Atul Changela, Vice President of Development
Stephen Ferrante, Vice President of Sales
Julie Grosse, Vice President of Marketing
David Joyce, Vice President of Professional Services
John Kramer, Executive Vice President and CFO
Aaron Link, Vice President of Product Management
Jim Melvin, CEO
Jim Min, Founder and Chief Product Architect
Christopher Sebes, COO
Kevin Tan, Founder and Vice President of Development
John Tata, Vice President of Indirect Channel Sales
Zorrik Voldman, Founder and Chief Technology Officer

Atul Changela, Vice President of Development
Atul Changela earned his Bachelors degree in computer systems in England. He has devoted his entire career to software design and systems development for the foodservice industry.

Changela joined Progressive in 1990 and authored the original SMART POS product, of which 11,000 installations remain in use today. Atul's broad technical expertise was instrumental in orchestrating the design and development of Progressive's innovative Windows NT® POS, Back Office and adjunct applications. back

Stephen Ferrante, Vice President of Sales
Stephen Ferrante brings over 15 years of experience in the foodservice and hospitality POS technology industry to his position as Vice President of Sales for SIVA Corporation. Most recently, Ferrante was responsible for managing all of the international direct sales, channel sales and operations for the hospitality division of Aloha/Radiant Systems Inc.

Previously, Ferrante was Vice President of Sales for Javelin Systems Inc., a POS hardware and solutions company, where he was responsible for all domestic corporate and channel sales. He began his career with Micros Systems, where he was responsible for direct sales and operations management for multiple district offices. Ferrante holds an MBA from Pepperdine University's Graziadio School of Business Management. back

Julie Grosse, Vice President of Marketing
Julie Grosse has created comprehensive marketing campaigns for early stage technology companies for more than a dozen years. As Vice President of Marketing for SIVA Corporation, she led the company to the Best in Show Exhibitor award at FSTEC 2003. Prior to joining SIVA, she was responsible for all positioning, messaging, and communications at Apigent Solutions, where she built an unknown brand into a company profiled by the Wall Street Journal in less than two years. Grosse got her start in software marketing under industry veteran Randy Fields, former owner of Mrs. Fields Cookies and CEO of Park City Group, a developer of back office applications for multi-unit retailers.

As a consultant, Grosse has created business plans, training materials, and marketing programs for technology and biotechnology companies. She has also planned and administered events, tours, and conference support for groups including the American Bar Association, the Smithsonian Institution, and the Art Institute of Chicago. Grosse began her career at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, serving on the operations staff of the National Symphony Orchestra. back

David Joyce, Vice President of Professional Services
An expert in the support of emerging Internet-based solutions for both businesses and consumers, David Joyce brings more than a decade of strategic planning, project management, operations, and staff development experience to his position as Vice President, Professional Services for SIVA. Most recently, Joyce created processes and customized technologies for a multi-channel customer service center at restaurant application service provider Apigent Solutions. His work on customer tracking tools enabled automated event management and escalation as well as comprehensive metrics reporting for more than 935 installations.

Previously, Joyce managed more than 375 employees as Service Delivery Manager for America Online (AOL), where he received a "Service Excellence" award for increasing short-term member retention from 23% to 39% and long-term member retention from 13% to 45%. One of AOL's earliest employees, Joyce was instrumental in the scaling of the business. He planned and implemented both domestic and international service centers, including facility, technology, and process set-up and location staffing. In addition, his early work streamlining acquisition and payment processes led to a savings of $1.3 million annually for the company. back

John Kramer, Executive Vice President and CFO
John Kramer joined SIVA as EVP and Chief Financial Officer in 2004, bringing strong executive experience in finance, accounting, mergers and acquisitions, operations and strategic planning. Previously, Kramer was Executive Vice President of Finance and Strategy for Diam International, a $270 million permanent point-of-purchase display company. Kramer has also served as CEO and President of Apex Analytix, Inc., a professional services and software firm with over 60 Fortune 300 clients.

Kramer spent 18 years with Philip Morris International in roles that included Vice President, Planning and Marketing; Treasurer and Director of finance; and Chief Financial Officer for the company’s Asia Region. In addition, he has worked for eCommerce Solutions LLC, first as CFO and then as COO and co-founded a training and consulting firm. Kramer began his career with KPMG.

A Certified Public Accountant, Kramer holds a bachelor’s degree from Colgate University, a master’s degree in accounting from New York University, and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard Business School. back

Aaron Link, Vice President of Product Management
Link joined SIVA in early 2003, bringing more than 15 years of experience in marketing, product management and operations management for companies that provide commercial software to service-oriented industries. As Vice President of Product Management at SIVA, Link oversees a team of product specialists responsible for identifying customer needs, defining future product deliverables and implementing the company's product lifecycle methodology.

Prior to joining SIVA, Link co-developed Yum! Brands' store/enterprise connectivity strategy for eMac Digital, LLC, an incubator funded by McDonald's Corporation and Accel-KKR. He directed product management for restaurant technology provider Apigent Solutions. In addition, Link has served as Operations Manager for the Sure Shipping Division of Sabre, the global leader in applying information technology to meet the needs of the travel and transportation industries, and in marketing and project management roles with Innovative Computing Corporation. back

Jim Melvin, CEO
Beginning with the sale of his first commercial application at the age of 15 and the formation of his first company at the age of 18, Jim Melvin has devoted more than twenty years to the software business. The founder of point-of-sale leader Compris, Melvin is a recognized authority and a sought-after consultant on information technologies for the food service, convenience, and retail industries. His products are installed at more than 75,000 sites worldwide for customers such as McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Carl's Jr., Yum! Brands, Darden Foods, Disney Resorts and Theme Parks, and K-Mart. His consulting client list has included many of these same customers as well as major point-of-sale and back-of-house developers.

Melvin currently is CEO of SIVA Corporation, the provider of a broad range of operations-focused technology options to the restaurant industry. Before joining SIVA, Melvin established a successful track record at several software companies. In addition to acting as CEO of application service provider Apigent Solutions, Melvin founded or co-founded four point-of-sale companies—B&S Associates, Daedalus Systems, Techwerks, and Compris Technologies. After forming Compris Technologies in a joint venture with IBM in 1989, Melvin helped create both the first commercial IBM touch screen POS units and the first IBM handheld units for the quick service restaurant sector. Melvin also served as chief product architect for Park City Group, a developer of more than 20 applications for the multiunit retail and foodservice environments.

In 1998, Melvin was appointed Technology Advisor to the National Restaurant Association. During his tenure, he served as an expert witness on retail business technology issues before a congressional subcommittee and as advisor to the Food and Drug Administration on technology issues related to HACCP compliance on behalf of the NRA. back

Jim Min, Founder & Chief Product Architect
Jim Min has served as the driving force behind SIVA's unique technology design since the company's inception. Min formerly was the Systems Architect at Hospitality Systems International, where he was responsible for engineering one of the most successful conventional POS systems on the market today.

In addition to more than a decade of experience in the design, development, and implementation of technology solutions for the restaurant and hospitality industries, Min has worked as an application developer for IBM and Smith Barney. back

Christopher Sebes, COO
With more than three decades of involvement in the restaurant industry, Christopher Sebes brings in-depth industry knowledge to his role as Chief Operating Officer of SIVA Corporation. Prior to SIVA’s acquisition of Progressive Software, Sebes was Progressive’s President and Chief Executive Officer. Sebes joined Progressive as Chief Operating Officer in 2001, and was named to the chief executive role a year later.

Before joining Progressive, Sebes was an investor in and Chief Operating Officer of Southern Hospitality Systems, Squirrel Systems’ largest point-of-sale distributor and Progressive’s first reseller. In the mid-1990s, Sebes became interested in the use of technology to more efficiently and effectively manage restaurants. As co-founder and Vice President of Twenty/20 Visual Systems, he helped design and market one of the earliest Windows-based point-of-sale systems. The award-winning POS was sold to Radiant Systems in 1997.

Sebes has trained as a professional chef, and received a bachelor’s degree in hotel and restaurant management at the University of Portsmouth in England . He has 20 years of experience in restaurant and hotel management spanning three continents, including managing one of the top ten restaurants in New York City and the only 5-star resort hotel in Mombasa, Kenya . Sebes’ first hand knowledge of the challenges facing restaurant operators has contributed to his strong commitment to providing outstanding customer service. back

Kevin Tan, Founder & Vice President of Product Development
Kevin Tan manages the development organization at SIVA Corporation; he co-founded the company with Jim Min and Zorrik Voldman in 1999. Previously, Tan co-founded two payment processing companies—M911 and 911 Software. 911 Software's international customer base includes Doubletree Hotels, Rainforest Café, Roadhouse Grill, Hilton, PF Chang's, Ramada Inn and Denny's. Among its clients are HSI (a division of Micros), RPower and System 3 POS.

Previously, Tan served as a Senior Programmer at IBM, where he gained ten years of experience in application and database design, development processes and Internet and speech recognition technologies. As the lead designer for ViaVoice, Tan managed a team that released six versions of IBM's speech navigation technology. As a result of his IBM work, Tan filed for three patents relating to speech navigation and voice "mouse" technologies for the disabled, including a patent for a finite speech dialog system using web, speech and XML technology. He is an expert in structured large software development processes and systems integration methodologies. back

John Tata, Vice President of Indirect Channel Sales
John Tata has successfully filled general management and senior sales management assignments both with industry leading manufacturers and key industry resellers in the POS and related industries for over 25 years. Most recently, Tata served as Vice President of Indirect Channel Sales at Progressive Software, where he was responsible for furthering the company's success by developing extensive industry partnerships, and for making this channel effective for its customers.

Previously, Tata worked at RetailDNA (a Walker Digital portfolio company), where he was Vice President of Partner Accounts. back

Zorrik Voldman, Founder & Chief Technology Officer
SIVA co-founder Zorrik Voldman's contribution to SIVA includes the first iSIVA browser client, two generations of the subsequent graphics engines and order flow business logic implementation. He remains actively involved in day-to-day research and development for the company. Previously, Voldman co-founded M911, a multi-merchant, multi-processor, Internet-based payment gateway that was sold to Merchant Online in late 1999 and 911 Software, a supplier of payment solutions to the hospitality industry with more than 8,000 installations worldwide.

Voldman established Soft Science Labs in 1997. A key accomplishment at Soft Science was the design and implementation of HF Pathfinder for Sunair Electronics. The Pathfinder software suite enables remote management and operation of a secure, high frequency, radio-based military communications network using NATO protocols. Pathfinder is used by the US Coast Guard, the Egyptian Armed Forces, the Taiwanese Navy and other locations around the world. Voldman started his career at IBM.
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