Management
Gary Schmidt | Chief Executive Officer
Gary brings over 14 years experience in selling complex global IT solutions into Fortune 500 companies.
Currently Mr. Schmidt is the Chief Executive Officer of Taylor Creek Associates responsible for day-to-day operations. Gary also serves as the Vice President and Managing Director of Wescom Capital where 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 efforts. He also manages all external communications worldwide and client services activities. Gary is Co-founder and CEO of AirCloud, Inc.
Prior to joining Taylor Creek Associates and Wescom Capital, Mr. Schmidt held several senior roles at Activate.net which later merged with Loudeye Corporation. Gary was one of the first five employees at Activate.net, where he was responsible for developing the sales group and aided in overall marketing efforts and business partnership. He was also responsible for managing the overall sales objective of the sales divisions.
Earlier to Activate.net/Loudeye Corporation Mr. Schmidt held various roles in telecommunication sales and sales management at Sprint and Qwest Communications.
Brad David | Founder | President
Brad is Founder and Managing Director of Taylor Creek Associates. Brad oversees all content acquisition, business development and sales activities for the company. He has spent the last 21+ years working in communications and the high-tech business sectors. Brad is Co-Founder, President & Chief Marketing Officer of AirCloud, Inc. and Co-founder of SwipePay Mobile, Inc.
He began his career working with wire-line data products such as Frame Relay, ATM and IP Services. Brad has 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 the wireless content & messaging pioneer, Ztango, Inc. (now RealNetworks). Most recently, Brad has been the Founder and Managing Director of Taylor Creek Associates for the last eight years. Taylor Creek Associates is a mobile content company focused on wireless services working with leading world-wide 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.
Nicole Knowles | Vice President, Marketing & Communications
Nicole has spent over 15+ years specializing in Investor Relations and Marketing. She is currently the Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Taylor Creek Associates, focusing on all marketing programs for our content partners, music communities, wireless carriers and music labels. She oversees all carrier relationships and is responsible for overall company communications.
Prior to Taylor Creek Associates Nicole was Vice President of Marketing and Investor Relations for Dwango Wireless. Here she focused on the strategic direction, positioning and messaging of the company and worked with major brands such as ESPN, RollingStone and Napster. Before Dwango, Nicole was the Director of Investor Relations at InfoSpace (now Motricity). Knowles was responsible for creating all policies, procedures, and program development relating to the Investor Relations function and management of the company’s relationships with the financial community.
Earlier, Nicole worked for Starbucks Coffee Company and held various Investor Relation positions. Nicole holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Pacific Lutheran University.
Julie Knot | Vice President, Sales
Julie Knott brings to Taylor Creek nearly 30 years of professional experience in the public and private sectors. Most recently, Julie managed an international ship stability software company where she was responsible for commercial building construction, revenue, direct customer service, government contracts, and sales to key government defense agencies and commercial fleet managers.
Julie began her career with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration in law enforcement and then to King County, Washington where she was a land use planner specializing in environmentally sensitive areas. Nine years as program manager for the City of Bellevue brought awards, including recognition from the U.S. EPA, Washington State Governor, Washington State Department of Ecology, Association of Washington Cities and Counties, for design and implementation of Best Municipal Business Partnership Program – a program that has since been adopted by hundreds of cities and counties across the U.S.
Julie is a published science writer and photographer, featured as an editor for Design News magazine and other publications specializing in technology and the environment.