David A. Martin is the Chairman of the Board of Directors and co-founder of the company and was appointed Executive Chairman in January 2007. He has been a director of the company or its predecessors since 1987. From 2002 until his appointment as Executive Chairman, Mr. Martin was our Chairman and Co-CEO. Since our inception in 1987 until 2002, he served the company in various other capacities including CEO, President and Chairman of the board. Mr. Martin is the creator of the SMART Board interactive whiteboard and the named inventor with respect to numerous patents. He has received many awards for his contributions to the industry, including the Alberta Centennial Medal for High-Tech Innovation and the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance Award for Private Sector and Leadership in Advanced Technology.
Nancy L. Knowlton President and Chief Executive Officer, SMART Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Officer, SMART Technologies ULC Co-Founder
Nancy L. Knowlton - President and Chief Executive Officer, SMART Technologies Inc. Chief Executive Officer, SMART Technologies ULC Co-Founder
Nancy Knowlton is the President and CEO of SMART Technologies, a company that she co-founded in 1987. She has been instrumental in growing SMART from a start-up with the idea for an interactive whiteboard to a public company with almost US$800 million of annual revenue. SMART's products are used in primary and secondary classrooms around the world and by some of the world's leading corporations. Nancy has undergraduate and graduate degrees in business administration and she is qualified as a chartered accountant in Alberta. Nancy has received numerous awards, including Canadian Woman Entrepreneur of the Year and honorary doctorate degrees from two Canadian universities.
Thomas F. Hodson Vice President, SMART Technologies Inc. President and Chief Operating Officer, SMART Technologies ULC
Thomas F. Hodson - Vice President, SMART Technologies Inc. President and Chief Operating Officer, SMART Technologies ULC
G.A. (Drew) Fitch Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer
G.A. (Drew) Fitch - Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer
G.A. (Drew) Fitch was appointed Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer in June 2009. Prior to joining us, Mr. Fitch was President and Chief Executive Officer of The Westaim Corporation, a technology development company, from May 2007 to April 2009 and Senior Vice President Finance and Chief Financial Officer of the Westaim Corporation from January 1997 to May 2007. Prior to 1997, Mr. Fitch was the Chief Financial Officer of Western Star Trucks Holdings Ltd., an international severe duty truck and transit bus manufacturer and Chief Financial Officer of Canadian Airlines Corporation, an international commercial airline company.
Jeffrey A. Losch Vice President, Legal and General Counsel
Jeffrey A. Losch - Vice President, Legal and General Counsel
Jeffrey A. Losch was appointed Vice President, Legal and General Counsel in September 2008. Prior to joining us, Mr. Losch provided consulting services to businesses and individuals from September 2005 to August 2008. Mr. Losch was Senior Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel of InterTAN, Inc., a consumer electronics specialty retailer, from September 2001 to May 2005 and was its Vice President, Secretary and General Counsel from March 1999 to September 2001. From December 1993 to March 1999, Mr. Losch was Corporate Counsel of Whirlpool Canada Ltd., the Canadian subsidiary of Whirlpool Corporation, a manufacturer and marketer of major home appliances.
Mike Battistel Vice President, Information Systems
Mike Battistel - Vice President, Information Systems
Mike Battistel is responsible for planning, coordinating and overseeing all IS activities and for providing strategic direction on the company's information technology (IT) investments.
Mr. Battistel joined SMART in 2008 and brings 30 years of IT and international business experience to SMART. An accomplished professional, he has developed and implemented strategies and governance processes to align IT investments with corporate strategy.
He has also developed complex business cases and negotiated outsourcing arrangements for numerous companies in the areas of infrastructure operations, software development and software support.
Mr. Battistel moved to SMART from an executive role as vice president of IT and CIO at an international auction firm. He holds a degree in psychology and completed a two-year term on the board of the Chief Information Officers Association of Canada.
He joined SMART at a time of high growth, when clear vision and strong leadership for the IS department will ensure the company's continued success.
Bill Ciprick Vice President, Strategy and Alliances
Bill Ciprick - Vice President, Strategy and Alliances
Bill Ciprick is responsible for creating sustainable competitive advantage for SMART. He develops long-term strategies and relationships with third-party companies in order to continue to expand SMART's offerings and activities.
Mr. Ciprick joined SMART in 2008, bringing extensive international business experience. He is a 17-year veteran of the largest consumer packaged-goods company in the world, where he held positions of increasing responsibility, including over six years at the executive level. His most recent role was vice president, sales, for one of the company's divisions. His work experience has included licensing and acquisitions, marketing, sales, and the leadership of large partnerships and alliances. Mr. Ciprick's strong business skills have been honed through increasingly challenging assignments. He has experience developing high-performing teams and leading complex and difficult business redesigns. He holds a bachelor's degree in economics.
Sandra Coates Vice President, Services
Sandra Coates - Vice President, Services
Sandra Coates is responsible for the services group providing support to SMART's customers. The group's functions include customer support, technical support, product returns, training and professional development, sales support, testing and quality assurance and documentation.
Ms. Coates joined SMART in 2006. She has more than 20 years of experience with various organizations in the areas of customer support, quality assurance, research and development, training, finance and IT. She also brings strong international experience as she has implemented and managed support centers in several countries. During her extensive career, she has held various leadership positions including CIO, VP and general manager. Ms. Coates is an active member of several professional associations and holds a bachelor of commerce degree.
Vaughn Keenan Senior Vice President, Product Development
Vaughn Keenan - Senior Vice President, Product Development
Vaughn Keenan oversees the conceptualization, design and creation of SMART's hardware products.
Mr. Keenan joined SMART in 1996 as director of product management and was appointed to his current position in 1998.
His career prior to joining SMART included engineering and management positions with several Canadian corporations. Mr. Keenan has a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering. He has also taken post-graduate courses in software engineering and large-scale integration.
Patrick Lelorieux Vice President and General Manager, EMEA
Patrick Lelorieux - Vice President and General Manager, EMEA
Patrick Lelorieux heads sales, marketing and services operations in Europe, Middle East and Africa. Mr. Lelorieux brings nearly 30 years of successful general management and international business experience to SMART. Since 2008, he has been building the SMART team and executing the company's growth strategy across the region. Prior to that, he held positions of increasing executive responsibility with some of the world's largest and most well-known technology companies. Mr Lelorieux holds a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering and an MBA in marketing.
Brian McGurk Vice President, People Services
Brian McGurk - Vice President, People Services
Brian McGurk is responsible for the people services strategies and plans within the organization.
Mr. McGurk joined SMART in 2007 with more than 15 years of senior and executive people management experience in a variety of fast-paced and entrepreneurial environments ranging from airlines to wireless communications. Prior to joining SMART he served in the role of Vice President of Human Resources in the oil and gas service industry as well as the fuel cell industry, where he was responsible for developing and implementing strategic human resources services and programs. Mr. McGurk holds a bachelor's degree in human resources and political science, and he is a Certified Human Resources Professional.
Patric Nagel Vice President, Americas
Patric Nagel - Vice President, Americas
Patric Nagel is responsible for driving overall sales growth for SMART's products and services across North America.
An accomplished executive with deep sales expertise and diverse general management experience, Mr. Nagel has delivered consistent top-line achievement. He has demonstrated success in team development and cross-functional project leadership in both stand-alone companies and large corporate mergers.
Prior to joining SMART in February 2007, Mr. Nagel was vice president, sales, with a leading brewery company. He also held executive or senior positions with well-known, brand-name companies across Canada. Mr. Nagel has an MBA with a concentration in marketing and entrepreneurship and a bachelor of arts in economics and political studies. He also has certificates in strategic leadership and sales management and process design and implementation.
Dan Rodrigue Vice President, Operations
Dan Rodrigue - Vice President, Operations
Dan Rodrigue is responsible for the direction and day-to-day management of all plant and contract manufacturing operations, supply chain management, quality, facilities, health and safety, and security functions.
Mr. Rodrigue joined SMART in 2007 after spending 20 years in the telecommunications industry where he held progressively senior positions in production, process and test engineering, quality, product repair services, new product introduction and supply chain management. Earlier in his career, Mr. Rodrigue held sales and sales engineering positions in the oil and gas industry in Calgary and Edmonton. He holds a bachelor of science degree and an MBA.
Linda Thomas Vice President, Products
Linda Thomas - Vice President, Products
Linda Thomas is responsible for overseeing SMART's products and solutions worldwide. Ms. Thomas joined SMART in 2007 as Vice President, Marketing. She has 21 years of product management, marketing, and strategy and planning experience with a skill set that combines both marketing and technology expertise. She holds a bachelor of mathematics degree with specialization in information systems from one of Canada's top IT universities. Prior to joining SMART, Ms. Thomas worked as the Director of Customer Marketing at a Fortune 500 company, where she led the development and deployment of all marketing strategies and programs to support a significant business unit. She has also held senior roles in strategy and planning, sales integration and development, and business development positions with a number of significant global companies.
Dr. Keith Lantz Vice President, SMART Labs
Dr. Keith Lantz - Vice President, SMART Labs
Keith Lantz is responsible for SMART Labs which focuses on early-stage, experimental and next-generation concepts that support SMART's product development activities. Dr. Lantz joined SMART in 2010 and brings over 35 years of innovation and product development experience in distributed systems, user interfaces, multimedia conferencing, voice and video over IP, telepresence and unified communications. Dr. Lantz has held senior positions with notable international telecommunications, technology and engineering companies, including Cisco® Systems® and Olivetti Research Laboratory. He has also held roles as a researcher and professor at Stanford University and the University of Rochester and was a founder of Avistar Communications Corporation. His proven track record in both management and innovation, strong strategic vision and ability to drive tactical execution are key strengths he brings to SMART. Dr. Lantz is a named inventor on 36 U.S. patents and 21 international patents, with others pending and holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science.