Board of Directors
Don Ferguson
Mr. Ferguson began developing software in 1981. He built his first business, a software consulting business, to seventy consultants before selling it to Magic Software. Mr. Ferguson then developed an Internet product that enabled companies to fully web-enable their business processes, which he then sold to Metropolis Technologies.
During his technology career, Don has built core business systems for several industries including banking, insurance, manufacturing, and retail, for such clients as the New York Times, Chase Manhattan Bank, Bank of Montreal, Maritz, Shaw Cable Systems, Chapters Bookstore, IBM, and Financial Post.
Tony Lonstein
Mr. Lonstein was a co-founder of ADDTEL Communications, a private reseller of telecommunication services.
Under Mr. Lonstein’s direction, ADDTEL grew in customers and profitability until it was sold to SA Telecommunications Inc. (NASDAQ: STEL). Subsequently, Mr. Lonstein co-founded AireSpring, a provider of wireless and landline-based telephony services, where he raised start-up funding, and built the business to what is today a $50M company.
Daniel Hoffer
Daniel Hoffer has been working with online communities and the Internet since 1990, when he ran an online Bulletin Board System (BBS) and created a statewide educational program in Massachusetts to connect physically disabled patients with elementary and high school students online.
Since then, Daniel has worked full-time as a management consultant, in corporate strategy at NEC Corporation, in strategic sales support at Siebel Systems, and as head of product and program management for a division of Symantec. Daniel is currently Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Benchmark Capital, as well as Co-Founder and Chairman of CouchSurfing.org, a global social hospitality network for travelers.
Daniel has appeared on the cover of Inc. Magazine and has been featured on the front page of the Boston Globe. He has also appeared on ABC Nightline, NBC News, the New York Times, NPR, BBC, Time Magazine, and others. He has guest lectured at Stanford GSB, Columbia Business School, UC Berkeley Haas School of Business, Harvard Law School, Stanford Law School, IDC Storage Conference, and MacWorld Expo.
Daniel received a BA from Harvard College and an MBA from Columbia Business School.
Management
Don Ferguson, President & CEO
Leland Thoburn, COO / CFO
Mr. Thoburn has a background in venture capital and strategic planning. In 1993, he co-founded Cambridge Partners, a Southern California venture consulting firm. He consulted EarthLink, then a startup. He acted as its CFO during the early, private capital stages, and later managed its legal department through its IPO. Mr. Thoburn also held the positions of Vice President Business Development; Vice President Special Projects; and Vice President Strategic Relations, and handled EarthLink’s major corporate partners such as Netscape, Microsoft, Sprint, USAA, Apple, CNET.
Sandy Gomberg, Chief Marketing Officer
Mr. Gomberg is a seasoned marketing professional with over 20 years experience in the telecommunications, Internet, software, education/consulting, healthcare, ad agency and market research industries.
He has held executive-level marketing positions in Fortune 500 companies as well as entrepreneurial start-ups, such as Vice-President, Marketing and Regulatory Affairs at ADDTEL telecommunications, a private reseller of telecommunications services, and National Channel Marketing Director for Verio, Inc. Mr. Gomberg has coordinated and supervised high-level marketing projects for Sony, Motorola, Litton, Bell Atlantic and Williams Communications.
Bill Munn, Vice President of Industry Relations
Mr. Munn comes from a strong public safety background. He served as the executive director of the Tarrant County (Texas) 911 District, one of the nation’s largest emergency communications districts, for twenty years. During his public service, he served as NENA president twice, and was on the NENA executive board for ten years. He originated NENA’s Emergency Number Professional certification program in 1995, and the NENA Institute to administer the program. Almost 1,000 hold the certification today. He chaired a task force in 2006 which developed the best practices for missing/abducted child calls in conjunction with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. He currently lives in Tarrant County, Texas, and holds a PhD in Urban and Public Affairs from the University of Texas at Arlington.
