Eseri Advisory Board
Eseri is supported by a strong advisory board, largely based in Ottawa, Canada.
Kevin Ford is a serial high-tech entrepreneur, currently founder and CEO of Parliant, building award-winning telephony and iPhone solutions. Previously he was a Director at Renaissance Learning Inc., a world leader in assessment technology for pre-K-12 schools. Renaissance acquired ComputerActive Inc., at which he was CEO, providing integration and software support to Fortune 500 companies. Before that he held sales positions promoting engineering workstations for Apollo, HP, and Silicon Graphics. Prior to that he worked in the Canadian Government as a Solar Design Engineer, and as a Contracting Officer acquiring a range of air and sea based systems. Kevin is also a member of the Board of Advisors for the Ottawa Entrepreneurship Centre.
Jim Hjartarson is currently CEO of OneChip Photonics, and a seasoned telecommunications industry veteran with 26 years of leadership experience in innovative high-tech companies. Prior to OneChip he was a co-founder and CEO of Catena Networks, one of Canada's largest telecommunications companies. Catena was later acquired by Ciena, where he was SVP of their Broadband Access Group. Previously he was co-founder and VP of the Telecommunications Design Centre within Cadence Design Systems, and before that worked at Nortel Networks as Director of Global Access Technology.
John Kelly is a partner at Enable Ottawa, assisting owners in the purchase and sales of small and medium sized businesses. Previously he was Vice President at SC Stormont Inc. John has 35 years of entrepreneurial and executive experience in the technology sector. He was CEO of JetForm Corporation from 1995 until joining Reid Eddison in December 1999, where he a principal until March 2008. He was Chairman of NexInnovations Inc. from May 2001 until October 2007. Previously, he founded Why Interactive and was a founder of Computer Innovations Distribution Inc. and Nabu Network Corporation. He was also a founder of SHL Systemhouse Ltd. (since acquired by EDS), which became Canada’s largest systems integration company.
Steve Panyko is a veteran leader of telecommunications and technology businesses, with emphasis on international business development, new product development, channel management, and strategic leadership from both ongoing and emerging firms. He has been President and CEO of Sciemetric Instruments Inc., CEO of CML Emergency Services, CEO of Echopass Corporation, CEO of Onix Microsystems, and President of Harris Communications products division. He has served as Vice President / General Manager of Rockwell Switching systems division, and held positions with Motorola New Enterprises, ITT and ATT Bell Laboratories.
Jim Roche founded Stratford Managers in 2007 to identify corporate growth opportunities and help accelerate them. Previously he was President & CEO of Tundra Semiconductor, a company he co-founded in 1995, which he helped grow to revenues of more than $80M. Before that, Jim was a founding member in 1986 of Newbridge Networks which he helped grow to revenues of $1B, acquired by Alcatel in 2000. Jim believes in building companies that grow profitably while delivering on their social responsibility. He is active in community and volunteer work with hospitals, arts, education, research, and government organizations, and has served on numerous boards including Stratford, Tundra, Fidus, CANARIE, CMC, Precarn, OCRI, and others.
Doug Somers is CEO of Cassidy Bay Group Inc., specializing in strategic planning, executive coaching, and team building. Prior to the Cassidy Bay Group, Mr. Somers co-founded Bridgewater Systems, and as CEO helped build the company, its customer base, and raised significant venture capital. Prior to Bridgewater, Mr. Somers was VP and General Manager of the Network and Service Management business unit at Newbridge Networks Corporation. He is Chairman of the board of the High Performance Computing Virtual Laboratory (HPCVL), a multi-university research facility, and is an industrial advisor to the School of Computing Science, Queen's University.
