Management Team
Mads Lillelund, President & Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Lillelund brings extensive senior management and telecom infrastructure experience to Bluesocket. Most recently, Mr. Lillelund was President & CEO of manufacturer Carlo Gavazzi Computing Solutions (CGCS). Mr. Lillelund managed the CGCS businesses of electronic packaging and embedding computing; Aurora Technologies; and Channel Access where he restructured the operations to achieve profitability. Previously, he served as Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Services at Enterasys Networks, where he was responsible for generating over $400M in annual revenue primarily through distributors and resellers. From 1991 to 2001, Mr. Lillelund held several key positions at Lucent Technologies and AT&T in Belgium, Ireland and the United States. In the early years, he successfully opened the Russian and Eastern European markets while later becoming the Managing Director and Regional Vice President of Europe, Middle East & Africa (EMEA) for Lucent Technologies' Global Commercial Markets. As Managing Director he established the headquarters in Dublin, Ireland where he was responsible for Sales, Marketing and Operations in 22 countries generating revenues in excess of $300M.
Mr. Lillelund holds a BBA Degree from Baylor University and an MBA Degree from the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird).
Dan Hayes, Chief Financial Officer
Dan Hayes brings over twenty years of financial and operational expertise to Bluesocket. Prior to Bluesocket, Hayes held several CFO and finance positions at start-up, public and multi-national companies located in Massachusetts' technology corridor. Hayes was CFO at Astral Point Communications where he managed finance, legal, investor relations, human resources, and corporate recruiting functions, culminating in the company's acquisition by Alcatel, where Hayes then held the position of VP of Finance. Hayes also served as CFO at Seranoa Networks (acquired by White Rock Networks), National Sensor Systems (acquired by BAE Systems), Terapulse and Integrated Computing Engines. Before joining Integrated Computing Engines, Hayes was a senior financial manager at Open Market, and e-commerce pioneer, where he was instrumental in leading the company through its very successful Initial Public Offering.
Hayes began his financial career at the accounting firm of Arthur Anderson where he was an audit manager in their high technology practice.
Hayes is a CPA and member of the AICPA with a BS in Business Administration and Accounting from Northeastern University.
Matt Aucella, Director – Worldwide Channel Sales
Matt Aucella brings 13 years of sales and business development experience in secure mobility, telecommunications, VoIP and networking industries. He has dedicated the majority of his career to early and mid stage companies, bringing his experience and proven track record for success to companies such as Citel Technologies, Verso, and MCK Communications. As Director of Worldwide Channel Sales, Mr. Aucella is responsible for the company’s overall channel strategy as well as management of distribution and alliance partnerships. Most recently, Mr. Aucella served as Vice President of Sales at Citel Technologies and Director of Sales for Verso Technologies. Earlier in his career, Mr. Aucella worked in regional sales and sales management at early VoIP pioneer MCK Communications and Nortel Networks.
Matt holds a BS in Business Management from Ithaca College.
William J. Rich, Senior Vice President of Business and Corporate Development
As Senior Vice President of Business and Corporate Development, Mr. Rich is responsible for the company’s strategic direction, business and corporate development goals, and aggressive growth plans. Previously CEO at Pingtel, Bill has a 20-year background in Voice over IP (VoIP) and telecommunications.
Prior to Pingtel, Bill served as an entrepreneur-in-residence at St. Paul Venture Capital (SPVC), where he assisted with new ventures and the development of SPVC’s portfolio companies, including serving as CEO of Aravox Technologies, which provided session border controllers for service provider VoIP networks. Before St. Paul, Bill was president and CEO at VocalData, a leading provider of feature servers that enable service providers to deliver next-generation IP telephony services. Earlier in his career, he was the senior vice president of marketing and senior vice president of operations development at ICG Telecom Group, where he launched the company's retail competitive local exchange services and its wholesale products. Before ICG, Bill led wholesale product marketing at WilTel and was a sell-side telecom industry analyst.
Bill earned a BA in economics from the College of William and Mary.
Martin Steinmann, Vice President of Marketing
With over 15 years of experience in the technology industry, Mr. Steinmann brings extensive experience in marketing and strategic planning to his role as Vice President of Product Management. Martin is also a founder and member of the governing board at SIPfoundry, the industry's leading open source community dedicated to VoIP technology and solutions.
Previously, Martin was a Venture Partner first with St. Paul Venture Capital and later Vesbridge Parnters, a Boston based venture capital firm specialized in early stage and special situations opportunities in the networking and IT market. Martin has also served as Vice President Marketing for Syndesis Inc, the leading provider of operations support systems fulfillment solutions to tier-one carriers worldwide. Martin also has experience in various executive roles at Lucent Technologies and at Switzerland based Ascom AG. While at Lucent, he was responsible for Lucent's OEM agreement and subsequent acquisition of Yurie Systems Inc., a deal worth more than $1 billion in cash.
Martin earned a BSc and MSc degree in Electrical Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and a PhD in Physics from the Danish Technical University in Copenhagen. During his PhD work he conducted critical research in tunable multi-section DFB/DBR semiconductor lasers, a vital component for today's DWDM optical transmission systems.
Lih-Shyng Tzeng, Vice President of Engineering
Mr. Tzeng brings Bluesocket leadership abilities gained from deep engineering management capabilities learned during his 18+ years of technical management experience. Previously, Lih was Vice President of Engineering at Pingtel. Prior to Pingtel, Lih was Vice President of Software Development for WaterCove Networks, a start-up developing next-generation wireless data networking platforms. Lih built WaterCove’s software organization from scratch, and managed the entire development process from product conceptualization to the first customer shipment. Lih’s contributions to WaterCove were key to Alcatel’s acquisition of the company.
Prior to WaterCove, Lih worked for nearly a decade on strategically important teams building IP routers, high-speed WAN products, and remote access gear for 3Com (in its US Robotics division), including the Total Control Remote Access Server. Lih also led development of key communications components, including the TCP/IP stack, email, news reader, network synchronization, and wireless communications for 3Com's award-winning Palm portable pocket organizer.
Lih earned a BSME from National ChengKung University, Taiwan, an MSEE from University of Alabama in Huntsville, and an MSME from Clemson University.
Patrick Foy, Director of Wireless Technologies
As Director of Wireless Technologies, Patrick is responsible for software and hardware development of the Bluesocket wireless products. He brings over 12 years of embedded software development experience as well as technical leadership experience to Bluesocket. Patrick was instrumental in introducing wireless access points into the Bluesocket product offering and continues to facilitate the enhancement and expansion the the AP product line.
Prior to Bluesocket, Patrick held key development roles at 3eTI in Rockville, Maryland and Seneca Networks in Gaithersburg, Maryland. While at 3eTI, he architected their enterprise AP and also worked closely with military customers to introduce the wireless technology into their secure networks. Prior to that, he worked at GE Transportation Systems in Erie, PA designing control systems for their most advanced locomotive system. While at GE, he completed the corporation's renowned Technical Leadership Program and then became the leader of GE's Advanced Course technology program in Erie.
Patrick earned a BSEE from Gannon University in Erie, PA and MSEE from the Georgia Institute of Technology, in Atlanta, Georgia with a concentration in Communication Systems. He also received a Management of Technology certificate from Georgia Tech.