recently, Cameron served on the board of Modviz Inc., which was sold to Nvidia. Prior to joining SFEP in 2005, Cameron held senior investment management and equity research positions at McMorgan & Company, RBC Capital Markets, and Dain Rauscher Wessels. Prior to these roles, Cameron held marketing, finance, and planning roles at Verity, Inc. and Oracle Corporation. Cameron has a BA in Political Science from Stanford University and an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. He lives in San Francisco with his wife and two daughters.
Jeron Paul
Director
An experienced entrepreneur and corporate development executive, Jeron joined vSpring in 2002 as a principal. Before joining vSpring, Jeron was most recently Director of Board Services for Thomson Financial (NYSE: TOC). He accepted this position after convincing Thomson to invest $1.5M in an online business intelligence service for boards of directors called BoardLink which he formed. From 1999 to 2002, Jeron worked as a consultant in Monitor Group’s Boston office where he advised clients on a range of strategic, operational, and organizational improvements. Jeron has also worked in corporate development at RSA (now EMC) and as a summer associate at vSpring. Jeron received a Masters of Business Administration from the Harvard Business School and a B.S. in Economics and Philosophy, cum laude, from Brigham Young University. Jeron currently serves as a director on the boards of Sybrant Technologies, Netaphor Software, and Celio Corporation, and works with the boards of Penguin Computing, XAware, Cemaphore and Sparxent. Jeron previously assisted with LANDesk (sold to Avocent, NASDAQ: AVCT) and Soronti (sold to Avocent, NASDAQ: AVCT).