Informance Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence Suite:
  Accelerate, sustain and benchmark operational performance initiatives like lean manufacturing, Six Sigma, TPM, and other continuous improvement methods
     
  Drive operating strategies at the executive level into execution tactics at the plant level and throughout the production network
     
  Provide intelligence in the form of actionable insight from actual data

INVESTORS & ADVISORS

Investors



Mayfield provides "venture capital with impact" and shows leadership in early-stage venture investing by teaming with exceptional individuals to create industry-leading companies.˜ Mayfield has deep domain expertise in enterprise software, networking/communications and consumer technology.˜ Since Mayfield's founding in 1969, the firm has invested in more than 450 companies, completed hundreds of mergers and acquisitions and taken 100 companies public.˜ Mayfield's portfolio of companies includes those that represent the foundation of today's technology economy, as well as companies striving to set the technology paradigms of the future.˜ For more information, please visit www.mayfield.com.


The leading start-up venture investor in the country, NEA primarily invests in businesses in information technology and medical and life sciences. With $4.8 billion in capital under management, NEA has invested in more than 400 companies, of which more than 135 have gone public and more than 150 have been successfully acquired. Since 1978, NEA has practiced classic venture capital by investing in early-stage companies including 3Com, Adaptec, Clarify, Kana Communications, Macromedia, Sage Software, Silicon Graphics, TIVO, and Virata Corporation. For more information on NEA, visit www.nea.com.


Cargill Ventures invests in early stage technology-driven companies that enhance business processes, growth and innovation in global industries relevant to Cargill. Cargill Ventures maintains offices in San Mateo,Calif., and Minneapolis. It is a business unit of Cargill, www.cargill.com, an international provider of food, agricultural and risk management products and services. With 101,000 employees in 59 countries, the company is committed to using its knowledge and experience to collaborate with customers to help them succeed. For more information visit www.cargillventures.com.

Advisors


As an innovator and leader in Enterprise Manufacturing Intelligence solutions Informance leverages an Advisory Board comprised of some of the most influential thought leaders in manufacturing and supply chain.

The Advisory Board is a conduit of field and academic research that helps keep Informance attuned to the latest challenges and opportunities faced by manufacturers. This flow of knowledge plays a critical roll in guiding the further development of Informance solutions and setting the course for the business strategy.

Steven A Minisini

Steven A. Minisini is a seasoned executive with more than 20 years of enterprise technology, sales, marketing, general management and executive leadership experience.

With a focus on operational excellence, Steven has grown revenue and built customer loyalty at a number of companies through successful programs encompassing sales and consulting, business development, strategic alliances and marketing. He has extensive management experience in a broad range of industries and geographic regions worldwide. Throughout his career, Steven has managed P&Ls greater than $400 million and has had global organizational responsibility for more than 700 employees.

Steven is the founder and Chief Executive Officer of Waterstreet Management Group, an operational consulting, strategy and private equity firm that helps companies achieve high-growth results. He specializes in establishing channel and OEM relationships to drive revenue and scale, offers direct executive-level sales execution, and assists clients in the implementation of strategic vision and market positioning. Under Steven’s leadership, companies have launched integrated client engagement methodologies and sales and operations processes to drive more predictable results. Steven assists companies with private equity transactions for longer term capital growth. He also sits on a variety of corporate advisory boards.

Steven served Univa, a privately held firm providing enterprise infrastructure software, in 2006 as Chief Operating Officer. At Univa he was responsible for the operation and execution of the company on a day-to-day basis. Minisini played a significant role in transforming the company strategy to an open source business model.

Prior to his tenure at Univa, Steven worked for seven years at i2 Technologies, Inc., holding several executive leadership positions including Executive Vice President and President of the Americas. In this role he was responsible for i2’s business in the United States, Canada, Latin America, and Mexico. His responsibilities included sales, consulting, business development, alliances, marketing, industries, operations and customer satisfaction for the Americas. Under his leadership i2 was a customer-focused organization with a strong industry emphasis. While at i2 Steven led teams instrumental in driving the company’s return to profitability.

He also served i2 as an Executive Vice President, Senior Vice President, and Vice President from 1996-2001, and was responsible for helping establish and grow the company’s Automotive and Industrial business unit from start-up to greater than $300 million in revenue, making it one of the largest business units at i2. Today, six of the world’s top seven global automotive OEMs as ranked by Fortune magazine are i2 customers.

Steven worked as a regional vice president of Sales for Antares Alliance Group, a joint venture software company between EDS and Amdahl Corporation, and district application sales manager for the airline vertical at Unisys Corporation.

Steven is a native of Long Island, New York and graduate of Oswego State University, New York.

Carol A. Ptak, CFPIM, CIRM, Jonah, PMP

Executive in Residence
Pacific Lutheran University

A leading authority in the use of ERP and Supply Chain tools to drive improved bottom line performance, Ms. Ptaks expertise is well grounded in over two decades of practical experience as a successful practitioner, consultant and educator in manufacturing operations. Her pragmatic approach to complex issues and dynamic presentation style has her in high demand worldwide on the subject of how to leverage these tools and successfully become an e-business. Most recently she was PeopleSofts Vice President and Global Industry Executive for Manufacturing and Distribution Industries.

She holds an MBA from Rochester Institute of Technology and completed the EMPO program at Stanford University. She is the author of numerous articles and the books "MRP and Beyond" and "ERP, Tools, Techniques and Applications for Integrating the Supply Chain". "Necessary but not Sufficient" was co-authored with Dr. Eli Goldratt and Eli Schragenheim. Together with Dean Gilliam she updated "Quantum Leap", originally written by John Constanza. Her most recent work, "Theory H.O.W.", is expected during the summer of 2006. Ms. Ptak has lent her name to the internationally coveted Ptak Prize for Supply Chain Excellence that is awarded annually by ISCEA (International Supply Chain Education Alliance.)

Conrad Winkler

Vice President Operations Practice
Booz Allen Hamilton

Conrad has over ten years of management consulting experience in manufacturing and supply chain issues across a range of industries. In particular, Mr. Winkler specializes in using manufacturing best practices to drive improvements, restructuring manufacturing networks and changing how companies manage suppliers.

Mr. Winkler received an MBA and Masters of Manufacturing Management at Northwestern University and holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. He has written two cover articles in Strategy and Business, Manufacturing Myopia” and Building the Advantaged Supply Network.” Prior to business school, Mr. Winkler spent over five years as a nuclear trained officer on board fast attack submarines in the United States Navy.