Simon Wilson
Chairman of the Advisory Committee
Simon’s background includes 30 years of international software industry experience encompassing operational, financial and strategic positions. He has been instrumental in successfully running, growing, financing, buying and selling both public and VC-backed companies. In addition to Rootstock, Simon serves on a number of boards and advisory committees of software companies.
Simon previously held CEO, CFO and Corporate Development roles in a range of software companies; these included CEO of MediaTile, the market-leading SaaS solution provider to the digital signage market, which was acquired by Corum Digital, and CFO/EVP-Operations of SurfControl PLC, a publicly traded internet security company, which was acquired by Websense. Prior to SurfControl, Simon was a partner in KPMG’s U.S. Corporate Finance Practice, where he specialized in corporate development strategy and M&A services for U.S. and international software and IT services companies.
Simon is currently the Chairman of PCI-PAL PLC and has served as independent director at Endace PLC (acquired by Emulex), M86 Security, where he was also Chairman (acquired by Trustwave), and Workshare (acquired by SkyDox). Simon has also provided international growth, fund-raising and M&A advisory services to a wide range software companies, including PCI-PAL PLC, July Systems (acquired by Cisco), and The Innovation Group PLC (acquired by The Carlyle Group).
Simon holds a BComm (honors) from Birmingham University, England. He is a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales; he is also a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing.
Tom Brennan
Advisor
Tom Brennan served as the Chief Marketing Officer at Rootstock Software and has an extensive track record of helping companies like Rootstock achieve rapid growth. With more than 30 years of experience in ERP and business application software, his goal is to make the market aware of the powerful value proposition Rootstock shares with Salesforce for manufacturers and distributors.
Mr. Brennan began his career as a salesman in the computer/software industry at NCR, Xerox and General DataComm. In the early 1990s, while at CODA Inc., he played a key role in helping the company go public on London’s AIM as Vice President of Sales and later served as VP of Marketing. Since then, he has held executive positions managing marketing, sales and building distribution channels at companies including The Taylor Group, ManagedOps.com, CXO Systems and Proactis.
Most recently, Mr. Brennan was Senior Vice President of Marketing at FinancialForce, a developer of cloud ERP software, where he was instrumental in driving the company from a start-up to more than $100 million in revenue and 650 employees. He is a frequent speaker at industry events focused on topics such as the cloud, customer-centric business applications and trends in ERP software. Mr. Brennan holds a B.S. in Accounting from Mount St Mary’s University and an M.B.A. in Marketing and International Business from American University.
Kirk Crenshaw
Advisor
Kirk Crenshaw has over twenty-five years of experience as an executive, entrepreneur and start-up advisor. Kirk’s experience includes leading marketing at high-tech companies such as DemandBase, Appirio (acquired by Wipro), and 2lemetry (acquired by Amazon). Currently, he is a co-founder of Sip Tequila, a platform built to bring hand-curated, super-premium and boutique tequilas to market in the US. He also advises companies such as Studio Science, Traackr, Woobot, Supperbell, and Instore. He holds a B.S. in Finance and Marketing from the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley.
Ted Christianson
Advisor
Ted served as Vice President of Business Development for Rootstock Software during its first two years on the Salesforce.com platform.
An entrepreneur and turnaround CEO, Ted helps start-ups and established companies grow through his firm Ted Ventures.
Ted has established or advised software companies in supply chain management, ERP, data analytics, and NoSQL databases (semantic web). Ted also has established, led, or advised manufacturing companies in optical networking, industrial components, and office products for business and consumer markets.
Ted graduated from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management and is co-founder and chairman of Christianson Systems – a leading manufacturer of pneumatic conveying systems for bulk materials. Ted is named on four patents, passed the CPA exam, and received Minnesota’s “World Trader of the Year” award.
Steven Berger
President, NYF Properties, Inc.
Steve has over 40 years’ experience as owner, President and Chairman of various private companies, including New York Fabrics (acquired by JoAnn Stores), NYF Properties, TurnItIn (acquired by Insight Venture Partners) and 2lemetry (acquired by Amazon).
Steve is an investor and advisor to various early-stage companies, often leading early-stage investment rounds and serving on the board of directors. He has had a long-held interest in education, serving as a math coach for competitions, mentor for an entrepreneurial class at UC Berkeley and competitions at various universities, and has served on the Board of The College Preparatory School. Steve is also past Chairman and current board member of The Partners Program, a non-profit educational organization that provides free academically enriching summer programs, year-round tutoring and more for underserved Oakland middle school youth. Steve is a graduate of Stanford University, an avid cyclist and a Berkeley resident.
Max Rayner
Advisor
Maximillian Rayner is a Partner at Hudson Crossing, a strategic advisory firm where he focuses on market and technology strategies, agile business transformation and product innovation. Hudson Crossing clients range from global hotel brands to private equity and venture capital firms, world leading financial services companies, leading casino and entertainment groups, airlines, travel distribution and technology companies and startups in e-commerce and big data solutions for digital marketing.
In his practice areas, Mr. Rayner has advised some of the world’s leading companies on transformational investments and technology projects: Amadeus, American Express, Booking Holdings, Choice Hotels, Expedia Group, Flight Centre Travel Group, Four Seasons, Hilton Worldwide, Hotelbeds, Hyatt Hotels Corporation, Lychee.com, Mandarin Oriental, Travelport, and leading investors such as Battery Ventures, Comvest, EQT, and Thoma Bravo.
Prior to becoming a partner at Hudson Crossing, Mr. Rayner served as TravelClick’s SVP of Product Engineering & General Manager for Reservations Solutions.
Mr. Rayner also served as CTO at Travelzoo, where he led Travelzoo’s Product Development, Engineering and IT.
Prior to that, Mr. Rayner served as EVP of Products & Services and CIO at information security provider SurfControl (sold at a 63% stock value premium).
Mr. Rayner served as VP of Systems Architecture at Salesforce.com where its team designed Salesforce.com’s Internet-scale hosting platform, and as head of Sun Microsystems’ business intelligence systems and global Internet engineering.
Mr. Rayner holds an MBA from UCLA (Finance) and a BA from Dartmouth College (Computer Science & Engineering).