The Team
SmartReceipt’s leadership team has an impressive mix of expertise in many areas. Our directors are active and complement the management team.
MANAGEMENT
Jay Ferro – President & CEO
Jay Ferro is the President & CEO of SmartReceipt. As the Company’s founder his vision dates back to 1995, at which point he applied for and received patent protection for his ideas. In 2004, Jay founded Nutricate Corporation in order to provide foodservice operators the ability to print personalized nutrition information and education on receipts.
In 1994, Jay founded Silvergreens Restaurants, one of the earliest of the now popular fast-casual restaurants. Silvergreens Restaurants has won many awards around preserving the environment and innovation. He has been awarded an Inc. Magazine entrepreneur of the year, and voted one of the “40 Under 40” up and coming business leaders. Jay received his B.A. degree with Distinction & High Honors in Business/Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Bradley Bennett – VP Product Development
Bradley Bennett serves as Vice President Product for SmartReceipt. He is responsible for product management, software architecture and user interface design. Prior to joining SmartReceipt, Bradley served as Vice President Operations for InfoGenesis, a leading developer of point-of-sale (POS) solutions for the hospitality and foodservice industries. At InfoGenesis he was responsible for the management of systems implementation services, customer support, training, professional business services, data center services, and account management. In addition to managing operations, during his 12 year tenure at InfoGenesis he was pivotal in the design and management of multiple generations of software product platforms and services for InfoGenesis. Bradley is a graduate of California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo with a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture.
Dave Chambers – VP Engineering
Dave Chambers serves as Vice President of Engineering for SmartReceipt. He is responsible for the design and development of the SmartReceipt product. Dave has over 25 years experience managing engineering projects for computer and telecom equipment companies, managing organizations as large as 600 people. Dave started his career at Amdahl Corp doing computer design. When he left there, he was VP of Product Operations, which was an organization of over 600 people that included all of Engineering and all of Manufacturing. After 20+ years at Amdahl, he left to join Lightera Networks, a start-up telecom equipment company, as VP of Engineering. Lightera was subsequently acquired by Ciena Corp. Dave has BS and MS Engineering degrees from Stanford University.
Molly Chester – VP Business Development
Molly Chester has served as Vice President of Business Development for SmartReceipt since 2004. She is responsible for ensuring that the Company’s strategies and goals are in the best interest of consumers and to develop partnerships and relationships with those organizations and individuals who share these objectives. Prior to joining SmartReceipt, Molly was the General Manager for Duraguard Products Import Division, where she was charged with creation and management of a successful subsidiary/division focusing on consumer building products.
Prior to her role at Duragurad, she had joined start-up Virtual Relocation (sold to TMP worldwide in 2000) an online advertising and destination site. During her time at Virtual Relocation Molly held several marketing, sales and business development positions including Manager of the West Coast Sales Division. Molly received a B.S. degree from the University of Oregon with a major in Sociology and minor in Business.
Nitin Pai – VP Operations
Nitin Pai serves as Vice President of Operations for SmartReceipt Corporation. In this capacity, he directs the deployment of SmartReceipt’s software solutions at customer locations and also manages customer care functions. Prior to joining SmartReceipt, Nitin served as the Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Operating Officer of T-Asset Inc., a network security software startup headquartered in Kansas City, MO. Nitin has also held executive management positions at Sprint Corporation leading functions such as operations, eCommerce, and customer support. Nitin holds an M.B.A degree from the University of Michigan.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Michael C. Howe, Chairman
Michael C. Howe is the former Chief Executive Officer of MinuteClinic, the pioneer and largest provider in America of the exciting retail health care concept. He led the Minneapolis-based MinuteClinic from June 2005 to June 2008 providing the strategic leadership to facilitate the national expansion of this disruptive innovation. Under Michael’s leadership the concept grew from just 19 clinics in 2 markets to more than 525 health care centers in 27 states. Michael’s career has been distinguished by his ability to identify consumer needs, create strategic vision, and build nationally recognized brands with companies such as Yum! Brands, Procter & Gamble, PepsiCo and Unilever.
Mr. Howe is also the former CEO of Arby’s and was recognized in 2006 by Fast Company magazine as one of the top 50 people that will change how Americans work and live over the next 10 years. In 2007, Michael was appointed to the Governor of Minnesota’s Healthcare Transformation Task Force representing innovation and business leadership. The goal of the task force is to reduce the cost of healthcare in the state by 20% by 2012. He is now focusing his time and expertise providing consultation to organizations committed to reforming healthcare delivery in the US.
Ellen R. Marram
Ellen R. Marram is President of The Barnegat Group LLC, a firm that provides business advisory services, and has spent more than 30 years building profitable brands and companies. Ms. Marram was President and Chief Executive Officer of Tropicana and the Tropicana Beverage Group from 1993 through 1998. During Ms. Marram’s tenure, Tropicana nearly tripled its shareholder value and was sold to PepsiCo in 1998 for $3.3 billion. From 1988 to 1993, Ms. Marram was President and Chief Executive Officer of the Nabisco Biscuit Company, the largest operating unit of Nabisco, Inc. Ms. Marram’s vision and direction led to the 1992 launch of SnackWell’s cookies and crackers, which pioneered low-fat snacking and is considered one of the most successful new products of the 1990s.
Ms. Marram was President of Nabisco’s Grocery Division from 1987 to 1988, and from 1970 to 1986 she was in marketing management at Nabisco/Standard Brands, Johnson & Johnson and Lever Brothers. Ms. Marram serves as a director of Ford Motor Company, The New York Times Company and Eli Lilly and Company. She is a member of the Healthcare Executive Leadership Network, serves on a number of nonprofit Boards including The New York-Presbyterian Hospital and The Families and Work Institute and has served as a Trustee of the Conference Board and as a member of the Board of Associates of Harvard Business School. She is a graduate of Wellesley College and received an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.
Dennis Cagan
Dennis Cagan is a high-technology industry executive and successful entrepreneur for 42 years, having founded over a dozen different companies. In addition to his entrepreneurial and management activities Mr. Cagan has been a c-level executive (both public and private companies), consultant, venture capitalist, private investor, and professional board member (43 corporate Boards) for over 33 years.
Dennis is an internationally recognized authority in information technology, including: Internet, software, hardware, and communications, in the disciplines of strategy, sales, distribution channels, marketing, services, logistics and distribution. On more than one occasion Mr. Cagan has been responsible for international sales and has actively done business in 35 countries. He has authored dozens of articles and spoken frequently. In 1979 he was the Keynote Speaker at the first COMDEX Show in Las Vegas. In 1976 he founded the David Jamison Carlyle Corp. (his 5th start-up), turning it into one of the country’s largest distributors of computer peripherals, and taking DJC public in 1981.
Over the years Mr. Cagan has had consulting relationships with companies large and small including AT&T, IBM, Digital, BellSouth, Kodak, Xerox, General Electric, TRW, Wang, U.S. West and others. Since 1985 Mr. Cagan has often served as an interim C-level executive – usually for companies where he was already a member of the Board.
Mr. Cagan is currently the CEO of SureBooks LLC, based in McKinney, TX, a SaaS company in the financial services for small-medium accounting firms.
From May 2006 to July 2008 Mr. Cagan stepped in as a Board Member and served as the Chairman, CEO and President of TWL Corporation (TWLO.OB). Prior to running TWL Dennis founded, and still runs, the Santa Barbara Technology Group, LLC, a private incubator and investment firm engaged primarily in working with, and investing in early-stage technology companies.
Mr. Cagan currently serves on four corporate Boards of Directors. He attended the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) where he majored in economics, and he has an honorable discharge from the USMC. Mr. Cagan and his wife Angelia live in the Dallas area with their youngest daughter. He is active in his Church and other local non-profit activities.
Adolph J. Ferro
Adolph (Al) J. Ferro, Ph.D. is President and CEO of Artielle Immuno Therapeutics, a privately held autoimmune therapeutics company. Al has been a director of Virogenomics since January 2001 and a director of Artielle since its formation in 2004. He was Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of Agritope, Inc. from 1989 to 2000 when Agritope was sold to Exelixis, Inc. Agritope, which is now named Exelixis Plant Sciences, is an agricultural genomics and biotechnology company.
Dr. Ferro was President, Chief Executive Officer and a director of Epitope, Inc. from 1990 through 1998, when Agritope was spun off from Epitope. Epitope, which is now named OraSure Technologies, is a medical diagnostics company with several FDA approved products. Prior to joining Epitope, Dr. Ferro was a Professor of Microbiology at Oregon State University and is the author of numerous publications in both the medical and agricultural fields. Dr. Ferro received a B.S. degree in zoology from the University of Washington and a Ph.D. in microbiology from Washington State University.
Eric Kanowsky
Eric Kanowsky is Chief Operating Officer of Advanced Cardiac Therapeutics, an early stage company providing novel microwave technology for use during cardiac ablation procedures. He has been involved in numerous entrepreneurial activities over the last twenty years, most recently serving as an advisor, director, and/or investor for numerous early stage technology and medical device ventures. Additionally, he spent time as COO of Vistera, a provider of e-management solutions to franchised businesses and also filled a similar role at SupplySolution (acquired by Tradebeam), managing the early stages of organizational growth and development for those companies.
Earlier, Eric was a co-founder and Vice President of Operations at Software.com (Nasdaq:OPWV), where his responsibilities for all operational issues and decision-making included managing multiple technical organizations, facilities and infrastructure departments, and a $10 million capital and expense budget. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the UC Santa Barbara Center for Entrepreneurship and Engineering Management. Eric holds an MBA from Indiana University and a Bachelors degree in Mechanical Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Jay Ferro
Jay Ferro is the President & CEO of SmartReceipt. As the Company’s founder his vision dates back to 1995, at which point he applied for and received patent protection for his ideas. In 2004, Jay founded Nutricate Corporation in order to provide foodservice operators the ability to print personalized nutrition information and education on receipts.
In 1994, Jay founded Silvergreens Restaurants, one of the earliest of the now popular fast-casual restaurants. Silvergreens Restaurants has won many awards around preserving the environment and innovation. He has been awarded an Inc. Magazine entrepreneur of the year, and voted one of the “40 Under 40” up and coming business leaders. Jay received his B.A. degree with Distinction & High Honors in Business/Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
