John Ralston—President and CEO
Prior to becoming CEO, John worked with Droplet’s founding team as an early investor, as a member of the company’s Advisory Board, and as a member of the company’s Board of Directors. John is the architect of Droplet’s all-software video service platform and co-inventor of the company’s industry-leading video codec technologies. His professional career has spanned major telecom equipment companies, leading global communications research organizations, and four previous Silicon Valley wireless and fiber-optic communications start-ups. John holds B.Sc. degrees in Physics and Electrical Engineering from M.I.T., a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from Cornell University, and a M.Sc. in Management of Technology from M.I.T.’s Sloan Business School.
Chuck Stonecipher
Chuck Stonecipher has been with Trilogy Partnership since 2007, where he serves as a director or board observer for multiple portfolio companies. Chuck also serves as non-executive Chairman of the Board at Key Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: KTEC), where he has been a director since 2004. Previously, he served in various executive capacities at Advanced Digital Information Corporation from 1995 to 2006. Prior to ADIC, Chuck served as Chief Financial Officer of Interpoint Corporation from 1994 to 1995, and as a manager and consultant with Bain and Company from 1989 to 1994. Chuck holds B.S. and M.S. degrees from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard Business School.
Tim Wong
Mr. Wong is a Managing Director at Trilogy Equity Partners and a seasoned wireless industry executive. From 2001 to 2004, he served as Executive Vice President of Engineering and Technical Operations at VoiceStream Wireless Corp. (acquired by T-Mobile in 2001). From 1999 to 2001, Mr. Wong served as Senior Vice President of Engineering at VoiceStream, and he served as Vice President of Engineering at VoiceStream and Western Wireless from 1996 to 1999. From 1990 to 1995, Mr. Wong held various positions at US WEST Cellular, including Executive Director of Engineering and Operations, Director of Wireless Systems Engineering, Manager of International Wireless Engineering, and Manager of Systems Design. Tim holds a BSEE in Electrical Engineering from the University of Washington.
Bernd Girod
Bernd Girod is a Professor of Electrical Engineering and (by courtesy) Computer Science at Stanford University, California. His current research interests are in the areas of video compression and networked media systems. He has published over 400 conference and journal papers, as well as 5 books, receiving the EURASIP Signal Processing Best Paper Award in 2002, the IEEE Multimedia Communication Best Paper Award in 2007, the EURASIP Image Communication Best Paper Award in 2008, as well as the EURASIP Technical Achievement Award in 2004. As an entrepreneur, Professor Girod has been involved with several startup ventures, among them Polycom (Nasdaq: PLCM), Vivo Software, 8x8 (Nasdaq: EGHT), and RealNetworks (Nasdaq: RNWK). He received an Engineering Doctorate from University of Hannover, Germany, and an M.S. Degree from Georgia Institute of Technology. Prof. Girod is a Fellow of the IEEE, a EURASIP Fellow, and a member of the German National Academy of Sciences.
Nicholas Fergis
Mr. Fergis has worked with the Droplet team since 2006, as an investor and member of the Board of Directors, and brings 20 years of experience and success in business, finance, sales, and software development to the company. Nick currently serves as Chief Strategy & Information Officer at PowerHouse Service, Inc. Prior to PowerHouse, Nick was a co-founder, and served as CFO, VP of Strategy, and EVP of Sales at Kintana, an enterprise IT Governance application vendor that was acquired by Mercury Interactive for $225M in 2003. Before forming Kintana, Mr. Fergis was a manager at Price Waterhouse, where he was responsible for implementing large scale financial and manufacturing systems for multinational corporations including DuPont Merck Pharmaceuticals, Western Digital, Cisco Systems and Silicon Graphics. Additionally, Mr. Fergis founded and managed Data Works, Inc., developing and implementing custom accounting, distribution and manufacturing systems. He began his career as a design engineer for TIF Instruments. Nick holds a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics/Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University.
About Trilogy Equity Partners: (http://www.trilogypartnership.com)
Established by a team of wireless and technology entrepreneurs, Trilogy Equity Partners is a venture capital firm specializing in investments in startups and early stage companies. Based on experience building mobile franchises in 12 diverse national markets, Trilogy seeks high-growth opportunities in the wireless application and infrastructure sectors. The firm’s partners have long been at the center of the global wireless revolution as founders of Voicestream (T-Mobile) and Western Wireless (Alltel), in addition to previously holding pivotal roles at McCaw Cellular (AT&T). Trilogy Equity Partners was founded in 2005 and is based in Bellevue, Washington.