Management Team

Palamida has a highly experienced management team with executives from a number of well established companies as well as highly successful VC backed start-ups including Sun Microsystems, HP, IBM, iPass, StrataCom, NetScreen Technologies, Juniper Networks, and Cacheon.

Management Team
Mark Tolliver, CEO
Bennett Barouch, VP Engineering
Doug Droese, VP Marketing
Mike Ehlers, VP Product Management
Theresa Bui Friday, VP Product Marketing
Jeff Luszcz, VP Services and Support
Rick Oswald, VP Worldwide Sales

Mark Tolliver CEO

>Read Mark's Blog

As CEO, Mark leads corporate strategy and growth. A well-known speaker and industry visionary, he brings over 30 years expertise in global high-tech marketing, product and business strategy to the team. Prior to joining Palamida, Mark spent ten years with Sun Microsystems. During his tenure he was executive vice president, marketing and strategy, as well as chief strategy officer responsible for corporate marketing, product and business strategy, M&A, industry marketing and ISV programs.

Previous to Sun, Mark served as President and general manager of iPlanet, a strategic alliance between Sun and AOL Time Warner focused on Internet infrastructure software. iPlanet became a division of Sun in March 2002. Throughout his career he has held senior level executive positions in marketing that included MasPar Computer Corporation and Hewlett-Packard Company.

Mark holds an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and a B.S.E.E. from the University of Illinois.

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As VP of Engineering, Bennett leads software development, quality assurance and technical operations. He has over 25 years of engineering experience spanning a wide variety of technologies such as web services, enterprise software, computer-telephony integration and software development methodology.

Prior to joining Palamida, Bennett was VP of Engineering at iPass, responsible for a team of 100+ engineers in the development of network authentication technology. Before iPass, Bennett led an engineering team at Comergent, developing industry-leading Internet-based enterprise software for sell-side e-commerce. In his career, he has held several positions as Vice President of Engineering, along with roles in development and management, for a number of industry-leading technology companies that include: General Magic, Cadence Design Systems and Hughes Aircraft.

Bennett holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Coleman College and is a patent holder in the area of IC design automation. Software products under his management have won recognition, including inclusion into the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institute for Outstanding Achievement in Information Technology.

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As VP of Marketing, Doug is responsible for outbound Marketing Programs at Palamida from lead generation to branding, events, collateral, and web marketing. Prior to joining Palamida, Doug ran Outbound Marketing for Wireless LAN player Aruba Wireless Networks when they grew from $30 million to $70 million in annual revenue helping pave the way for their IPO in 2007.

Previous to Aruba Wireless Networks, Doug was Senior Director of Marketing for WLAN firm Airespace, Inc. which was acquired by Cisco Systems in March of 2005. Doug also spent 4 years as Senior Director of Corporate Marketing for security firm NetScreen Technologies helping the company achieve a much-lauded IPO and which sold to Juniper Networks in the Winter of 2003, as well as 10 years at StrataCom, Inc, as Director of Marketing Communications from the company's 1st product launch in 1986 through its highly successful IPO and eventual acquisition by Cisco Systems in 1996 for $4.7 billion dollars.

Doug holds a B.A. in History, an M.A. in History, and an M.A. in English from San Jose State University.

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Mike Ehlers VP Product Management

As VP of Product Management, Mike is responsible for defining and directing Palamida's products into the Application Security marketplace as well as overall product strategy for the company.

Prior to joining Palamida, Mike worked in senior level Product Management roles at Infoblox 2005-2006, and Juniper Networks 2004-2005 and NetScreen Technologies from 2000 to 2004 through its highly successful IPO and acquisition by Juniper Networks. Mike also was the key product management executive at Inverse Network Technologies from 1999-2000 through its successful acquisition by Visual Networks of Rockville, Maryland.

Mike holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science as well as an M.S. in Computer Science from Washington University in St. Louis.

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Theresa Bui Friday VP Product Marketing

As As VP of Product Marketing, Theresa is responsible for Palamida's positioning, core communications content, go-to-market initiatives, and press and analyst relations. She has over 12 years expertise in the software industry with a focus on emerging technology.

Prior to Palamida, Theresa was Director of Strategic Marketing at Cacheon, responsible for corporate and product brand creation and management, including market penetration strategy, product development, and demand generation programs.

She was also Director of Enterprise Marketing for Embark.com, which is now Princeton Review, and Red Dot Interactive, now Answerthink Inc., where she held global responsibility for product marketing of the enterprise product lines, including competitive and market evaluation, strategic planning and outbound marketing programs.

Theresa, along with Ray Waldin and Jeff Luszcz, co-founded Palamida to meet the growing demand for software intellectual property audits and compliance solutions.

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As VP of Services and Support, Jeff leads the professional services team responsible for enterprise audits. He is also responsible for managing Palamida's field-engineering services, assisting with product development and implementation and leading upcoming product release programs.

Previous to Palamida, Jeff was Senior Software Engineer at Cacheon, responsible for research and development. He also served as a senior engineer on the development team and technical lead for Fortune 500 customer engagements.

He spent six years as a software engineer at NASA Ames Research Center where he implemented software for simulation and visualization of innovative flat panel display technology and their related human factors. Throughout his career, he has been active in the Java, Macintosh and Open Source software communities. Jeff is also the author of several well-known Macintosh software utilities and has served as a technical editor for Wrox Press, a leading publisher of software books. He received his B.S. from Cornell University School of Operations Research and Industrial Engineering.

The original Palamida concept and flagship product originated with Jeff. He co-founded the company along with Ray Waldin and Theresa Bui Friday in order to meet the growing demand for software intellectual property audits and compliance solutions.

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As VP of Worldwide Sales, Rick leads Palamida's sales team and is focused on building global relationships to drive the expansion of the company's enterprise customer base. Over the course of his 20+ year career, Rick has held numerous executive positions managing large-scale sales organizations comprised of direct, inside, channel, and field marketing teams. He has been instrumental in building top-producing teams and closing many millions of dollars in sales revenue for Fortune 500 organizations such as IBM/Rational and Hewlett-Packard. Prior to joining Palamida, Rick was Director of Sales for the Software Services Group at Infogain, where he built a U.S. team to drive services sales to new and current accounts. Before Infogain, Rick was Vice President of the Western Region for Segue Software, and held several high-level sales positions at IBM/Rational, including District Sales Manager.

Previous to IBM/Rational, Rick was Director, Aerospace, Defense & Air Transportation at Hewlett-Packard where he led computer products and services sales along with marketing initiatives for 9 aerospace and airline companies in the US. During his tenure he developed and branded HP's marketing message to the aerospace and air transportation marketplace.

Rick holds an MBA from the University of Illinois and a BA, in Business Administration from Michigan State University.

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