Scott brings over two decades of experience and achievement to ChaCha as a veteran entrepreneur, inventor, strategist, and venture capitalist. His well-seasoned perspective and pioneering instincts provide unique direction for the gifted team that ChaCha continues to assemble.
At age 25, Scott invented the massively scalable, easy-to-use voicemail system that has been used by over a billion people around the world. Subsequently, he built Gracenote, the company that supplies Internet-based music services for companies including Apple, Yahoo, and Sony. Gracenote services are being accessed globally at the rate of 24 billion times per year by applications such as iTunes.
Two decades ago, Scott described publicly, during speeches in Hong Kong and London - well before desktop search engines and the Web were born – a vision of people having access to all of mankinds’ knowledge, from anywhere, and at anytime. In late 2005, Scott realized that the enabling technologies of the Web and the ubiquity and portability of mobile devices finally provided the necessary pieces of the puzzle to manifest the dream. Hence, ChaCha was born. Scott is now driven by the singular focus of making ChaCha the world’s easiest-to-use and most comprehensive way to access information and answers while people are on the go.
In addition to his focus on changing the world, Scott has traveled the globe with his family, loves to find great hole-in-the-wall eateries with Vee and enjoys time with his sons playing basketball, blowing up things in kitchen science experiments, and watching random YouTube videos.
More on Scott is available at www.scottajones.com.
Brad is laser-focused on driving ChaCha’s commerce strategies. Brad is a frequent speaker at conferences regarding mobile search, an active blogger at blog.bradbostic.com, a dedicated participant in online communities, and a consummate evangelist of ChaCha. Brad is leading a team that is working to make ChaCha a well-known commerce platform throughout the United States and ultimately around the globe.
In addition to co-founding ChaCha, Brad has founded and led multiple web-based technology companies. Brad founded Bostech Corporation, a pioneer in the open source software market with nearly 10,000 customers around the globe spanning the healthcare, energy, and retail markets.
When he isn’t building cutting-edge technology companies or scaring his white-knuckled car passengers by showing his dance moves while driving through ice storms, Brad loves to push his limits snowboarding through the trees in the Colorado Rockies. Brad also enjoys skateboarding, football, Guitar Hero III, and sharing time with his wife, Amy, and their three young children.
Rod Canion has been a leading figure in the technology industry since co-founding Compaq Computer Corporation in 1982 and serving as its Chief Executive Officer through a decade of unprecedented growth. During his tenure as CEO, Compaq set records for the largest first-year sales in the history of American business and reached the Fortune 500 and the $1 billion revenue mark faster than any other company in history. By 1991, Compaq employed more than 10,000 people and operated in 65 countries worldwide. In September 1999, Rod led the initial investment round for Questia Media, Inc.; became chairman of the board and later helped the company raise $150 million. Questia provides the world’s largest online library of liberal arts books and journal articles for high school and college students doing research. In 1992, Rod founded Insource Technology Group and served as its Chairman until September 2006.
A native of Houston, Rod graduated from the University of Houston in 1966 and 1968 with Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in electrical engineering with an emphasis on computer science.He is a member of the Board of Directors of Invesco Ltd., Physician Capital Group, Auditude and ChaCha Search, Inc., and is a director of the Houston Technology Center.
Jack Gill is a 35-year veteran of Silicon Valley and Boston and has founded and financed numerous successful companies in computers, communications, and medical industries. He co-founded Vanguard Ventures in 1981. Vanguard’s first five funds invested $155 million in 103 startups and generated over $1 billion return to investors. Dr. Gill joined Harvard Medical School faculty in 2000 and he now teaches entrepreneur courses at Harvard, MIT, Stanford, Rice, and Indiana. Jack sits on the board of the National Academies, Project HOPE, Horatio Alger Association, is a Trustee of Indiana University and a member of the Executive Council of the Texas Emerging Technology Fund.
Tom Kelly, who most recently held the position of Chief Strategy Officer at Sprint Nextel, retired from the company in April 2006. Prior to that, he served as Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer at Nextel. He had served as Chief Marketing Officer since he began his career with Nextel in 1996. Before joining Nextel, Tom was the Vice President of Marketing for AT&T Wireless Services. He has years of experience as a partner in Howard, Bedford, and Nolan, a consulting practice focused on providing marketing and new product consulting to Fortune 500 companies. Tom also sits on the board of Scott’s Miracle Grow, Gracenote, Broadsoft and the Weston Playhouse Theater Company.
Morton Meyerson was formerly the Chairman and CEO of Perot Systems in addition to serving as President of EDS, where he led the company to unprecedented growth quarter after quarter. By the time of his departure, EDS was the largest computer services company in the world. At his private investment firm, 2M Companies, Inc., Morton invests in companies that exhibit the same qualities and values as the most successful teams he led at EDS and Perot Systems. And that’s exactly what he sees in ChaCha.
