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Topica Management Team
Management Team | Board of Directors | Investors
Management Team
Ariel Poler, Chairman and Co-Founder
As Chairman and Co-Founder, Ariel formed Topica in 1998 to
leverage the power of
email for content delivery and targeted, response-driven
marketing. He has been instrumental in building and
establishing the company as the leading independent provider
of email content. An Internet pioneer, Ariel was also the
founder and former CEO of I/PRO (now part of Engage), the
first company to measure and audit web traffic. He is a
former board member of Kana Communications, LinkExchange
(now Microsoft's bCentral) and Silicon Investor (now part of
InfoSpace). Ariel holds a B.S. degree in mathematics with
computer science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and an M.B.A. from Stanford University. Ariel is a native of
Caracas, Venezuela.
Carter Hostelley, CEO
Carter Hostelley has over 10 years of experience in senior
management, finance, business development, and international
operations. Prior to Topica, Carter was Vice President of
International Development at SmartAge where he led efforts
to establish a Japanese joint venture with Softbank and set
up operations in France and the U.K. Carter was also Vice
President of Finance at SmartAge and was responsible for
raising over $50 million in venture-capital financing rounds
led by Softbank, Accel Partners, and El Dorado Ventures. His
experience also includes work in business development at
Ziff Davis, commercial lending at Wells Fargo Bank, and
financial analysis at Salomon Smith Barney. Carter holds a
B.B.A. degree from the University of Hawaii and an M.B.A.
from Cornell University.
Johnathan Robinson, Senior Vice President of Sales & Marketing
Johnathan brings over twenty years of senior management experience in marketing and sales to Topica. Before joining Topica, Johnathan was Vice President of Sales and Business Development at Everyone.net, responsible for developing and managing advertising, direct marketing, distribution and other partnership programs. Prior to that, Johnathan was Executive Vice President of Media for SmartAge Corporation, where he oversaw strategic planning, product development, sales management, media marketing, and ad operations. He also served as Vice President of Ad Sales for NetChannel, Inc (now AOLTV), and co-founded RealTime Partners (acquired by Petry Interactive, now 24/7 Media), which specialized in representation and marketing consultation for interactive services. Johnathan has previously held senior management positions at Petry Interactive, US West, The Career Television Network, Burrell Communications Group, and Shoptalk Trade Publications. Johnathan holds a B.S. in Radio, TV, and Film from Northwestern University.
Roland Jacobs, CTO
With over 17 years of IT experience, Roland has a breadth of
expertise in overseeing the information infrastructure of
high-tech companies. During his tenure at Home Shopping
Network (HSN), a pioneer in the electronic retail industry,
Roland served as the Chief Technical Architect of the
company. Most recently, he was Vice President of
International Operations and Technology at HSN and was
responsible for the development and global implementation of
the technical and operational model of the company, as well
as all international information architecture decisions.
Prior to that, Roland held a variety of senior technical
roles at IT companies such as Intelligent Information,
Aerotek Engineering and GTE Data Services. Roland holds a B.S. in psychology from the University of
South Florida.
Scott Olrich, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Business Services Group
Scott has a noteworthy background in shaping early-stage
companies in the technology sector. Prior to joining Topica,
Scott worked as an independent business and marketing
consultant in Silicon Valley. Before that, he co-founded an
Internet marketing company called Spark Online which builds
enterprise applications for streamlining the tasks
associated with buying and selling online advertising space.
Scott is also a veteran of Andersen Consulting, where he
helped companies such as Pacific Bell, Octel Communications
and Motorola design and implement innovative sales and
marketing solutions. Scott holds a B.S. in business and
finance from San Diego State University.
Board of Directors
Andrew L. Anker
Andrew L. Anker focuses on new media and Internet-related investments at August Capital. Prior to joining August, Mr. Anker was the Co-Founder and CEO of Wired Digital, parent company of HotBot, Wired News, and HotWired. Before Wired, Mr. Anker worked at the investment banking firm of Sterling Payot. Previously, Mr. Anker was Director of Development at AdExpress, a start-up that created systems for planning, purchasing and placement of national spot advertising on cable television. Mr. Anker also spent five years in media corporate finance and M&A; at both The First Boston Corporation and PaineWebber. Mr. Anker serves on the board of Encoding.com.
Dan Nova
Dan is a Managing General Partner at Highland focusing on technology with specific experience and interest in emerging broadband, interactive television and media technologies. Dan currently serves on the boards of ClubMom, Coremetrics, GlobalStreams, Gotuit Media, N2 Broadband, Navic Networks, NuGenesis Technologies and Topica. His portfolio also includes Ask Jeeves (Nasdaq:ASKJ), Be Free (Nasdaq:BFRE), Digital Market (acquired by Agile Software), eToys (Nasdaq:ETYS), Gamesville (acquired by Lycos), MapQuest.com (acquired by AOL), New York Times Digital, NextCard (Nasdaq:NXCD), Quote.com (acquired by Lycos) Raindance Communications (Nasdaq:RNDC), RoweCom (Nasdaq:ROWE) and Terra Lycos (Nasdaq: TRLY).
Prior to joining Highland in 1996, Dan was a Partner at CMG@Ventures where he co-led the partnership's investment activities in early-stage Internet companies. While at CMG@Ventures, Dan co-founded Lycos, Inc. in June of 1995, and played an integral role from its inception to its IPO in April of 1996, and finally through its sale to Terra Networks in 2000. Other investments completed during his employment at CMG@Ventures include Black Sun Interactive, GeoCities, Ikonic Interactive, NetCarta, Parable and Telet Communications.
Maurizio Caio
Maurizio Caio is the founder and Managing Partner of TLcom Capital Partners,
a $200 million venture capital fund focusing on the European telecom and Internet
industries with offices in London, Rome and Milan, and a strategic
coinvestment
agreement with the private equity arm of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter. Prior
to starting TLcom, Maurizio was leading the Telecom / Technology practice of
strategy consulting firm Bain & Company in Europe. He also spent 3 years
with McKinsey & Company in Europe. Maurizio holds a business degree from
Bocconi University in Milan and NYU,and an MBA from Stanford University. He
serves on the board of pan European ISP Netscalibur, and corporate service
provider Unisource Italia.
Ariel Poler
Investors
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Private Equity
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Private Equity is the private equity business of
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter & Co. (NYSE: MWD), a preeminent global financial
services firm. Since its founding 15 years ago, funds managed by Private
Equity have invested $5.4 billion in more than 160 companies around the
world. Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Private Equity's funds consist of Capital
Partners, Venture Partners and Emerging Markets.
TLcom Capital Partners Limited
Formed in 1999, TLcom is a fund management and advisory company focusing on
participating in the value generation potential associated with investing in
the European telecommunications and Internet industries. TLcom is managing
funds of 200 MM Euros, and has a strategic co-investment agreement with the
private equity funds of Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Capital Partners. TLcom
has financed a growing variety of companies including the European wireless
data leader Iobox and the pan-European Internet service provider Excalibur.
August Capital
August Capital manages $290 million of limited partner funds with a focus
on early stage investments in information technology companies. The August
Capital general partners have over 40 years of combined experience helping
entrepreneurs transform their ideas into high technology industry leaders
including Actel, Adaptec, Grand Junction Networks, Intuit, Microsoft,
Seagate, Sun Microsystems, Sybase, Visio and Xilinx.
Highland Capital Partners
Highland Capital Partners is an early-stage venture firm focused on building companies in the communications, information technology and healthcare markets. Founded in 1988, Highland's strategy is to invest in exceptional people and provide them with the right mix of strategic guidance, management expertise, and hands-on leadership for building successful and enduring companies. With over $1.8 billion under management, Highland has invested in and worked to create such firms as Altiga Networks, Ask Jeeves, Avid Technology, Be Free, CheckFree, HighGround Systems, Lycos, MapQuest, New Oak, NextCard, Ocular Networks, Sybase and WebLine Communications. For more information, visit Highland's web site at www.hcp.com.
Draper Richards L.P.
Draper Richards invests in early stage information technology and
telecommunications companies. Recent investments include HotMail, Exodus
Communications, and NetCentives.
Stanford University
David Scott Carlick
Senior Advisor to VantagePoint Venture Partners.
Member of the board of directors of International Network Services, BigBook
and I/PRO. Former Executive VP, Poppe Tyson Advertising.
Ronald C. Conway
VP of Business Development at CBT Systems. Founder of
Altos Computer Systems and Personal Training Systems. Member of the board
of directors of The Red Herring Magazine. Advisor to Garage.Com and At Web.
George Garrick
President/CEO, Flycast Communications. Former President/CEO of Information Resources, Inc. and Nielsen Marketing Research.
Danny Shader, CEO, Good Technology
Entrepreneur-in-residence, Benchmark Capital and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Previously has held executive positions at Netscape Communications, Collabra Software and GO Corporation.
Mark Bozzini
CEO of LinkExchange. Former CEO of Pete's Wicked Ale.
Homer Luther Private investor.
John Mackall
Attorney, Seed investor in 1800Batteries.
Robert Uhlman
Founder and chairman of Broadcast Data Systems.
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