Executive Team
Ian Bonner, Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Board
Ian Bonner joined ColdSpark as Chief Executive Officer in March, 2008 bringing significant industry and management expertise to the company. In 1993, after founding and ultimately selling Crosstalk Software, he joined IBM Software to build an independent channel infrastructure and organization. Over the next 11 years, Mr. Bonner was promoted to the position of Vice President and General Manager-Partner Programs overseeing channel revenue growth from $200 million to over $3 billion. He was also appointed to the IBM Senior Management Group in 1998. Since leaving IBM in 2001, he has been CEO of such high growth companies as Terraspring Software,(acquired by Sun Microsystems) Sistina Software,(acquired by Redhat Software) and most recently Inxight Software which became a wholly owned subsidiary of Business Objects in 2007. Ian holds both a Bachelor of Commerce and a Graduate Diploma in Marketing Management and is a graduate of the IBM Executive Management Program at the Indiana Graduate School of Business.
Scott Brown, Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer
Mr. Brown has served as Chief Technology Officer and board member of ColdSpark since co-founding the company in 2001. In this role, he is responsible for emerging technologies, architecture and standards, and developing the technology strategy for the company. Mr. Brown is the author of numerous patents in messaging technology and a trusted advisor to Fortune 500 companies on messaging infrastructure, security and compliance. He led the team which invented the SparkEngine™, the industry's most powerful and extensible mail transport platform. Prior to ColdSpark, Mr. Brown served as CTO of Epidemic Marketing and Technical Director of ChannelOne Media. Additionally, he is a contributing member the Email Signing Technology Group (ESTG). Mr. Brown holds both an MA and BA from the University of Wisconsin.
Don Gammon, Senior Vice President-Worldwide Field Operations
Don Gammon brings 30 years of senior sales, marketing and general management expertise to ColdSpark. Mr. Gammon specializes in building the commercial aspects of emerging software companies. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Sales for Valchemy, the leader in mergers and acquisition software. When that company was acquired by IBM, Mr. Gammon was appointed CEO and managed the transition and integration process. He has also served as Senior Vice President for Tumbleweed Communications, building the sales presence from early start-up through IPO and several acquisition integrations. Other senior management roles were with such companies as ClearSwift, Composite Software, and Interactive Systems.
Ken O'Brien, Vice President of Engineering
Mr. O’Brien joins ColdSpark as the Vice President of Engineering, bringing over 18 years of software development and operational experience to the team. He was previously the Director of Operations and Integrations Services for Oxlo Systems, where he was responsible for helping to bring process improvement, repeatability, and predictability to these areas. Prior to that, he was the VP of Software Engineering for Raindance Communications, a leading provider of web and phone-based conferencing services. Mr. O’Brien holds a BS from the University of Denver in Computer Science with minors in Mathematics and Business.
Paul Trout, Vice President of Technical Operations
Mr. Trout joined ColdSpark in 2004 and brings with him over 20 years of experience in managing mission-critical information technology infrastructures. In this role, Mr. Trout is responsible for the functional management of ColdSpark's customer deployments and support, in addition to internal operational infrastructure, network operations and data management. He joined ColdSpark from DoubleClick, the world's leading online advertising service provider. Mr. Trout has also had various articles published in Dr. Dobb's Journal, PC Magazine, Win32 Scripting Journal and Sys Admin magazines.
Hilda L Fontana, Vice President of Technical Solutions
With over 20 years of experience in the industry, Ms. Fontana serves as the Vice President of Technical Solutions for ColdSpark, where she is responsible for applied solutions for customers and input to industry initiatives. She joined ColdSpark from Lehman Brothers Investment Bank where, as Vice President of Equity Research Technology, she was responsible for building their research distribution system using the ColdSpark architectural solutions. Previous to Lehman Brothers, Ms. Fontana worked for Reuters, Gallup and NATO, where she primarily focused on new technology developments for financial and web applications. Ms. Fontana is currently leading the TECFS (Trusted Email Consortium for Financial Services) initiative working with ISP’s and financial institutions for solutions targeting phishing. Ms. Fontana holds a BSC in Information Technology and is currently pursuing her MBA in Technology at the New York Institute of Technology.