Management Team
- Dave Sikora
- Founder and CEO
- Lance Obermeyer
- Chief Technology Officer
- Ron Jennings
- Chief Financial Officer
- Paul Franz
- Vice President, Worldwide Sales
- Eric Newman
- Vice President, Client Services
- Stanley Wang
- Vice President of Research
- Curtis Hill
- Vice President of Engineering
- Dan Lowden
- Vice President of Marketing
Dave Sikora
Founder and Chief Executive Officer
David Sikora founded Digby in 2006, with a goal to accelerate the convergence of mobility and electronic commerce.. He is a veteran of the software industry, having been CEO of several successful public and venture backed private companies during his 25 year business career. He has served as the CEO of Pervasive Software (NASDAQ: PVSW), Question Technologies, Ventix Systems, and Forefront Group (NASDAQ: FFGI, acquired by NASDAQ: SKIL). In addition, he has served on the boards of several public and private companies, including TippingPoint Technologies, Motive, AG Tech, ClearOrbit, Troux Technologies, and Powered, Inc. He is also active in various Austin technology and community organizations.
Sikora has an MBA from Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration.
Lance Obermeyer, Ph.D.
Chief Technology Officer
Prior to joining Digby, Dr. Obermeyer was the Senior Director of Technology at Pervasive Software (NASDAQ:PVSW) in Austin, TX. (2002 – 2006) where he led Pervasive Software's technology and product management efforts including new product technology, acquisition due diligence, product management, product marketing, and engineering oversight.
Prior to Pervasive Software, Dr. Obermeyer was a co-founder and the Chief Technology Officer of Liaison Technology, Austin, TX (1999 –2002). Liaison (acquired by Forest Express) an enterprise level content management provider. During his tenure, Liaison filed for five patents, and was awarded one United States patent.
Dr. Obermeyer holds a Ph.D. in Computer Sciences from The University of Texas at Austin. His research focused on merging databases and artificial intelligence. He also holds a B.S. in Finance from Florida State University.
Ron Jennings
Chief Financial Officer
Ron Jennings brings to Digby over 35 years experience in financial management, operational management, and executive leadership. Ron has 15 years of software experience, and spent the last 10 years with QuickArrow, Inc., a services automation software company in Austin, Texas. During his QuickArrow tenure, Ron served at various times as Chairman, President, CFO, and COO. He grew the company from initial funding through four rounds of venture funding, and from start-up to profitability with over $10M in annualized revenue. QuickArrow was acquired by NetSuite, Inc., in 2009.
Prior to joining Digby, Ron served in executive financial positions with Object Reservoir, Inc., Browning-Ferris Industries, and Western Geophysical Company. Ron’s experience includes audit positions with Gulf Oil Corporation and KPMG, and he has maintained a private consulting practice, providing controller and administrative services to small businesses.
Mr. Jennings holds a BBA in Accounting from The University of Texas at Austin and is a Certified Public Accountant.
Paul Franz
Vice President, Worldwide Sales
Prior to joining Digby, Paul was Vice President of Sales, Media Solutions Group for Bazaarvoice in Austin, TX., the leading provider of social technologies for retailers. Before Bazaarvoice, was the co-founder of Powered, Inc, a social commerce company based in Austin, TX. During his tenure at Powered Paul served in various capacities including Vice President of Sales, Vice President of Business Development and CEO. Prior to Powered, Paul was COO of Bam! Advertising, a high tech creative boutique.
Paul brings 20 years of operational experience to Digby having held director and executive level positions in finance, operations, business development and sales in a variety of Austin-based, venture-backed startups, including ReCompute Corporation, TechWorks, and DGR Technologies.
Paul holds an MBA in Finance from the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, IN and a BA in Economics from Southwestern University in Georgetown TX.
Eric Newman
Vice President, Client Services
As VP of Client Services, Eric helps large and small retail companies leverage the power of mobile commerce. During his 18+ year career, Eric has built, marketed and delivered world-class software products to companies such as Microsoft, Yahoo, the NFL, Circuit City, Kraft, AT&T, British Telecom, NTT and Reuters. He has ridden the cutting edge of a number of online revolutions at a variety of start ups, delivering leading edge social marketing, commerce and media products with Pluck (now part of Demand Media); creating education-based social marketing tools at Powered, Inc.; creating and licensing the first software-based online collaboration tools at DataBeam (now part of IBM); licensing and developing technologies for the search engine renaissance at Direct Hit (now part of Ask Jeeves); and developing expert network communities at Question Technologies (now part of Motive Corporation). He holds an M.B.A. degree from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University and B.A. degrees in Information Systems and Marketing from the University of Cincinnati.
Stanley Wang
Vice President of Research
Stanley brings over 20 years of development and management experience to Digby. Prior to joining Digby, Stanley was co-founder and CTO of Movaya Wireless, Inc, a leading provider of mobile digital content delivery off-deck. During his tenure, Stanley established and managed a wholly-owned subsidiary in China focused on architecting and developing first class commerce platforms for mobile digital content.
Stanley holds a Masters degree in Electrical Engineering from University of Electronic and Science Technology of China.
Curtis Hill
Vice President of Engineering
Curtis Hill joins Digby as Vice President of Engineering, responsible for the company's engineering functions. Curtis brings over 20 years of deep engineering management experience ranging from large software companies including BMC and Quest, to start-ups and mid-size software companies. Curtis holds a BS in Mathematics from Auburn University.
Dan Lowden
Vice President of Marketing
Dan Lowden joins Digby as Vice President of Marketing, responsible for all aspects of the company's brand strategy and marketing. He brings 15 years of experience in mobile services and mobile devices through his roles at top technology companies including AT&T Wi-Fi Services where he was Vice President of Marketing, Wayport (acquired by AT&T) where he was Vice President of Marketing and Business Development, and IBM where he was North American ThinkPad Brand Manager and World-Wide ThinkPad Segment Manager. Dan holds an MBA in International Business from Rutgers University and a B.S. in Finance from Rider University.
