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Board of Directors

Michael Bates

Chairman of the Board

Michael Bates is a 20-year veteran of the software industry, and a founder of IQzone. He has a long history of developing consumer-focused technology with a particular passion for mobile solutions.

In 1999, Michael led the launch of IQorder, the first online shopping portal available also accessible via mobile devices. The company was acquired by InfoSpace in 2000 for $58 million. Prior to that, Michael focused on researching and investing in emerging technologies. In 1990, he launched two successful companies, Software Marketing Corporation (lead product BodyWorks®) and AutoMap (lead product AutoMap Road Atlas), which grew to combined annual sales exceeding $20 million. Automap was sold to Microsoft, and Software Marketing Corporation was sold to Softkey International (later The Learning Company and now a division of Mattel) where Michael accepted a two-year position as a Senior Publisher. Prior to these ventures, Michael had joined P.C. Globe as Vice President of Sales and drove annual sales to $8 million within the first year. Michael launched his career at Applied Knowledge Groups, a vendor of serial-based networking products. Michael is a graduate of Arizona State University.

Jack Furst

Jack Furst is a founding partner of HM Capital Partners LLC (previously Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst, Inc.), a leading private equity investment firm currently managing over $10 billion in funds. The firm has completed more than 400 transactions in excess of $50 billion. Previously, Jack was a partner of Hicks and Haas, a merger and acquisitions and corporate finance specialist for The First Boston Corporation
(now Credit Suisse First Boston) and a financial consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers.
Jack received his BS from the College of Business Administration at Arizona State University in 1981, and his MBA from the Graduate School of Business at the University of Texas in 1984.

Kevin O’Leary

Kevin O’Leary is Canada’s best-known businessman and venture capitalist. He co-hosts Report on Business Television’s SqueezePlay, a program that has developed a cult following among financial professionals and smart investors with its pull-no-punches look at the good, the bad and the ugly on Bay and Wall Streets. Kevin also hosts O’Leary Live, a call-in show where he shares his market moves with fellow investors. Kevin was co-founder and president of SoftKey Software Products, the first software company to apply the principles of consumer goods marketing to the software industry. SoftKey changed its name to The Learning Company and was acquired by the Mattel Toy Company for $3.7 billion. Kevin is also a venture capitalist on the Canadian version of CBS Television’s Dragons’ Den and host of Redemption Inc., and a “shark” on the United States’ version of Dragons’ Den, Shark Tank, which airs on ABC.
Kevin received an Honours Bachelors degree in Environmental Studies and Psychology from the University of Waterloo and, in 1980, he earned his MBA from the Richard Ivey School of Business at The University of Western Ontario.

Chris Kitze

Chris Kitze has led a successful trail of start-ups. Most recently he co-founded Yaga, Inc., a developer of payment and accounting solutions for content providers,later acquired by BitPass. Prior to Yaga, Chris was the CEO of NBC Internet, a company created as a result of the XOOM.com and Snap.com merger. Chris also co-founded Point Communications Corporation, which was acquired by Lycos, where he stayed on as Vice President of Marketing, helping take the company public with a $225 million valuation. Chris received Israel’s prestigious Albert Einstein Technology Award that recognizes leaders who have pushed the envelope of technology in the service of mankind. Presently,
Chris is chairman of the board of wine.com. He holds a B.S. in chemical engineering from the University of Colorado.

Allan Kaplan

Allan Kaplan has extensive experience building and investing in companies focused on next-generation data communications, Internet infrastructure, services, and software. Mr. Kaplan most recently was co-founder and Chairman of Limelight Networks (COMPX:LLNW) one of the world’s leading content distribution networks. Prior to co-founding Limelight, Mr Kaplan was a co-founder of Entera, Inc. and served on its board of directors through its acquisition by Cacheflow in 2000. In 1993 Mr. Kaplan co-founded and served as Vice President and Director of Primenet Services for the Internet which later merged with GlobalCenter, Inc. where he served as Senior Vice President and on its Board of Directors. GlobalCenter was acquired in 1997 by Frontier Communications, Inc. where he served as Vice President of Network Service until 1998. He currently serves as a managing member of KG Investments, LLC a private venture fund, Director of Unicorn Media, and a Venture Partner at Greenhill SAVP.

Shannon Downs

Ms. Downs serves as Vice President of Smartcomm LLC, a Phoenix based company that specializes in the research, development and marketing of investment opportunities in the wireless industry. The company also has a license applications preparation service, Smartcomm License Services, for clients seeking to obtain spectrum licenses from the Federal Communications Commission. Ms. Downs currently oversees Smartcomm clients and portfolio companies, and assists the company in identifying and developing new opportunities. Through Smartcomm, Ms. Downs has become an active member of CTIA, APCO, and the National Association of Broadcasters. Ms. Downs also serves as Vice President for Caribe Spectrum Holdings, Inc., a Delaware corporation seeking to build a 4G Mobile Broadband network in Latin America.