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Our People

Kowabunga! is comprised of entrepreneurial thought leaders with online and offline marketing experience in companies ranging from start-ups to Fortune 500s.

Executive Team

Stan Antonuk
Chief Executive Officer

Mr. Antonuk joined Kowabunga! in July 2006 as chief operations officer and was appointed CEO in April of 2008. Prior to joining us, Mr. Antonuk was part of the leadership team at InterActive Corporation, which launched the e-commerce site HSN.com. In addition to overseeing technology and operations for HSN.com, Mr. Antonuk also oversaw technology for HSN's Advanced Services business. Prior to HSN.com, Mr. Antonuk spent ten years serving in a variety of leadership positions in engineering, marketing, and technology for National Grid, an electric and gas power company in Upstate, New York. He received a B.S. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Clarkson University in Potsdam, N.Y. and an MBA from Le Moyne College in Syracuse, NY.
Jody Brown
Chief Financial Officer

Since August 2004, Mr. Brown has served as our chief financial officer. From January 2001 until August 2004, Mr. Brown was a partner at the accounting firm of Poulos & Bayer, our previous independent registered public accountant. He had worked at Poulos & Bayer since 1995. Mr. Brown graduated from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1995.



John Linden
Chief Technology Officer

Mr. Linden joined us through the acquisition of Litmus Media, where he served as co-founder and CEO since early 2005. Litmus developed the ValidClick and SecondBite products that feature click fraud protected advertising distribution technologies for the performance-based advertising industry. Prior to Litmus Media, Mr. Linden was the executive vice president of marketing for Positive Networks, Inc. He has also served as chief technology officer for Adknowledge Inc. and for Virtumundo, Inc. Mr. Linden founded and was the chief executive officer of Planet Alumni, Inc., which was sold to Reunion.com. He attended the University of Kansas.
Stephen Lerch
Chief Revenue Officer

Mr. Lerch joined our team in October of 2007. Prior to working with us, Mr. Lerch was the Executive Vice President, Chief Operating and Financial Officer for Workstream Inc. His responsibilities included financial, human resources, legal and administrative affairs, as well as operational oversight. From April 2003 to January 2004, Mr. Lerch was the Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Rewards Network Inc/iDine Rewards Network Inc. In this position, Mr. Lerch directed operations of merchant sales and support, contract administration, information technology and corporate and partner development. Prior to this position, Mr. Lerch held the position of Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer from February 1997 to August 2003. Prior to holding that position, Mr. Lerch was a Business Assurance Partner at Coopers & Lybrand LLP (now a part of PricewaterhouseCoopers) where he worked from 1978 to 1997. Mr. Lerch is a graduate of the University of Notre Dame.
Vaughn W. Duff
Secretary & General Counsel

Mr. Duff became our General Counsel in September 2006. For four years prior he was General Counsel of InspireWorks Inc., a software development company. He has also served as the general counsel of five other companies, all in the technology services and finance industries. Mr. Duff holds a B.S. degree with dual majors in Mathematics and Management from the United States Naval Academy and both MBA and JD degrees from Rutgers University. He is a member of the Bar of the States of New Jersey and New York.

Board of Directors

Mitch Tuchman
Chairman of the Board

Mr. Tuchman brings more than 10 years experience in venture capital, public finance and technology to his board position. From 2006 until 2007, Mr. Tuchman was a consultant to Crestview Capital, a micro-cap hedge fund. He has also served as a sub-advisor to Apex Capital, LLC, on its technology micro-cap and special situations portfolio, which grew from $30 million to $200 million during that time. Mr. Tuchman continues to co-manage the $28 million Net Market Partners, LP venture capital fund with Apex. From 1997 to 2000, Mr. Tuchman invested in and advised venture funds focusing primarily on Internet and technology during which time he was instrumental in facilitating several key transactions including C2B Technologies’ sale to Inktomi, Net Market Makers sale to Jupiter Communications, and Chrome Data Systems sale to DealerTrack. He co-founded TestMart, a marketer of government information technology services and products via the internet. A Silicon Valley veteran, Mr. Tuchman began his career at Atari, Inc. and served as an operating executive for several Silicon Valley companies while leading them through strategic transformations for eventual sale. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Workstream Inc. (Nasdaq:WSTM) and Kintera (Nasdaq: KNTA). Mr. Tuchman received his MBA from Harvard Business School and his BA from Boston University.
M. Charles Pope
Independent Director and Chairman of the Audit Committee

Mr. Pope, brings more than 30 years of experience in executive management, finance and accounting to his director position. Mr. Pope is the Chief Financial Officer of Aerosonic Corporation (AMEX:AIM - News), a worldwide manufacturer of aircraft instruments. From 2005 through 2007, he served as the Chief Financial Officer for Reptron Manufacturing, a manufacturer of electronic and engineering services. From 2002 to 2005, Mr. Pope was Chief Financial Officer of SRI/Surgical (NasdaqGM:STRC - News), which provides central processing and supply chain management services to hospitals and surgery centers across the United States. Previously, Mr. Pope served as Chief Financial Officer for UTEK Corporation (AMEX:UTK - News), a business development company that acquires and funds the development of new university technologies. Earlier in his career, Mr. Pope was a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP. He holds a B.S. in economics and accounting from Auburn University, and is a Certified Public Accountant in Florida.
Robert T. Geras
Member of the Board of Directors, Chairman of the Compensation Committee

In 1978, Mr. Geras founded and has since been President of LaSalle Investments, Incorporated, an early stage Chicago venture capital investment company. In April 2005, Mr. Geras became Interim President, director and CEO of Arryx, Inc., a Chicago nano-technology company which employs holographic laser steering at nano and microscopic levels to expedite groundbreaking research of many kinds. Mr. Geras co-founded and is a director of Merge Healthcare (MRGE) which provides radiology workflow products. He is currently a director of VideoHomeTours, Capital Growth Systems, Exadigm, Think Partnership, Advanced Diamond Technologies, Bias Power, and OrthoScan.

Mr. Geras is a founding member and a director of the Illinois Venture Capital Association that presented Mr. Geras with the Fellows Award for "Extraordinary leadership in early stage venture funding in Illinois" in 2004. Mr. Geras also received the "Angel of the Year 2002" award by the Chicago Software Association at their Annual CityLIGHTS ceremony. On March 1, 2006, Mr. Geras was inducted into the Chicago Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame. Mr. Geras and his wife, Dawn founded the Save Abandoned Babies Foundation. Mr. Geras graduated from Northwestern University in 1961.
George Mellon
Mr. Mellon has served as a director since June 2006. Following graduation from college in 1968, Mr. Mellon spent 16 years with INA/CIGNA, and in 1984 founded North American Special Risks Associations Inc. (NASRA). NASRA operated as a Managing General Underwriter (MGU) representing several A+ rated insurance companies in the accident and health employee benefits area. Mr. Mellon served as chairman, president and chief executive officer of NASRA. In 1996, NASRA merged with HCC (NYSE) where Mr. Mellon remained active until 2000 serving as chairman, president and chief executive officer of HCCES, a division of HCC. He continued with HCC as a consultant. Mr. Mellon graduated from North Dakota State University in 1968 with a B.S. degree in Economics.
Joshua Metnick
Mr. Metnick currently serves as chairman and chief executive officer of Chicago.com, Inc., as well as Managing Member of Associated Cities LLC, which he formed with the owners of NewYorkCity.com, Atlanta.com and LosAngeles.com. Mr. Metnick currently serves as Chairman of Heilio, Inc., a Chicago-based network and online security services firm, and is a co-founder of Unified Consulting, Inc., a transactionally oriented Internet services development company started in 1999 and based in Los Angeles, California. In 2000, Mr. Metnick founded ePrairie.com, a news aggregator and blogging website for the Chicago and Midwest technology business community. Mr. Metnick holds a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Illinois and is a graduate of the Illinois Institute of Aviation.
Patrick W. Walsh
Since May 2004, Mr. Walsh has served as the director of sales at Chasm Industries, Inc. From 1999 to 2004, Mr. Walsh served as an executive of Avatar Systems Ltd., Chicago, Illinois. From 1997 until 1999, Mr. Walsh served as vice president of marketing and business development for Metal Management, Inc., located in Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Walsh graduated from Miami University (Ohio) in 1986.