Leadership

The SkyBitz management team brings together leaders with a wealth of expertise from various industries, including transportation, logistics, satellite, professional services, technology, data communications, manufacturing, and customer service. These individuals form a strong foundation that provides vision and support to a growing team of talented, dedicated professionals working to deliver standard-setting tracking and information management solutions.

Dr. Homaira Akbari

President & CEO

Dr. Akbari has more than 17 years of strategic, sales and marketing, product development and operational experience across many critical high-technology industries including software applications, IT services, security systems for homeland defense, telematics and location-based services, and telecom. Dr. Akbari has held senior management positions in TruePosition - a subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation, Microsoft, Thales, Cambridge Strategic Management Group (CSMG), and worked as a scientist at CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research. She draws on her international experience including nine years in Paris, London, Beijing and Cape-Town.

Dr. Akbari holds a Ph.D. with honors in particle physics from Tufts University and an MBA with distinction from Carnegie Mellon University. She is the author of more than 50 scientific articles in international journals and a frequent speaker at industry conferences and tradeshows. She serves as a judge at MIT $100K Business Plan Competition, is a member of the Advisory Council of the Johns Hopkins Department of Physics and Astronomy and The Loudoun County CEO Cabinet, and is a contributor to several non-profit organizations. Washington Business Journal named Dr. Akbari among its "Women Who Mean Business" in 2008.

George Mercuro

Senior Vice President, Finance

George has over 20 years of Accounting and Financial management experience ranging from a Fortune 500 financial services company to a major systems integrator. George joined SkyBitz in 2003 and was instrumental in developing the accounting and financial systems infrastructure for the company as well as raising investment capital for SkyBitz. Prior to SkyBitz, George served as President and CEO of MindShare Corporation, a professional services company specializing in groupware applications and Business Process Re-engineering to Fortune 500 companies. George also served as Chief Financial Officer of STMS, a systems integrator to the federal government. George started his career with Sallie Mae, a leading provider of Student Loans, as a financial analyst and accountant.

George holds a B.S. degree in Accounting from the University of Florida and is a Virginia, Certified Public Accountant.

 

Craig Montgomery

Senior Vice President, Marketing & Business Development

Craig Montgomery is an accomplished marketing and business development executive with over 14 years experience in influential high technology sectors such as wireless telecommunications, information services, computers, and location-based services. Previous to SkyBitz, Mr. Montgomery played a pivotal role at Nextel Communications as Director of Marketing for the Transportation, Distribution, Retail and Manufacturing verticals. During his tenure at Nextel, he oversaw all industry-based GPS marketing efforts, including the launch of a nationwide integrated campaign that drove the acquisition of new enterprise level customers. After the campaign's success, Mr. Montgomery was put in charge of all direct marketing activities for the newly formed Sprint Nextel. Mr. Montgomery also served as the Chief Operations Officer and Senior Vice President of Marketing for Seneca One Finance. In this role, he was responsible for managing all aspects of the company's sales, marketing, IT and research operations. Mr. Montgomery has also held critical marketing, strategy and e-commerce positions at Dell Computer Corporation and CoStar Group.

Mr. Montgomery holds an MBA with honorary distinction from Vanderbilt University, and a bachelor's degree in Marketing from San Diego State University.

Henry Popplewell

Senior Vice President, Sales

Henry has more than 20 years executive sales experience and a proven track record of driving revenue growth and improving customer loyalty. Henry was most recently at SkyTel, where he oversaw sales and distribution. He has successful sales and operations experience in high growth technology startups and Fortune 250 corporations across multiple industries including: wireless telecommunications, logistics/ supply chain, transportation, software as a service (SaaS), and e-commerce. In his role as the Vice-President of National Sales at Nextel, Henry conceived and built the first vertical industry sales model in wireless communications. He is a recognized expert in mobile technologies with a focus on GPS/tracking and resource management (MRM) applications, frequently speaking at industry tradeshows and analyst events. Prior to his tenure at Nextel, Henry spent over 20 years with Ryder Systems Inc., most recently as Vice President of National Sales.

Henry holds a B.A. in Accounting from the University of Scranton, Pennsylvania.

Craig Malone

Senior Vice President, Product Development

Craig has over 20 years of product development experience in technology startups and global companies within the defense and commercial electronics industries. Prior to SkyBitz, Craig served as the Vice President, Product Development and Chief Technology Officer at GeoLogic. He has also served in executive roles at Triverity, an early stage startup, where he was the Vice President, Product Development, and CTO. While at Triverity, he was responsible for developing real-time telematics products for mobile applications. Craig also held executive positions at Philips Consumer Electronics, where he was the Vice President, Business Development in support of a strategic initiative to develop consumer solutions, as well as Vice President, Engineering, for Philips Broadband Networks, where he led all global research and development activities with an international team of professionals. Craig worked at Raytheon Company in a variety of leadership roles developing RF and opto-electronic technologies.

Craig holds a B.S. degree in Physics from the University of Massachusetts and a M.S. in Physics from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Siamak Azmoudeh

Senior Vice President, Product Line Management

Siamak has more than 25 years of experience in the transportation and adjacent industries. He was formerly Vice President at Pegasus TransTech in Tampa, Fla., and was responsible for software sales, product roadmap, and development. He also led IT operations and infrastructure, and oversaw the support and operation of corporate and redundant data centers. Prior to joining Pegasus TransTech, Siamak was CIO for Quality Distribution Inc., (QLTY), a $700 million tank truck carrier. Previously, he was the Sales Engineering Manager of Land Transportation Electronics (LTE), a division of Rockwell International (ROK), providing mobile communications and onboard computing to the trucking industry. Siamak started his trucking career with Tri-State Motor Transit.

Siamak holds a B.S. Degree in Electrical Engineering from George Washington University.