Management Team Dean A. Summers Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer A proven successful entrepreneur and a 25-year veteran of the consumer electronics industry, Dean Summers founded CE Interactive after founding and serving as the president of Partsearch Technologies, a technology company that enables leading consumer electronics retailers such as Best Buy and Circuit City the ability to provide original replacement parts and accessories to their customers.
Dean started his consumer electronics career in 1981 as a sales associate, and quickly moved to various management positions with Federated Department Stores’ A&S division, Mitsubishi Electronic Corporation’s Akai division, and 6th Avenue Electronics.
In 1999 Dean conceived of Partsearch, and during his tenure he developed a new business model for that industry sector by creating unique innovations such as the development of the Master Parts Catalog (MPC), the industry's largest database of parts, accessories, and service related information, a proprietary drop-ship hub virtual inventory system, the first of its kind to electronically link manufacturers and distributors in multiple product categories and provide order processing in near real time., a state-of-the-art call center in Kingston, New York, and Partstore, the nation’s leading direct-to-consumer e-commerce site for hard-to-find parts and accessories.
As Chairman and CEO of CEI, Dean is the company’s chief evangelist and visionary, setting the strategic direction of the company. Under Dean’s leadership, CEI is paving the way for the next generation of Services for the consumer electronics industry. Constantine Gus Spathis Co-Founder, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Technology Officer
Gus is a co-founder of CE Interactive, and serves as both the COO and CTO. He brings with him over 20 years of experience in leading businesses & building award winning technology. Prior to co-founding CE Interactive, Gus was the founder of The Skepsis Group, a technology & management consulting company focused on early and mid-stage startups.
Prior to founding The Skepsis Group, Gus served as the CTO of Partsearch Technologies, working closely with Dean to create Partsearch’s award winning solutions. As CTO of E-Commerce Solutions, Gus architected a variety of search engines used by such leading new media companies as Excite, iVillage, NY Times, Deja.com, About.com and Palm, among many others.
Prior to ECS, Gus was with Poppe-Tyson Interactive, where he worked with various Fortune 100 clients and led the technology team responsible for the architecture and implementation of the real-time broadcast of the 1997 IBM "Deep Blue vs. Kasparov" chess match. Additionally, while at Poppe, he was involved in the design and launch of such notable sites as Priceline, Lending Tree, ING Barings, Web Pilot, Dean Witter, Chase and Citibank. Preceding this experience at Poppe-Tyson Interactive, he was part of the team that deployed the first internet based white & yellow pages for Yahoo, and one of the first e-commerce sites, RealCounts. M. Christian Saxman CFA, Co-Founder and Chief Financial Officer Chris is the Chief Financial Officer for CE Interactive. Before joining CEI, he served as the Executive Director of New York Angels ("NYA"), the largest angel investment group in New York City, and also served as the professional advisor to its predecessor, the New York New Media Association Angel Investment Program. In addition to overseeing the investment process of an active group of early stage investors, Chris was responsible for the day-to-day operation of the business of New York Angels, growing NYA from 34 investors in 2004 to 66 investors 18 months later. During his tenure, the organization invested over $11 million in 20 companies, several of which have subsequently attracted venture capital financing.
Before joining NYA, Chris was a Principal and founding member of AIG Highstar Capital, a $400 million private equity fund sponsored by AIG Global Investment Corporation. Earlier at AIG, he served as an investment analyst in the Latin American Private Equity Group following a stint with SAI Consultores in Mexico City. Chris was co-founder and owner of The Emerging Markets Companion, an Internet company that attracted 1,000 daily readers within nine months and previously served as trader with The Weston Group and Brown Brothers Harriman & Company. He received his MBA in Finance and Economics from the Stern School of Business at New York University and his BA in Economics and Government from Cornell University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation.
Ron Goldberg Vice President, Product Development
Ron brings over 20 years of consumer electronics experience to CE Interactive, and leads product development initiatives for the company. Prior to CEI, Ron was the principal of Convey Technologies, a specialized CE consultancy that created strategic information solutions for such industry leaders as Hewlett Packard, RCA, Altec Lansing, Monster Cable, Logitech and Zensys, among many others. Ron and Convey served as primary subject matter experts for the Consumer Electronics Association's ongoing "CE KnowHow" educational program, which trains tens of thousands of retail sales associates throughout the U.S, as well as CEA's Professional Audio Video Specialist Certification Program.
Ron was the co-founder of the Web's first broad-scale portal for consumer electronics, etown.com, where he pioneered many of the conventions that define the online CE research and shopping experiences to this day. During this time, he engineered award-winning content, commerce and community solutions for such partners as Yahoo, Ask.com, Lycos, Ziff-Davis, Good Housekeeping and Best Buy. A former National Media Spokesperson for the Consumer Electronics Association, Ron has made hundreds of appearances on TV, radio and in print, introducing and de-mystifying consumer technologies through such venues as CNN, ABC, CNBC, Fox, MTV and NPR.
Prior to his path into new media, Ron was a nationally syndicated technology columnist for New York Newsday and The Los Angeles Times, and an internationally published authority on consumer electronics. Rich Hauser Vice President, Administration/Controller Rich serves as CE Interactive's Vice President of Administration and Controller, and brings to the company a wealth of experience as a financial executive, spanning the contract Office Furniture, Design & Service, Technology, Manufacturing and Supermarket industries.
Rich has held the positions of CFO and Controller for the past 14 years. As the Controller and an integral member of executive management team at Dancker, Sellew & Douglas / Office Interiors, Mr. Hauser helped manage the growth of the organization from $70 to $250 million in revenue over five years. He was involved in a variety of quality and customer focused programs for the company, including the “Performance Improvement Committee,” which was tasked with improving internal procedures and customer experiences with DS&D.
Upon graduation from college, Rich joined Kings Supermarkets, Inc, and later worked for Amerada Hess in the retail gas, convenience store and oil sectors of the business. Following Amerada Hess, he worked at Fujipoly, Inc. a Japanese owned manufacturer of silicon electronic connectors, where he designed the accounting and administrative infrastructure and put in place policies and procedures in a startup-like situation. Rich, along with the Sales and Plant manager, ultimately ran the company for three years. Board of Directors David S. Rose New York Angels
David is a technology investor and serial entrepreneur named to the Inc 500 as CEO of one of the fastest growing private companies in America. He has been described by BusinessWeek as a "world conquering entrepreneur"; by Red Herring magazine as "patriarch of New York's Silicon Alley"; and by Crain's New York Business as one of the city's 25 most influential technology executives. Mr. Rose is the Founder and Chairman of New York Angels, one of the most active early stage investment groups in the United States. He is also CEO of Angelsoft (New York, NY), the infrastructure platform servicing over 100 early stage investment networks around the world; Chairman of KoolSpan (Bethesda, MD), a technology pioneer in network security; and Chairman of Ambient Devices (Cambridge, MA), a developer of award-winning wireless products. Mr. Rose writes a column on angel investing for American Venture magazine, critiques startup companies as a guest expert for CNBC's television show Your Business, and is regarded as a leading international expert on early stage private equity investing. Mr. Rose serves on CE Interactive's Board of Directors.
Howard L. Morgan First Round Capital (Board Observer)
Howard has more than 25 years of experience serving as a mentor, advisor and investor in entrepreneurial ventures. A former Professor of Decision Sciences at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, and Professor of Computer Science at the Moore School at the University of Pennsylvania, he has also been a Visiting Professor at the California Institute of Technology and the Harvard Business School. Since 1989, Mr. Morgan has been President of the Arca Group, Inc., nurturing early stage companies and taking them from seed stage through initial public offerings. He also serves as a Director of Idealab, where he was a founding investor in 1996. Dr. Morgan serves on a number of public company Boards, including Franklin Electronic Publishers, Inc., Segue Software Corporation, and Unitronix Corp. He is also Chairman or a member of the board of numerous private companies including CarsDirect.com, Partsearch Technology, Energy Innovations, MagicWorks LLC, and Planalytics, Inc. A respected author and a frequent speaker at major industry conferences, Mr. Morgan was honored in 1997 as Delaware Valley Entrepreneur of the Year. Lawrence Richenstein
Lawrence Richenstein is an entrepreneur and investor in early stage companies. His most recent venture is Unwired Technology LLC that he founded in late 1996, and in which he sold a majority interest to American Capital Strategies (ACAS) in May 2005. In January 2007 he resigned his positions as President/CEO of Unwired to pursue other entrepreneurial opportunities. He continues to maintain a small equity position in Unwired and is Chairman of the Board.
Richenstein was the lead inventor of Unwired’s patented digital wireless transmission format called WhiteFire®. In the technology’s first utilization, Unwired Technology’s WhiteFire wireless IR headphone systems permit the digital transmission of up to four high-quality stereo audio signals to all the passengers in a vehicle, enabling each of them to listen to any one of the audio sources they select. First OE implementation of WhiteFire technology will occur in 2009 in high-end vehicles via proprietary embedded transmission code.
Prior to forming Unwired Technology, Richenstein was involved in several ventures in the consumer electronics industry. Widely credited with establishing the mass market for karaoke products with his Singalodeon line, he was also a founding partner of Long Hall Technologies a company that created a line of Nickelodeon branded children’s electronics products under license from MTV Networks.
Richenstein is currently a member of the Board of Industry Leaders of the Consumer Electronics Association and its Division Executive Board. He is Vice-chair of CEA’s Mobile Electronics Division. Richenstein is also a member of New York Angels, an angel investing group.
Richenstein graduated New York University’s Stern School of Business with a BS in accounting, received his JD degree from St. John’s University, and is a retired member of the New York State Bar Association.
Dean A. Summers
Founder, Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
A proven successful entrepreneur and a 25-year veteran of the consumer electronics industry, Dean Summers founded CE Interactive after founding and serving as the president of Partsearch Technologies, a technology company that enables leading consumer electronics retailers such as Best Buy and Circuit City the ability to provide original replacement parts and accessories to their customers.
Dean started his consumer electronics career in 1981 as a sales associate, and quickly moved to various management positions with Federated Department Stores’ A&S division, Mitsubishi Electronic Corporation’s Akai division, and 6th Avenue Electronics.
In 1999 Dean conceived of Partsearch, and during his tenure he developed a new business model for that industry sector by creating unique innovations such as the development of the Master Parts Catalog (MPC), the industry's largest database of parts, accessories, and service related information, a proprietary drop-ship hub virtual inventory system, the first of its kind to electronically link manufacturers and distributors in multiple product categories and provide order processing in near real time., a state-of-the-art call center in Kingston, New York, and Partstore, the nation’s leading direct-to-consumer e-commerce site for hard-to-find parts and accessories.
As Chairman and CEO of CEI, Dean is the company’s chief evangelist and visionary, setting the strategic direction of the company. Under Dean’s leadership, CEI is paving the way for the next generation of Services for the consumer electronics industry,
M. Christian Saxman, CFA Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer/Chief Financial Officer
Chris is the Chief Financial Officer for CE Interactive. Before joining CEI, he served as the Executive Director of New York Angels ("NYA"), the largest angel investment group in New York City, and also served as the professional advisor to its predecessor, the New York New Media Association Angel Investment Program. In addition to overseeing the investment process of an active group of early stage investors, Chris was responsible for the day-to-day operation of the business of New York Angels, growing NYA from 34 investors in 2004 to 66 investors 18 months later. During his tenure, the organization invested over $11 million in 20 companies, several of which have subsequently attracted venture capital financing.
Before joining NYA, Chris was a Principal and founding member of AIG Highstar Capital, a $400 million private equity fund sponsored by AIG Global Investment Corporation. Earlier at AIG, he served as an investment analyst in the Latin American Private Equity Group following a stint with SAI Consultores in Mexico City.
Chris was co-founder and owner of The Emerging Markets Companion, an Internet company that attracted 1,000 daily readers within nine months and previously served as trader with The Weston Group and Brown Brothers Harriman & Company. He received his MBA in Finance and Economics from the Stern School of Business at New York University and his BA in Economics and Government from Cornell University. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst designation. |
