James Fox, President and CEO
As Vigilar’s President & CEO, Mr. Fox brings more than 15 years of experience leading high-growth information technology organizations, driving strategic development and cultivating executive management. Mr. Fox joined Vigilar from his most recent post as Founder and Chief Financial Officer of Devas Multimedia, Pvt. Ltd. A provider of video, music and TV on mobile phones via Digital Multimedia Broadcasting (DMB) for the entire Pan-Indian market. Devas has received over $100mm in funding from Europe’s largest telecom firm, Deutsche Telekom and leading US venture capital firms.
Previously, Mr. Fox has served as president and CEO for various venture-backed technology companies such as Equal Footing, an eCommerce purchasing solution for small and mid-size companies, and Equidity, a multi-platform enterprise software firm catering to the financial services industry. Under Mr. Fox’s leadership, Equidity was acquired by publicly-held Sanchez Computer Associates, which was later acquired by Fidelity National Financial, Inc. (NYSE:FNF).
In addition to his technology executive management roles, Mr. Fox served as Executive-in-Residence for New Enterprise Associates (NEA) where he focused on interim CXO roles within NEA’s existing portfolio companies. Mr. Fox also brings extensive strategic development and execution capabilities, which were honed during his tenure with McKinsey & Company’s technology strategy practice. While at McKinsey & Company, Mr. Fox assisted customers in company-level and business unit strategy, unit turnarounds, new business creation, and post merger consolidation.
Mr. Fox has an MBA from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and graduated magna cum laude from the US Naval Academy.
Brendan Burns, Chief Financial Officer
Brendan Burns, Vigilar’s Chief Financial Officer, has spent nearly 20 years at leading technology and financial institutions including Moody’s Investors Service, Salomon Brothers and AdOne LLC (now PowerOne Media), a successful Internet software pioneer.
The bulk of this experience stems from his eight-year tenure at AdOne/PowerOne Media. As the founding CFO at AdOne, Burns led a series of successful financings from leading venture firms including Venrock, Lawrence, Smith & Horey and New World Ventures (representing the Pritzker family interests). Under Burns’s guidance, PowerOne became a pioneer in dynamic Internet classified advertising and grew to represent newspaper clients approximating 50% of total US daily newspaper circulation. In the late 1990’s Burns engineered a management buyout through backing by 12 major U.S. media companies including Advance/Newhouse, Hearst, EW Scripps, MediaNews and Lee Enterprises.
As CFO, and later CEO, Burns was responsible for coordinating the financial aspects of three successful strategic acquisitions, two major restructuring efforts, and obtained debt and equity financing totaling approximately $55 million from a mix of strategic and financial investors. Following an extensive restructuring, PowerOne emerged as a profitable entity with revenue of approximately $20 million per annum and 150 employees.
Most recently, Burns spent two years as the CEO and Publisher of Empire Information Services, now the leading regional press release distribution company and publisher of political information in the Northeast. Burns led a financial and strategic repositioning of EIS that impacted all areas of its business including marketing, branding, product and corporate structure. He also raised a significant outside equity financing and recruited a new management team. Burns currently serves as a Director on EIS’ board and remains a major shareholder.
Burns has a Master’s in Corporate Finance and Entrepreneurship from the Graduate Business School of Columbia University and earned his Bachelors of Science degree from Fordham University. During the last three years Burns has been an adjunct professor in the Lang Center for Entrepreneurship at Columbia’s Graduate Business School and serves on the Advisory board of the Lang Fund which invests in promising student-originated startups.
Tunji Ajigbeda, Vice President of Security Operations
Tunji Ajigbeda joined Vigilar in December of 2001, and has over 16 years of experience in the Information Technology industry, with over 11 years specifically in the area of Information Security. As Vice President of Security Operations, Mr. Ajigbeda is responsible for 24x7 customer support, management of Vigilar's ATLAS suite of managed services and leadership of Vigilar's pre and post sales engineers.
Mr. Ajigbeda’s previous roles at Vigilar include Director of Managed Security Services, Practice Manager, and Senior Security Engineer. Prior to Vigilar, Mr. Ajigbeda served as Managing Security Consultant for a VeriSign affiliate headquartered in Mexico City, where he designed and delivered security solutions for customers internationally. Mr. Ajigbeda began his career in Information Technology at large institutions such as AT&T Bell Laboratories and Emory University. He has also held instrumental positions in multiple startup companies.
Mr. Ajigbeda holds over 30 technical and professional certifications including both ISC2's CISSP® and ISACA's CISM certifications. He also sits on the Board of Directors for the local Metro Atlanta-ISSA chapter as the Director of Association Relations.
Ryan English, Vice President of Product Management
Ryan English serves as Vice President of Product Management for Vigilar. Previously, Ryan was group product manager at S.P.I. Dynamics, Inc., which was acquired by HP in August 2007. At SPI Dynamics, Ryan was responsible for overseeing product strategy and direction for the company's Quality Assurance and Developer security products. Prior to his role at SPI Dynamics, Ryan was responsible for product management at Live Oak Technologies, a quality assurance software company. In addition, Ryan was a project manager for the supply chain software company VerticalNet, where he assisted in the strategic growth and development of their consulting division. Ryan has also led project management teams with MCI Worldcom and DayNine. Ryan is a seasoned speaker on the topic of security testing and QA and has spoken at several industry events including HP Software Universe, Mercury World, Better Software, STAREAST, STARWEST, and IBM Rational Development Conference.
English has an MBA from Regis University, and a BS from the University of Alabama.
Rick Green, Vice President of Sales
Rick Green is currently the Vice President of Sales and General Manager for the Solutions Unit of Vigilar.
Prior to joining Vigilar, Rick was the Vice President of Sales for Solunet Inc where he led extensive business development and Marketing Initiatives along with his Sales Responsibilities. Rick was also responsible for expanding the partnership with several key vendors such as Juniper Networks, Foundry and MRV.
Rick has been involved in the communications industry since 1981, and has held sales management and marketing positions in companies such as Nortel Networks, N.E.T. and General Electric. He has a proven track record of being able to execute within the manufacturing industry as well as the reseller community. He has consistently been a top performer and has received numerous awards for Sales performance throughout his Sales / Sales Management career.
Rick Green graduated from Heald College, in 1984 at the Top of his class where he earned a degree in Electrical Engineering. During the first 15 years of his career he held engineering positions related to Network Operations and Control, Systems Engineering, New Product Roll Out and Business Development.
Stephen Marks, Vice President of Finance, and Controller
Steve Marks brings over thirty-four years of business experience to his role as Vice President of Finance and Controller of Vigilar, Inc, a leading provider of security solutions. Previously, Marks was a consultant providing interim CFO and controller services. Prior to that, Marks served as CFO of CareKeeper Software, where he oversaw 40% compounded annual revenue growth over four years. Marks also held executive positions with Home Technology Healthcare, Nursefinders, Olsten Kimberly QualityCare, and American HomePatient. Marks began his career with Peat, Marwick, Mitchell & Co (now KPMG).
Marks holds a Bachelors of Science in accounting from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and earned his CPA from the State of Tennessee in 1976.
Hal Polley, Vice President of Corporate Development
Mr. Polley has spent 15 years in finance and investing, with some of the foremost institutions in their fields. He has completed transactions totaling over $900 million, with early stage and mature businesses. Mr. Polley is currently a Managing Director with WTP Capital, one of Vigilar’s lead investors, and has been serving as Vigilar’s Vice President of Corporate Development since June 2006, leading financing efforts, as well as mergers and acquisitions discussions.
Mr. Polley began his career at Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette (later acquired by Credit Suisse) on Wall Street, where he participated in numerous transactions including public offerings of debt and equity, M&A advisory deals, and principal transactions with DLJ Merchant Banking. From there, Mr. Polley went on to work at the Carlyle Group in Washington, DC, where he completed numerous principal investments including buyouts and minority investments in fields such as defense, systems integration, eCommerce, media and healthcare. After business school, Mr. Polley was a Principal at Bessemer Partners & Co. (now Lindsay Goldberg Bessemer), where he successfully completed several buyouts, as well as general portfolio company management including add-on acquisitions, key hiring decisions, financing structures, and exits. Mr. Polley is currently a Managing Director at WTP Capital, where he has participated in several minority investments in growth-stage businesses in industries such as IT Security, healthcare, and systems integration. Since June 2006, his principal occupation has been corporate development at Vigilar.
Polley has an MBA from Stanford University, and a BA magna cum laude from Georgetown University.