Rimas P. Buinevicius
Rimas P. Buinevicius, age 45, has been Sonic Foundry’s Chairman of the Board since October 1997 and Chief Executive Officer since January 1997. In addition to his organizational duties, Mr. Buinevicius is a recognized figure in the rich media industry focused on the convergence of technology, digital media and entertainment. Mr. Buinevicius joined Sonic in 1994 as General Manager and Director of Marketing. Prior to joining Sonic, Mr. Buinevicius spent the majority of his professional career in the fields of biomedical and industrial control research and development. Mr. Buinevicius earned an M.B.A. degree from the University of Chicago; a Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison; a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago; and is a recipient of Ernst and Young’s Entrepreneur of the Year award.
Monty R. Schmidt
Monty R. Schmidt, age 44, has been Sonic Foundry’s Chief Technology Officer since July 2003 and served as President from March 1994 to July 2003 and as a Director since February 1994. Throughout his tenure at Sonic Foundry, Mr. Schmidt has spearheaded a variety of engineering and strategic initiatives that have helped grow Sonic from the one person startup he founded in 1991. In addition to acting as an industry liaison, Mr. Schmidt is responsible for managing and facilitating technology development and utilization. Prior to joining Sonic, Mr. Schmidt served in software and hardware engineering capacities for companies in the medical and food service equipment industries. Mr. Schmidt has a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
Kenneth A. Minor
Kenneth A. Minor, age 46, has been Sonic Foundry’s Chief Financial Officer since June 1997, Assistant Secretary from December 1997 to February 2001 and Secretary since February 2001. From September 1993 to April 1997, Mr. Minor was employed as Vice President and Treasurer for Fruehauf Trailer Corporation, a manufacturer and global distributor of truck trailers and related after market parts and service where he was responsible for financial, treasury and investor relations functions. Prior to 1993, Mr. Minor served in various senior accounting and financial positions for public and private corporations as well as the international accounting firm of Deloitte Haskins and Sells. Mr. Minor is a certified public accountant and has a B.B.A. degree in accounting from Western Michigan University.
Frederick H. Kopko, Jr.
Frederick H. Kopko, age 53, has been Sonic Foundry’s Secretary from April 1997 to February 2001 and has been a Director since December 1995. Mr. Kopko is a partner of the law firm of McBreen & Kopko, Chicago, Illinois, and has been a partner of that firm since January 1990. Mr. Kopko practices in the area of corporate law. He has been a Director of Butler International, Inc. since 1985 and a Director of Mercury Air Group, Inc. since 1992. Mr. Kopko received a B.A. degree in economics from the University of Connecticut, a J.D. degree from the University of Notre Dame Law School, and an M.B.A. degree from the University of Chicago.
Arnold B. Pollard
Arnold B. Pollard, age 65, has been a Director of Sonic Foundry since December 1997 and a Director of Firebrand Financial Group since August 1996. From 1993 until January 2002, he was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Chief Executive Group, which publishes "Chief Executive" magazine. For over 25 years, he has been President of Decision Associates, a management consulting firm specializing in organizational strategy and structure. Since 1996, Mr. Pollard has served as a Director and a member of the compensation committee of Delta Financial Corp., a public company engaged in the business of home mortgage lending and the International Management Education Foundation, a non-profit educational organization. He also serves on the advisory board of PeopleTrends. From 1989 to 1991, Mr. Pollard served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Biopool International, a biodiagnostic public company focusing on blood related testing; and previously served on the boards of Lillian Vernon Corp. and DEBE Systems Corp. From 1970 to 1973, Mr. Pollard served as adjunct professor at the Columbia Graduate School of Business. Mr. Pollard graduated from Cornell University (Tau Beta Pi), and holds a doctorate in Engineering-Economics Systems from Stanford University.
David C. Kleinman
David C. Kleinman, age 72, has been a Director of Sonic Foundry since December 1997 and has taught at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago since 1971, where he is now Adjunct Professor of Strategic Management. Mr. Kleinman has been a Director (trustee) of the Acorn Funds since 1972 (of which he is also chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Committee on the Investment Advisory Agreement), a Director since 1984 of the Irex Corporation, a contractor and distributor of insulation materials (where he is non-executive chair of the Board of Directors), a Director since 1994 of Wisconsin Paper and Products Company, a jobber of paper and paper products, with operations in Milwaukee and Madison, a Director since 1993 of Plymouth Tube Company, a manufacturer of metal tubing and metal extrusions (where he serves on the Audit Committee), a Director since 2000 of AT&T Latin America, a facilities- 33 based provider of telecom services in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Columbia (where he is chair of the Audit Committee and a member of the Compensation Committee) and a member of the Advisory Board of DSC Logistics, a logistics management and warehousing firm. From 1964 to 1971, Mr. Kleinman was a member of the finance staff of the Ford Motor Company. Mr. Kleinman received a B.S. in mathematical statistics and a Ph.D. in business from the University of Chicago.
Paul S. Peercy
Mr. Peercy, age 67, was appointed to Sonic Foundry’s Board as a class I Director in February 2004. Since September, 1999, Mr. Peercy has served as dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering. Since 2001 Mr. Peercy has been a member of the National Academy of Engineering. In 2000, then-Wisconsin Governor Tommy Thompson named Mr. Peercy to the Wisconsin Technology and Entrepreneurship Council. Prior to joining the University of Wisconsin in September, 1999, Peercy served as president of SEMI/SEMATECH, an Austin, Texas-based non-profit consortium of more than 160 of the nation's suppliers to the semiconductor industry since 1995. Prior to that position he was director of Microelectronics and Photronics at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is the author or co-author of more than 175 technical papers and the recipient of two patents. Mr. Peercy received a BA degree in Physics from Berea College and MS and PhD degrees in Physics from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.
Gary R. Weis
Mr. Weis, age 61, was appointed to Sonic Foundry’s Board as a class V Director in February 2004 and was President, Chief Executive Officer and a Director of Cometa Networks, a wireless broadband Internet access company. From May, 1999 to February 1, 2003 he was Senior Vice President of Global Services at AT&T where he was responsible for one of the world's largest data and IP networks, serving more than 30,000 businesses and providing Internet access to more than one million individuals worldwide. While at AT&T, Weis also was CEO of Concert, a joint venture between AT&T and British Telecom. Previously, from January, 1995 to May, 1999 he was General Manager of IBM Global Services, Network Services. Mr. Weis served as a Director from March, 2001 to February, 2003 of AT&T Latin America, a facilities-based provider of telecom services in Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru and Columbia. Mr. Weis earned BS and MS degrees in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Illinois, Chicago.
Robert M. Lipps
Robert M. Lipps, age 37, has been Executive Vice President of Sales since April 2008, joining Sonic Foundry in April 2006 as Vice President of International Sales and assuming expanded responsibility for U.S. central sales in 2007. Mr. Lipps leads the company’s global sales organization including oversight of domestic, international and channel sales. He holds 15 years of sales leadership, business development and emerging market entry expertise in the technology and manufacturing sectors, including sales and channel management at Adaytum (now Cognos, an IBM company), Esker Software and Best Power (now Eaton Corporation). Mr. Lipps has a B.S. degree in Marketing from the University of Wisconsin at La Crosse.