Management Team
Jim Zierick | President & CEO
Jim Zierick comes to Nirvanix from Aspyra Inc., a leading provider of clinical and diagnostic information solutions for the healthcare industry, where he was CEO and continues to serve as a member of the company's Board of Directors. He previously served as CEO of LogicalApps, a provider of embedded controls software for enterprise applications. Prior to joining LogicalApps, Zierick was Executive Vice President of Worldwide Field Operations for Peregrine Systems, where he led a 350 person sales, alliance, customer support and professional services organization, and was responsible for generating $200 million of new license, support and service revenue. Before working with Peregrine, Zierick was a partner with McKinsey & Company, where he helped lead the company's Southern California technology and operational effectiveness practices, leveraging his wide-ranging experience with major technology companies. Zierick holds an M.B.A. from the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College and a B.E. and an A.B. from Dartmouth College and Thayer School of Engineering.
Geoff Tudor | Co-Founder & Senior Vice President of Strategy & Business Development
Geoff Tudor most recently served as CEO of Advent Networks, Inc. At Advent, he created the cable industry's first router capable of delivering broadband to customers at dedicated speeds of 40 Mbps. In 2000, Geoff co-founded Tellaire Corp. to commercialize free space optic technologies and deliver wireless Gigabit Ethernet. MRV Communications (NASDAQ:MRVC) acquired the company's networks. Mr. Tudor also co-founded GNS Technologies, where he co-wrote Reflex Backup, the first real-time backup application for Windows. Reflex was acquired by Symantec Corporation (NASDAQ: SYMC). Geoff was recognized by Discover Magazine as one of the nation's leading innovators in technology and was nominated in 2003 for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. Geoff holds an M.B.A. from the University of Texas and a bachelor's degree from Tulane University.
Chris Russell | Vice President of Engineering
Chris Russell brings over two decades of hands-on transformational leadership experience in technology, product development, and operations. As VP of Technology at NextEngine, he led both sales and engineering to rebuild their product strategy and launch a new suite of professional 3D scanning products, resulting in a significant sales uptake. Prior to NextEngine, Chris served at DivX as CTO and General Manager, where he led over half the company and was responsible for driving all product development, partner support, and technical operations. He closed Divx's first Hollywood approval deals and helped take the company public at a $536MM valuation. As a VP of Technology at Sony Pictures, Chris helped build Sony's new Digital Entertainment division, launch MovieLink.com, plus worked on visual effects for numerous films including Stuart Little, Starship Troopers, and Contact. Chris has also held positions at the MPAA, Video Image FX, Silicon Graphics, and Hughes Aircraft. Chris holds an M.B.A. from Pepperdine University and a bachelors in computer science from Cal Poly Pomona.
Major Horton | Chief Financial Officer
Major Horton brings over 20 years of finance and operations leadership experience to Nirvanix. Horton joins Nirvanix with deep experience from information technology companies, most recently as the SVP – CFO & Treasurer for Rackspace Managed Hosting, as well as serving as the VP of Finance & Segment Controller for Dell's Enterprise Customer Segment, and the VP & General Manager of the Commercial Financing Group at Dell Financial Services. Prior to Dell, Horton was the Director of Corporate Financial Planning & Analysis for AlliedSignal and he spent his early career with General Motors and Deloitte & Touché. Horton holds a Master of Science in Management from Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Kettering University.
Joe Lyons | Vice President of Sales
Joe Lyons joins Nirvanix after serving as the Director of Services Sales for the Americas at Brocade Communications where he managed the Brocade S3 services team, a wholly owned subsidiary of Brocade, from negative margin to profitability within three quarters. Prior to joining Brocade, Lyons was a Senior Account Executive and Global Account Manager at Glasshouse Technologies Inc. where he was responsible for sales of a variety of services including storage, virtualization and enterprise backup to the media and finance sectors. He also built new markets and developed new sales teams for Exario Networks, EB Networks/RPM Consulting, Inrange Global Consulting and CNT Professional Services.