Iota Team

Russ Stromberg, Chief Executive Officer and Founder

Before founding Iota, Russ was a leader at T-Mobile USA in engineering, product development and finance. Russ helped lead T-Mobile's national 3G network rollout. Plus, he co-led end-to-end network performance testing of the original Google G1, Google's first Android smartphone. Russ has learned a lot about mobile consumers and how they use devices on the network as he rolled out networks around the country, including NYC and Los Angeles. Russ is a graduate from the University of Arizona and obtained his J.D. cum laude at Seattle University Law School.

James Pacyga, Chief Technology Officer

James is an expert in the field of mobile device product development. James has worked directly with most major mobile device OEMs as a mobile leader in the U.S., Europe and Asia. For example, he led OEMs to deliver T-Mobile's handset requirements for all handset launches from 2004-2006. James also led the design of mobile devices from research to development at T-Mobile's IDEO designed Creation Center. Previous to this, James worked in the Internet space as Director, Strategic Technology for Orbitz. James has also held various positions at Motorola within the Cellular Infrastructure group ranging from software engineering to leading large teams to deliver key products in Asia, Europe, and the Americas. In his early career years, James worked at Federal Signal between as a hardware and software design engineer on embedded systems used for remote terminal controllers where his duties ranged from technical writing to circuit design and software development. James holds a BSEE from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Lisa Brown Spencer, Chief Marketing Officer

Lisa Brown Spencer is a consumer marketing expert with a background in mobile as well as consumer packaged goods. As a Senior Director at T-Mobile, Lisa was responsible for the postpaid business, including new customer acquisition, new products and marketing calendar creation. Subsequently she was marketing lead for services innovation, partnering with product development on innovation strategy, new product planning, and key launches. Prior to T-Mobile Lisa worked at Fluke, a division of Danaher Corporation, where she ran Global Marketing and then developed the business and organization strategy and led the cross functional execution of Danaher’s entry into industrial thermal imaging. Lisa started her marketing career in brand management, running consumer businesses in the US and Europe for Johnson and Johnson. Lisa holds an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and a BS from the University of Illinois.

Dan Knodle, Vice President, Product Engineering

Dan has deep experience in consumer product and manufacturing. Dan was the President and Founder of OT, LLC which developed and marketed TWISTEP, an innovative auto accessory designed to provide easy access to SUV's and Pickup Trucks for people and their pets. Dan served as VP, Engineering for CMI Worldwide managing internal and external engineering groups to develop the entertainment and information product line. Dan founded and sold Evergreen Sensor Tech. Corporation which developed and manufactured new sensor designs and products, including an IR source design and production facility for a leading medical monitoring company. At Trillium Health Product, Dan served as Director of Engineering which developed a Consumer Reports rated "Best Buy" kitchen appliance (Breadman bread baking machine.) Dan holds a BS in Biochemistry from Whitworth College.

Advisors

Stuart DePina

Stuart DePina is the CEO of Tamarac, Inc. and former CEO of Ticketmaster and USA Networks. Stuart is a seasoned professional with over 23 years experience ranging from early stage companies to large multi-national corporations with responsibilities for the management of multiple functions of operations stemming from tenures as CEO, COO, CFO as well as a Partner in a Big 4 firm. Stuart managed two successful IPO's, over 25 acquisitions and 5 sales of businesses while operating as an Executive and consulted with numerous clients on public offerings and M&A activity while at KPMG.

John Suffolk

John Suffolk is the CIO & CISO of Her Majesty's Government (UK Government). John leads the work of the CIO Council in delivering the Government’s strategy for the transformation of public services enabled by technology. John is also Global Transformation and Technology Advisor to the World Bank. John has been a CIO three times, a Customer Services Director, an Operations Director and a Managing Director. He have been through 27 mergers and acquisitions, has led some of the world’s largest, and most complex change agendas. He is a winner of numerous awards for innovation and business transformation. John earned his MBA at The University of Wolverhampton.

Mark McNeely

Mark McNeely is a marketing strategy advisor and entrepreneur. Mark was the original founder of Qpass, recently acquired by Amdocs. Qpass is the leading digital transaction company in the wireless space providing the infrastructure for several of the largest North American and European carriers. Mark has founded several other businesses including Laptop Lane, a computerized office facility in airports nationwide. Mark has an extensive marketing and advertising background. He was the Chairman of Ogilvy agency Cole & Weber in Seattle and former head of planning for Ogilvy & Mather in New York. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Southern California and an MBA from Harvard.

Karyn Lewandowski

Karyn was Vice President, Marketing for publicly traded Zumiez (ZUMZ), an action sports lifestyle fashion apparel and accessories brand. Karyn led national marketing campaigns and teams at Zumiez, which provides cutting edge clothing, footwear, accessories, DVDs, hard goods for skate and snow for active lifestyles. Zumiez operates over 350 retails stores across the U.S.. Early on, Karyn led the launch of Zumiez award winning e-commerce site which features youth lifestyle brands and a multitude of products such as young men’s and juniors apparel, skateboards, snowboards, footwear, and accessories. Karyn holds a BA from the University of Washington.

David Kim

David leads Iota's Business and Corporate Development and serves as counsel. David is an established advisor in Silicon Valley, working with over 30 start-ups and specializing in Korean-American business ventures. David began his professional career on Wall Street as a structured finance banker following his graduation from the Wharton School of Business with a major in Finance. Thereafter, he graduated from the Georgetown University Law Center, clerked for a Federal judge, and practiced corporate law, focusing on venture capital and mergers and acquisitions both in New York and in Silicon Valley. For the last dozen years, David has independently advised and invested in start-up companies in the US and in Korea, with sector focus on the wireless market. In these capacities, David has been in advisory roles and business and corporate development roles for capital raising, mergers and acquisitions and public exits.