Founder
Brad David | Managing Director
Brad David is Founder and Managing Director of Taylor Creek Associates. Brad manages all day-to-day operations, business development and sales activities. He has spent the last 19 years working in communications and the high-tech business sectors. He began his career working with wire-line data products such as Frame Relay, ATM and IP Services. Brad also developed IP and Fiber Optic networks for many high-tech and Fortune 500 companies. Brad has worked for telecommunication giants such as Sprint and Qwest as well as wireless content & messaging pioneer, Ztango, Inc. (now Real Networks). Most recently, Brad has been focused on wireless services for the past 8 years working with leading brands, content providers, major music labels, messaging aggregators, and wireless carriers for both on-deck and off-deck content distribution. Before founding Taylor Creek, Brad was VP of Business Development for Dwango Wireless bringing such brands as Rolling Stone Magazine and Napster into the mobile space.
Advisors
Ken Willner | CEO, Zumobi, Inc.
A veteran marketing and digital media specialist, Ken has been actively involved in the development of mobile as a media platform since 2002. As Chief Executive Officer of Zumobi, Ken leads an experienced team in the development and growth of Zumobi's mobile media business. Prior to Zumobi, Ken was Vice President of Advertising and Media at AT&T Wireless, where he developed a number of innovative marketing programs to stimulate consumer adoption of mobile content and applications.
One of his most successful programs was the American Idol media sponsorship, where he was the driving force behind an integrated marketing campaign. This campaign was widely recognized as the seminal event that popularized text messaging in the United States. Earlier, Ken was Founder and Vice President of Marketing at Fizzylab, an early entrant in the contextual search and advertising space. By developing marketing programs and partnerships with leading digital media companies, Ken helped grow Fizzylab from a garage start-up to a company with more than 50 media clients in just 15 months.
Ken began his career in the advertising business and held senior management roles at national advertising agencies including McCann-Erickson and Rubin Postaer and Associates. During this time, he led the development of advertising and branding campaigns for leading consumer companies including The Walt Disney Company, Hitachi, Washington Mutual Bank, WebTV and Domino's Pizza, among others.
Ken graduated from the University of Washington with a B.A. in marketing. He is on the steering committee of InMobile.org and a member of the WINMEC Media and Entertainment Advisory Board at UCLA.
Gary L. Schmidt | Vice President & Managing Director, Wescom Capital, Inc.
Mr. Schmidt brings over ten years experience in selling complex global IT solutions into Fortune 500 companies. He is responsible for managing and structuring Wescom Capital's strategic partnerships, joint venture and alliance relationships and supports the company's mergers and acquisitions, and business development. In addition he directs external communications worldwide and client services activities.
Prior to joining Wescom Capital, Mr. Schmidt held several senior roles at Activate.net which later merged with Loudeye Corporation. His responsibilities at Loudeye/Activate included guiding the development of sales as well as the overall sales objective of the sales divisions. Mr. Schmidt has over six years of experience in telecommunication sales and sales management at Sprint and Qwest Communications. From 1993-94, Mr. Schmidt was the first five employees at an Internet startup, developed the sales group and aided in overall marketing efforts and business partnership.
Gary holds degrees from Washington State University and American College in London.
Jon Wapstra | Chief Operating Officer, EventPoint, Inc.
With more than eighteen years experience in business development, operations and management, Jon is responsible for ensuring that all operational and contracted obligations for EventPoint are met. Jon has been with EventPoint since its inception.
With a background in Systems Architecture and Design, Jon is passionate about technology and what’s possible with Software and Services. With a variety of technical certifications Jon was recognized by the Microsoft in 2006 with their “Partner Award” for contributions to what was termed the “most successful and extensive event network ever deployed at a Microsoft conference”. In addition to his role as technical liaison, Jon has also been responsible for all Information Technology platform and network deployments as well as overseeing the management of the EventPoint internal infrastructure. Jon has served in a research and development capacity, responsible for integrating new and beta release products into EventPoint platform and network infrastructure.
Prior to joining EventPoint Jon worked for the Boeing Company as a procurement agent on a team chartered with reducing waste in Boeing’s global manufacturing systems. In that role, Jon studied Lean Manufacturing in Japan. Along with a diverse team of engineers, web-based analytical tools were developed allowing the team to evangelize across Boeing about potential savings by migrating to more efficient, stream-lined processes, increasing turn rates and reducing waste.
Married with two children, Jon is most fond of spending downtime with his family. You will find him on a soccer field or fishing local rivers with his Dad. Jon volunteers as a youth sports coach and to an organization assisting persons with disabilities.
Jon is a graduate of Whitworth College in Spokane, WA with a B.A. in Business Management and Accounting.
Chris Wuhrer| CEO, Swipe Pay, Inc.
Chris currently serves as the CEO and Founder of SwipePay Mobile, Inc, a leading provider of mobile topup and reload interoperability for the prepaid industry. Chris has over 16 years of experience in wireless and e-commerce, beginning his career at startup Interactive Financial Services, which was later acquired by Intuit. Chris went on to co-found Kabel New Media US, where as CMO, he was responsible for building out a national professional services company delivering integrated marketing and technical solutions for Fortune 500 companies. Following, Chris joined InphoMatch as Senior Director Product and Marketing under CEO and was instrumental in leading the formation and delivery of the Company’s product and marketing strategy and execution. Prior to SwipePay, Chris was responsible for leading Boost Mobile’s Digital Media strategy and content delivery programs with a focus on platform, programming, and billing. He was responsible for building content business and 90% of data revenue.
Chris holds a BSBA in Marketing and an MBA from East Carolina University where he also taught international business.