Activplant Board of Directors

Barry Gekiere, Chairman

Partner and Senior Vice-President, Ventures West

Barry Gekiere is responsible for identifying, evaluating and executing new investment opportunities and working closely with existing portfolio companies as an active Board member, director and advisor on strategic issues. He offers a wealth of venture capital and direct operating experience - particularly in industrial technology - with technology service companies and vertical market software. Prior to joining Ventures West, Mr. Gekiere served as President of Modine of Canada, an automotive after-market parts company, as well as Devjo Industries, a diversified industrial holding company. Mr. Gekiere has served on the boards of several private and public companies and has worked with organizations through the Initial Public Offering and strategic sale process. He is a director of the Canadian Venture Capital Association, EMT Inc., Necho Systems Corp. and Nuvo Network Management Inc. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration.

Eric Goodwin

Chairman, Fortiva Inc.

Eric Goodwin was named one of Canada's Top 10 Technology CEOs by Canadian Business Magazine and received the Canadian Advanced Technology Association's award for Private Sector Leadership. He is currently the Chairman of Fortiva, a company that is changing the landscape for email archiving and regulatory compliance. In July of 2004 he retired as the CEO of Klocwork after taking the company to the next level through a venture funding round and initiating two years of rapid growth. Klocwork was the last spinout from Nortel, and provides a software development platform for improving productivity and quality of software by using deep static analysis.

Prior to joining Klocwork, Goodwin served as CEO of FloNetwork Inc. from July 1999 to July 2001 when it was sold to DoubleClick (NASDAQ: DCLK). During that period FloNetwork grew from a 25 person company to over 200, and was the acknowledged leader in email relationship management. FloNetwork was recognized in the Deloitte & Touche Fast50 as the 20th fastest growing high technology company in Canada, and the top half of the Fast500 for technology companies in North America.

Previously he had been a co-founder and CEO of Fulcrum Technologies. Goodwin was CEO while the company grew to over $60 million in revenue, and was ultimately sold to PC DOCS, now part of Hummingbird Communications (NASDAQ: HUMC).

He also sits on several other Boards and acts as an advisor to VCs and management teams on building software businesses.

Andrew Pinkerton

Growthworks Capital

Andrew Pinkerton is a Investment Manager at GrowthWorks Capital focusing on information technology investments. Prior to joining the company, Andrew worked in the Institutional Equity Research Groups at Credit Suisse First Boston Technology Group, Deutsche Bank Technology Group and PaineWebber Technology Group in San Francisco, California. Andrew has also worked in the Investment Banking Division of Alex, Brown & Sons in Boston, Massachusetts.

Andrew graduated Cum Laude from Harvard College and also graduated with an MBA from the Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto.

John Eckert

Founding Member, McLean Watson Capital

John has extensive experience in corporate finance, having served as a VP and Director in Corporate Finance and Capital Markets of Wood Gundy Inc. and CIBC Wood Gundy in Canada. He also served as Managing Director of CIBC Wood Gundy (Australia), a merchant bank. John is active in working with Government to improve the economic environment in Canada. He is currently a participant on the Toronto Region Research Alliance Steering Council. He speaks regularly at investment and entrepreneurial forums in Canada and abroad.

John serves on the Board of the Canadian Venture Capital Association, having previously held the positions of President (2000-2002), Chairman (2002-2003) and Director (2003-2005). He also serves on the Boards of several private and public companies, including Kyberpass, SkyWave Mobile Communications, SiteBrand.com, Fortiva and Activplant.

John holds a BA and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario.

Michael L. Pinette

Partner at CRG Partners

Michael L. Pinette has over 30 years of results oriented manufacturing, operations and consulting experience in various industries including automotive, manufacturing, commercial banking and food & beverage.

Currently Mr. Pinette serves Partner at CRG Partners, a leader in business improvement consulting for underperforming mid to large cap companies. Prior to CRG, Michael worked directly with customers as an industry expert focusing on continuous improvement strategies for manufacturers. For over 10 years, Mr. Pinette was widely recognized as Bain & Company's manufacturing expert where he focused on developing manufacturing strategies for Fortune 500 client companies. Michael holds an MBA from American International College, and a BS in Industrial Management from Lowell Technological Institute.

Dennis Cocco

Founder and Chief Product Strategist, Activplant

Dennis Cocco founded Activplant Corporation in 1998 in London, Ontario and was the company’s first President and CEO. Mr. Cocco currently holds the position of Chief Product Strategist. He is an industry expert with 15 years experience in collaborating with advanced plant operations and manufacturers. Activplant is the leader in Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence (EMI) and has been providing manufacturers with practical business solutions that create value to their customers and stakeholders.

Before founding Activplant, Mr. Cocco was co-founder of JMP Engineering Inc., an automation systems integrator specializing in advanced manufacturing. In his career, he has worked with numerous Fortune 1000 companies to set up and optimize their automation systems. Mr. Cocco holds a BSc in Systems Design Engineering and is a member of the Professional Engineers of Ontario.

The Executive Team