About 4INFO

Management and Board

Zaw Thet, CEO and co-founder
Richard Qiu, Senior Vice President of Business Development
Ted C. Burns, Vice President of Product
Markus A. Nordvik, Vice President of Strategy and Operations
Garth Patil, Chief Architect
Tim Connors, Board Member
Ellen Siminoff, Board Member
Dan Ehrman, Board Member

As the CEO and co-founder of 4INFO, Zaw Thet is helping to set the bar for how consumers search, access, and engage with content on their mobile devices. At age 27, Zaw Thet is already a veteran of the software/wireless industry with a successful track record for leading companies, including 4INFO, to outstanding growth and performance. He is also an active advisor and investor in the start-up community.

Prior to 4INFO, Zaw was part of the early social networking industry, as a Director at Spoke Software. Zaw also did a short stint at IBM, was the co-founder and CEO of GetInventory, a web-based supply chain management company, and was a special consultant to the San Francisco 49ers. His entrepreneurial pursuits have been featured in: The New York Times, Business Week, Entrepreneur Magazine, and CNN. Business Week selected Zaw in 2006 as one of the "New M-Commerce Barons." Zaw has an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business, where he was a Soros Fellow. He received his BA from Stanford University in Political Science (minoring in Computer Science) where he was a President's Scholar. In his spare time (which is limited these days), Zaw snowboards, rock climbs, does bikram yoga, and flies small planes.

Richard is responsible for partnerships, strategic alliances, and shaping the direction of mobile publishing and advertising. An expert in the wireless business sector, Richard has held a number of senior management positions with emerging wireless companies. Prior to 4INFO, Richard was vice president of worldwide carrier business development at SMS.ac, a mobile data and billing company that runs the world's largest mobile community. While there, he was responsible for developing commercial relationships with major wireless operators worldwide. Richard was also AVP of business and client development for BeVocal, a market leader of voice platform and speech solutions for carriers and large enterprises, where he was responsible for key customer and strategic partnerships with telecommunications carriers, cable operators and media businesses. Richard has also spearheaded business development and sales at Yodlee, an internet e-finance software company. Prior to Yodlee, Richard was a management consultant with McKinsey & Company, where he advised the senior management of Fortune 500 companies.

He holds a MBA from the University Of Chicago Graduate School Of Business, and a PhD from the Vanderbilt University School of Engineering.

Ted C. Burns is the vice president of product at 4INFO where he is responsible for the development of search and content products across SMS, WAP, J2ME, BREW, PC, and other mobile platforms. An expert in content and application development for the Mobile Web, Ted has worked with some of the biggest global internet brands. Prior to 4INFO, Ted was the Senior Product Manager at Yahoo! Mobile. Ted managed strategy, production, and programming for Yahoo!'s PC Web Site, and mobilized the Yahoo! network through network integration and PC Mobile products such as Mobile Alerts and Clipping. Prior to Yahoo! Mobile, Ted was a Senior Manager for AOL Canada. He was responsible for managing business and product development and business strategy and partner relationships for all of AOL Canada's content channels and vertical markets. Ted was also a Technical Producer/Interactive Media Developer for the Canadian division of AOL. He holds a BA in History from McGill University.

Markus A. Nordvik is the vice president of strategy and operations at 4INFO. In this role he is responsible for the development of 4INFO's mobile and web applications, and the operation of 4INFO's services. Markus joined as a founding engineer and has been instrumental in helping 4INFO's platform grow. Prior to 4INFO, Markus managed an engineering team at Quinstreet, an online advertising firm. Markus received his Bachelor of Science in Symbolic Systems from Stanford University. Markus' hobbies include skiing, auto racing, hiking and surfing.

Prior to 4INFO, Garth was the CTO of Just Arrive, LLC, a software and services company serving the professional sports and live entertainment markets. Garth brings a decade of experience to 4INFO, working with startups in large scale systems design and operation, distributed computing, high volume transaction processing and engineering management. Garth attended Stanford University where he studied Computer Science and Mechanical Engineering.

Tim Connors joined USVP in June 2001. He focuses on early stage investments in the IT sector. Prior to USVP, Tim was a Partner at Sequoia Capital. Tim's operating experience spans seven years in engineering, marketing, manufacturing and sales roles at successful high-growth start-ups like C-Cube Microsystems and large companies like Tandem Computers. Tim is currently a Director of 4INFO.net, Adify.com, Guidewire Software, M-Factor.com, Right90.com, and Yoomba.com. Tim conceived of and co-founded Spoke.com. Previously, Tim was a Director of Redline Communications(LSE: REDL), ClickShift.com (acquired by WebTrends), StorePerform (acquired by Red Prairie) and SupplierMarket.com (acquired by Ariba). Tim serves on the Board of Advisors of the Gigot Center for Entrepreneurship at Notre Dame. Tim received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.

As part of the founding executive team, Ellen Siminoff had six adventurous years at Yahoo. During her tenure, she led business development (VP, Business Development and Planning), corporate development (SVP, Corporate Development) and eventually ran the small business and entertainment business units (SVP, Small Business and Entertainment). Before Yahoo!, Ellen worked for the Los Angeles Times as electronic classifieds manager, where she developed strategy and implemented the newspaper's own on-line businesses as well as a joint venture of Career Path with 5 newspaper companies. With her husband, David, Ellen founded EastNet, a global syndicate barter company distributing television programming to 14 emerging market countries in exchange for advertising time. Ellen has served on the board of directors for StubHub, an online ticketing marketplace, enabling customers to buy and sell tickets at fair market value to a vast selection of sporting, concert, theater and other live entertainment events, from 2005 until its acquisition by eBay in 2007. Currently, she serves on the board of directors for US AutoParts, an internet retailer with more than 550,000 top-rated discount car parts available in its comprehensive online inventory; BuildDirect, the world's leading online wholesaler of building materials; 4INFO, a utility for mobile phones providing users the means to search, discover, and receive relevant information and content; and Journal Communications, a diversified media and communications company with operations in publishing, radio and television broadcasting, telecommunications and printing services. Ellen graduated Stanford's Graduate School of Business with an MBA and has a bachelor's degree in Economics from Princeton University.

As Vice President of Planning and Development for Gannett Finance, Dan is responsible for the company’s merger and acquisition activities and the occasional disposition. He serves on the boards of a number of Gannett’s minority interest investments. He also supervises the financial analysis and budgeting team. Prior to this, Dan held several positions at Gannett including Senior Vice President of Gannett Broadcasting, Vice President/Finance and Business Affairs of Gannett Broadcasting, and he was Gannett’s Director/Accounting & Financial Reporting. Prior to joining Gannett in 1977, Dan was with at Price Waterhouse and IBM. Dan graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University with a B.S. in Architectural Engineering. He also has an MBA from the University of Michigan. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the Virginia Society of Certified Public Accountants and the Financial Executives Institute. He is on the Board of Directors of Shermans Travel, LLC and 4INFO.