Inveneo

The Inveneo Team



Kristin Peterson

Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder

18+ years of communications industry business development, new market development and marketing experience. Most recently, she was VP Marketing an enterprise IP services technology start-up. Prior to that, Kristin founded Velocity Consulting, an organization that provided go-to-market guidance to a variety of networking, wireless, and VoIP tech start-ups. Before Velocity, she was Executive Director, Business Development at GoRemote through IPO. She also held various roles in international product management and market development for AT&T. She has a B.S. in Civil Engineering from NMSU and a M.B.A in International Marketing from Pepperdine University. Kristin was recently named a CNN Principal Voice in Innovation and Technology for 2007.

Kristin grew up in the New Mexico sunshine and couldn't wait to see the rest of the world. She is still on the move, but now she is helping to bring the world to the people in the places that she travels to through technology.


Bob Marsh

Co-Founder and VP Engineering

30+ years in consumer and wireless computing technology - starting with one of the first home computers, now in the Smithsonian. He was a founder of early personal computer startup, Processor Technology Corp, founder and VP Engineering at document management firm, Document Technologies (IPO#1), and Director of Hardware Development at GSM equipment maker Interwave Communications (IPO#2). Currently he is also a Board of Directors member of two other Bay Area non-profits.

Bob was a founding member of the fabled Homebrew Computer Club in 1975, years before the IBM PC or the Apple II, when virtually any hardware or software had to be created from scratch. His first computer, the Sol-20, now rests in the Smithsonian. He's a life-long Berkeley resident who enjoys hiking, sailing and solving any hardware problem that comes his way.


Mark Summer

Co-Founder and Chief Innovation Officer
Over 15 years specializing in VoIP/IP Networking Architectures and Operations Management. Most recently Mark was CTO of IPDeliver. Previous to IPDeliver, he founded ImmediateIT, a company that provided consulting for VoIP network design and service roll-out. Prior to ImmediateIT, Mark played key technology strategy and support team development roles in Mirapoint, NetCentrex, GoRemote. He started his career in Internet Services by launching Computer Management GmbH in Germany, an IT training, consulting and enterprise ISP in 1991.

Mark grew up around the world living the US, South Africa and Germany before he was 8 and has never stopped traveling. He has lived in Thailand, and Malaysia and recently traveled through Laos, Vietnam and Cambodia on motorcycle. Now he is based in one place for awhile -- San Francisco.


Andris Bjornson

Project Engineer
Since graduating from Northwestern University with a Physics degree, Andris Bjornson has helped build long-distance nonprofit WiFi networks as a volunteer in Nepal, managed communications-hardware deployments for the U.S. Department of State, created a high-volume image archive system for an A-list advertising photographer, and helped tell the story of landmine survivors through documentary multimedia. This multi-disciplinary career path has been his attempt to blend passions for technology, creativity, and global involvement.

Outside of work, Andris is an avid photographer and tries to spend as much time as possible getting to the top of tall things by boot, bike, climbing harness, or ice axe.


Eric Blantz

Development Director
Eric has ten years experience in IT and business research, consulting, and marketing. Prior to joining Inveneo, Eric held positions at G2 Research as a Senior Consultant in IT services research; Gartner as a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Program Director; and US Web as a Sr. Business Consultant.

With Inveneo since 2005, Eric now serves as the Senior Director for Healthcare Solutions and is responsible for Inveneo’s overall approach to this rapidly changing problem area, including strategy, select project management and development of health-specific ICT solutions in collaboration with Inveneo's strategic partners in the health sector.

Eric holds a BA in Political Science, UC Berkeley, and MA in International Relations, University of Chicago, where he focused on economic development. Eric is also a paramedic and volunteer firefighter.


Clare Bowers

Bookkeeper
Clare became a bookkeeper several years ago because, despite her artistic temperament, she is surprisingly good with numbers. Plus, it was the only profession she could find that has three consecutive double letters. She is very, very detail-oriented.

Outside of her professional career as a bookkeeper, she enjoys lazy bicycle rides, thrift store shopping and painting.


Jaime Bruner

Senior Technical Projects Manager
After graduating with a BA in Philosophy from the University of Texas, Jaime spent three weeks hiking in the Andes, taught preschool, and worked for a computer networking company in Alaska, before joining the Peace Corps. After two years with the Peace Corps, stationed in Uganda, she joined Inveneo after installing Inveneo equipment in the village where she was stationed.

In her spare time, Jaime enjoys running, camping, and mountaineering (she climbed Kilimanjaro).


FJ Cava

Business Support Manager
With over 15 years in the non-profit field he’s done everything from International Population Assistance in Ann Arbor, MI to Peace Corps in Gabon to Domestic Small Business Development in the Bay Area. He has a BA in Biology from Ithaca College with a minor in Photography and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from San Francisco State University. He also spends some nights teaching business planning classes for a local non-profit called Women’s Initiative.

FJ started his own Internet Cafe in the Bayview District of San Francisco called the Bayview Webspot.

When not geeking out with Inveneo, FJ spends his time biking, gardening or meditating.


Steve Okay

Geek at Large
Steve helped design and build early prototypes of the Communications Station, Inveneo Linux, and software tools. He has also represented Inveneo at numerous conferences on wireless networking and ICT For Development. He lectures at the annual ICTP/ITU School on Wireless Networking for Developing Countries at the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy.

Steve came to Inveneo with an established career as a UNIX/Linux systems and networking technologist. He has worked for companies both in the US and abroad in a wide range of industries. He lives and works in San Francisco with his partner Andrea, who is also an Inveneo Volunteer.


Colm Pelow

Sales Support Manager
Colm joined Ericsson in 1974 after his mother suggested he “get a job." In 1978, Colm trotted off to Saudi Arabia for a year before moving to Sweden in 1985. Following a stint in Botswana, Colm joined the Commissioning of the Countrywide Telephone System, bringing the country up to the 1980s overnight. He returned to Sweden for the birth of his daughter, Lisa, in 1987. After time in Montreal and New York, Colm came to San Francisco to work with Telephia, after which he joined Inveneo.

Colm is quite fond of coffee, biscuits, and the Beatles. His other passion is sailing and racing on the Bay.


Joel Pliskin

Sr. Program Officer
Over the course of a 25-year career in high-tech engineering, sales and marketing, Joel has worked for outstanding companies such as Apple, Hewlett Packard, and Varian Medical Systems, as well as several start ups. He has been a product designer and product manager and has managed several large sales accounts and IT projects. He holds a BS in Computer Science and an MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign as well as an MBA in Marketing from Santa Clara University.

Joel has long had an interest in international business and politics. He has traveled widely and lived in Paris for five years while working for Apple Computer Europe. Upon his return to the US he moved into the healthcare and medical device field. He now wants to use his accumulated knowledge of high tech industry to help improve the lives of people in the developing world.

In his free time Joel is a musician, currently the lead singer of the 4th Street Dance Band.


Clyde Rodriguez

Senior Fellow
Clyde brings both a personal passion for ICT4D as well as broad industry experience in technology solutions development. Most recently Clyde was Vice President of AMD's Internet Solutions Group, an incubation effort focused on low-cost computing and partners like Inveneo, UNICEF and various world governments. He served as Chief of Staff and Advisor to AMD's former Chairman and CEO, who recruited Clyde to the company. Prior to AMD Clyde worked for eleven years in Microsoft's Windows engineering team, culminating in his leading the development of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 SP1 for 64-bit architectures. He began his career in robotics research at Stanford Research Institute (SRI), and later worked for Steve Jobs' NeXT Computer Corporation, Berkeley Systems (makers of the original flying toasters screen saver), Logitech, UC Berkeley's School of Education and Chevron Corporation. Clyde also co-founded GlobalCast Communications, a network solutions company.

Clyde has served on the Boards of Directors of One Laptop Per Child, The AMD Foundation, Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network and First Place School, which serves the needs of homeless children in Seattle Washington. Clyde was nominated by Nicholas Negroponte to receive the Aspen Institute's Henry Crown Fellowship Award for leadership and has just been appointed a member of the United Nations' Strategy Council for the influential Global Alliance for ICTs for Development of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA GAID also known as UN-GAID). Clyde intends to leverage his work with Inveneo to highlight effective approaches to ICT4D in his contributions to UN GAID.

Clyde has a degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from UC Berkeley and a certificate in International Business from the University of Washington.

More importantly, Clyde's interest in working with Inveneo stems from personal history. He recognizes the role that an inexpensive computer (a TRS-80 Color Computer that he still owns) had in transforming his life as a kid in a migrant farm-working family to a rewarding career in the high tech industry.


Stephanie Seale

Senior Manager, Program Development
Stephanie is thrilled to join Inveneo and rejoin the world of international geekery. She received her BA in English from Williams College, started her career at PC Magazine in New York and then migrated to the nonprofit world with two years as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Bulgaria. She then helped expand Geekcorps, an NGO focused on technical skills transfer in the developing world, and spent time in South America while pursuing her Masters in Development Economics from the Fletcher School. Recent years have been spent consulting to a number of foundations including OSI and Ford.

Stephanie is relatively new to California and lives in sunny Palo Alto with her husband. But she will always remain a Bostonian at heart and a wicked big Red Sox fan.


Brian Shih

Network Engineer
Brian has over 8 years experience helping people get connected specializing in large-scale IP network architecture and infrastructure design. He has worked with both local and global ISPs to provide businesses with an Internet presence. He holds a BS in Operations Research and a minor in Economics from Columbia University.

A native New Yorker, Brian has an unquenchable passion for cheesecake.


Glenn "Stew" Stewart

Operations Manager
Stew brings more than 20 years of inventory management experience. He has worked for companies as Jameco Electronics, Mother’s Cookies, WhereNet, and Busvan for Bargains. If you remember Busvan then you are a long-time San Francisco resident.

Stew is a third-generation San Franciscan now living on the S. F. peninsula, with his son who is a fourth-generation San Franciscan. “I am excited to join Inveneo and move forward with making a difference in so many lives.”


Wayan Vota

Senior Director, ICIP Program
Wayan Vota comes to Inveneo with more than a decade of global experience in deploying technology-based solutions. Highlights include Geekcorps -- where international technology experts teach communities how to be digitally independent -- and MicroMentor, an economic development initiative of Mercy Corps.

Wayan also organizes the Technology Salon for the UN Foundation's Technology partnership with the Vodafone Foundation, and moderates the Educational Technology Debate for infoDev at the World Bank.

When not off in distant lands or coveting clock-stopping hot technology, Wayan lives in Washington, DC, with his lovely wife Amy, where they are raising a family.


Katherine Rodota

New ICIP Intern

Katherine just finished her second year at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. She is a business major with a concentration in international business, and she has a French minor. She has taken French for 11 years and will be studying abroad in Paris in the fall. Katherine is originally from Sacramento, California but is living in San Francisco this summer before she leaves for Paris. As for hobbies, she’s a big swimmer and plays water polo for Cal Poly. Also, she skies very often in the winter with her mom and her 17 year-old brother.


Current Inveneo Volunteers


Mira Weinstein

Volunteer Coordinator

Mira (pronounced "Meera") has a strong background in volunteer management. On many political campaigns, she recruited, trained, assigned and coordinated hundreds of volunteers. At Inveneo, she's looking forward to learning about more about the high tech world in which we all live.

As a union and political organizer, Mira has lived or worked in California, Colorado, Florida, Philadelphia, New Orleans and Virginia. Her professional background includes organizing, communications, fundraising and staff management. Personal interests include photography, hiking, reading about the Tudor dynasty and traveling. She decided a long time ago that there is no country she doesn't want to visit - except the really cold ones.


Miriam Young

Inveneo Volunteer

"Man is man's medicine” is Miriam’s guiding philosophy on service, a Wolof proverb she adopted while living in Senegal. Currently a Grant Coordinator at The Rotary Foundation, Miriam previously spent a year teaching in France and a year as an AmeriCorps volunteer at the Taproot Foundation. She received her BA in Commercial French and International Studies from the University of Illinois, completing research on the impact of language policies in francophone Africa.
Born in Ecuador, raised in Canada, Miriam loves couchsurfing and traveling mapless. In Chicago, you can find her at the Green Mill for jazz and poetry or playing with rabbits at her favorite animal shelter.


Prashant Manandhar

Inveneo Volunteer

Mr. Prashant Manandhar is currently working with Inveneo as a volunteer in the various research project of IT and contributing his expertise in networking field and Linux. He loves to do research work with Inveneo team. He worked in advanced research of high speed dedicated network to support development of national computational grid for research and education, telemedecine, climate change and rural wireless in Nepal. He has done MSC in computer engineer and for over 12 years with work ranging from rural areas to commercial areas of Nepal and social, not-for-profit organization to UN agency in various Information and Communication Technology. Besides that, he has also presented various papers on advanced and wireless networking, field sensors network and video applications for telemedicine in several Asia Pacific Advanced Network conference and couples in Internet2 USA meeting.


Karl Ray

Inveneo Volunteer

Karl was smitten by high performance computing, working in the computer laboratory, writing assembler code to optimize use of the supercomputers, a Control Data Cyber 3600 – Serial Number 3 (the Department of Defense got Numbers 1 and 2), a Cyber 6400, and a Cyber 6500, during his undergraduate years at Michigan State. He went on to develop and run the baseline function and performance tests for the Command Center Processing and Display System - Replacement (CCPDS-R), a missile warning system developed in the cold war years, robust enough to analyze and assess sensor data that would be gathered during an all-in, first-strike intercontinental nuclear attack and display the results in seconds; to lead rapid software prototyping efforts for the Ballistic Missile Experiment Support Center; and to lead major portions of the development of Wargame 2000, a human-in-the-loop parallel discrete event simulation, whose main execution computer was the fifth fastest in the world. Karl has advanced degrees in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, and Computer Science. He currently works as a Senior Systems Engineer at the ISSAC Corp and as an Adjunct Associate Professor of Engineering at Colorado Tech.


Sian Liu

Volunteer Web Admin

Born in Singapore and bread in the Bay Area, he spends his time learning improv, playing the piano, dragon boat paddling, and volunteering.

Since, graduating from San Jose State University in Computer Science, he's been in various technology roles in non-profits, startups, corporate America, and started Securitect, an Independent Cisco Channel Partner. His life took an interesting turn in Dec., 2005.

Since, he's been on a quest to discover ventures like Inveneo, to apply his technology skills to make a difference in people's lives.


Michael DePalma

Inveneo volunteer

Michael has marketed services and products in such diverse industries as horse racing, financial services, apparel, and the Organic beverage industry (he started a line of teas with some friends). He brings the knowledge he's gained from these endeavors to Inveneo in the hopes of bringing technology to the developing world.

Michael lives in Philadelphia and knows how a cheesesteak ought to taste. Outside of work, Michael enjoys travel, guitar, and sailing. He holds a BA in Design Arts and Communication from Lehigh University.