Board of Directors
Jack Blaeser – Former President & CEO – Concord Communications
Jack Blaeser was the President and CEO of Concord Communications, a publicly held developer of application and network management software until its merger with Computer Associates in 2005. Jack led Concord through its successful initial public offering in October 1997 and growth to approximately $100 million in annual revenues. Prior to joining Concord Communications in April 1995, Jack was a Managing General Partner at EG&G Venture Management. While at EG&G, Jack focused on investments in emerging high technology companies.
Prior to that, he was Executive Vice President of Gould Inc. where he built a $600M Electronic Systems business unit through organic growth and five successful acquisitions. Jack joined Gould when it acquired Modicon Corporation, an industrial automation company where Jack served as President. Jack began his career in 1964 with General Electric Company where he held various marketing and sales roles before being recruited in 1973 as Vice President Sales & Marketing of Modicon Corporation.
Richard J. Cannon – Vice President for Finance and Administration – University of New Hampshire
Dick Cannon is Vice President for Finance and Administration at the University of New Hampshire. Prior to joining UNH in 2006, he was a management consultant to higher education and academic medical centers. From 1988 to 2000 he was Dean for Administration and a member of the teaching faculty at the Harvard School of Public Health. In the 70’s and 80’s he served as Executive Vice President at Harvard Community Health Plan and the Health Insurance Plan of Greater New York. Early in his health care career he served as a group practice administrator and, at a Boston teaching hospital, helped develop a group practice, a patient advocacy program and consulted with affiliated community health centers.
Mark Galvin – Managing Director – NH-ICC
Mr. Galvin has overall leadership responsibility for assuring success of the Center’s mission. Mark has over 26 years of experience in the Telecommunications & Networking industries. The past 20 years have been as President and CEO responsible for all aspects of business growth. Mark excels in equity-based fund raising, team building, rapid growth business management, system architecture, matching technologies to emerging business needs and building and motivating channels to market.
He founded and was President and CEO of PRI in Salem (acquired by Xircom in 1995), RAScom, Inc, Salem, NH (acquired by Excel Switching in 1999), Cedar Point Communications (currently operating in Derry) and Whaleback Systems (currently operating in Portsmouth). PRI, RAScom and Cedar Point were all recognized by Inc. and Entrepreneur Magazine as among the fastest growing private companies in the US (#95, #51, and #2, respectively). Mr. Galvin was named Boston Business Journal’s 2004 Telecom All-Star and was a Finalist, 2003 Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year. Mark studied math and computer science in the undergraduate and graduate Faculties of McGill University in Montreal.
Allan M. Kline – Director of Business Development – Cutler Capital Management
Allan Kline is the Director of Business Development at Cutler Capital Management. Prior to joining Cutler, Mr. Kline was a Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for Skyworks Solutions, Inc. Before joining Skyworks, he served as CFO of FiberMark, Inc., Acterna Corporation, and CrossComm Corp. Allan also served as Vice President at O’Connor, Wright Wyman Inc., and as a Director of Acterna and CrossComm. He is currently a director of BTI Systems, and the Massachusetts Network Communications Council.
Mr. Kline has extensive financial expertise, having served as Chief Financial Officer and in senior finance roles for a number of publicly-traded companies, ranging from networking system providers to traditional manufacturers. He began his career at Arthur Young & Company in 1969, where he was a partner for six years.
He graduated from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and from the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School with an MBA.
Frank Polestra – Special Limited Partner – Ascent Venture Partners
Mr. Polestra has garnered a diverse and distinguished career, including over twenty years of venture capital experience, all of it at Ascent Venture Partners. While at Ascent, Frank lead and managed the investments in 8 firms achieving an IRR of 37+% with seven acquisitions and one initial public offering. These 8 firms include the following: Dynatrend (acquired by EG&G), Endosonics (acquired by Cardiometrics), Net2Net (acquired by Visual Networks), Network Engines (NASDAQ: NENG), Primary Rate (acquired by Xircom), RAScom (acquired by Excel Switching), Robotic Vision Systems (acquired by Computer Identics), and VenturCom (acquired by Citrix).
In 1969, Mr. Polestra joined The Pioneer Group, where he spent thirteen years before founding Pioneer Venture Capital. He also held several research and engineering positions for RCA and Polaroid. Initially, Frank worked as a Principal Scientist for Avco Corp., where he researched the Apollo reentry program. Frank holds a PhD and MS in physical chemistry from Yale University and Doctorate in Chemistry from the University of Naples.
Michael Swack – Research Faculty – University of New Hampshire
Michael Swack is a professor at the University of New Hampshire, where he has appointments at the Carsey Institute and at the Whittemore School of Business and Economics. At Carsey, he is working on building scale in the nonprofit community development sector, innovations in community development finance, microfinance, and new models of social enterprise. He manages two ongoing projects: the Financial Innovations Roundtable (in collaboration with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston) and the Stonyfield Farm Entrepreneurship Institute (in collaboration with Stonyfield Farm Yogurt). He has over twenty-five years of experience in the fields of economic development, finance, and development banking.
Michael was the founder and former dean of the School of Community Economic Development (CED) at Southern New Hampshire University. He has been involved in the design, implementation, and management of a number community development lending and investment institutions both inside and outside the United States. He was the first chairman and served for seventeen years as a board member of the New Hampshire Community Development Finance Authority (CDFA), a state-chartered equity fund for community economic development ventures and projects. He is the founding president and a current board member of the New Hampshire Community Loan Fund. He was a founding board member of the National Association of Community Development Loan Funds (now the Opportunity Finance Network), a trade association of Community Development Finance Institutions, and a current member of the Community Development Advisory Council of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. Internationally he has been involved in development finance and microfinance work in Africa, Asia, and Latin America.
Michael has published in the areas of economic development and development finance. He received his doctorate degree from Columbia University, his master’s degree from Harvard University, and his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.