Business Advisory Board

Mr. Sunil Tomar is a veteran Silicon Valley entrepreneur. He was a founder at Cyras Systems that was sold to Ciena in 2001 for $1.1B. Sunil is currently an independent investor and also the Founder & CEO of Brillus, Inc., a consulting company advising start-ups in the technology space. Sunil is also a limited partner in 6 Technology Venture Capital firms. Sunil was most recently SVP of Engineering of Ciena. Other experience includes Fiberlane (Cerent) and Cisco/Stratacom. Sunil holds an M.S. in Engineering (Digital Systems & VLSI) from San Jose State University, CA and a business degree from Sydenham College, Bombay, India.

Mr. Mark J. Wagner is the Chief Financial Officer for PromoWorks Holding Corporation, a Chicago-based leading marketing services company and one of the nation’s largest providers of product sampling and demonstration services to top consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies. Mr. Wagner joined PromoWorks in April 2006 as Chief Financial Officer. He is responsible for all financial reporting, business planning, treasury operations, human resources and risk and benefits administration activities at this $180 million New York, private-equity-sponsored company. Prior to joining PromoWorks, Mr. Wagner served for seven years as the Chief Financial Officer of Hickory Farms, Inc., an Ohio-based specialty meat and cheese distributor/retailer, also sponsored by a New York private equity firm. While at Hickory Farms Mr. Wagner negotiated several substantial financing packages and was part of a recapitalization of the Company. He was also responsible for the Company’s $100 million in annual procurement activities as well as the Information Technology Department. Prior to Hickory Farms, Mr. Wagner served as a senior finance executive at the H.J. Heinz Company’s $1 billion Heinz U.S.A. retail operations unit. He began his career with KPMG Peat Marwick’s Pittsburgh office in their Audit Department. Mr. Wagner is a Licensed Certified Public Accountant.

Mr. Stuart Silverman is a veteran of the retail industry with over 25 years of executive and management experience in product and business development at various retail software companies. During his career, he has focused on employing state-of-the-art point-of-sale, supply chain and merchandising systems at various leading retail chains to create competitive advantage for them. Mr. Silverman is currently the Principal Consultant for a technology-consulting firm providing strategic marketing and business development support for store level planning and replenishment systems. Prior to joining New Tech Marketing, Mr. Silverman has held various senior management positions with Armature Corporation.

Mr. King Rogers is a well-renowned expert of the retail loss prevention industry with extensive experience in identifying theft and fraud issues and developing innovative solutions to curb them. Currently, he is the CEO of King Rogers International (KRI), a consulting firm concentrating on loss prevention in retail, hospitality and food service industries. Prior to forming KRI in early 2001, Mr. Rogers served as the Vice President of Assets Protection for TARGET Corporation for almost seventeen years. Mr. Rogers has also served as the Chairman of the International Mass Retailers Association (IMRA) Loss Prevention Committee and was awarded the IMRA's President Award. He currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Cargo Security Council and several technology companies offering solutions to the security industry. Mr. Rogers is a Contributing Editor for the Loss Prevention magazine.

Mr. Steven Platt is the Director and a Research Fellow at the Platt Retail Institute (PRI), a retail research, consulting and analytics firm. He received his Bachelor of Science Degree in Finance and Marketing from the Boston University School of Management. He also has a Law Degree and a LL.M. in Taxation from Boston University, where he served as Articles Editor for the University's Journal of Tax Law. Mr.Platt has led courses for the American Management Association, is a frequent speaker, and has published many professional research papers and articles. He has coauthored five major research papers about digital communications networks, and has published articles in various journals including Digital Signage Quarterly, VM+SD Magazine, the National Association of Store Fixture Manufacturers Magazine and the POP Magazine. He has been quoted in publications including Chain Store Age, Stores Magazine, Supermarket News and Inc. Magazine. Mr.Platt is a member of the Executive Advisory Board at the University of Florida Center for Retailing Education and Research and the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association, an Associate Member of the American Collegiate Retailing Association and the National Retail Federation, and is a member of the Board of Directors of National Print Group, Inc.

Mr. Dan Kropp is the 2004 Chairman of the Board of ASIS International, having served as the 2003 President of this world's largest and most influential professional society serving the Security Industry. During Mr.Kropp's presidency, ASIS achieved great strides by establishing the Security Industry's first ever guidelines for professional performance, embarked on aggressive research initiatives, created two new professional certifications and purchased the publishing rights to the Security Industry's "Bible", Protection of Assets Manual. Mr. Kropp's career includes experience working as an entrepreneurial executive in a leading crime and data mapping company while serving as the Security Director of several organizations such as Meridian Bank, Philadelphia Zoo and two Philadelphia area hospitals. Mr. Kropp is also the Principal of D. H. Kropp & Associates, LLC, a Security Management company based in Collegeville, PA.

Dr. Ralph Oliva is a Marketing Professor and Executive Director overseeing the Institute for the Study of Business Markets (ISBM), a premier research institute focusing on marketing of goods and services between businesses, at the Pennsylvania State University. Dr. Oliva's areas of expertise include Business-to-Business Marketing, Integrated Market Communications and Business-to-Business and Ingredient Branding. Prior to joining Penn State, he was with Texas Instruments (TI) for 23 years. Dr. Oliva's career at TI spanned a variety of roles including Vice President of Market Communications and Design, Worldwide Brand and Identity Manager and Leader of the TI web team. Dr. Oliva regularly contributes to 'The Business Web' column in Marketing Management Magazine.

Mr. Nirmal Pal is the Executive Director of the eBusiness Research Center at the Pennsylvania State University since February 2000. Prior to joining the university, he served as the Director of IBM Global Services Consulting Group, New York. During his distinguished 39-year career at IBM, Mr.Pal directed IBM's e-business consulting practice worldwide and worked closely with Fortune 500 clients on e-business strategies. Since the inception of IBM Global Services in 1991, he has been a member of this group's management team and has helped to grow its business from zero to over one billion US dollars in just seven years.

Mr. Lawrence Dvorchik is the General Manager of KioskCom for JD Events LLC. Mr.Dvorchik is responsible for determining the overall strategy and direction of KioskCom, as well as being an influential leader within the interactive self-service industry for over 9 years. KioskCom is the world's largest and longest running kiosk and self-service conference and tradeshow, delivering business solutions focusing on interactive self-service programs. Under his leadership, KioskCom's flagship event has grown to become a winner of Trade Show Week's Fastest 50 Growing Events in the US and Canada, with over 2,500 attendees and 100 exhibitors, forming the largest kiosk specific event the world over. Over the years, KioskCom events have spanned the globe, from the United States to Europe to Australia.

Dr. Stuart H. Mann has served as Dean of the world renowned William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas since 1998. He holds the Michael D. Rose Distinguished Chair and is a faculty member in the hotel management department, as well as being dean. He is the author of over 35 published research papers focusing on problem-solving and decision-making. His more recent publications deal with both multi-objective and multi-criteria decision-making and simulation methods for training hospitality employees. Dr. Mann leads the tourism development practice for Globalysis, Ltd., a boutique research and advisory firm, wherein he is a partner.

Ms. Mimi Coppersmith Fredman is the Chairman of Barash Group, an advertising and publishing firm and Morgan Signs, Inc., an outdoor advertising firm. She is also the publisher of Town & Gown, a State College community magazine. Ms. Fredman has been an instructor and guest lecturer in speech, journalism and marketing courses for the past 44 years at Penn State. In 1996, she was named Central PA Entrepreneur of the Year in marketing and communications and was recently named one of Pennsylvania's Best 50 Women in Business. She has served on the board of directors of several organizations, including Pennsylvania Public Television Network Commission, Penn State Geisinger Health System, Ben Franklin Partnership and Central Pennsylvania Festival of the Arts. Currently, she serves on the boards of Milton S. Hershey Medical School, Reliance Bank, NY and Renaissance Scholarship Fund at Penn State University.

Mr. Christopher K. Gleason is the President and CEO of Gleason Financial, Ltd. He joined the family business, Gleason Services, as vice president in 1969. In 1988, Mr. Gleason started Gleason Financial, Ltd, to provide clients with employee benefit, financial planning and investment services. Mr. Gleason also serves on the Amtrak Reform Council (ARC) and is a member of the Pennsylvania Aviation Advisory Committee. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and the OPM program at the Harvard Graduate School of Business. Mr. Gleason is very active in several charitable and active groups to help people with disabilities.

Mr. Soma Rao is a managing director with the Citigroup Corporate and Investment Bank. He is based in New York and currently heads the Foreign Exchange team within Global Fixed Income covering Citigroup Global Markets, Inc. clients. Mr. Rao has broad experience in Capital markets and has held various management positions in fixed income and foreign exchange departments. He joined the Salomon Smith Barney division of Citigroup in 1996. Prior to joining Citigroup, he has been with HSBC (Republic Bank) in New York and Mellon Bank in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Mr. Rao received his Master's degree in business from the Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. He also holds a Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh and completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Delhi in India. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and a member of the Association for Investment Management and Research (AIMR) and the New York Society of Security Analysts (NYSSA).

Technical Advisory Board

Dr. Takeo Kanade is the Director of the Robotics Institute and U.A. and Helen Whitaker University Professor of Computer Science and Robotics at the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU). He has served as the founding Chairman (1989-93) of the Robotics Ph.D. Program at CMU, probably the first of its kind in the world. Dr. Kanade has worked in multiple areas of robotics, ranging from manipulator, sensor, computer vision, multi-media applications and autonomous robots, with more than 200 papers on these topics. He has been the founding editor of the International Journal of Computer. Dr. Kanade's professional honor includes, election to the National Academy of Engineering, a Fellow of IEEE, a Fellow of ACM, and a Fellow of American Association of Artificial Intelligence. He has won several awards including the Joseph Engelberger Award, Yokogawa Prize, JARA Award, Otto Franc Award and Marr Prize Award.

Dr. Carey D. Balaban is Professor of Otolaryngology, Neurobiology and Communication Sciences at the University of Pittsburgh (U. Pitt). In 1997, Dr. Balaban was selected to present the first James B. Snow, Jr. Anniversary Lecture at the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD). Prior to joining U. Pitt, Dr. Balaban was an Assistant Professor of Anatomy and Surgery (Division of Ophthalmology) at the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center at the Pennsylvania State University School of Medicine. Dr. Balaban has served on several NIDCD and NASA workshops, strategic planning panels, special panels and grant review panels. He is a recognized expert on the neurobiology or balance control. Dr. Balaban is an author of two books on seventeenth century medicine and more than 100 basic research articles. Dr. Balaban is guiding VideoMining on several projects involving emotion recognition.

Dr. Alan MacEachren is a Professor of Geography and Director of the GeoVISTA Center at Penn State University. He has played a leading role nationally and internationally in defining a research agenda for human-centered geospatial visualization and in building cross-disciplinary links to related efforts in scientific and information visualization and statistics. Dr. MacEachren serves as the Chair of the expanded ICA Commission on Visualization and Virtual Environments. He served as a member of the NAS/National Research Council Rediscovering Geography Committee from 1993 to1997. In 1998, Dr. MacEachren was awarded the Wilson Research Award, by the Pennsylvania State University College of Earth and Mineral Science, for contributions toward a cognitive-semiotic theory of geospatial representation and visualization, detailed in 'How Maps Work: Representation Visualization and Design.' In addition to this theoretical work, Dr. MacEachren has conducted numerous cognitive usability studies of geospatial information representation tools and environments for the National Center for Health Statistics and the National Cancer Institute.

Dr. Rangachar Kasturi is the Douglas W. Hood Professor and Chair of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of South Florida (USF). Prior to joining USF in 2003, he was a Professor of Computer Science and Engineering and Electrical Engineering at the Pennsylvania State University for 21 years. Dr. Kasturi is an author of the textbook, Machine Vision, and has published numerous papers and research reference books. He has directed many projects in image analysis, video sequence analysis and pattern recognition. In particular, he is directing an ARDA (Advanced Research and Development Activity) sponsored project that evaluates research progress in face detection, people and activity detection, and text detection and tracking in video sequences. Dr. Kasturi serves as the President of the International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR) in addition to serving as the Treasurer of the IEEE Computer Society.

Dr. Randy Haluck, M.D., is the director of minimally invasive surgery at Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. He designed the Penn State Endotower Endoscopic Navigation Trainer, a virtual reality machine designed to teach students and surgeons the skills needed to perform laparoscopic or minimally invasive surgery. The Penn State Endotower is one of a series of Dr. Haluck's simulator designs developed as part of the Penn State Surgical Simulation Group. These devices are intended to train students, doctors and medical staff and improve outcomes for all patients.