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| Julian B. Castelli, CEO |
| Julian brings 18 years of senior-level executive operating experience and a world-class institutional background to Rooster.com. He is also President and Chief Executive Officer of Castles Media, the parent company of Rooster.com. He founded Castles Media specifically to purchase and operate industry-leading, highly-targeted media companies.
Before Castles Media, Julian served as Chief Financial Officer of Primedia, a $300 million Internet media company that owns and operates leading brands: Apartment Guide/Apartmentguide.com, New Home Guide/Newhomeguide.com, Auto Guide/Autoguide.com, and Rentals.com. While at Primedia, Julian also served as President of the Autoguide.com business, and was responsible for the launch and development of Rentals.com.
Julian previously served as CFO of PageNet, a $1 billion public telecom company. He also was a founder and managing director of Cabrillo Advisors, a boutique financial advisory firm.
Julian began his career as an investment banker with Goldman, Sachs & Co. in 1990, and later served as a strategy consultant with McKinsey & Company. He has an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA from Amherst College.
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| George M. Trevino, CFO |
| Trevino leads our financial team and operational processes. Hes a great asset to the team, bringing more than 20 years of senior-level executive experience in finance, accounting, operations, and sales and marketing. Hes also a founding member of the Castles Media team.
Prior to Rooster and Castles Media, Mr. Trevino was Director of Finance with Nokia Inc.s Enterprise Solutions business group, with global financial responsibility for the ES Sales & Marketing group. While at Nokia, Trevino led a Six Sigma project, winning national and global awards and became a Six Sigma Certified Green Belt, making him a master at identifying and removing the causes and defects in the business process.
Trevino has held senior-level controller, director and manager roles at GTE (Verizon) and ILD Telecommunications. His experience includes IPO filings, SEC filings and acquisitions. Hes had extensive international business experience having worked in Europe, Latin America, Africa and China.
Trevino has an MBA from Southern Methodist University and a BBA in Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. He is a Texas Certified Public Accountant.
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| Tom Raudorf, COO |
| Tom oversees the companys operations with specific focus on technology, infrastructure, and information systems. He brings more than six years of vacation rental industry experience and has served as the companys Chief Operating Officer from 2003 2005 and 2007 present.
Offering a rare blend of creative and operational strengths, Tom has increased overall product diversity and strengthened supply chain relationships. His continued commitment to business development, brand strategy, customer experience and risk mitigation has significantly impacted profitability and growth. He is known for his ability to identify sales and growth impediments and implement changes to organizational structure, product lines, sourcing, sales channels, and market position.
Tom is a member of the companys founding team that guided Ski West, Inc. through its 2005 acquisition by publicly traded Overstock.com for $25 million. Tom again facilitated the acquisition of OTravel.com, Inc., to Kinderhook Industries and Castles Media Company in April 2007. Upon completion of the acquisition, the company was renamed Mountain Reservations, Inc. and Tom was again appointed to serve as the companys Chief Operating Officer. The company then joined forces with Rooster.com to merge beach and ski travel destinations.
He previously worked for the MCI/WorldCom Corporation.
Tom graduated from the University of Tennessee with a degree in Biochemistry, Cellular, and Molecular Biology. He lives in Park City, Utah, is an avid skier, and was a volunteer member of the National Ski Patrol for 10 years.
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| Alan Mao, VP Supplier Relations |
| Alan leads the companys business development and supply chain management efforts. With more than six years of experience in the online vacation-rental industry, he brings a wealth of operational knowledge and strong business relationships to the organization. He served as the companys Vice President from 2003 2005 and Vice President Supplier Relations from 2007 present.
His business and operational development skills have a direct impact across all verticals of the company. He held leadership roles in operations, marketing, and currently business development and relationship management. Through his efforts, Alan has increased return on investment and made dramatic changes to the efficiency of the company.
Alan is a member of the companys founding team that guided Ski West, Inc. through its 2005 acquisition by publicly-traded Overstock.com for $25 million. Alan again facilitated the acquisition of OTravel.com, Inc., to Kinderhook Industries and Castles Media Company in April 2007. Upon completion of the acquisition, the company was renamed Mountain Reservations, Inc. and Alan was again appointed to serve as the companys VP Supplier Relations.
Alan graduated from Vanderbilt University with a degree in International Business and Financial Economics. Alan currently resides in Park City, Utah where he is an active participant in the local volunteer community.
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| Cindy Nuqui, VP Sales |
| Nuqui leads our sales department in our ski business. Nuqui is a veteran of the vacation-rental industry with 16 years of experience working with several property management companies. Shes been a leader in the company since 2002, having held every position in our sales organization.
Her experience in the vacation-rental industry combined with her ability to manage multiple customer contact centers makes her a valuable asset.
Nuqui is best known for her ability to drive top-line revenue while at the same time improving customer experience and supply side relationships. She has been instrumental in orchestrating continued sales growth, regardless of operational challenges.
In addition, Nuqui served as the Chairman of the Spouse Support group for the United States Navy in both Tennessee and Virginia. She also was the housing coordinator for the 2002 Salt Lake Olympic Committee in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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| Evan Kramer, VP, Marketing and Web |
| Kramer leads our online marketing and Web development efforts. He brings his well-deserved reputation for starting and building successful category-leading commercial Web ventures to Rooster.
Previously, Kramer was Vice President of Autoguide.com at Primedia. He successfully launched the Web site from inception and grew it to a network with more than 5.5 million monthly unique visitors and a year-over-year conversion rate growth of 100 percent.
He was the Director of Strategy for Cox Enterprises where he initiated and launched ajcjobs.com, Dent Wizard Service Drive and Kudzu.com online media properties. He was an Analyst at Equity-South, a Venture Capital Analyst at Kinetic Ventures, and an accountant with Price Waterhouse Coopers.
He remains a CPA and holds a BBA from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Emory University.
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| Michelle Hagen, VP, Product Management |
| Hagen brings a wealth of knowledge to Rooster after spending more than 11 years in Internet travel, retail and software technology fields. Shes headed up strategic marketing and product development in some of the most successful travel resources on the Net.
Hagen managed 40,000 affiliate sites as Director of Product Management with Expedia and Hotels.com. Her creative thinking was critical in developing strategies that veered travelers away from call centers and towards booking vacation rentals online. She conducted customer-experience focus groups and managed numerous complex projects where shes discovered the best techniques to make a thriving Web site.
In other leadership roles at Avao Corporation, ITMC and Opus Healthcare Solutions, she worked on software platforms, developed and oversaw major product launches, and was responsible for all aspects of marketing.
Hagen received a BS from Oakland University.
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| Steve Caron, VP Beach Operations/CTO |
| With more than 15 years in the vacation-rental business, and managing thousands of vacation-rental properties along the East Coast and the Gulf of Mexico, Carons the ideal person to build gateways to property management companies that dot the beaches. He understands the value of customer service and how to leverage technology to provide a great vacation experience.
Prior to Rooster, Caron was CIO/CTO of ResortQuest. He co-founded Sterling Resorts, which markets lodging accommodations on the white sands of Emerald Beach along the Florida panhandle.
As CTO he led development and marketing for management of 3,000 vacation rental properties. He headed up e-commerce, managed reservations and revenue and led technology initiatives. He was responsible for the supervision and operation of contact center technology, networking and Web development, as well as overseeing the operations of First Resorts Software.
He also worked as the Director of Information Systems for Abbott Resorts, Inc., a property management and realty company in Destin, Florida that was acquired by ResortQuest in 1998. Steve led the e-commerce systems, corporate systems security and the automation efforts that laid the foundation for Abbott Resorts growth from 900 units to more than 2,500 units, and real estate sales from $35 million to $250 million.
Caron began his career as an officer with the United States Air Force specializing in special operations and navigation. He received a Bachelors degree in Computer and Information Sciences from Florida State University.
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| Rob Michalik, Cor Carruthers - Kinderhook Industries. |
| Founded in 2003, Kinderhook Industries is a private equity firm that manages $470 million of committed capital. Kinderhooks principals have completed in excess of 50 transactions, investing over $1 billion throughout their investment careers. |
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| Elan Blutinger, Board Member |
| Blutinger has led the successful launch, IPO and sale of two well-known travel companies: Travel Services International and ResortQuest International. He subsequently was a Director at Hotels.com and chaired the special committee that sold the company to IAC/ InterActiveCorp. He is currently a Director of Great Wolf Resorts. |
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| Adam Joseph, Board Member |
| Joseph was the founder and CEO of VRGateway and Rooster.com. Under his leadership, Rooster.com became an industry leader in the development of back-end connectivity systems in the vacation-rental industry, which made it easier for customers to book rentals online. |
| Michael Sands, Director |
| Sands is a former senior executive at Orbitz Worldwide. He served as Chief Marketing Officer from the companys formation, launch and IPO. He then was COO following the companys sale to Cendant in 2004 through its spinoff to Blackstone in 2006. Previously, he held senior marketing positions at General Motors, Giant Step, and Leo Burnett. A career marketing executive, Sands advised United Airlines during the launch of UAL.com |
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| Joseph Bous, Director |
| Bous is the CEO of Airfare.com, a leading airline consolidator based in Fairfax, Virginia. He founded Trax Software, developed the first commercially viable online airline-booking engine and sold his company to Travel Services in 1997. |
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