Our Team
Ray Stata, Chairman of the Board
Ray Stata was a cofounder of Analog Devices, Inc. (ADI) in 1965 and served as CEO and Chairman until 1996 and now serves as Chairman of the Board. Upon his retirement as CEO of Analog Devices, Mr. Stata became active in funding and directing new start-up ventures.
Mr. Stata was an investor and Board member of Nexabit Networks, a backbone router company, Libit, an Israeli cable modem company and Epicon, a software distribution company which were acquired respectively by Lucent, Texas Instruments and Nortel. More recently, Passave, a PON company also located in Israel, was sold to PMC Sierra. He is also an investor and Board member of start-ups, Axsun, OmniGuide, TransChip, NeuroLogica and Deploy Solutions.
Mr. Stata is active in the high technology industry and in public service. He was a founder and first President of the Massachusetts High Technology Council and is currently a member of MHTC’s Board of Directors. He was also a founder of the Center for Quality of Management in 1989 and served as its Chairman until 2006.
Mr. Stata holds a BSEE and MSEE from MIT, is Chairman of the Visiting Committee of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science and is a member of MIT’s Executive Committee. In 1984 he was elected a member of the MIT Corporation and now serves as a life member.
Awards
1990 Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
1992 Elected to the National Academy of Engineering
1996 Named Foreign Fellow of Indian National Academy of Engineering
2001 Recipient of the SIA Robert M. Noyce Award for Leadership
2003 Recipient of the IEEE Founders Medal
Publications
Co-author, Global Stakes, Ballinger Press 1982
Co-author, The Innovators, Harper & Rowe, September 1984
Honorary Degrees
Doctor of Engineering - Northeastern University, June 1981
Doctor of Business Administration - Curry College, May 1983
Doctor of Humane Letters - University of Lowell, June 1984
Doctor of Engineering - University of Limerick, November 1994
Mukesh Chatter, President and CEO
Mukesh Chatter has extensive entrepreneurial and management experience in starting and managing high-technology companies. In 1997 he founded Nexabit Networks, a highly successful terabit switch/router company which was acquired by Lucent Technologies in July of 1999. A noted systems architect, Mukesh invented the innovative, scalable, terabits per second switching fabric technology. Mukesh served as President and CEO of Nexabit. He subsequently was Vice President & General Manager of IP products at Lucent Technologies. Prior to Nexabit, his experience includes the design and development of networking equipment and supercomputers, and holds several patents in these areas. In year 2000, he founded Axiowave Networks, Inc. and was its President and CEO. Mukesh was a general partner at NeoNet LLC in 2005 and 2006, an investment firm focused on out-of-the-box innovative ventures including energy efficiency, Internet applications, and medical equipment.
He was chosen as one of the top ten entrepreneurs in 1999 by the Red Herring magazine. He was also named Rensselaer Entrepreneur of the Year 2001. Mukesh has received similar coverage in numerous prestigious publications over the years.
Mukesh currently serves on the boards of MachFlow, Inc. and NeoSaej. He is also on the advisory council of Lally School of Management at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
He holds a master's degree in Computer & Systems Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.
Rohit Goyal, Vice President, Engineering
Dr. Goyal brings extensive experience in software engineering and product development. Before co-founding NeoSaej he was Director of Engineering at Enterasys Networks, a secure networks company. Prior to this, he was Director of Software at Axiowave Networks, an innovative telecommunications startup. He has also held engineering leadership positions at Nexabit Networks that was acquired by Lucent Technologies.
Rohit has over 20 papers published in refereed journals and conferences, and has extensively contributed to standards in Internet protocols. He has served as a guest editor of IEEE Communications Magazine special issues, and on several conference and review panels including the NSF Small Business Innovative Research program. He has one patent awarded in networking and one patent pending.
Rohit has MS and PhD degrees in Computer Science from The Ohio State University, where he received both University and Presidential fellowships. He holds a BS in Computer Science from Denison University.
Bob Watterson, Vice President, Bank Partnerships
After beginning his career in sales and sales management at Procter and Gamble, Mr. Watterson moved to the banking industry in 1983, and worked for a PMI (Private Mortgage Insurance) Company in the mortgage industry for 2 years.
In 1985 he founded First Financial, Inc., a mortgage company headquartered in the Boston area, where he originated mortgages with an innovative approach through corporate employee benefit programs. Later, with the addition of a traditional mortgage sales force, the firm closed over $4 billion in residential mortgages for 25,000 customers in five New England states. In 2001 the firm was sold to the mortgage banking subsidiary of Staten Island Bank, where Mr. Watterson served as Senior Vice President and consultant through 2004.
Mr. Watterson was on numerous industry boards, including the FMNA national Advisory Board, and Countrywide and GMAC/RFC wholesale advisory boards. He was active in mortgage industry and regulatory affairs, including Board member and Board Chairman of the Massachusetts Mortgage Bankers Association. He was also a member of the Board of Governors of the Mortgage Bankers Association of America.
Bob graduated from Dartmouth College in 1979 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Damon Pender, CFO
Mr. Pender has over 13 years of experience working with technology companies. He is responsible for the Company’s Finance, Regulatory, Corporate matters, Human Resources, Legal, Information Technology and Facilities. Prior to joining NeoSaej Corp., Damon was the VP of Finance for Voice Signal Technologies, Inc., a highly successful speech recognition company who was the worldwide leader in speaker independent speech technology. Damon joined Voice Signal in 2000 and played a key role in growing the business to a successful exit. Voice Signal Technologies was sold to Nuance Communications, Inc. in 2007. Prior to joining Voice Signal, Damon worked with Codman Research Group, Abiomed and PriceWaterhouse Coopers.
Damon graduated from Southern New Hampshire University in 1994, earned a CPA license in 1996 and is currently a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.
Advisors
A. James Lavoie, ex-Chairman and CEO, Middlesex Savings Bank
Mr. James Lavoie's thirty-six year banking career is notable for his achievements at Middlesex Savings Bank, for his work with government and industry bodies, and his contributions to the community.
Mr. Lavoie served as Chairman and CEO, 1996 to 2007, and is currently a trustee of Middlesex Savings Bank in Natick, MA. Since being named CEO in 1996, Middlesex Savings Bank has grown from $1.2 billion in assets with 15 branches to $3.4 billion in assets and 25 branches, while staying true to its mutual charter. During his tenure Middlesex bank developed a number of new consumer and business product lines and he has been a strong advocate for utilizing the latest technological tools and capabilities available for the benefit of the banks' customers and employees.
Mr. Lavoie's abilities and commitment to excellence in banking have been recognized both by the Massachusetts Bankers Association and American Bankers Association. He served as Chairman of the Massachusetts Bankers Association for 2006-2007. The Massachusetts Bankers Association represents 210 commercial, savings, and co-operative banks and savings and loan institutions in Massachusetts and elsewhere in New England. Established in 1905, member banks hold over $523 billion in deposits.
He also served the American Bankers Association, serving on their board of directors from 2000 to 2003 and as chairman of the Government Relations Council in 2004. In addition Mr. Lavoie was Chairman of the Depositor's Insurance Fund of Massachusetts, 2004-2007, and was a member of the banking advisory council for the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs & Business Regulation. He is currently a director of Savings Bank Life Insurance of Massachusetts
In 1998 Mr. Lavoie received the MetroWest Business Leader of the Year award for his "deep and productive involvement in the economic life of our community." Mr. Lavoie also served as a trustee of the Walnut Hill School in Natick. In addition he was President and director of the Middlesex Savings Charitable Foundation..
Mr. Lavoie received his B.S.B.A from Salem State College in 1971. He also received a degree from Fairfield University's National School of Finance and Management in 1981.
Dr. Robert M. Freund, Theresa Seley Professor in Management Sciences,
MIT Sloan School of Management
Dr. Freund is currently Co-Director of the MIT Program in Computation for Design and Optimization and currently Associate Editor of the journal Mathematical Programming. He is the former Co-Director of the MIT Operations Research Center, former Chair of the Optimization Section of INFORMS, and former Co-Editor of the journal Mathematical Programming. He has over 50 publications in refereed journals in optimization and related subjects, and is frequently invited to speak about his research at conferences and university colloquia.
Dr. Freund’s research is in the area of continuous optimization models and algorithms, both theoretical and applied. His theoretical work is focused on the underlying mathematical structure of optimization models in general. His applied work has examined real-time computer pattern recognition, cluster analysis in data mining and dynamic conjoint analysis for new product development. He teaches doctoral courses in optimization and master’s courses in quantitative methods for management, and is the co-author of the textbook Data, Models, and Decisions (Dynamic Idea 2004).
Dr. Freund has been honoured with the Longuet-Higgins Prize in computer vision and pattern recognition in 2007. During his tenure at MIT he had received eight Teaching Excellence Awards at Sloan School of Management between 1988 and 2006. He was also awarded MIT Class of 1960 Innovation in Education Award in 2000 and Class of 1960 Faculty Fellow, 7/2000-6/2002.
Dr. Freund received his BA ’75 in Mathematics from Princeton University. He also holds a MS ’79 and PhD ’80 in Operations Research from Stanford University.
Dr. Robert Rines, Professor of Patent Law, MIT
A prolific inventor and musical composer, Dr. Rines is an accomplished international patent attorney and professor of law at MIT. His own patents now number more than 100, primarily for electronic apparatus to improve the resolution of radar and sonar scanning. The scanning systems used to locate the wrecks of the Titanic and the Bismarck were dependent on Dr. Rines' prototypes. He joined the US Army Signal Corps as a radar officer, and invented the modulation technique essential in building the Army's then top-secret Microwave Early Warning System.
Dr. Rines is founder of the Academy of Applied Science, a New Hampshire- based, private, nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of science and technology education. In 1973, he founded Franklin Pierce Law Center. In 1994, Dr. Rines was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.
He has composed scores for more than 10 Broadway and off-Broadway shows, including Blasts and Bravos, a play on the life of H.E. Menkin, and Strindberg's Creditors. Dr. Rines' music for the television and later Broadway play, Hiz Honor the Mayor, earned him the sharing of an Emmy in 1987.
Dr. Rines earned a BS in physics from MIT, earned his law degree from Georgetown University and completed his PhD thesis at Chiao Tung University, Taiwan.
Christopher W. Emmons, President and CEO, Gorham Savings Bank
With nearly thirty years of banking experience behind him, Mr. Emmons joined Gorham Savings Bank in May 2003, as the Bank’s twelfth President and CEO. Gorham Savings Bank, a mutually chartered institution, was established in 1868 to provide a place for the growing community of Gorham to deposit their savings. The Bank has grown steadily with $750 million in assets and 9 branches in Southern Maine. Under Chris’s leadership Gorham Savings Bank has diversified to meet the needs of the local business community by adding commercial leasing, public finance, and wealth management services as well as insurance products.
Chris began his banking career in Portland at Maine National Bank in 1977. His prior experience includes BayBank from 1988 to 1996 was followed by TD Banknorth for seven years.
In addition to his work at Gorham Savings Bank, Mr. Emmons is actively involved with the Maine Association of Community Banks as well as several local non-profit organizations. Currently, Chris serves on the Board of Maine Medical Center, is Vice Chairman of the United Way of Greater Portland, and Chairman of the University of Southern Maine Foundation. As a long time United Way volunteer, Chris most recently served as their 2006 Annual Campaign Chair. In May 2007, Mr. Emmons was selected as a laureate and inducted into the Maine Business Hall of Fame.
Chris received his Bachelors Degree in Communications from the University of Maine Orono.
Jim Feldt, ex-EVP & President Merchandising & Marketing, Toys-R-Us
Mr. Feldt brings three decades of retail merchandising experience. Most recently, from 1999 to 2005, Jim served in the position of Executive Vice President, President Merchandising & Marketing at Toys "R" Us. Toys "R" Us, Inc. is one of the leading retailers of toys and baby products with more than 1,400 freestanding toy and baby specialty stores worldwide.
Previously, Jim held the position of Executive Vice President, President Merchandising & Marketing at Value City Department Stores from 1997 to 1999.
His long and successful career started at Hills Department Stores. Jim was at Hills from 1977 to 1997 and grew to serve as Executive Vice President, General Merchandise Manager. Hills was the nation’s eighth largest discount retailer, with annual sales of approximately $2 billion, operated 155 stores in 12 states with over 8500 employees. Hills was acquired by Ames in 1998.
Jim graduated from Northeastern University in 1977.
Sushil Tuli, President and CEO, Leader Bank
Mr. Tuli has extensive banking and mortgage industry experience stretching over 25 years. He founded Leader Bank in 2002, an upcoming and growing bank in the Boston area. He was also the founder of a highly successful residential mortgage company, Leader Mortgage in 1986, a well respected name in the local market. His abilities and leadership have been recognized as he chaired the Massachusetts Mortgage Bankers Association (“MMBA”), the largest mortgage banking industry association in New England in 1999. He has also served as a member of Fannie Mae’s Regional Advisory Council from 1994 to 1996. Presently, Sushil serves on the National Advisory Council for Mortgage Lenders of Fannie Mae.
Previous to forming Leader Mortgage, Sushil worked at the Boston Safe Deposit and Trust and at Mutual Bank. At the Mutual Bank he prepared financial models for asset/liability management and analyzing interest rate risk exposure.
Sushil received a bachelor’s degree in 1971 and masters of public administration in 1975 from Punjab University in India.
Thomas R. Venables, President and CEO, Benjamin Franklin Bancorp
Mr. Venables has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Benjamin Franklin Bancorp (NASDAQ: BFBC) and Benjamin Franklin Bank since 2002. Prior to 2002, he co-founded Lighthouse Bank of Waltham, Massachusetts in 1999 and served as its President and Chief Executive Officer. From 1998 to 1999, Mr. Venables was employed as a consultant with Marsh and McLennan Capital, Inc. He was employed by Grove Bank of Newton, Massachusetts from 1974 until Citizens Bank acquired the bank in 1997, serving as its President and Chief Executive Officer for the last 11 years of his tenure.
Mr. Venables has a BA in Management from Boston College and an MBA from Bentley College.
Jim Delamater, President, Northeast Bankcorp
Jim Delamater has served as the leader of Northeast Bank, Northeast Bancorp (AMEX:NBN) and all related companies since 1981. Since then he has overseen 25 years of growth.
During Delamater's tenure, the Company has grown from one community bank with $18 million in assets, 10 employees and limited services to a corporation with assets of over $567 million (as of December 31, 2005), more than 230 employees and 25 retail business outlets. The Company now directly serves communities and clients throughout western, central and mid-coastal Maine, and counts companies in New Hampshire among its clients.
In addition to being a board member of Northeast Bancorp and its subsidiaries, Delamater is a past Chairman of both the Maine Bankers Association and the Maine Association of Community Bankers. Prior to his career with Northeast, he served as a licensed representative for the New York Stock Exchange with a major stock brokerage firm and was an officer with Oxford Bank & Trust. Jim is also a published author recently releasing The Great American Mismatch in 2004.
Delamater served in the US Air Force after which he attended the University of South Carolina and University of Southern Maine.