Management and Board of Directors
Open Interface North America's executives are comprised of technology industry veterans with significant experience in product development, international marketing, and financial management. Tom Nault, Chairman & CEOPrior to his appointment as CEO, since May 7, 2004 Tom served as OINA's Chairman of the Board. Tom Nault has managed companies as CEO or as Managing Member for more than 24 years. Tom remains a partner of Dashlight Systems LLC, parent company to OINA and NW Fiduciary LLC. While at NW Fiduciary, Tom was personally appointed by the Federal Courts to oversee the management of numerous corporate settlements. Prior to NW Fiduciary, he was CEO of Calibre Technologies USA, Inc., and Cravings, Inc. Tom earned a BA from The Evergreen State College. Akemi Sagawa, President
Akemi joined Open Interface North America, Inc. as founding CEO in November 2000. Prior to Open Interface, Akemi worked for Microsoft in the US and in Japan as a product marketing manager. In this capacity, Akemi initiated product launches in Japan and other Asian countries for Microsoft Word for Windows, Windows 95, and Internet Explorer. Previously, Akemi was a securities analyst in the electronics industry at Daiwa Securities Co., Ltd. Akemi holds a law degree from Kyoto University in Japan and an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business. Rick Romatowski, Chief Operating Officer
Rick has worked in the software and wireless industries since 1988. Most recently with Tegic Communications, he advocated the Mobile Messaging product strategy which led to the company's acquisition by AOL in 1999. As AOL's business manager for the T9 group, he drove T9 penetration to 80 percent saturation on mobile phones worldwide with units shipping in the hundreds of millions annually. His group was AOL's most profitable on percent of revenue and per capita bases. Prior to joining Tegic, Rick worked in a variety of sales, marketing and product management roles in companies such as Traveling Software, Orrtax Software and Sierra Geophysics. At Traveling, Rick launched two retail brand extensions and reduced the product delivery cycle from one every 15 months to one each quarter. Those releases earned numerous awards, including Windows Magazine's Software Product of the Year and Jim Seymour's Jimmy Award as a "near perfect product". In Addition, Rick has consulted with companies such as Attachmate and US Micro. Rick holds an MBA from The Wharton School and a B.S. in Engineering from the University of Texas. Greg Burns, Chief Technology Officer
Bringing more than 25 years of software development experience to Open Interface, Greg is currently responsible for all Bluetooth protocol stack development for the company. Prior to joining Open Interface, Greg headed US operations for 2B Commerce, a business-to-business e-commerce company based in the United Kingdom. Greg was previously group program manager at Microsoft, during which time he defined mobility features for Windows XP, prototyped applications for Windows-based embedded devices, drove key networking initiatives in Windows 98 and Windows 2000, and was an early pioneer in interactive TV, home networking, and advanced consumer technology. Prior to Microsoft, Greg developed compilers, optimizers and software tools at Verdix Corporation (now Rational Software), Intel, and ITT's Standard Telecommunication Labs in the UK. Greg holds a BS in Computer Science and Cybernetics from the University of Reading in the United Kingdom. Rowland Hanson, Advisor
Rowland serves as the branding and business development consultant for Open Interface. Prior to consulting, Rowland was vice president of corporate communications at Microsoft, where he created and executed the company's highly acclaimed branding strategy including the introduction of Microsoft's most popular product-"Windows." Prior to Microsoft, Rowland served as vice president of worldwide marketing for Neutrogena Corporation, where he contributed to the company's phenomenal growth through new product introductions and global partnering leading up to its acquisition by Johnson & Johnson. During the last several years, Rowland has served as a branding consultant and on the board of directors of several emerging companies including The Nautilus Group (NYSE: NLS). Rowland earned a MBA from The Wharton School of Business at University of Pennsylvania.
