Leo Guthart

Chairman

Leo Guthart, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Topspin Partners, LP of New York, a high tech venture capital and private equity firm based on Long Island New York. Before forming Topspin Partners, LP Leo was the President, CEO and Chairman of Ademco, which he joined in 1964. Under his tenure, Ademco grew from a fledgling manufacturer to become the Pittway Corporation Security Group, a $1.5 billion enterprise. This group encompasses the world's largest manufacturer and distributor of security systems, in addition to a number of security-related businesses.

Leo currently serves as a trustee for the Acorn Group of Funds. He also serves as a Board member of Symbol Technologies (NYSE:SBL), the Aptar Group (NYSE:ATR). He is also a member of the board of trustees of Hofstra University, where he served as Chairman from 1993-1996.

Leo received his A.B. in Physics from Harvard College and his MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Baker Scholar. He also received a Doctorate from Harvard Business School with a specialty in Corporate Finance and served on the faculty there where he was a Ford Foundation Fellow.

 

Walter B. Kissinger

Director

Mr. Kissinger is the Founder and Honorary Chairman of the Board of the Long Island Research Institute. The Institute is a Consortium of Brookhaven National Laboratory, Stony Brook University and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, who are the founders as well as North Shore University Hospital. Its purpose is to accelerate Technology Transfer from these research institutions into commercial applications. It also, independently, does contract research drawing on the scientific resources and staff of these organizations.

He also directs the Kissinger Family Foundation and is President of WBK Associates, an investment and consulting group. He has been Vice Chairman and continues as a member of the Board of Trustees of Hofstra University and has chaired the Academic Affairs Committee. He serves on the Board of the Stony Brook Foundation. He has been a Director of various public and private companies and quasi-public Boards such as the National Council for U.S. /China Trade.

From 1969-1988 he was Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of The Allen Group Inc. (Now Allen Telecom). The Allen Group Inc. (NYSE) is an international manufacturer and marketer of automotive products including test and assembly equipment, truck components and mobile communications products.

During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army in the Pacific Theater (1943-1945); and he had a brief recall during the Korean War in 1950. For almost two years following military service, he held a position in the Foreign Service of the War Department during the Military Government phase in Korea. He was discharged with a reserve commission of Captain.

A graduate of Princeton University (1951); he received his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School (1953). Mr. Kissinger is the recipient of a Doctor of Humane Letters Degree from Hofstra University (2001).

Mr. Kissinger and his wife, the former Eugenie Van Drooge, have four children and reside in Huntington Bay, Long Island, New York. He is listed in Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World.

 

Al Berkeley

Director

Alfred R. Berkeley III currently serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Pipeline Trading Systems, LLC of New York.

Mr. Berkeley has over 25 years of experience in the financial industry. Prior to joining Pipeline, Mr. Berkeley served as President and then Vice-Chairman of the NASDAQ Stock Market, Inc from June 1996 until August 2003. Before NASDAQ, Mr. Berkeley was a General Partner and then a Managing Director of Alex. Brown & Sons, an investment bank. Mr. Berkeley co-founded the Firm’s Technology Group in 1975. The Group completed about 500 financial offerings for clients while he was associated with the firm.

Mr. Berkeley is a graduate of the Wharton School of Finance of the University of Pennsylvania (MBA) and the University of Virginia (BA). He served as an officer in the United States Air Force.

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Greg Laughlin

Congressman (1989-1997)

Director

After serving four terms in the United States House of Representatives representing the 14thCongressional District of Texas, Mr. Laughlin has been in private practice focusing on public policy, energy, international trade and tax law. Mr. Laughlin joined the Washington, DC office of Pillsbury in February 2006.

As a member of Congress, he served on the Committee on Ways and Means, the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure (where he served on the Subcommittees on Aviation, Surface Transportation and Water), and the Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries. The legislation Mr. Laughlin worked on as a Member of Congress included the Intermodal Transportation Safety and Efficiency Act, Pipeline Safety, Deep Water Royalty Relief Act, Oil Pollution Act of 1990, Private Property Protection Act and the Military Reserve Revitalization Act of 1995.

Mr. Laughlin was founder and co-chair of the U.S./Former Soviet Union Energy Caucus and helped initiate the Duma-Congress meetings to better understand and resolve problems involving oil and gas development confronting U.S. oil companies operating in Russia. During his Congressional career, he undertook many energy and economic development missions to Russia and the Central Asian republics, including Azerbaijan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan.

Mr. Laughlin previously represented the Republic of Turkey in a wide range of issues including public policy, infrastructure development, economic development, international trade and foreign investment.

A colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, Mr. Laughlin was the only member of the U.S. Congress to see active duty during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. While on active duty, he was stationed at Sinop, Turkey during 1968-69.

Prior to his election to Congress in 1988, Mr. Laughlin practiced law in Texas. He also served as assistant district attorney for Houston, Harris County, Texas, for four years.

 

Mark O’Hare

President and CEO

Mark O’Hare is the Founder, President and CEO for Security First Corp.  which he founded in 2002.  Mark has over 32 years of experience in leading multi-million dollar commercial and government security, engineering, and manufacturing programs. Mark has held previous positions as Chief Executive Officer, President, Chief Operating Officer, Executive Vice President and General Manager for new start-up companies for Safeguard Scientifics’ incubator company XL Vision Inc 1998-2001.

Prior to his work at XL Vision Inc., Mark was a Captain in the United States Navy,  serving as the Principal Executive Officer (PEO) for the U.S. Navy’s Aircraft Carrier Program  in a two star Admiral’s position as head of the U.S. Navy’s $25 billion Aircraft Carrier Program. In this role he was accountable for all aspects of the Department of Defense’s Aircraft Carrier Program including acquisition, research and development, design, construction, delivery, overall budget and management of the entire Aircraft Carrier program. Mark served a distinguished career in the U.S. military enjoying such duties as Head of Aircraft Carrier New Construction and shipboard assignments as intelligence officer, Chief Engineer of ships including a Nuclear Aircraft Carrier. He was a certified Navy Engineer and was the senior technical advisor to the French and British navies on aircraft carriers.

Mark received his Bachelors of Science Degree from the United States Naval Academy and his Masters Degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Naval Post Graduate School. He also attended the Senior Advanced Executive Schools at Northwestern University Kellogg Graduate School of Management and the Senior Executive Program at the University of Virginia Darden Graduate School of Business. He also is a graduate of the Department of Defense, Defense Systems Management College of Defense Acquisition and Senior Executive programs.

 

 

Jim Harpel

Since 1990, James Harpel has been managing Director of Harpel Advisory Company, a hedge fund investment advisory organization and registered investment advisor, investing in liquid financial assets. The accounts include a domestic limited investment partnership, as well as an offshore mutual fund for overseas investors. He also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Beanstalk Networks. From March 1989 to January 1990, Mr. Harpel was President of East-West Capital Associates, a LBO firm whose financial partner was Warner Communications. From September 1984 until January 1988, Mr. Harpel was a Director at Meridian Capital Company, which holds the controlling interest in First Reserve Corporation, a company active in the investment of institutional monies in independent energy companies. Mr. Harpel together with First Reserve was also a principal and organizer in the leveraged buyout of Maverick Tube Corporation in 1987.

From 1966 to 1984, Mr. Harpel was one of two founders and the managing Partner of Century Capital Associates (and its predecessor unregistered hedge fund operation), a New York-based registered investment adviser, whose assets under management approximated $2 billion when sold in 1984. He was also Chairman of the Peppermill Oil Company, a small oil company that he helped organize in 1977 with Mr. William Macaulay. Peppermill was sold in 1984. In addition, Mr. Harpel organized and acted as principal in the $460 million leveraged buyout of Congoleum Corporation. He was also involved in the takeover and reorganization of Marathon Oil Company and has been involved in, and acted as a consultant in, various investment banking matters involving other companies.

From 1980 through 1985, Mr. Harpel was on the Board of Directors and a shareholder of BT Capital Corporation, a subsidiary of Bankers Trust Company that arranges and participates in financing leveraged buyout transactions at the mezzanine level. He was also on the Board of Directors of Interactive Systems Corporation, a company involved in developing and marketing advanced computer software. From 1963 to the formation of Century Capital, Mr. Harpel was first an associate at Wertheim and Company engaged in security analysis and investment banking, then a corporate finance associate at Donaldson Lufkin and Jenrette. From 1960 to 1963, Mr. Harpel was first Assistant to the President, then Controller, then Financial Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, and finally de-facto chief administrative officer of Seeburg Corporation.

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Bill Crowell

Former Deputy Director of the NSA

William P. Crowell is an Independent Consultant specializing in Information Technology, Security and Intelligence Systems. He also is a director in the following companies: ArcSight, Inc. (ARST), an enterprise security management software company; Narus, a maker of IP Telecommunications Infrastructure software; Ounce Labs, specializing in source code vulnerability assessment tools; and Air Patrol, a wireless network security company. In January 2008 he was elected to the SunFed Board of Directors, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sun Microsystems. In July 2003 he was appointed to the Unisys Corporate Security Advisory Board (now the Security Leadership Institute) to address emerging security issues and best practices. Until its acquisition by Cisco in June 2007, he was a director and Chairman of Broadware Technologies, a video software company.

Crowell served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Santa Clara, California-based Cylink Corporation, a leading provider of e-business security solutions from November 1998 to February 2003, when Cylink was acquired by SafeNet, Inc., a Baltimore based VPN technology and security products company. He continues to serve as a consultant and member of the Federal Advisory Board at SafeNet.

Crowell came to Cylink from the National Security Agency, where he held a series of senior positions in operations, strategic planning, research and development, and finance. In early 1994 he was appointed as the Deputy Director of NSA and served in that post until his retirement in late 1997 From 1989 to 1990, Crowell served as a vice president at Atlantic Aerospace Electronics Corporation, now a subsidiary of Titan Systems, leading business development in space technology, signal processing and intelligence systems.

In April 1999, Crowell was appointed to the President’s Export Council (PEC), which advised the administration on trade and export policy. He served as chairman of the PEC Subcommittee on Encryption, which worked with the Administration, Congress and private industry to substantially loosen restrictions on the export of encryption products and technology.

Since 9/11 he has served on the Markle Foundation Task Force on National Security in the Information Age, which published three landmark studies on Homeland Security and information sharing and has also served on numerous panels to investigate and improve military command and control, intelligence and security systems. In August 2007 he was named Chairman of the Director of National Intelligence (DNI) Senior Advisory Group.

Crowell is an expert on network and information security issues. In May 2007 he co-authored the book, “Physical and Logical Security Convergence,” published by Elsevier. He has been quoted in many trade and business publications including the Wall Street Journal, BusinessWeek, USA Today, Information Week, Network World, Computer World, Federal Computer Week, CIO Magazine and the San Jose Mercury News. Crowell has also appeared on CBS MarketWatch, CNET News, CNBC and KNTV’s Silicon Valley Business. He was the technical advisor to the TV series, “Threat Matrix” during its run on ABC in the 2003 season.

 

Vice Admiral Dennis McGinn

Retired USN

Dennis (Denny) McGinn, a retired Vice Admiral from the U.S. Navy, has joined Battelle, one of the world's largest independent, nonprofit research and development organizations.

As Vice President for Strategic Planning and Business Development, McGinn will focus on Battelle's government market sectors. Currently, Battelle has more than 2,200 government contracts in addition to 1,500 contracts with commercial and industrial clients.

Denny’s most recent position with the Navy was Deputy Chief of Naval Operations, Warfare Requirements and Programs at the Pentagon. A Naval Aviator, test pilot and national security strategist during his 35-year-year naval career, he also commanded the U.S. Third Fleet and was Director of Naval Aviation Warfare.

Denny received a B.S. in naval engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy and was a strategic studies fellow in the U.S. Naval War College. He also served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the U.S. Naval Institute.

 

Inder Singh

Mr. Inder P. Singh has over 25 years experience in the Information Technology and Banking industry. Currently he is CEO of his company, NexTrends Inc. that provides next level technology and business process solutions.

Until April 2004, Inder was Executive Vice President and Global CIO of Visa International with responsibilities to create the next generation payments processing technology and to oversee integrity, interoperability and security of Visa’s technology and processing infrastructure.

Before joining Visa, Inder was president, CEO and co-founder of EXLServices, which offered outsourcing services for customer care and business processes. EXLServices was sold to Conseco Industries.

Previously, Inder has served as COO for Card Capture Services, the owner of the third largest ATM network in the U.S, and now a part of E-Trade. Inder served in senior executive management positions in Technology and Business at Bank of America and Seafirst Bank. With Bank of America, he was Executive Vice President of Consumer Banking Product and Delivery Support, Executive Vice President of Payments Strategy and Interstate Banking Support, and Executive Vice President of Global Wholesale Technology Services.

Inder holds a Masters degree in Industrial Engineering from the University of Washington and a B.S. E.E. from Punjab University.

 

Ron Klink

Congressman (1993-2001)

Former Congressman Ron Klink was first elected to the United States Congress in 1993 and served four consecutive terms representing the 4th Congressional District of Pennsylvania. Throughout his tenure in the House of Representatives, Klink became one of the most vocal, dynamic and successful members of Congress, largely as a result of his fair treatment of issues that impacted both sides of the political aisle. He left politics in 2001 to pursue professional goals and founded Ron Klink and Associates.

While in Congress, Ron served on the Financial Services Committee, the Education and Workforce Committee and the Small Business Committee. In 1995, he joined the Energy and Commerce Committee-- one of the most important Congressional Committees that deals exclusively with U.S. and international commercial issues.

Ron also served as the Ranking Democrat on the powerful Oversight and Investigative
Subcommittee for six years. The latter is the subcommittee of Congress that has investigative jurisdiction and authority over more than half of the entire Federal Government, including the Department of Energy, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the Food and Drug Administration, the Office of Management and Budget, the Office of Personnel and Management, the General Services Administration, and the Department of Interior.