Leadership

Rip Gerber is the founder of “Location-as-a-Service” (LaaS) and built Locaid into world’s largest location company. As GM and CMO at Nokia, Rip transformed the Intellisync’s (NASDAQ: SYNC) brand and products, culminating in a $510M acquisition. He’s served as SVP at Carlson, a $38 billion private company, and was a founding executive of Commtouch (NASDAQ: CTCH). He also founded @once (acquired by InfoUSA), was a strategy consultant for Deloitte, a direct marketer for American Express and a plant engineer for Firestone Tire & Rubber. Rip holds several patents, sits on the CTIA’s WIC Leadership Council of the CTIA, serves on the board of Aratana Therapeutics, Inc and is the only CEO to be certified by the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP). Rip can frequently be found speaking and sharing his thoughts on innovation using location at mobile and technology conferences across the country. He has a Harvard MBA and a Chemical Engineering degree from the University of Virginia.

Rip is also a best-selling author. His thrillers have been published by Random House and Forge. In his spare time Rip fronts a rock band in San Francisco and curates the world’s largest collection of map postcards.

Tom Stahl runs all Locaid internal operations including development, platform infrastructure, finance and human resources. Previously Tom was COO of Nielsen Mobile/Telephia, where in nine years he helped build Telephia from ground-zero to $90 million in revenue and a $440 million sale. Tom ran the company’s operations, software development, wireless technology, IT infrastructure and analytics groups, and oversaw over 300 employees in the United States, India and Guatemala. His previous telecom experience includes three years as a management consultant helping US telecom firms enter the China market and two years with BellSouth China in Beijing. He has also worked as a programmer, an electrical engineer, a political consultant in Taiwan, a short-order cook and a paperboy. Tom holds an MBA and a Master's in Asian Studies from the University of California at Berkeley, and a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from Duke University. Tom is also an award-winning photographer and speaks Mandarin Chinese.

As Chief Technology Officer, Naomi Morita is responsible for Locaid’s technology vision and location sourcing of Locaid’s “Location-as-a-Service” platform. Naomi has over fifteen years experience in building technology-enhanced and mission-critical solutions for enterprise customers, including Western Union, UPS, USDA and Comcast. Her work in location began with evangelizing worldwide “user plane” a-GPS solutions at SnapTrack (now Qualcomm) and continued on as head product manager of Chaperone, Autodesk's white-labeled application for Verizon. Prior to Locaid, Naomi provided leadership to iLoop Mobile's Service Delivery team to maintain and grow a client base of 80+ accounts including Yahoo!, Sony, Coca-Cola, CREDO Mobile, ePrize, Deutsche Bank, Paramount and Hasbro. Her work includes broad patents for location-driven analytics. Naomi is an active member of the Board of Directors for the Application Developer’s Alliance.

Jeff Allyn is responsible all Locaid sales and marketing functions. Jeff is a strategic innovator with a career history of devising, launching and selling products that add immediate and long-term value with valuable pipelines. Prior to joining Locaid, he worked for Verizon Wireless, where, during his fifteen-year tenure with the company, he was an accomplished sale leader who was responsible for establishing new sales distribution channels that created incremental revenue streams for LBS, Voice and Data services. Jeff also led strategy development, sales training, communications and collateral development for Verizon’s white-labeled navigator product, VZ Navigator, the wireless industry’s most successful LBS application. In addition, he managed a multi-billion dollar subscriber base of bundled wireless and landline services.

Walter Beisheim focuses on expanding Locaid’s location offer and market footprint. A mobile industry veteran of over 25 years, Walter is passionate about building out a complete suite of location services for the global enterprise. Prior to Locaid, Beisheim served for four years as Vice President of Business Development for Neustar in its Quova division, where he was responsible for establishing and maintaining major enterprise accounts including Microsoft, Facebook, Google, T-Mobile, Cisco, AT&T, Fox Entertainment and Yellow Pages. Prior to Neustar, he was SVP of Sales and Marketing at Mobile Data Solutions, Inc., a provider of mobile workforce management systems. Beisheim also previously held senior level positions in business development and sales at IBM, Wang Laboratories, Informix Software, SR Telecom and Digital Microwave Corp. Beisheim spends his free time with his family, travelling internationally, and is an avid downhill skier.

Dennis Madura is responsible for managing Locaid's location infrastructure, customer operations and application on-boarding. Prior to joining Locaid, Dennis worked for Nielsen Mobile (acquired by Telephia) where he owned operations for the largest suite of products in the Nielsen Mobile portfolio. He also integrated new platforms and launched new products at Openwave and, for Nortel Networks, worked in supply chain management, new product introduction and manufacturing. Prior to joining Nortel, Dennis served 5 years in the United States Navy onboard a nuclear powered submarine. He holds a BSME from the University of Florida at Gainesville.

Greg Baty is a Vice President at Hamilton Lane. Greg is based in Florida and is primarily focused on the Florida growth Fund. Prior to joining Hamilton Lane, Greg held investment positions within the private equity marketplace, with previous venture finance experience at Sand Hill Capital and Garage.com, where he screened potential portfolio companies, sourced deal flow for emerging technologies, raised capital and managed relationships with top tier venture capital and venture debt firms. He has also owned and operated retail franchises along with his operational roles in technology start ups. Greg also spent nine years as a professional football player, initially drafted by the new England Patriots and finishing with the Miami Dolphins. He holds a bachelors degree from Stanford University and a masters in management from Stanford Business School.

Scott Bonham is a founding partner of GGV Capital and has been instrumental in helping the firm’s portfolio companies navigate technology and marketing hurdles for more than a decade. Recently Scott has been focused on enabling mobile solutions and is involved in Heptagon, Xenon Technologies, and Inside Secure. Prior to joining GGV, Scott was a Vice President at Capital Group Companies and a consultant at Booz, Allen & Hamilton. Scott also spent four years at Silicon Graphics in various marketing roles and started his career as a systems engineer and maintenance foreman at a General Motors assembly plant. Scott earned a B.S. in Electrical Engineering (First Class Honors) from Queen's University, Canada and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

John Glushik is a General Partner at Intersouth where he focuses on the firm's technology portfolio. Prior experience includes management consulting at Booz-Allen & Hamilton, telecommunications satellite engineering at General Electric and data communications research as a Draper Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In addition to his current role, John is an adjunct professor at the UNC Kenan-Flagler School of Business and serves on the executive committee of the board of directors of the Council for Entrepreneurial Development, the Atlanta Venture Forum and Florida Venture Forum. In addition, he is President of the Duke University Engineering Alumni Council. John holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science from Duke University, an M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.

As Managing Director at H.I.G. Ventures, John Kim focuses primarily on Internet, media and wireless investments. Previously, John was a co-founder, interim CEO and board director of Cooligy. He also was the COO of an eCommerce portal, General Manager of a semiconductor equipment manufacturer and Business Development Director at a product development software company. John began his career at Booz, Allen & Hamilton where he consulted on operations strategy to Fortune 500 companies. John received an M.S. and B.S. with Phi Beta Kappa honors in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and an MBA degree with distinction from Harvard Business School.