BrandMuscle Leadership Team
Philip Alexander, President and CEO
Philip spent over 19 years in senior marketing positions with national and international retailers. Most recently, he served as vice president of brand management for Pearle Vision, a leading optical retailer with over 1,300 locations worldwide. Before that, Philip was vice president of marketing for Western Auto, a subsidiary of Sears, Roebuck and Co., with 1,500 stores in the United States and Puerto Rico, where he was responsible for marketing and advertising. He also served on the Sears Marketing Council.
In September 2002, Smart Business News awarded Philip its "2002 Visionary in Innovation" award for creating BrandMuscle's breakthrough solution for the marketing and advertising industry. Philip serves on the Visiting Committee of Case Western Reserve University’s Weatherhead School of Management and on the Advisory Board of the Institute for Management and Engineering. He’s a member of the steering committee for the Regional Talent Network (RTN), which aims to improve the region’s ability to prepare residents for jobs and to fill high-demand positions in Northeast Ohio. Philip also serves on the board of the Northeast Ohio Software Association (NEOSA), and was a mentor for the Civic Innovation Lab.
Philip's industry experience, combined with an MBA in Marketing and MIS from Case Western Reserve University, inspired his vision to revolutionize how companies manage their brands.
Also a member of the Board of Directors
Jami Delperdang, Vice President of Sales and Marketing
Jami brings more than 20 years of experience in various management, sales, marketing and advertising positions to her role at BrandMuscle. She is a successful leader with a proven track record of building high-performing sales and marketing teams and driving new business of online and offline media, advertising technology and database marketing services. Prior to joining BrandMuscle, she served as Vice President, National Accounts at Harte-Hanks and Director of Strategic Accounts at Valassis, where she focused on industries and franchise organizations with significant distributed advertising programs.
Jami holds a Bachelor's degree in Business from the University of Southern California.
Kathy Heflin, Vice President of Finance
Kathy manages the financial activity of BrandMuscle, including cash management, accounts payable and receivable, payroll, risk assessment, reporting and analysis. Kathy has more than 20 years of accomplishments in varied positions with experience in financial and business plan writing, forecasting and strategic planning, sales and media analysis, IPOs / acquisitions / reorganizations, merchandising and public accounting.
Most recently, Kathy served as the Manager of Financial Reporting and Analysis for CoreComm and has served in various financial roles for companies, from start-ups to Fortune 500s.
Kathy is a Certified Public Accountant and holds a Masters degree in Business Administration from Case Western Reserve University's Weatherhead School of Management and a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration/Accounting from Ohio University. In 2009, Kathy was named to Crain’s Cleveland Business’s list of ‘40 under 40’ rising stars in Northeast Ohio’s business community.
Giridhar Mulastanam, Vice President of Product Development and Technology
Giridhar is responsible for BrandMuscle's software engineering processes, including product definition, application architecture, component development, quality assurance and release management. Giri provides leadership to a staff of 20+ professionals engaged in software engineering, technical project management and systems operations. He also is accountable for overall product quality, production systems reliability, staff productivity and operating margins on capitalized software development and custom software development projects.
Giri began his career with BrandMuscle in 2000. He was instrumental in defining, developing and implementing BrandMuscle's solution, and brings with him more than 10 years of experience in systems design, development, quality assurance and training. He has worked on several projects, including systems integration, migration and product development with focus on multimedia products. Giri has a Bachelor's degree in Engineering, with specialized training in software engineering, from Osmania University in India.
Tracy Parker, Vice President of Client Service
As Vice President of Client Service, Tracy leads a team of marketing and advertising professionals in the delivery of BrandMuscle solutions. With more than 15 years on the agency and client side of marketing strategy and communications, Tracy brings experience and skill in managing successful print and broadcast campaigns, direct mail programs and co-op advertising. Her background in a variety of marketing functions, coupled with a diverse knowledge across tactics and industries, enables her to provide BrandMuscle's clients with effective marketing solutions. Clients that have benefited directly from Tracy's expertise include JPMorgan Chase & Co., Bang & Olufsen, The Timken Company, Pizza Hut and Sherwin Williams. Before joining BrandMuscle in 2002, Tracy was Director of Marketing for Midland Food Services, one of the largest Pizza Hut franchisees. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Journalism from Bowling Green State University.
Clarke Smith, Vice President, Product Development, Sales & Marketing
Clarke is responsible for guiding the strategic development of BrandMuscle’s products and technology as well as overseeing the company’s sales and marketing programs. Clarke joined BrandMuscle in 2009 as Vice President of Local Marketing and Media and is credited with establishing the company’s media services division, which provides professional local marketing planning and execution tools and services for the franchisees, sales agents and others who use the company’s BrandBuilder® software.
Prior to joining BrandMuscle, Clarke served as the Vice President, Group Account Director for Bernstein-Rein Advertising where he led the direct marketing/CRM practice. Clarke developed and implemented programs for numerous clients, including Payless Shoes, Time Warner Cable, Clayton Homes and Home Depot Home Services.
Clarke's breadth of industry experience includes holding numerous leadership positions at Hallmark Cards, The Prairie Group, Harte-Hanks and Western Auto. Clarke holds a Bachelor's degree in Advertising from the University of Kansas. In 2011 Clarke was named a founding member of ExactTarget’s Partner Advisory Council and actively participates in the group which includes executives from over a dozen of the world’s top interactive agencies and marketing technology providers.
Peter Cowie, Chairman, CBE Technologies
Peter Cowie serves as chairman of Blacksmith Applications, Inc. and is a director of numerous technology companies including Brainshark, Inc., Ntirety, Inc. and MyVBO.
Peter has served in an advisory capacity for Microsoft, Novell and Cisco Systems and also co-founded Reach, the Boston-based venture fund that provided BrandMuscle's seed funding.
Bill Egan, Founder and General Partner, Alta Communications
Bill Egan founded Alta's predecessor firm, Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co. in 1979, and has identified and backed several of America's leading growth companies in the information technology, life sciences and communications industries. Prior to founding Burr, Egan, Deleage & Co., Bill was a Partner at TA Associates. Bill began his career as a manager of Venture Capital for New England Enterprise Capital Corporation.
Bill is past president and chairman of the National Venture Capital Association, a trustee of the University of Pennsylvania, a member of the board of Overseers at The Wharton School and a former trustee of Fairfield University. Bill also is a member of the board of directors of Village Voice Media, Cephalon Inc. and CRH plc. Bill received a degree in Economics from Fairfield University and a Master's degree in Business Administration from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Finance.
Lauren Rich Fine, Howard & O'Brien Associates, Executive Search Consultants
Lauren Rich Fine, CFA, is also a Practioner In Residence at Kent State University's School of Journalism & Mass Communication. Until 2007, Lauren was a managing director at Merrill Lynch in Equity Research. She joined the department in 1988 and covered the publishing, information, advertising and Internet industries. She was a ranked member of the Institutional Investor All-American Research Team since 1994. Lauren has a Master's degree in Business Administration from the Stern School of Management (NYU) and a Bachelor's degree in Psychology/Economics from Tufts University.
Lauren is on the boards of the Cleveland Film Society, the Chautauqua Foundation, Dolan Media (NYSE: DM), iGuiders, Laurel School and Urban Community School, a not-for-profit school for low-income families in Cleveland. She also serves on the advisory boards of Creative Loafing and MedCity News and has, in the past, been on the advisory boards of Dix & Eaton, a public relations firm in Cleveland, and the Poynter Institute, a school for journalists in St. Petersburg.
Lane MacDonald, Harvard Management Company
Lane MacDonald currently works in the Private Equity Group at Harvard Management Company Inc. (HMC). Founded in 1974, HMC is charged with responsibility for managing more than $40 billion of Harvard University's endowment, pension assets, working capital and non-cash gifts. HMC operates as a fully integrated investment management company.
Before joining HMC, Lane was a general partner of Alta Communications, where he specialized in identifying and managing investments in media and telecom services.
Prior to Alta, he was a principal at J.W. Childs Associates, a leveraged buyout firm with more than $1 billion under management, and an assistant vice president at BancBoston Capital (the private equity division of FleetBoston).
Lane graduated cum laude from Harvard University with a degree in Economics and received a Master's degree in Business Administration from the Stanford Graduate School of Business. He also was a member of the 1988 U.S.A. Olympic Hockey Team. He was the 1989 winner of the Hobey Baker Award while at Harvard University, which is given to the nation's top collegiate hockey player, and he was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2005.
Frank Selldorff, Managing Partner, Momentum Equity Partners
Frank Selldorff was co-founder and co-CEO of Reach, the Boston-based Internet incubator that provided BrandMuscle's seed funding. In 2003, Frank founded Momentum Equity Partners, an early-stage venture capital firm that invests in companies with the potential to be leaders in information technology.
In 1992, Frank founded Breakaway Solutions (NASDAQ: BWAY), a full-service Internet provider for eBusinesses, and served as its chairman, president and CEO through 1998. Under his direction, the company was recognized as one of the nation's fastest growing technology companies, ranking 73rd on the 1998 INC 500 and Deloitte and Touche's Fast 50/500 from 1996-1998.
Before Breakaway, Frank held senior technology positions with Fidelity, BankBoston, Atlantic Data Services and Arthur D. Little. In addition, Frank serves as an advisor to The BIT Group, Granitar, Inofin and TurnerMotorSport. He also is a member of the private investment group CommonAngels and is a board member of the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurs (NFTE/New England) organization, Waterview and Edgerock Technology Partners.
Chaz Napoli, Chief Operating Officer
As BrandMuscle’s Chief Operating Officer, Chaz oversees technology, product development, sales and marketing functions for the company. His extensive experience in retail application software development and integration spans nearly two decades at leading companies within the technology industry.
Prior to joining BrandMuscle, Chaz served as Chief Operating Officer for a division of Micros Systems, Inc. that specialized in application software and services for multichannel retailers and as president and Chief Operating Officer at Datavantage Corporation, a global provider of corporate enterprise resource planning (ERP), corporate analytics, point-of-sale software, and e-commerce solutions for the retail industry. Prior to that, he worked in multi-channel retail management consulting at Deloitte & Touche.
Chaz holds a Bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Notre Dame.
