The DDNi Leadership
MICHAEL KUPTZ - Chief Executive Officer
Prior to joining DDNi, Mr. Kuptz was Vice President and General Manager with Lenovo Group Limited, Americas Consumer Business Group (CBG) where he launched Lenovo’s Consumer Products within the Americas. Under Kuptz’s leadership, CBG sales grew rapidly while he was responsible for all functional lines of business which included finance, marketing, sales, service and support operations, product management and human resources. Previously, he served as the Vice President and General Manager of the U.S. Channel, Mid-Market and Transactional Business at Lenovo. Mr. Kuptz came to Lenovo from IBM's Personal Computer Division (PCD) and was part of the Lenovo Acquisition of IBM’s Personal Computer Division in May 2005. He successfully led the integration of Lenovo and IBM divisions, retained top talent throughout the transition and gained share across high growth segments within SMB and Consumer segments.
Mr. Kuptz spent 20 years at IBM and his career included numerous executive and management positions within IBM’s portfolio of offerings including system hardware and software sales, product development, server brand management and brand marketing. Of note is his leadership of the sales and operation team that launched the world's smallest hard disk drive, the IBM Microdrive in 1999.
Mr.Kuptz holds degrees in Economics and Political Science from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
GEOFFREY MARTIN - Chief Marketing Officer
Geoffrey Martin is responsible for setting the direction for all Digital Delivery Networks, Inc. (DDNI) products, marketing, and the customer experience. Mr. Martin has an extensive background of working in high technology companies that spans more than 20 years. He has held various functional positions including Strategic Development, Data Center Management, Business Development, Contracts Management and Negotiations and Product Marketing. Mr. Martin has worked for many of the premier high technology companies including Apple, 3Com, HP and now DDNI.
Mr. Martin was born in Montreal, Canada and is a graduate of Concordia University. He thrives on building strong teams, growing companies and charting innovative new business models and products for computing devices to succeed in the Internet business space. He is an avid history buff, a digital photography enthusiast, and a completely devoted father and loving husband.
CHRIS MARINACCI - V.P. Engineering
Chris Marinacci directs software development and architecture for DDNI. Chris has over 25 years of software development experience in the gaming and PC industry and is responsible for delivering new and innovative products for major fortune 500 companies. Chris’ projects have resulted in shipments in excess of 20 million units. His career has afforded him the opportunity to manage a wide range of projects including consumer software, software development tools, and games.
Mr. Marinacci studied Computer and Information Sciences at University of California Santa Cruz. In his spare time he reads avidly, runs, and has a penchant for new software technology.
MICHAEL O'CONNOR - V.P. Business Development
Michael serves as Vice President of global business development for DDNI. Throughout his career, Michael has focused on building strong relationship teams focused on long term strategic business opportunities. In his role, he is responsible for bringing partner relationships to the DDNi OASIS platform. Michael brings over 25 years experience in the high technology industry. He has held senior sales positions at Conner Peripherals, Sony, Seagate and Fujitsu.
Mr. O'Connor was born in Vestal, New York and has lived in Montana, Texas, North Carolina and now California. His hobbies include spending time with his family, golf and mountain biking.
DAVID SAWIN - V.P. Distribution
Dave leads Distribution partner activities for DDNI. He is responsible for new distribution opportunities as well as defining partner-specific implementations of DDNI products. Dave creates and sustains the environment to support operational excellence throughout the complete product/partner lifecycle.
Dave brings a wealth of tech industry savvy from numerous customer-facing, innovation and operational roles at Lenovo, IBM, and others. Dave is most comfortable delighting his clients by understanding and solving their pain points with innovative solutions, delivered on time. Dave's unique combination of solution design skills and operational drive to "run the business" has allowed him to build businesses from the ground up to success and stability on numerous occasions.
Dave is a named inventor on 16 U.S. and international patents and he has published many articles on customer-centric product design. He has received many international product design awards organizations such as IDSA, iF, and Red Dot.
Mr. Sawin graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BS in Psychology and Business Management, and he holds an MS degree from Old Dominion University. In his spare time, Dave enjoys travelling with his family, and working.
RENÉ C. NORTH - Chief Financial Officer/Founder
Mr. North has provided financial and operational leadership for DDNI from its inception and has implemented all financial and operation systems for the Company. Mr. North has twenty years experience in finance and operations with technology companies that include Lotus Development, Seagate Technology, Silicon Graphics, Tandem Computers.
Mr. North studied Computer Science at State University of New York, in Potsdam, NY and Finance at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. A youth spent in France encouraged a passion for food, wine, and soccer (football for the rest of the planet).
LEE PETERSON - President/Founder
Lee Peterson is founder and President of DDNI, which was founded in 2004. Mr. Peterson conceived, designed and developed the technical architecture and strategic marketing concepts that are the basis for the DDNi business model.
Mr. Peterson has founded or co-founded several high technology start-up ventures including JTS Corporation, and Greystone Peripherals, Faultline Technology, and DigitalSquare. He also is named as Inventor or Co-Inventor on many filed patents.
During a career spanning 35 years, Mr. Peterson has held positions as Vice President of Sales at Seagate Technology and Maxtor Corporation, as well as positions in sales, marketing, development and finance at Dysan, Memorex, and Burroughs.
Mr. Peterson holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Santa Clara and a BA in Political Science from San Jose State University.