ATC Leadership

Kelley C. Knutson is senior executive vice president, TSYS, and president of Netspend, a leading provider of digital acquisition, retention, activation and life cycle management for prepaid/demand deposit/virtual account users across the US.

The business generates $800MM+ in revenue through over 5MM+ active accounts utilizing 120K employers/distribution (and 130K reload) locations and it partners with some of America’s most trusted, and well-known, consumer brands (Brinks, PayPal, Western Union, Walmart, HEB, Major League Baseball, United Airlines, etc.).

Previously, Kelley served as Executive Vice President of TSYS and President of International Issuer Solutions, based in London.  He was responsible for TSYS’ strategic execution, global sales, business development, relationship management, local product partnerships and new growth initiatives for all markets outside North America. Prior to TSYS, Knutson served as CEO of Clear Money Ltd. (Clear), a provider of Electronic Bill Management Services to UK billers and financial institutions; SVP of GE Capital’s Global Consumer Finance (GCF) cards business, where he was responsible for developing and executing GCF’s cards strategy and driving card-based consumer finance initiatives in more than 15 markets around the world. Prior to GE Capital, he was SVP at Visa International, where he held a number of positions related to product performance/development, marketing propositions and new solutions innovation for delivery/implementation across key markets around the globe.  His early career was spent at General Dynamics, TRW and Simpson Paper Company in an assortment of roles related to cost accounting/finance/project management.

Kelley holds a BS in Accountancy (Northern Arizona University – 1981) / MBA in Finance/International Business (Loyola Marymount University, California – 1984), and he has held numerous NED Board positions at entities such as M&S Money (M&S/HSBC partnership), Prepaid International Forum (PIF), Clear Money Ltd., Dione plc and he is currently a director of China Union Pay (CUP) Data and TMS EMEA (UK FSA-regulated entity).

Kelley lived overseas (London, England) for almost 30 years and he holds both US and British passports.  In the course of his professional responsibilities, Kelley has traveled extensively (Europe, North/South America, India, Japan, China, Russia/CIS, MEA and across Asia) throughout his career and is knowledgeable/sensitive of cultural/commercial/political issues throughout the world.

Darrell Windham is the managing member of the Dickinson Wright’s Austin office and has forty years of experience representing publicly traded and privately held clients, private equity funds and investors in complex M&A, capital markets and other domestic and global business transactions. Darrell has experience in a wide variety of industries, including life sciences, medical devices, technology, software and semi-conductors, entertainment and media, manufacturing and construction, and consumer products.  Dickinson Wright is a 142 year old law firm with 18 offices across the USA and in Toronto Canada.

Mr. Windham represents both strategic and private equity buyers and sellers in a variety of M&A and other commercial transactions, including corporate reorganizations and recapitalizations, joint ventures, strategic alliances and auction transactions. Darrell represents early stage and emerging growth companies, underwriters, investors and private equity funds in capital raising transactions, such as initial and secondary public offerings, private debt and equity offerings and new fund formation.

Mr. Windham has served as a director and executive officer of publicly held companies, start-ups and private businesses and in leadership positions in many state, local and national charitable and non-profit organizations, including serving as President and Chairman of the Texas Exes and as the first President of the Contemporary Austin and on the boards of Opportunity Austin, the Texas Cultural Trust, The Nature Conservancy (Central Texas chapter) and many other boards supporting education, athletics and diversity at his alma mater, The University of Texas at Austin (where he received a BBA in Accounting and his JD degree) and The University of Texas System.  Darrell and his wife Teresa have two children who are also Texas alumni.  Their daughter works for a successful online apparel start up in New York City, and their son, despite his father’s protests, intends to attend law school in the fall.  Darrell enjoys wine (too much), arts (film, literature and visual arts) and most sports.

Lawrence Waugh graduated from MIT with degrees in Aerospace/Astronautic Engineering and Humanities before spending seven years as a U.S. Navy carrier pilot. Leaving the Navy shortly after the first Gulf War, he returned to graduate school, earning his Master’s Degree in Computer Science from Stanford University. Recruited out of Stanford by Trilogy Software in Austin, he spent the next seven years working with various enterprise software companies in development and consulting roles ranging from individual contributor to Vice President of Engineering. During that time, he became passionately concerned with software quality, and the development processes and tools that promote it.

In 2001 Lawrence and his business partner, Sandeep Gupta, founded Calavista Software which set out to help other companies improve the quality of software delivery. Leveraging their patented innovations in software development methodology, Calavista was able to bootstrap its way to profitability, providing software development and testing services, as well as licensing their proprietary development tools. Over the past dozen years, Calavista has provided software solutions to over 50 companies, including Cisco, Dell, BazaarVoice, Electronic Arts, and The Heritage Foundation. After living and working in Silicon Valley, Boston and Virginia, Lawrence, his wife and their four children have been happy to call Austin home for the past 17 years.

Shay is responsible for overall company growth and strategic direction. He has more than 18 years of entrepreneurial leadership, product development, and management experience with growth-stage, venture-backed companies and high-growth software divisions within Fortune 50 companies.

Previously, Shay was the global leader for Smarter Care at IBM. He successfully led and managed the acquisition of Curam Software to establish IBM’s leadership at the intersection of Social Programs and Healthcare. He has a BS & MS degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the Acton School of Entrepreneurship.

Shay served for two years as the Vice Chair of Innovation for the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, where his mandate was threefold: 1) initiate programs that support a strong and unique innovation ecosystem in the Austin region, 2) attract world-class talent to Austin’s corporations and research institutions, and 3) attract more investment capital to support growing businesses.

Ronnie Sheth is the Founder & CEO of SENEN GROUP, an international strategic advisory firm focused on delivering innovative, growth-focused data, digital & AI transformations. She is a thought-leader, advisor and speaker in the field of Data & Analytics, Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Technology & Operating Models for organizations tackling enterprise-scale transformations in the Data, Analytics & AI space. Under her leadership, SENEN has been recognized as one of the leading data consultancies globally and has helped industry titans and high-growth scale-ups alike achieve consistent success in harnessing and unlocking the power of their data.

Ronnie implements her passion for creating cohesive, sustainable global communities and next-generation ecosystems by partnering with international governmental agencies and NGOs around the world while locally serving on multiple boards including Austin Technology Council and Association of Corporate Growth (ACG) Next-Gen. She also co-chairs the Women’s Initiative for ACG’s Central Texas chapter.

She holds her MBA in Finance and International Business from Rochester Institute of Technology and her Bachelor in Science in Computer Science and Business Administration from Roberts Wesleyan University. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Sustainability at Harvard University.

Linda is the Chairman and CEO of TalentGuard, a leading VC-funded SaaS company focused on changing the way global organizations manage and develop their employees. Before TalentGuard, she founded a successful career development franchise, The Ginac Group, serving clients across the U.S. and Canada. Prior to this, Linda was Vice President of Product Strategy at Cofiniti, where she was instrumental in pioneering Cofiniti’s global entry into collaborative financial planning using cloud-based technology and helping to prepare the company for a successful exit to H&R Block. Linda also served as marketing executive at pcOrder collaborating with the team that led the company from an start-up to a NASDAQ-listed public corporation. In prior leadership roles, Linda served as Vice President of Marketing at EPSIAA, where she led global expansion of the brand through acquisition by Fiserv, Vice President of Business Development at Computer People and a few roles in marketing at Digital Equipment Corporation.

Linda holds a Master’s Degree in Career Development from John F. Kennedy University and a Bachelor’s Degree in Liberal Arts from Norwich University.

Mike is a technology industry leader and innovator, having led product and business groups for over two decades at highly successful cybersecurity companies.  Most recently, he served as senior vice president at Austin’s own SailPoint Technologies, where he held multiple executive roles, including general manager of SailPoint’s flagship business unit with oversight of engineering, product and services teams.  Prior to SailPoint, Mike led global product management and business development for Austin-based Forcepoint.

Prior to moving his family to Austin, Mike built his early technology career in the Silicon Valley where he spent nearly a decade at McAfee, another global leader in cybersecurity.  He has executive experience at tech companies of all sizes, ranging from small startups to private equity owned midsized companies, to large publicly-held companies.  Mike has helped lead these companies through IPOs and M&A transactions and has a strong appreciation for what it takes to develop a winning culture.

Mike is a two-time graduate of the University of California, Berkeley where he conducted his undergraduate and MBA studies.  Mike enjoys mentoring local technology entrepreneurs and in joining the Board of Directors of ATC he hopes to do his part to elevate Austin as a leading global technology capital.

James Beecham is a Founder and the Chief Executive Officer at ALTR, an innovator of automated data access control and security solutions. He has over a decade of experience leading technology and engineering teams in computer architecture design, database and operating system drivers, database security and data governance and privacy system design. James holds multiple software patents and a degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin.

Bart Kalsu is the Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer at SolarWinds, Inc. He served as the Executive Vice President, Finance and Chief Accounting Officer from October 2013 to April 2016 and as Chief Accountant and Senior Vice President, Finance from November 2011 to October 2013. Bart joined SolarWinds as Chief Accountant and Vice President, Finance in August 2007. Prior to joining SolarWinds, he worked for JPMorgan Chase Bank as Vice President, Commercial Banking, from June 2005 until August 2007. From April 2002 until June 2005, he worked for Red Hat, Inc. as Senior Director of Finance. He has also served on the board of directors of EP Energy Corporation (NYSE: EPE) and Athlon Energy Inc. (Nasdaq: ATHL).  He holds a B.S. in Accounting from Oklahoma State University.

Roland Peña is the SVP of Global Technology and Innovation with the Opportunity Austin – a five-county regional economic development initiative. His responsibilities include strategic outreach and program development of international and domestic initiatives and collaborations that support the continued growth and success of innovation in the Austin Region.
Most recently, Roland served as the Vice President of Economic Development leading recruitment efforts for high-value prospects in specific industry sectors that include
defense/space innovation, software/IT, financial services, corporate headquarters, and
international development.
Roland’s 30+ year track in economic development is replete with success and the development of ongoing project pipelines that have achieved YOY growth. Roland has lead relationship development initiatives and successfully guided businesses through design and launch of new
products, services, and investment opportunities. Demonstrating his ability to not only build winning project roadmaps but develop high-performance teams, Roland has established a reputation as a steward of progress and change.
Roland serves as a member of both the state and national trade organizations; Texas Economic Development Council (TEDC) and the International Economic Development Council (IEDC). He is an active member and serves on IEDC’s Marketing Awards Committee.
Roland holds a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree in Management and a Master of Business Administration Degree in International Trade, both from Sul Ross State University.

Wade has the keen ability to envision beyond the needs of a position and bring in true Impact Leaders™ who help take an opportunity to the next level and beyond! His 30+ years as a results-oriented start-up, turn-around and high-growth executive starting and driving companies to success enabled him to design a unique results-oriented process that secures significant proven results.

Recovering former McKinsey and Company consultant. Post-McKinsey, have served in a variety of progressively more challenging roles as a finance, sales, and marketing executive. These positions have included Dell, Power Computing, Haystack Labs, TIS, Journyx (a successful, multi-million $$ bootstrapped software company in Austin Texas with over 300 of the F 1000 as clients), and Rimini Street (an even more successful, high-growth, now public success story with most team-members in northern California, where I grew the company from $68 million to a $125 million run rate).

In mid-2002, I started online-focused, direct- and metrics-oriented marketing services firms, and have been growing them successfully since that time, to where my current venture, Apogee Results is now the most respected digital demand generation, search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) firm in Austin, and has won awards as a “Top 3 in North America” search agency.

Goal(s): To have a meaningful and measurable impact on the world around me, and on the bottom line of anywhere I work. To leave everything I get involved in better than it was before I found it. To attract, develop, and retain an team of exceptional people.

Specialties: search engine marketing, pay per click, search engine optimization, online marketing, direct marketing, demand generation, lead generation, web marketing, natural search, paid search, Google Adwords, PR and Analyst relations, content marketing.

Business advisor with over thirteen years of experience in public accounting. Strong understanding of federal and state income taxes, with an emphasis in the Corporate, ASC 740 and FIN 48 areas. Proven history of proactively providing tax planning and tax savings opportunities to clients.

Focused on originating and leading growth stage and mid corporate relationships in the technology sector, including: software, fintech, hardware/semi, internet & digital, business transaction services. Execution focused on: debt and equity capital markets, M&A, global treasury & FX, while delivering the entire WF platform.

Direct experience in mid corporate equity and debt, middle market and corporate finance including private equity and sr./jr.debt structures, underwriting, equity models, and capital raising.

Highly skilled and experienced in all aspects of senior debt origination, underwriting and closing. Deep understanding of M&A, PE structures, leveraged lending, corporate finance. Robust experience with complex structures that include all types of subordinated debt, mezzanine, unitranche, preferred equity, true equity

Specialties:
– Experience in direct origination in Technology, media and telecommunications
– Leveraged finance and M&A financing
– Specialized direct experience-Asset based, sell-side advisory, syndicated credit, bi-lateral credit, cross-border transactions, hedging (currency, interest rate, commodity)
– Financial modeling and waterfall analysis
– Private equity capital raising and debt placement
– Valuation analysis