Board of Directors
Rick Weidinger
Chief Executive Officer & Chairman
Rick Weidinger is the Chief Executive Officer and majority stockholder of Braintech Inc.. Previous to his appointment at Braintech, Mr. Weidinger created a legacy of innovation and technology success stories, serving as a chief architect behind the emergence and growth of such highly regarded fiber-optic telecommunications companies as the Institutional Communications Company (ICC), MFS Communications Company (MFS), and Pontio Communications. At Pontio, he was Chairman, CEO, and majority shareholder of the local fiber-optic company which he sold to a Fortune 50 company in 2001. Prior to Pontio, Mr. Weidinger served as a founding member and VP Corporate Development for MFS, where he was responsible for over 25 transactions totaling more than $18 Billion including the acquisition of UUNET Technologies, the world's leading internet service provider, in 1995. He presently sits on the Board of Directors of several North American private corporations.
Mr. Weidinger has also been actively involved in open-wheel racing as owner and co-owner of several Indy cars since 2004, and currently owns A1 TEAM USA Holdings, which represents the United States of America in the global A1GP World Cup of Motorsport. He holds both Juris Doctor and MBA degrees from Creighton University and a Bachelor of Science degree in finance from the University of Nebraska. Mr. Weidinger resides in Great Falls, Virginia, and Vancouver, B.C. Canada.
Owen L. J. Jones
Founder
Mr. Jones is the founder of Braintech, its first Chief Executive Officer and he continues to serve as a Director and advisor. As founder, Mr. Jones provided significant financial support and directed the Company's effort to successfully partner with industrial giant ABB, Inc. Between May 1995 and November 30, 2000, Mr. Jones was Director and CEO of Sideware Systems, Inc. (an IBM Premiere CRM business partner). Previous to founding Braintech, Mr. Jones since 1981, held senior technical and marketing management positions with several high tech companies - regionally in British Columbia, nationally in Canada and the US. Mr. Jones majored in Canadian economic history with a minor in computer science from the University of British Columbia.
James L. Speros
Mr. Speros was appointed a Director on September 15, 1998. He is currently President and CEO of National Capital Golf Ventures, LLC, a privately held golf course and real estate development company located in the Washington D.C. Metropolitan area.
For the past four years, Mr. Speros has also served as Chairman of the Ownership Committee for the Virginia Baseball Club, a group vying to bring a Major League Baseball team to the Washington D.C. region. In September 2004, the Washington D.C. area was awarded the Montreal Expos.
In 2002 Mr. Speros led the merger of Sideware Systems, Inc. and Knowledgemax, Inc. to form Knowledgemax, Inc., a privately held E-Learning Technology company, where he served as President for one year. From 1998 to 2002 Mr. Speros served as a Director, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sideware Systems, Inc. and of Sideware Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of Sideware Systems, Inc. From June 1993 to January 1997 Mr. Speros was the President and owner of two professional sports franchises, the Baltimore Stallions and Montreal Alouettes of the Canadian Football League.
Clifford G. Butler
Mr. Butler is currently President and Chief Executive Officer of the BAS Group, Inc., a privately held automotive service center, Managing Member of 14720 Southlawn, LLC, a privately held company that owns and manages commercial real estate, and President and Chief Operating Officer of Aviation Facilities Corporation, Inc., an aviation real estate venture that leases, owns and manages T-Hanger space for the indoor storage of aircraft. Through the 80's and early 90's, Mr. Butler was a lessee member of Congressional Air, Ltd., an aircraft charter operation. Mr. Butler has over 33 consecutive years of entrepreneurial experience in the private sector. Mr. Butler is not a director of any other public companies.
Russell S. Lewis
Mr. Lewis was appointed director on November 13, 2007. He is the Senior Vice President of Strategic Development at VeriSign (NASDAQ/VRSN), Inc., a leading provider of infrastructure services for Internet and Telecommunications networks. Prior to assuming this role at VeriSign, he held senior positions in Corporate Development and as the General Manager of VeriSign's Naming and Directory Services Group, known for running a major portion of the Internet's critical addressing infrastructure that manages the authoritative directories of all .com and .net domain names.
From 1986 to 2005, Lewis ran a wireless transportation systems integration company that is the market leader in RFID electronic toll collection systems, which he acquired from Control Data and sold to SAIC in 1994. Prior to 1986, Lewis managed an oil and gas exploration subsidiary of a publicly traded utility company (UGI Corporation) and was a Vice President of EF Hutton in the Municipal Finance group. Lewis is a Director of Delta Petroleum (NASDAQ/DPTR) and has served on numerous private boards. Lewis is a graduate of Deerfield Academy and holds an undergraduate degree in Economics from Haverford College, class of 1977, and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School, class of 1981.
S. Tien Wong
Mr. Wong was appointed director on November 13, 2007. He is also Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Opus8, Inc., a Chevy Chase, Md.-based private investment firm specializing in middle market buyouts, private equity and venture capital investment.
In 1991, Mr. Wong co-founded and served as CEO of CyberRep, Inc., until its acquisition in 2003 by Affiliated Computer Services (NYSE: ACS). At the time of its acquisition, CyberRep was one of the largest privately held CRM outsourcing companies in the world, operating six customer interaction centers throughout the USA with over 2,300 employees and $80 million in revenue in 2003. Today, the CyberRep/ACS business unit is one of the largest call center operations in the world, with over $850 million in revenue. In addition to garnering such prestigious awards as Customer Inter@ction Solutions magazine's MVP Quality Award and Customer Interface magazine's ACCE (Award for Call Center Excellence), CyberRep was ranked in INC. magazine's 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000's "Inc. 500" as the 51st, 53rd, 72nd and 408th fastest growing private company in the USA, respectively. CyberRep was profitable for 11 consecutive years and was backed by Allied Capital Corporation, a $5 billion investment company (NYSE: ALD).
Wong is a recognized international expert in CRM, direct marketing, and BPO. He has presented at dozens of industry events around the world, and has written numerous articles on the CRM and BPO spaces. He has also provided industry commentary on the ABC, Fox, NBC, CNBC, Maryland Public Television, and China's CCTV networks. Prior to co-founding CyberRep, he worked for 10 years in commercial real estate finance and investments.
Wong was the recipient of the 2001 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award for Greater Washington. An "Entrepreneur in Residence" at the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business, he frequently guest lectures on entrepreneurship, leadership and finance at the University of Maryland, Georgetown University, and the University of Virginia.
Wong serves on the Board of Directors of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and is on the boards of several other prominent organizations and advisory groups. He is CEO of The Tien and Beverly Wong Foundation, which supports youth, education, and social services charities. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College where he majored in Government.
