ABOUT

Company history

HiveLive was founded in 2006 by brothers John Kembel and Geoff Kembel, both Stanford graduates with backgrounds in engineering and design. Drawing from their expertise in design thinking and innovation, the two set out to create the powerful and flexible LiveConnect Community Platform - a platform with next-generation capabilities in connecting people and driving business goals. Seeking a new perspective on social media in the business world, HiveLive set up shop in Boulder, Colorado - away from the established order in Silicon Valley.

Today, HiveLive is a leading provider of enterprise-class online customer communities. Some of the world's best-known brands are using HiveLive-powered communities to engage their customers, gather deeper insights, and spark innovation.

From its base of operations at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, the company attracts top talent, bringing together extensive experience with social media, online communities, market research, design thinking, and innovation.

Management team

John Kembel

Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer

John Kembel is a leader in the design thinking movement, which advocates an experience-centered approach to product design, and places design at the center of corporate performance. As a repeat entrepreneur, John has been creating and bringing new products and technologies to market for more than a decade. He gained experience with startups when he co-founded DoDots, a high-profile, venture-backed internet company. He has directed cutting edge, innovative companies that provide solutions reflecting an elegant mix of sound engineering and top-notch design. He has won national and industry awards in design, and frequently consults as an innovation expert for major consumer product companies nationwide. He is a Consulting Associate Professor and Strategy Board Member for the new Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University (the d.school).

John has also worked in industry and research environments for companies such as IDEO, Intel, IBM, and Interval Research. He has B.S. and M.S. degrees in engineering and design from Stanford University and an M.S. in Human-Computer Interaction from the School of Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon University.

• John's blog: Social by Design
• John on Twitter: twitter.com/jkembel

Ed Messman

VP Operations, Finance & Corporate Development

Ed Messman brings over 13 years experience working with early stage technology companies. Ed's career has centered around providing growth capital to rapidly growing venture backed technology companies at all stages of development. Most recently, he served as Managing Director of Hercules Technology Growth Capital, a premier specialty finance company focused on providing debt and equity to venture capital and private equity backed technology companies. At Hercules, Ed was an instrumental member of the firm's investment team where he focused on both early and later stage investment opportunities. There he established and managed a portfolio of technology centric companies covering software, internet and communications.

Ed has also served as co-founder of a financial services firm focused on technology growth companies, and has built and led teams as Vice President/Regional Market Manager for two premier west coast financial institutions covering early stage technology companies. Ed holds a B.S. in International Finance from Grand Canyon University and an M.B.A. in Finance and Entrepreneurship from the University of Colorado at Boulder.

Mike Rosol

SVP Sales

Mike Rosol brings over 16 years of executive management experience to HiveLive's sales organization. Mike's career has centered around B2B software and web-based solutions for online marketers in Fortune 500 companies worldwide. Over the past 15 years, he built three highly successful technology sales forces from the ground up. Formerly, Mike served as Executive VP of Worldwide Sales for Exactis.com, a startup internet marketing company. At Exactis.com, he was an instrumental part of the management team that, within three years of inception, led the company to a successful IPO and subsequent acquisition by 24/7 Media. Upon acquisition, he assumed management of the combined $200 million+ U.S. sales force.

Mike has also served as Senior VP of Sales for the eServices division of Experian N.A., a $500 million direct marketing company; and VP of Western Sales for DoubleClick. Since leaving DoubleClick, he has provided consulting services to several technology startups, focusing on sales strategy, tactical sales planning, and building the sales force. Mike has a B.A. in biology, and an M.S. in geology, both from the University of Colorado.

Tracey Floming

VP Marketing

Tracey Floming brings over 20 years of leadership experience in outbound marketing strategy and execution to HiveLive. Her career has been focused on bringing new technologies and new companies to market. She led the corporate marketing organization at both Tricord Systems and LeftHand Networks, a successful storage startup acquired by HP, and created a launch management organization for Legato Systems. Prior to these management roles, her experience spanned a broad range of marketing disciplines, including marketing communications, alliance management, and product marketing for companies such as McDATA, StorageTek, and Western Digital.

Tracey graduated with honors from Utah State University with a degree in journalism.

• Tracey on Twitter: twitter.com/traceyfloming

Anton Ushakov

VP Engineering

Anton Ushakov heads up software development and operations at HiveLive. He brings a decade of engineering experience, most recently from Yahoo!, where he built and led internationally distributed teams to develop and launch Yahoo! Local Search in the United Kingdom, Germany and France. Earlier at Yahoo!, Anton focused on large-scale search systems, processing and indexing high volumes of documents and enhancing the quality of results through information retrieval and machine learning techniques. Prior to Yahoo!, Anton architected infrastructure solutions at Stanford University's Information Technology Services and designed applied artificial intelligence systems at Brightware.

Anton has a B.A. in Math and Computer Science from the University of Northern Colorado, and a M.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University.

Geoff Kembel

Co-founder and Application Architect

Geoff Kembel has been exploring the intersection of design, engineering, and computer science for over ten years. He currently specializes in emerging internet technologies and cutting-edge web development. He has experience in both academic and industry research environments with companies such as IBM Research, BMW, Casio, and Intel. Geoff has Silicon Valley startup experience developing award-winning web technology, as well as freelance experience helping small businesses and organizations establish a presence on the web. And he has Silicon Valley startup experience developing award-winning web technology, as well as freelance experience helping small businesses and organizations establish a presence on the web.

Geoff has a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering with an emphasis in Design from Stanford University.