With over a century of collective experience in broadcast, media and entertainment and many other related disciplines, Venaca's management, product development and support personnel bring unparalleled experience, expertise and focused client service to a growing list of customers and strategic partners. The team and all those associated with the company aim to instill best practices at all levels of the organization with the simple goal of providing our customers with superior products that will stand the test of time and world-class service and support.

Bob Gupta, Chief Executive Officer

Bob Gupta is a results-oriented, proven executive, leader, and entrepreneur with extensive experience in software development, broadcast, data storage, and video compression. Prior to joining Venaca as CEO, Bob was Product Manager at Visible World - a provider of cross-platform solutions for electronically creating, delivering, and monitoring dynamically customized video ads for the broadcast and cable industries. Before Visible World, Bob had co-founded Front Porch Digital - at the time a provider of digital video products and solutions to the broadcast, media and entertainment industry - where he led and managed the design and development of the company’s video-based products and applications starting in 2000. As Front Porch Digital grew from start-up to developing a world-wide presence, Bob transitioned into the role of Product Manager and worked with the company’s customers, industry partners and development teams to ensure timely delivery and implementation of the company’s capabilities, and to establish Front Porch as a leading provider of content storage management.

Earlier in Bob’s career, Bob was an advanced applications developer with Princeton University where he conducted research and applied emerging technologies to facilitate online communication among academia. Before joining Princeton University, Bob was a software engineer with Toshiba Advanced Television & Technology Center where he conducted research in advanced computing methods and concepts in consumer electronics and digital television. Bob has also held a variety of senior application development and engineering roles at various GE properties including GE Capital, GE Independent Research and Development and GE Computer Engineering and Operations and was System Manager in the Distributed Processing group at Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Labs where he conducted research on advanced distributed computing technologies. Bob holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering at Temple University with Magna Cum Laude distinction. Bob also currently serves as a Director on Venaca’s Board of Directors.

Roman Zhitnitskiy, Director of Software Development

Roman Zhitnitskiy brings more than 18 years of software development and video engineering expertise and experience and leads software development. Roman has extensive knowledge in video-based applications such as VOD, ingest, transcode and editing. Roman also has done extensive work in web development, database design, networking and systems architecture. Prior to joining Venaca, Roman provided advanced programming and application services to companies such as SeaChange and Thomson Scientific. From 2000 to 2005, Roman was at Front Porch Digital where he was instrumental in the design and development of the company's video-based applications. Roman also has done considerable work in the healthcare, financial services and government sector. Roman holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from Kiev State University in the Ukraine.

Scott Spector, Chairman & Founder

In 1998, Scott Spector founded Venaca after recognizing the challenges of storing and managing large media libraries, particularly that of video, and in observing many of the inefficiencies in the media supply chain. Scott served as the company's CEO until late 2005 and continued on as Executive Chairman through most of 2006. In 2006, Scott founded Mast Ventures- a venture advisory firm- and continues to help set the strategic direction and provide governance for the company as he continues to serve as Chairman and as a Director on Venaca's Board. Prior to Venaca, Scott was a consultant at McKinsey and Company- a global strategy consulting firm- where he assisted companies in North America and abroad by tackling major strategic, operational and organizational issues across many industries including consumer packaged goods, pharmaceuticals, telecommunications, publishing and banking. Areas of focus included enterprise applications, operational improvements, supply chain management, logistics, inventory management and decision support tools such as optimization and simulation. Prior to McKinsey, Scott was in the decision support area of Irving Trust (now part of The Bank of New York). Scott holds a Master of Science in Operations Research and a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics and Statistics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

Robert Kaimowitz, Director

Robert Kaimowitz is the Chief Executive Officer and lead portfolio manager of Bull Path Capital Management- a long/short US equity fund with over $500 million of assets under management. Prior to founding the New York-based firm, Rob was a Managing Director at SG Cowen where he also served as an equity analyst, with global responsibilities for satellite communications, multichannel television, related technology and media. Before joining SG Cowen, Rob was a Managing Director and head of the satellite equity research group at ING Barings/Furman Selz. In 1999, he was ranked #1 in Institutional Investor's All-America Research Team and the Greenwich Poll for satellite communications. Prior to joining ING Barings, Kaimowitz was partner in charge of satellite research and corporate finance at CE Unterberg, Towbin from September 1995 to August 1998. Kaimowitz attended Syracuse University.

Robert Sohmer, Director

Rob Sohmer and the Sohmer family had built up a real estate conglomerate in the Boston area over many decades and had operated a property management concern, Key Realty, focusing on the residential market. The company had owned and managed a number of residential properties in the Boston-metropolitan area and also served as a local agent for many buyers and sellers of properties in the region. The Sohmers are a significant stakeholder in the company and have been a staunch supporter of the company since its inception.

Derek Alderton, Advisor

Derek Alderton has over 20 years experience in investment banking, consulting and turnarounds. Derek spent ten years with McKinsey & Company as Co-Head of their West Coast Media & Entertainment Practice and led consulting studies in Aerospace, Financial Services, Health Care, Property Development, Technology and Media & Entertainment. Derek has worked in 21 countries, leading teams of over 100 people on transactions as large as $12 billion. Since McKinsey, Derek has advised companies at all stages from start-up to the Fortune 500 and has provided support in areas such as corporate and growth strategy, partner negotiations and licensing agreements, new market opportunity assessment, operational performance improvements and marketing strategy. Before McKinsey, Derek worked in the M&A area of investment banking doing much of his work in international and multi-party alliance transactions along with conventional public and private company purchases in a variety of industries. Earlier in his career, Derek worked in insolvency administrations where he helped turnaround, reorganize and manage diverse businesses. Along with his consulting activities, Derek teaches Strategy and Entertainment Strategy part-time at UCLA's MBA program. Derek holds an M.B.A. from UCLA, and has degrees in Law and Economics from the University of Sydney. He received a Graduate Diploma in Finance from the Securities Institute of Australia, and is a member of the Australian Institute of Chartered Accountants.

Chris Noe, Advisor

Chris Noe is an operating executive with significant experience in the broadband, digital media and information technology markets. He is presently a board member and principal of Broadway Systems, a leading provider of software to manage the advertising sales, operations and finance of cable networks. Chris is the former President of Lenfest Media Group (LMG) a privately-held media technology operating company. At LMG, Chris had profit and loss responsibility for CAM Systems and Starnet both of which provided advertising related software and services to the cable industry. Chris drove the turnaround and growth of these businesses leading to their successful sale in 2005 to OpenTV. Prior to LMG, Chris was Managing Director with Katalyst, a 50+ person private equity services firm and $30 million venture fund focused on the cable, broadband and IT industries. At Katalyst, Chris assumed interim executive positions and assisted several early stage companies through the development and implementation of their business plans. Prior to Katalyst, Chris held sales, business development and consulting positions with IBM, Computer Sciences Corporation and KPMG Peat Marwick. Chris holds a Bachelors of Science degree from the University of Connecticut and earned his certification as a public accountant in the state of Connecticut.