Management

Ted Werth, Chairman & CEO - Founder
Ted founded PlumChoice, the first remote services offering for the consumer and small business markets, in 2001. With the fast-growing adoption of broadband Internet, and increasing complexity of technology in everyday lives, Ted realized that the online, desktop sharing methods used in the enterprise were exactly the kind of quick, convenient and effective services the home and small office markets needed. From that, PlumChoice was born.

Prior to PlumChoice, Ted held various management and operating roles with data networking companies such as Chipcom and 3-Com. He led the creation and delivery to market an online collaboration service and a marketing portal for small businesses prior to starting PlumChoice. Ted started his career working as an engineer for Westinghouse.

Ted is now pursuing his life's passion -- helping people of all ages and skill level use technology safely, securely and effectively so that it may be a source of help and enjoyment in their lives, not a hindrance. Ted is forever challenging the status quo in technology services, raising the bar before others have recognized the need and refusing to compromise. Frequently quoted in the media and the author of several patents, Ted remains the foremost expert in the exploding technology services market. Born and raised outside the nation's capital in Chevy Chase, MD., Ted has always had an eye for engineering and technology. Ted studied at Lehigh University, earning his B.S.E.E. in 1982 and earned an MBA from Northeastern University.

Fred King, Chief Operating Officer
"The Results Guy"
Fred came to PlumChoice by way of its funding partner Edison Ventures, a New Jersey-based venture capital firm that had witnessed Fred's skill and acumen first hand in a previous position. Fred joined PlumChoice in late 2007 to lead its sales and marketing teams with an initial emphasis on channel partner sales. Fred took on a larger role at PlumChoice in June 2009 and was named COO. Previously, Fred has held positions at Chrysler in the engineering and scientific computing division, and also ran a small business during his college days around computer support, while building nearly 500 computers for the university lab. From Chrysler, Fred joined Netscape just post-IPO to help sell consulting services to large enterprise clients and moved through the ranks to eventually lead their entire Americas region.

Kevin Rhodes, Chief Financial Officer
"Financial Strategist"
Kevin is responsible for building and monitoring the strong financial metrics of PlumChoice, while directing the overall accounting, audit and tax and investor relation functions and associated practices within the company. He also helps to evaluate strategic business opportunities that support the company's future growth. He joined PlumChoice in September 2009.

Kevin's depth of experience spans all major financial disciplines. Prior to joining PlumChoice, he served as Chief Financial Officer for eight years with a high growth, publicly held firm, Edgewater Technology, Inc. (Nasdaq: EDGW), where he held a pivotal role within the management team. Edgewater is a provider of technology management consulting services primarily in the business intelligence and data services space. He also held senior financial management positions with Eliassen Group, Inc., a technology staffing and solutions firm and within Waste Management, Inc., a Fortune 100 environmental services and manufacturing company. Kevin began his career with Simione, Macca & Larow, CPAs, and is Certified Public Accountant.

Kevin serves on the Board of Directors and Audit Committee for the Massachusetts Society of CPAs, on the Board of Directors for the Financial Executives International - Boston Chapter, and on the organizing committee for the Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital "Celebration of Life" program.

He holds a B.S. degree in Accounting from Merrimack College and an MBA from the F.W. Olin School of Business at Babson College, graduating summa cum laude.

Rich Surace, Senior Vice President, Operations
"Chief Conductor"
Before joining PlumChoice, Rich served as vice president of call center solutions for Accent Marketing Services where he engineered, built and managed the strategic direction for the segment. Prior to Accent, he was the Vice President of Call Center Division for TAC Worldwide. Rich also served as Senior Vice President of North America Operations for Contact World, Inc. Rich brings more than 15 years of experience in leading, creating and managing technical operations for organizations from 100 to 12,000 technical associates, including several Fortune 500 Companies. His resume includes powerhouse brands such as Siemens, TAC Worldwide, Stream International Inc., Teleperformance USA and CompUSA.

Rich received his undergraduate degree from Ithaca College, and went on to earn a M.B.A. from the University of Maryland. He is certified in Project Management and is trained in ISO 9001 quality standards. He is a member of the Help Desk Institute (HDI), American Teleservices Association (ATA) and the Direct Marketing Association (DMA).

At PlumChoice, Rich's passion and commitment to technology has played an integral part in driving the company's recent growth and creating a technical team that surpasses the industry standard in quality and reputation.

Chanchal Samanta, Chief Technology Officer
"Technology Strategy Leader"
Chanchal is an industry veteran with a track record of helping to build successful companies. In recent significant roles he has been the SVP of R&D at Applix (acquired by Cognos in 2007), and VP of Product Development at Unica (IPO in 2005). In previous roles he has served as an SVP at Genesys Labs, and a VP of Technology Solutions at Fidelity Investments. Chanchal joined PlumChoice in October of 2009, and is responsible for driving technology strategy and special projects. He brings to the role deep experience in building high performance enterprise-scale systems, knowledge of diverse application domains, and a passion for driving value through the use of technology.

Chuck Welti, Chief Information Officer
"The Technology Owner"
Chuck joined PlumChoice from State Street Bank in the summer of 2009 to lead its information technology group. At State Street, he held the position of vice president of enterprise architecture and played a key role in IT transformation and strategy. Prior to State Street, he led the advanced technology delivery and enterprise architecture groups for Investors Bank and Trust where he was a key player in transforming IT to handle the largest financial services customers. He also served as vice president of integration services for Veridiem, an internet startup, as well as principal for IBM Global services. Chuck has more than 25 years experience in technology and has held leadership positions in IT, consulting services, and product companies. He has a keen focus on delivering technology solutions that are highly scalable and fault tolerant.

Wynn Grubbs, Vice President of Sales and Marketing
"The Partnership Guy"
Wynn joined PlumChoice in July 2009. He brings more than 20 years of executive sales and marketing experience in both private and public companies to his position. Before PlumChoice he led the sales, marketing and account management teams at a number of companies including early-stage and venture capital funded firms CommercialWare, Independent Mobile (IMO) and Valora Technologies. He spent nine years at Lightbridge, an outsourced services company servicing the converged telecommunications market, where he helped build the company from a $16M private company to a publicly traded company with revenues in excess of $100M.

He has an extensive background in the outsourced services, SaaS and software sectors including specific experience in telecommunications, retail and legal industries. Wynn began his career as an entrepreneur; he founded and operated two different retail businesses. He holds a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from Southern New Hampshire University.

Estelle Prescott, Executive Director of Project Manager Office
"The Implementer"
Estelle joined PlumChoice December 2007. Estelle has over 15 years experience in the contact center business with extensive experience in project management, contact center strategic planning, staff recruitment and management, and training support representatives. Prior to joining PlumChoice, Estelle directed the Contact Center Solutions team at TAC Worldwide. In two years the revenue grew 100% to nearly $21M. Prior to joining TAC in 2003, Ms. Prescott managed Stream International's corporate help desk business with annual revenues exceeding $10 million. She has also served as a Global Implementation Manager for one of the world's leading financial services organizations corporate helpdesk, and managed over 200 technical support voice and email agents for a leading software company. She is an experienced trainer, providing training for software applications, customer service skills and leadership skills.

Josh Goldlust, Executive Director Product Management
"The Builder"
Josh came to PlumChoice at the end of 2008 after spending several years at AT&T. Most recently, he served as Director of Product Development where he negotiated agreements and solutions with strategic partners and launched new products and services for emerging technologies. In addition, Josh spent several years creating custom service offers for Fortune 1000 companies headquartered in the Boston area. Previously, he worked in Silicon Valley for Neslab Instruments, a Thermo Company, in charge of creating custom OEM equipment for semiconductor fabrication equipment manufacturers. Josh brings over a decade of experience in custom product development and offer negotiation skills within the telecommunications and semiconductor industries. Josh holds a B.S. from the University of New Hampshire and a M.B.A. from Boston University.