http://www.venturehousegroup.com/--Investors--
Mark D. Ein
Mark D. Ein is the founder and CEO of Venturehouse Group. Prior to forming Venturehouse, Mr. Ein was a Principal with The Carlyle Group, a large private equity firm with offices around the world. From 1992 to 1999, Mr. Ein led many of Carlyle’s telecommunications investment activities. He currently serves on the board of directors of LCC International (NASDAQ:LCCI), as well as many private companies. Mr. Ein is a graduate of University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School and received his MBA from Harvard Business School. A native of Washington, D.C., Mr. Ein is deeply committed to the region, supporting many charitable and community organizations.
Richard Romar
Richard Romar joined Venturehouse as Chief Financial Officer in February 2001. Mr. Romar previously served as the Chief Financial Officer of Collaborex, Inc. and as the Chief Financial Officer for the consulting division of KPMG. During his tenure at KPMG, Mr. Romar was responsible for finance and accounting operations during a period of immense growth and organizational change, and played a key role in preparing for the upcoming IPO of the consulting division. Mr. Romar has also held several senior financial roles with NYNEX Corporation, including Director of Finance, Director of Business Planning for a major telecommunications division, and Director of Accounting. Mr. Romar began his career on the audit staff in the New York office of Price Waterhouse. He has a B.S. in Accounting from Syracuse University, where he currently sits on the Advisory Board. Mr. Romar also has an M.B.A. in Strategic Business from Pace University.
Donald K. Jones
Donald K. Jones is a Managing Director with Venturehouse Group, based in Washington, D.C. Before joining Venturehouse, Mr. Jones was a Managing Director with Russell Reynolds Associates, the global executive recruiting firm, in their Washington, D. C. office. During his seven years at Russell Reynolds, Mr. Jones started the firm’s software practice and later was responsible for the United States high technology sector. Relocating to California for two years, he also managed the firm’s Silicon Valley office in Menlo Park. Prior to joining Russell Reynolds Associates, Mr. Jones founded and later sold Potomac Software, a company that developed and sold PC-based real-time trading software for stock and derivative traders. For over seven years with the consulting firms Booz Allen & Hamilton and Strategic Planning Associates, Mr. Jones consulted on a wide variety of technology and strategy projects for clients in the manufacturing, financial services, telecommunications, and high technology segments. Mr. Jones is a Certified Public Accountant. He received his B.A. with honors from the University of Texas and his M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.
William Kung
William Kung is an Associate with Venturehouse Group and specializes in technology investments, focusing primarily on RF infrastructure and e-commerce businesses. Prior to joining Venturehouse, Bill constructed and managed an e-commerce exchange platform, and served on growth engagements in areas of broadband deployment, wireless exchanges, advertising, and SMB internet services for McKinsey and Company. Bill completed his graduate work in ILP and applied symbolic machine learning with the Programming Research Group at the University of Oxford. He has a B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania Engineering School and a B.S. from the Wharton School.
Chad Smolinski
Chad Smolinski is an Associate with Venturehouse Group, focusing on investments in wireless data and services and network infrastructure. Prior to joining Venturehouse, Chad built and managed Syndigo, a Washington-based Internet services company, and served as a strategy consultant with McKinsey and Company, where he developed new technology strategies and businesses for Fortune 500 clients in the financial services and energy sectors. Chad received a B.S. from the Cornell University School of Engineering, and holds an executive degree from the Dartmouth Tuck School of Business. Matrics Makes Move In RFID Market
By Roy Mark
January 15, 2002
http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/print.php/954431RFID tags -- in the form of thin, flexible smart labels containing a silicon chip -- are attached to or embedded in products, boxes and pallets to create a "people-free," wireless environment for tracking items as they travel through the supply chain
Other proposed uses of RFID technology include:
Tracking apparel: Clothing maker Benetton planned to embed retail items with RFID tags. The implanted devices would enable Benetton to track individuals and inventory their belongings by linking a consumer's name and credit card information with the serial number in an item of clothing. Privacy advocates noted the potential abuses of a system, and Benetton agreed not to tag clothing with tracking devices—for now.
Tracking consumer packaged goods (CPGs): Gillette, Wal-Mart, and the U.K.-based supermarket chain Tesco are teaming up to test specially designed shelves that allow for real-time tracking of inventory levels. The "smart shelves" will be able to read radio frequency waves emitted by microchips embedded in millions of shavers and other products. Wal-Mart plans to test the Gillette shelf initially in a store located in Brockton, Mass. If the technology is successful, Wal-Mart also plans to join forces with Procter & Gamble to test a similar system with cosmetic products, and has encouraged its top 100 suppliers to use wireless inventory tracking equipment by 2005. So far, Wal-Mart executives say the company plans to use RFID chips only to track merchandise, and will remove the tags from items that have been purchased. However, Wal-Mart's decision to implement RFID technology will likely propel the ubiquity of the tags in CPGs.
Tracking tires: Tire manufacturer Michelin recently began fleet testing of a radio frequency tire identification system for passenger and light truck tires. The RFID transponder is manufactured into the tire and stores tire identification information, which can be associated with the vehicle identification number (VIN). Critics argue the tags could ultimately become tracking devices that can tell where and when a vehicle is traveling.
Tracking currency: The European Central Bank is moving forward with plans to embed RFID tags as thin as a human hair into the fibers of Euro bank notes by 2005, in spite of consumer protests. The tags would allow currency to record information about each transaction in which it is passed. Governments and law enforcement agencies hail the technology as a means of preventing money-laundering, black-market transactions, and even bribery demands for unmarked bills. However, consumers fear that the technology will eliminate the anonymity that cash affords.
Tracking patients and personnel: Alexandra Hospital in Singapore recently began a new tracking system in its accident and emergency (A&E ) department in the wake of the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) scare. Under this system, all patients, visitors, and staff entering the hospital are issued a card embedded with an RFID chip. The card is read by sensors installed in the ceiling, which record exactly when a person enters and leaves the department. The information is stored in a computer for 21 days. Officials say that the technology enables health care workers to keep tabs on everyone who enters the A&E department, so that if anyone is later diagnosed with SARS, a record of all other individuals with whom that person has been in contact can be immediately determined. Other hospitals in Singapore are expected to adopt similar technology.
Payment systems: In 1997, ExxonMobil developed the wireless payment application known as Speedpass. Since then, six million consumers have utilized the payment option at 7,500 Speedpass-enabled locations. Now, a wide range of merchants and retailers are looking for ways to implement radio frequency (RF) wireless payment systems. Sony and Phillips are leading the way. The two corporations will soon begin field testing an RFID system called Near Field Communication (NFC), which will enable RFID communication between PCs, handheld computers, and other electronic devices. The companies envision that consumers will log on to their personal online portal by swiping their smart cart—embedded with a Sony or Philips RFID—which will be read by a RFID reader plugged into the USB port on the computer. Next, consumers would shop online, say, for tickets to a local event. The consumer would pay for the tickets online, download them to their PC and then transmit them with NFC technology to an RFID tag in their mobile phone. Then, at the event, consumers would wave their cell phone near a reader in the turnstile, and be automatically admitted.
RFID Ripples Through Software Industry, by Ephraim Schwartz, InfoWorld, Sept. 26, 2003.
http://www.infoworld.com/article/03/09/26/38NNrfid_1.html Retail future: painless checkout, knowing scanners, by Paul Hoskins, Forbes, May 14, 2003.
http://www.forbes.com/home_europe/newswire/2003/05/14/rtr970418.html Radio Frequency ID: A New Era for Marketers?, by John Stermer, Consumer Insight.
http://www.acnielsen.com/pubs/ci/2001/q4/features/radio.htm Sony, Philips to Test RFID Platform, RFID Journal, May 8, 2003.
Benetton takes stock of chip plan, by Winston Chai and Richard Shim, CNET News, April 7, 2003.
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/404/1/1/ Glowing Beads Make Tiny Bar Codes, Technology Research News, April 3, 2003.
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/097/business/Local_firms_help_make_sur Wal-Mart to remove ID tags, by Joanna Glasner, Wired News, Mar. 26, 2003.
http://wired.com/news/business/0,1367,58204,00.html A Radio Chip in Every Consumer Product, by Claudia H. Deutsch and Barnaby J. Feder, NY Times, Feb. 25, 2003.
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/02/25/technology/25THEF.html Michelin Embeds RFID Tags in Tires, RFID Journal, Jan. 17, 2003.
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/269/1/1/ Opposition to RFID Tracking Grows, RFID Journal, Jan. 20, 2003.
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/275/1/1/ Major retailers to test "smart shelves," by Alorie Gilbert, CNET News, Jan. 8, 2003.
http://news.com.com/2100-1017-979710.html RFID tags: Big Brother in small packages, by Declan McCullagh, CNET News, Jan. 13, 2003.
http://news.com.com/2010-1069-980325.html Gillette Confirms Purchase of EPC Tags, RFID Journal, Jan. 6, 2003.
http://www.rfidjournal.com/article/articleview/258/1/1/ Microsoft to Develop Software for Radio Tags, Reuters, June 10, 2003.
http://asia.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=technologyNews&storyID=2905169http://www.epic.org/privacy/rfid/
Printer-friendly format
Email this thread to a friend
Bookmark this thread
(1000+ posts)
Send PM |
Profile |
Ignore
