Management Team

Barry Shepard – CEO

As CEO of QponDirect, Mr. Shepard brings over 17 years experience with a proven track record of generating outstanding sales and profit growth for highly competitive consumer package goods businesses. Prior to joining QponDirect, Mr. Shepard was an Executive Officer and Senior Vice President, Marketing & Innovation for Del Monte Foods, a San Francisco based Food and Beverage Company. Mr. Shepard was responsible for leading Del Monte’s New Venture Group as well as delivering Marketing Excellence across Consumer Insights, Market Research, Advertising and Promotions, and Package Design. Mr. Shepard began his career with Del Monte in 2002 as the Vice President of Pet Food Marketing following the acquisition of businesses from the H. J. Heinz Company. At Del Monte, Mr. Shepard assumed the title of Managing Director of Pet Products in August of 2004. In July of 2006, Mr. Shepard became Senior Vice President, Marketing & Innovation. At Heinz, Mr. Shepard held the positions of Director of Marketing, Ketchup & Condiments followed by Vice President of Marketing for StarKist Seafood. Prior to going to Heinz, Mr. Shepard spent eight years with Procter & Gamble's Laundry & Cleaning Products Division in progressively responsible brand management assignments. Mr. Shepard graduated from Duke University and earned his MBA from The University of Michigan.

Joe Marnell – Founder, Chairman, VP Business Development

Founder, Chairman and VP Business Development of QponDirect, Mr. Marnell brings over 25 years of advertising, marketing, retail and technology experience to QponDirect. Mr. Marnell is a proven business leader and entrepreneur beginning his career in broadcasting sales and management where he worked at CBS - New York in the FM-National Sales Department. In the late 1980s Mr. Marnell became President and General Manager of The Marketing Group, a multi-million dollar advertising and marketing firm located in Pittsburgh, PA where he led the company's regional and national client growth and award-winning national campaigns. In 1996, Mr. Marnell formed WebMedia, one of the very first online advertising sales representation companies consulting and working with high profile companies including Apple Computers, NHL, Country Music Association, Wise-Wire, Talk City and The Marvel Entertainment Group. In 2003, Mr. Marnell founded Crossroads Motorsports and spearheaded its growth in the powersports industry where it is now one of the tri-state's largest motorcycle/ATV/utility dealerships. Mr. Marnell is currently enrolled and pursing his M.S. Degree in Organizational Leadership and Information Technology at Duquesne University’s School of Leadership & Professional Advancement.

Monica Barback, Ph.D. – Director IT & Product Development

Ms. Monica Barback is a proven technology professional with over 13 years of senior level, information technology experience contributing to the effective operation and profitability of technology companies through outstanding project architecture and management expertise. In the mid 90s, Ms. Barback served as Technical Lead for the TurboTax Personal product at Intuit. She was responsible for the business recommendation and subsequent implementation of the “State Interview” feature of TurboTax, a feature commended by tax software reviewers. Ms. Barback went on to be the technical architect of Quicken Mortgage, Intuit’s online mortgage website. After Intuit, Ms. Barback went to FreeMarkets, a small Pittsburgh startup that eventually grew to over 500 employees, where she architected two of the company’s flagship business to business online bidding products, and served as a Senior Manager. Ms. Barback has since worked at several privately owned startup companies where she served in both Lead Architect and Management roles, driving company’s technologies and processes. At TrueCommerce, she smoothly coordinated and migrated legacy technology to new technologies, while saving the company money and improving the customer experience in the process. Ms. Barback received her bachelor’s degree in Mathematics at SUNY/Buffalo and her Ph.D. in Computer Science from Northwestern University.

Brad Bridgham – VP Sales & Customer Relationship Management

Mr. Bridgham brings over 20 years’ experience managing sales organizations and building relationships within companies of varying sizes from the ranks of the Fortune 500 to emerging single proprietorships. During tenures at PPG Industries and WR Grace Company he developed a broad base of business management expertise with a focus on sales and marketing, weaving value chain activities into innovative product and service offerings to customers and driving profitable growth. While at PPG, Brad held a variety of positions in sales, marketing and operations including Product Manager, Regional Sales Manager, Director of Customer Service and Distribution, Director of Sales and most recently Director of Strategic Markets. His leadership on the implementation of a Customer Relationship Management program, as well as introduction of a new telesales business model within the business, remains a best practice for the organization. At W.R.Grace, Brad rolled out a premier product offering for the industrial paint supply market, applying pocket price waterfall discipline to a non-traditional coatings marketplace. This selling discipline of balancing invoice price with incentives, customer loyalty programs, warranty and product velocity elements to maximize pocket price to the manufacturer has been of particular focus throughout his career. Mr. Bridgham earned his Bachelor of Science Degree from the University of Wisconsin and an MBA in Finance from Waynesburg University.

Staff

Victor Vaselenak  – Business Analysis

Siva Balasubramaniam  – Senior Application Architect

Gopal Manchella  – Lead Developer

Board of Advisors

Christopher Keim – Advisor

As VP, IT Manager for Mellon Financial Services, Mr. Keim is responsible for workbench.com, a 24x7 proprietary web portal for 25,000 users across the globe, Mr. Keim has over 15 years experience managing enterprise applications, and advanced technology including wide area network management, data center operations, and enterprise software development. Prior to Mellon, Mr. Keim developed various online portals including a national golf reservation system, an energy trading system and a health information portal. Chris has a M.S. in Business Information Systems from Carnegie Mellon University.

William M. Battin – Advisor

Mr. Battin is Chief Executive Officer of Communifax Corporation, based in Pittsburgh, PA, and brings over 20 years of high level database and wireless marketing expertise to QponDirect. As CEO of Communifax, Mr. Battin’s primary duties are focused on the company's expanding operations, building internal processes and staffing key departments with experienced agency professionals in account management, production management, creative services, accounting and human resources. Since the mid-1990s, Mr. Battin has spearheaded the company's exponential growth to include high level database marketing and management, CRM customized Web-hosted solutions, Web-based marketing initiatives and customer loyalty marketing programs. Mr. Battin’s experience in the wireless mobile industry includes high level marketing and “off-line” to “on-line” customer loyalty programs with Verizon Wireless. Mr. Battin is a graduate of Clarion State University with a degree in Marketing Communications.