Nick Fera, Chief Executive Officer & President

Nick has more than 24 years of business software management experience. As the Chairman and CEO of Parlano, Nick grew Parlano to more than 60 employees, established an intercontinental presence, raised $11 million in capital, and exponentially grew the customer base. Under his direction, Parlano was acquired by Microsoft in October 2007. Prior to Parlano, Nick spent 18 months as the vice president of data warehousing and business intelligence at Platinum Technologies, launching a Year 2000 software product and driving revenues to over $20 million in just eight months. He has also held executive management positions a number of companies including President and COO of The Alcar Group (acquired by Hyperion Software) and currently sits on the Board of Directors at NewsGator Technologies, Inc. Nick holds a BS in Finance from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree in management from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Samuel Mele, Co-Founder & Managing Director

Sam has more than 20 years of sales and management experience in enterprise software. As the VP of Sales for Europe, the Middle East and Africa from 2000 to 2002 at Ariba, Inc., Sam was responsible for all sales activities and played a key role in establishing Ariba EMEA, driving revenues from $2 million to over $100 million in just two years. Prior to joining Ariba, Sam spent 10 years with Oracle Corporation in various sales roles during a period when Oracle’s annual revenues grew from $500 million to over $8 billion. Sam graduated with Honors from the University of Illinois with a BS in Mechanical Engineering.

James Mullen, Co-Founder & Chief Technology Officer

Jim has over 22 years of software development experience in enterprise software. Jim was the founder and President of Intercap Systems, a software company that designed and built leading-edge financial services back office systems. Prior to Intercap, Jim held senior technical and sales management positions at Siebel, Softwire/Kabira, Rich/Reuters and Oracle. Jim holds a BS in Computer and Electrical Engineering from Purdue University and an MBA in Finance and Marketing from the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Doug States, Chief Financial Officer

Doug has over 18 years of financial management experience. Most recently, he served as the CFO at Arroweye Solutions, Inc. where he successfully rebuilt a financial team and helped secure $23.5 million of growth capital for the business. Prior to Arroweye he served as CFO of Parlano and was a key executive in establishing Parlano as the leader in persistent group chat software that culminated in the successful strategic acquisition by Microsoft in October 2007. Prior to Parlano, Doug held various senior management positions in the finance area for Platinum Technology. Before his private sector experience, Doug began his career in public accounting with BDO Seidman. Doug holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting from the University of Notre Dame and is a Certified Public Accountant.

Lily Hwang, VP of Deployment

Before leading the deployment efforts at Firm58, Lily was a Senior Manager in the Financial Services Practice at Accenture where she led consulting engagements with top retail brokerage houses, futures exchanges, and commercial banks such as ABN Amro, Bank of America, and A.G. Edwards. She brings a wealth of hands-on experience to Firm58 including a $250M broker/dealer merger initiative to migrate a complete in-house back office processing system and replace an entire suite of front and middle office/trading systems. Prior to Accenture, Lily held various consulting roles at Lake West Group and Aetna Life & Casualty. Lily has an MBA from Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business and a BA from the University of Rochester.

Doug Donohoe, VP of Engineering

Doug has been professionally developing software for over 20 years. He has a diverse background, working in start-ups and big companies developing in-house, enterprise and retail entertainment software. At Orba Nova, he led development of an innovative high-frequency trading platform. At Ingenix, he was senior director of an engineering team focused on reducing health care fraud. Donohoe Digital, a company he founded, developed award winning computer games including DD Poker. Doug was an early employee at Blue Martini Software where he served as Vice President of Technology and managed the company’s first three major product releases. At Netscape, he was Chief Architect of Netscape’s e-commerce software division. Doug started his career at Andersen Consulting working on various projects in the US, Switzerland and France. Doug graduated summa cum laude from Denison University with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science.

Jonathan Arney, VP of Sales

Jon has over 13 years of enterprise software experience and leads Firm58′s commercial operations from New York City. He previously managed financial services companies in the New York area for Ariba, Inc. and was the Channels Director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. Prior to Ariba, Jon worked at Oracle Corporation with positions in Paris and Chicago, and as a CPA at Price Waterhouse LLP in Chicago. Jon holds a Bachelors of Business Administration from the University of Michigan Business School.