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About PocketGear

PocketGear is the world's largest cross platform, open app store and content marketplace with a catalog of more than 140,000 paid and free titles available for discovery and download. To date PocketGear has generated over $400 million in mobile content revenues for the more than 32,000 developers in the PocketGear Developer Program. PocketGear powers storefront and content solutions for over 40 partners, including 4 of the world's top 5 handset manufacturers, 3 of the top 5 mobile operators in the US, 3 of the top 10 mobile operators globally, and leading media and ecommerce companies, including Samsung, LG, Sony Ericsson, Research in Motion, Microsoft, T-Mobile, AT&T Wireless, and Verizon Wireless. In addition PocketGear operates the largest independent app store network of direct to consumer properties, including Handango.com, PocketGear.com, Mobile2Day.de, SymbianGear.com, AndroidGear.com, RIMGear.com, Smartphone.net, and PalmGear.com.

PocketGear is headquartered in Durham, NC with offices in Munich, Germany and Irving, TX.

The PocketGear Team

Management Team
Jud Bowman, President & CEO
Alex Bloom, Chief Operating Officer
Tim Horan, Vice President, Business Development
Ralf Ockenfelds, Vice President, International
Slawek Pruchnik, Vice President, Technology
Matt Stein, Vice President, Developer Relations
Val Stiebris, Vice President, Finance & Controller
Guy Waitley, Vice President, Content

Board of Directors
Jud Bowman, President & CEO
John Moragne, Trident Capital
Mike Elliott, General Partner, Noro-Moseley Partners
Steve Nelson, Managing Director, Wakefield Group
Kevin Talbot, BlackBerry Partners Fund
Bruce Boehm, Independent Venture Capitalist

• Jud Bowman

  President & CEO - PocketGear, Inc.

  Jud is the President & CEO of PocketGear and has helped grow the company into the largest cross platform, open app store and content marketplace with a catalog of more than 140,000 paid and free titles available for discovery and download. To date PocketGear has generated over $400 million in mobile content revenues for the more than 32,000 developers in the PocketGear Developer Program. Jud led the acquisition of PocketGear from Motricity in June 2008.

  Prior to PocketGear, Jud co-founded Motricity (Nasdaq: MOTR) in September 1999 and was instrumental in growing Motricity to more than $100 million in annual revenues and 500 employees globally. As Motricity's Chief Technology Officer, Jud was the chief architect of one of the industry's leading mobile content delivery platforms that has delivered more than $3 billion of content to mobile phones and was named the 2006 Best Service Delivery Platform by the GSM Association, Best Content Service Delivery Platform by Mobile Entertainment magazine and honored by Frost & Sullivan as the Premium Mobile Content Platform of the Year in 2005. In June 2010, Motricity successfully completed a $50 million IPO co-led by Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan.

  Jud has spoken at conferences across 4 continents, including CTIA Wireless, CES, the Red Herring 100 Conference, European Technology Roundtable Exhibition (ETRE) in Athens, The Forum on Global Leadership, Wireless Strategy, Mobile Internet Summit and PCIA GlobalXchange, and is a frequent guest speaker at Duke University's Fuqua School of Business and University of North Carolina's Kenan-Flagler Business School. Jud has also spoken at venture capital and investment banking conferences, including the Goldman Sachs Internet Conference, Lehman Brothers Worldwide Wireless and Wireline Conference, and Pacific Crest Technology Forum. Jud has been featured in over 500 national media publications, including profiles in the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, CNN/CNNfn, Red Herring, Financial Times, Wireless Week and a cover story in the December 2002 issue of Wireless Review.

  Jud has been named one of the world's "Top 100 Young Innovators" by MIT's Technology Review and one of "Tech's Best Young Entrepreneurs" by BusinessWeek in 2007. He was also recognized as a winner of the Ernst & Young "Entrepreneur of the Year" award in the Carolinas in 2001 and 2010. Jud is currently on leave from Stanford University, where he was named a President's Scholar, and is a graduate of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics.

• Alex Bloom

  Chief Operating Officer

  Alex is Chief Operating Officer of PocketGear where he is responsible for the overall operations of the business, including both strategic direction and tactical execution. Prior to PocketGear, Alex served as Chief Executive Officer of Handango and joined the company with PocketGear's acquisition of Handango in February 2010. At Handango Alex was instrumental in expanding the company's distribution channels and forging content partnerships with top media brands.

  With more than a decade of experience in the industry, Alex has worked in all facets of the wireless landscape including with carriers, content providers and smartphone app stores in various positions in general management, sales and marketing and product management. Prior to joining Handango, Alex served as the general manager of the smartphone business at Motricity where he oversaw the direct to consumer website, channel partnerships, technology development and the customer care divisions of the mobile content solutions and wireless services company.

  Alex joined Motricity after 11 years at Verizon Wireless, most recently as the director of content and programming where he led a team responsible for $500 million of annual mobile content revenues. During his time at Verizon Wireless, he managed the content and programming strategies and operations for all consumer mobile content businesses including BREW, Ringtones, Ringback Tones, VCast Video and Mobile Web. Additionally, Alex spent six years in various sales and marketing positions at GTE Wireless, including cutting the first Mobile Web (WAP) content deals for the launch of GTE's first Mobile Web offering in 1999.

  Alex earned a Bachelor's degree in Commerce with a concentration in Marketing from the University of Virginia.

• Tim Horan

  Vice President, Business Development

  As PocketGear's Vice President of Business Development, Tim is responsible for driving new and existing business with device manufacturers, mobile operators, media companies, smartphone operating system providers, and other distribution and channel partners.

  With over fifteen years of experience managing and developing a number of fast growth mobile technology and online media businesses, Tim has worked in all facets of the mobile and online media landscape including with carriers, handset manufacturers, content providers, application stores, brands, and in various positions in general management, sales, business development, customer operations and product management.

  At Motricity, a pioneer in providing mobile data solutions to mobile operators, Tim was part of the initial management team where he led global business development, sales and customer operations and helped close the initial contracts with mobile operators. Joining in 2001 as one of the first 30 employees, Tim was responsible for establishing Motricity's distribution, technology and content licensing agreements that supported many of the leading mobile operators, handset manufacturers, and content providers, developing a footprint of over 150 million subscribers globally, supporting over 10,000 application developers and content providers, and closing contracts that generated over $2.5 billion in mobile content revenues.

  Prior to Motricity, as an early employee at Excite, one of the first search engines and online portals, Tim was responsible for expanding distribution and growing revenues for various search, advertising, and e-commerce businesses for Excite Mobile, Excite.com, and the broader Excite@Home Network of properties. Tim joined Excite Inc. in 1996, and during his tenure in sales and business development, he was responsible for closing advertising and commerce contracts totaling over $50 million in revenue.

  Most recently Tim was Co-founder and President of Beecoz, a grant award funded local social search service that makes it simple and easy for people to find and share information about local businesses.

  Tim received a Bachelors of Science degree in Business Administration from Northeastern University and has a patent pending for the dynamic creation of address-based social networks.

• Ralf Ockenfelds

  Vice President, International

  Ralf is Vice President of International and a founding member of the management team at PocketGear, where he is responsible for driving PocketGear's international business. In 2001, Ralf founded the European mobile content portal Mobile2Day, growing it to one of the largest smartphone application distribution networks in Europe prior to its acquisition by Motricity in 2004. Following the acquisition, Ralf served as General Manager of Motricity Germany GmbH.

  Prior to founding Mobile2Day, Ralf was the Editor in Chief of one of the leading computer magazines in Germany, PC Magazin. Ralf also served as Editor of several European computer magazines including Level 16, Data Welt, and PC Praxis.

  Ralf is the author of five technical books, including "Tips and Tricks for your PC Printer", which was published in six languages.

• Slawek Pruchnik

  Vice President, Technology

  Slawek is the Vice President of Technology and a founding member of the management team at PocketGear. As Vice President of Technology, Slawek heads technology strategy and leads the development team for PocketGear's smartphone application distribution network.

  In 1999, Slawek co-founded the original PocketGear.com and as Chief Technology Officer architected the mobile content delivery platform that delivered tens of millions of applications to smartphones and mobile devices, leading to the company's acquisition by Motricity in 2004. Following the acquisition, Slawek served as Vice President of Site Operations at Motricity where he was involved in architecting the smartphone application platform and managing partner deployments.

  Slawek received a Master of Science in Computer Information Systems degree with a specialization in software management from the University of Detroit Mercy. He is also a Microsoft Certified Professional and member of the Microsoft Software Developer Network.

• Matt Stein

  Vice President, Developer Relations

  Matt is Vice President of Developer Relations and a founding member of the management team at PocketGear, where he is responsible for managing and growing our global developer community. Matt has also served as Vice President of Site Operations at PocketGear, where he was responsible for site operations, marketing, and customer support.

  Matt joined the original PocketGear.com as its first employee in 2000 and played a key role in building the developer community and increasing revenues, leading to the company's acquisition by Motricity in 2004. Following the acquisition, Matt served as Developer Relations Manager at Motricity with responsibility for managing the smartphone developer community and later as Operations Manager with overall responsibility for Motricity's direct to consumer and smartphone application business.

• Val Stiebris

  Vice President, Finance & Controller

  Val serves as Vice President of Finance and Controller for PocketGear where he heads up the accounting and finance functions for the company. Val brings over eighteen years of financial leadership including merger and acquisition experience in the technology field. In 2000, Val joined A4 Health Systems as Controller, overseeing accounting and finance and leading the integration of several acquisitions as revenue grew to over $75 million. In 2006, A4 Health Systems was acquired for $272 million by Allscripts, a leading provider of software and services for the healthcare industry. Val stayed on as Vice President of Finance where he was a key member of the integration team and provided financial and operational support for 3 business divisions with multiple product lines.

  Prior to A4 Health Systems, Val held a financial leadership position with a rapidly growing distribution software firm and began his career at KPMG.

  Val graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant. He is a member of the North Carolina Association of CPAs.

• Guy Waitley

  Vice President, Content

  Guy is Vice President of Content for PocketGear where he is responsible for the content catalog, developer relations, channel partner management, and customer service.

  Prior to PocketGear, Guy served as General Manager of Content and Devices at Handango and joined the company with PocketGear's acquisition of Handango in February 2010. At Handango, Guy was responsible for the content catalog, developer relations, new content acquisition, on-device distribution, and testing.

  Recognized as an influential leader with over 15 years of wireless experience, Guy's earlier career highlights include serving as Executive Account Director of Wireless Carriers and Handsets at Tele Atlas, Vice President of Brand Management and Wireless Business Development at ATX Group, and Associate Director of Business Development and Marketing at Garmin International. While at Garmin, his responsibilities included launching Garmin's line of mobile devices and developing relationships with partners including Microsoft, Palm, Worldmate, QuickOffice, SplashData, and Astraware. Guy also worked at Sprint for eight years, most recently as Director of Business Development, where he played a key role in the launch of Sprint's Wireless Web and drove content and handset manufacturer partnerships with Yahoo, Samsung, Qualcomm, Motorola, and Sanyo.

  Guy holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration and Juris Doctor from the University of Kansas. He is a member of the Kansas Bar for the practice of law.

 

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Board of Directors

• Jud Bowman

  President & CEO, PocketGear

• Mike Elliott

  General Partner, Noro-Moseley Partners

  Mike has more than 20 years of investment experience, most recently as a general partner with the Wakefield Group in Charlotte, North Carolina. Prior to that time, Mike served as Managing Director for NationsBank Capital (now Bank of America Capital Investors), where he led a number of private equity financings in companies in the cable, healthcare and financial services market segments. He was also a founding general partner of NCNB Venture Company.

  Prior to joining NMP in 2005, Mike worked extensively with the firm as a co-investor in numerous portfolio companies, including OpenSite (acquired by Siebel in 2000) and Cypress Communications (acquired by Arcapita in 2005).

  Mike received a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics and an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was a Morehead Scholar and Maurice Lee Fellow.

• Steve Nelson

  Managing Director, Wakefield Group

  Steve joined Wakefield Group in October 1999 as managing director and partner. He established the venture capital firm's Research Triangle Park, N.C., office. Steve joined Wakefield after 19 years of executive and general management experience in technology, software and Internet-based businesses. During the last three years of his career before starting a venture capital career, Steve was at Quokka Sports, a digital media company, in several executive roles. Quokka raised over $140 million in capital and successfully completed an IPO in July, 1999.

  Steve served as chief executive of a joint venture company between NBC Sports and Quokka Sports, NBC/Quokka Ventures, LLC. Prior to Quokka, he served as a vice president with Informix Software, based in Menlo Park, C.A. His first business experience was 14-plus years at IBM, ultimately as vice president and general manager in San Francisco.

  Steve is a member of the board of directors and chairman of the executive committee at Motricity and is also on the board of directors for APEX Analytix and Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina. He was a past chairman of North Carolina's Council for Entrepreneurial Development, is co-founder of North Carolina's Innovation Association and is a member of the Investment Advisory Committee for the State Treasurer's office of North Carolina and its $70 billion investment portfolio.

  Steve received his Bachelor of Science degree in Business from Wake Forest University.

• Bruce Boehm

  Independent Venture Capitalist

  Bruce is an independent venture capitalist, an advisor to several specialty venture capital funds, and on the adjunct faculty of the Kenan Flagler School of Business at UNC, Chapel Hill. From 1992 to 1996 he created and directed the Masters of Engineering Management Program at the University of Canterbury in Christchurch, New Zealand. Prior to 1992 he was a General Partner of U. S. Venture Partners in Menlo Park, California, with responsibility for a portfolio of approximately 20 health-care and technology investments. Prior to 1982 he was employed by several Silicon Valley and Route 128 companies as an engineer and project manager. Bruce received a BS from MIT, and an MS and MBA from Stanford University. During his career he has been a director of more than 30 publicly and privately held companies.

• John Moragne

  Senior Managing Director, Trident Capital

  John has has been with Trident since co-founding the firm in 1993. From 1989 to 1993, John was a Principal with Bain Capital, a leveraged buyout firm affiliated with Bain & Company. He was also a Principal of Information Partners Capital Fund, a private equity firm associated with Dun & Bradstreet Enterprises and Bain Capital. Earlier in his career, John was a management consultant with Bain & Company. John's current directorships include AirTight, ECO2 Plastics (ECOO.OB), E&C Medical Intelligence, HomeAway, Infopia, Perfect Escapes (Intagio), Sojern, Turn and Vixxi. He is a Board Observer to Sabre.

• Kevin Talbot

  Co-Managing Partner, BlackBerry Partners Fund

  Kevin is Co-Managing Partner of the BlackBerry Partners Fund™ in addition to being Managing Director of RBC Venture Partners where he oversees North American venture capital investments in early-stage enterprise software and services companies. Kevin has a long and successful track record as an entrepreneur and operator in the information technology industry in both Canada and the USA where he developed extensive start-up, growth and turn-around experience. Kevin began his career as an associate with a leading chartered accounting and management consulting firm. Kevin represents the Fund on the board of Xobni and also sits on the boards of Brickstream, Lumeta, and Igloo on behalf of RBC Venture Partners.

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Investors

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  Trident Capital

  Trident Capital is one of the world's leading venture capital and private equity firm with more than $1.8 billion of capital under management, including the recently closed Trident Capital Fund VII. The firm has made over 160 investments since inception in 1993. Trident has investment offices in Palo Alto, CA and Westport, CT. For more information on Trident Capital visit http://www.tridentcap.com.

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  Noro-Moseley Partners

  Founded in 1983, Atlanta-based Noro-Moseley Partners ("NMP") is one of the largest and most experienced venture capital firms in the southeastern United States. Since its inception, NMP has created five limited partnership funds totaling approximately $580 million in capital and has invested in approximately 160 companies.

  In 2000, NMP announced the closing of NMP V, a $320 million venture capital fund, the largest ever in the Southeast. Our mission over the last twenty-three years remains the same: to partner with strong management teams to build companies of significant value.

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  Wakefield Group

  Founded in 1988, Wakefield Group has provided growth capital to more than 40 companies, primarily in North Carolina. We manage more than $100 million of capital, operate offices in Charlotte and Research Triangle Park, NC, and are privately owned.

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  BlackBerry Partners Fund

  BlackBerry Partners Fund is the leading independent venture capital firm focused exclusively on mobile computing. In collaboration with Research In Motion, along with Thomson Reuters and Royal Bank of Canada, the global fund brings unparalleled domain expertise to the partnerships it forms with exceptional entrepreneurs around the world. For more information on Blackberry Partners Fund visit http://www.blackberrypartnersfund.com.

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  TomorrowVentures

  TomorrowVentures is an opportunistic investment firm with a focus toward seed and early-stage venture capital investments that develop innovative ideas that have the power to change the way people live, interact, and thrive. Founded in 2009 with a unique approach to venture capital and an extensive, diverse base of experience and expertise, we add value far beyond capital. For more information on TomorrowVentures visit http://www.tomorrowvc.com.