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Meet the Scala Management Team.
Gerard Bucas (CEO)
As CEO of Scala, Inc. since July 2002, Mr. Bucas steers an innovative course by leading Scala's strategy to accelerate revenue growth, improve operating margins, develop critical business partnerships and focus the company on the growing Digital Signage industry. Prior to his appointment as CEO, Mr. Bucas was the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Scala for a number of years.
Mr. Bucas has lived in each of three continents for seven years or more and has been deeply involved in the computer and high-tech industry for more than thirty years. Digital Media Magazine named him one of the Digital Media 100 top leaders in 2004. His pioneering work in South Africa in the development of digital public packet switching networks and distributed network operating systems, lead to a senior Strategic Planning and Advanced Technology role at Olivetti in Italy and later in California. He then joined Commodore International where he was appointed as Vice President of Technology in 1985. In 1988 he started Great Valley Products (GVP), which became the leading third-party supplier in the worldwide Amiga aftermarket and the company was subsequently listed in the "Inc 100" fastest growing private companies in the USA. In 1991 he was a finalist in the "Entrepreneur of the Year" competition sponsored by Inc Magazine, Ernst & Young et al. Mr. Bucas is a Business & Computer Science graduate from the University of South Africa where his passion for business and business processes started in Operations Research and enterprise-wide Management Information & Control Systems.
Robert Koolen (President)
Robert Koolen was appointed President of Scala Inc, in August 2007 after he had conducted an extensive growth readiness assessment of Scala, as an independent management consultant. As President, he will be overseeing and executing the company's growth strategy as well as initially assuming direct operational responsibility for Corporate Marketing and US Operations.
Mr. Koolen brings a wealth of knowledge of global growth companies to Scala, having experienced and contributed to a number of high growth periods in operational and executive roles. He has lived in each of three continents for seven years or more.
Prior to being a management consultant, Mr. Koolen was President & CEO of arcplan Inc., the American arm of global business software vendor arcplan, achieving an annual growth rate of 40% before the company was successfully sold. He also served on the arcplan Inc Board and was a member of arcplan's global Executive Team. Prior to his appointment as CEO, he was arcplan Inc.'s Vice President of Marketing.
Before joining arcplan, Mr. Koolen was Vice-President of Global Marketing and Strategic Alliances for Knowledge Mechanics, a leading developer of eLearning software. There, Mr. Koolen was instrumental in creating the new market segment of Learning Content Management Systems and subsequently created a leading brand in this new segment. Prior to Knowledge Mechanics, he was a Marketing Director at Baan Company, a global ERP software company that during his tenure achieved a compounded annual growth of 75% per year for five years in a row. Prior to Baan Company, Mr. Koolen held marketing and management positions with ICL, a large international IT company (now a part of Fujitsu). His track record with several successful growth companies in Europe, Africa and North America adds up to 21 years of international experience in competitive software solution markets. Mr. Koolen graduated from Hogere Economische School, Groningen, a business school in the Netherlands, with a degree in marketing.
Jeff Porter (Executive Vice President, Experts Group)
Mr. Porter is responsible for the important Experts Group within Scala, which includes Information Technology, Product Management and Knowledge Management (the latter ensures continuous and consistent dissemination and transfer of know-how within the Scala organization worldwide). In addition Mr. Porter develops, maintains and expands the critical external business relationships required to maintain Scala's leadership position in the Digital Signage industry.
As a passionate and dedicated member of Scala's senior management team since 1994, Mr. Porter has served the company as EVP, Business Development from 2003 to 2007, as President and CEO from 2000 to 2002 and prior to that as Vice President of R&D leading product development and establishing critical relationships with a number of larger strategic customers and partners.
Mr. Porter is a frequent speaker at industry events, is widely acclaimed as one of the Digital Signage industry's leading pioneers and evangelists and plays an active role in the industry and serves on the Board of Directors of POPAI, the global association for marketing at retail, and chairs their digital signage group.
Prior to joining Scala, Mr. Porter was employed by Commodore International Limited, and was responsible for worldwide product development of the Amiga computer, the world's first multimedia personal computer. With dedicated tenure at AT&T Bell Laboratories and the Eastman Kodak Company, Mr. Porter has been on the forefront of the high-tech industry for his entire career. Mr. Porter received his bachelor's of science degree in electrical engineering from Purdue University and his master's of science degree from the University of Illinois.
Anthony Maddalone (Chief Financial Officer)
Mr. Maddalone joined Scala in 2007 as Chief Financial Officer. In this capacity, Mr. Maddalone's responsibilities include managing the Company's worldwide functions of finance, administration, legal, facilities and human resources. Mr. Maddalone brings over 20 years of industry experience in start-up and mid-sized companies where he has held senior financial and operational positions in the United States and Europe, at both public and private, venture backed companies.
Prior to joining Scala, Mr. Maddalone served as Chief Financial Officer of First Index, Inc. and Broadbeam Corporation (now a subsidiary of MobileAware).
Prior to Broadbeam, Mr. Maddalone held a variety of executive management positions in the United States and Europe at Logic Works, Inc. (now a subsidiary of Computer Associates), an enterprise client/server software company. As VP of European Finance & Operations (based in Switzerland and then the United Kingdom) he was responsible for the finance and administration functions of five subsidiaries during sales growth averaging 47% per annum. As VP, Controller and Chief Accounting Officer, he was a key member of management taking the company public in 1995 (NASDAQ: LGWX). Mr. Maddalone was also responsible for building and managing the company's worldwide financial and MIS organization and infrastructure during periods of exceptional sales growth averaging 173% per annum.
Prior to this, Mr. Maddalone was employed in a variety of auditing and tax positions at Ernst & Young.
Mr. Maddalone holds an MBA and BS in Business Administration from the State University of New York at Buffalo and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Peter Cherna (Vice President, Research & Development)
Mr. Cherna was appointed Vice President of Research & Development in April of 2000 and leads Scala's international product development team dedicated to delivering a world-class software solution for the Digital Signage industry. Managing a team of talented and dedicated professionals based around the globe, Mr. Cherna implements the strategic product direction of the company that continues to ensure Scala's leadership position in the Digital Signage industry.
Mr. Cherna joined Scala in 1993 and has been employed in various technical and engineering management positions during that time. Prior to Scala, Mr. Cherna led the development of significant portions of the Amiga operating system at Commodore International Limited.
Mr. Cherna holds a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from McGill University in Montreal.
Shannon Vander Giessen (Vice President, Americas & Oceania)
As VP Americas & Oceania, Ms. Vander Giessen is responsible for all of Scala's Sales, Services and Support operations in the Americas and Oceania. Ms. Vander Giessen joined Scala in 2002 and over the years has held various sales management positions, including Director of Channels where she was responsible for strengthening and expanding Scala's distribution channels which significantly contributed to the company's rapid growth and widening lead over its competitors.
Prior to joining Scala, Ms. Vander Giessen was the National Accounts Manager at a large PC manufacturer and managed service organizations for two systems integration companies in Minnesota focusing on PC-based solutions encompassing installation, consulting and training. She has also held various positions, including Account Manager and Business Development Manager, at IBM and Panasonic.
Ms. Vander Giessen has a Masters in Business Administration in Global Management from University of Phoenix and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy and History from the University of Minnesota Duluth.
Oscar Elizaga (Vice President, EMEA)
Mr. Elizaga is responsible for Scala's EMEA operations, which includes responsibility for all of Scala's Europe (excluding the Nordic Region), Middle East & Africa activities executed through the company's wholly-owned subsidiaries in the Netherlands and France.
Mr. Elizaga joined Scala early in 2005 as Director of New Business Development with initial responsibility for Spain, Italy and Portugal. He has been a major contributor to Scala's growth and expansion in the European market by forging strategic partnerships with key local system integrators and advertising/marketing firms, by delivering an unequivocal positioning message on Scala's leadership in the digital signage market and by structuring new business models attuned to the requirements of European enterprises.
Mr. Elizaga is an international business builder, with extensive experience in developing international technology businesses from the grounds up to profitable and repeatable performance; plus extensive expertise in channel management, sales organizations and operations management, foreign subsidiary building and directing, structuring and running services organizations and in formulating and leading value added partnerships. Mr. Elizaga is fluent in six languages.
Mr. Elizaga has over twenty five years of experience, obtained with leading technology companies, such as IBM, Kulicke and Soffa, InterDigital Communications Corporation, Bentley Systems and Expand International Corporation and holds a Masters Degree in Electronics Engineering from the University of Mendoza in Argentina.
Truls Baklid (Vice President, Nordic)
Mr. Baklid is responsible for Scala's Nordic operations based in Oslo, Norway. Scala Nordic is responsible for all of Scala's activities in Scandinavia, Finland and the Baltic states. Mr. Baklid brings sales leadership experience in networking and applications sales to large enterprises and service providers.
Prior to joining Scala, Mr. Baklid served as the Managing Director of Streambase Technologies, which was acquired by Scala in 2004 and is now fully integrated as Scala's Nordic subsidiary. Mr. Baklid was the architect of Streambase's sales strategy and channel management in Norway and with the acquisition of Streambase, Scala's Nordic sales have increased substantially since 2004.
Prior to this, Mr. Baklid was territory Sales Manager in TeleComputing, a multinational IT outsourcing service provider. Mr. Baklid has a Bachelor of Commerce (M.Sc) from BI Handelshøyskole, Sandvika, Norway.
Guillaume Proux (Vice President, Asia)
As VP Asia and General Manager of Scala KK based in Tokyo, Mr. Proux is responsible for Scala's operations in China, Japan and Korea (CJK). Based in Tokyo, Japan, Mr. Proux joined Scala in 2003 to start up Scala's Asian operations to support the company's growing number of Far-East customers after the earlier release of the Chinese, Japanese and Korean versions of Scala's InfoChannel Digital Signage software suite. In 2006 he led the formation, incorporation and staffing of Scala's new wholly owned subsidiary in Japan, which also saw the birth of the Japanese version of Scala's website as well as the first Digital Signage blogs in Japanese.
Prior to joining Scala, Mr. Proux was a System Architect with Symbian, developers of the mobile operating system used today in over 40% of smart-phones world-wide, including models by Nokia and Sony-Ericsson. Prior to Symbian he was team leader at Fusion System Japan responsible for the development of the software client used for over half of the stock trades on the Osaka Stock Exchange. He brings to Scala a strong mix of skills ranging from technology to finance and business management.
Mr. Proux holds both a Master of Science in Telecommunications Technologies from Aston University (Birmingham, UK) as well as an Engineering Degree from ENST Bretagne (Brest, France) and is fluent in French, English and Japanese.
