Board of Directors
STEFAN T. MIDFORD
As president and founder of South49 Solutions, the parent company of Natural Insight, Stefan Midford brings over 30 years of experience in information technology and operations management. His extensive business background includes leadership roles at major credit, retail and marketing businesses in the U.S. and Canada, as well as management assignments at Discover Financial Services, Sears Roebuck & Co. and Sears Canada Inc. Most recently, as COO at Intersections Inc., Stefan was responsible for the operations division of the rapidly growing privacy protection and identity theft prevention company. Stefan’s management and international experience across several companies provides him insight into the strategic challenges facing organizations with distributed workforces, as well as the specialized logistical issues that go with them. In addition, his leading-edge understanding of database design and optimization, business process improvement and related disciplines allows him to quickly understand clients’ needs and requirements–resulting in customized solutions that deliver bottom line results. In addition to his company responsibilities, Stefan co-chairs the Canadian Business Network of Washington DC, a networking organization for Canadians in the Washington area. An avid proponent of science and technology education in high schools Stefan also volunteers as a mentor and sponsor of a local high school robotics team.
Eric Arnson is a co-founder of Originate Ventures, a private equity fund focusing on early stage companies in Northeast Pennsylvania. Prior to starting Originate, Eric was a Partner at McKinsey & Company, serving as a leader in its North American Branding Practice. His responsibilities included stewardship of the brand development system he had launched previously through Envision, a firm he founded that was acquired by McKinsey, and involvement on numerous McKinsey growth engagements. Before the acquisition by McKinsey, Eric led Envision in pioneering a new marketing philosophy: consumer-driven brand strategy. This now broadly-embraced approach redefined the core tenets necessary for accelerating growth. Eric began his professional career with positions at Procter & Gamble and Beecham Cosmetics, and was later one of the original Partners at The Cambridge Group. A graduate of the University of Michigan where he earned a degree in Literature, Science & Arts (LSA), Eric continues to research and teach leadership development in conjunction with the ‘Leadership for the Public Good,’ an initiative encouraging broad-based service and philanthropy. He was also a contributing author to Blueprint to a Billion: The Seven Essentials for Exponential Growth.
Rich Moore is president of his own consulting firm that provides advisory counsel and support to CEOs and boards, primarily focused in emerging growth technology and the entertainment industry. His primary focus is guiding companies to improved valuation via unique packaging and positioning, expansion of international channels of distribution and best practice investor relations. Rich draws on a successful career in executive positions that span a diverse and interesting range of companies. His career began with research and public relations for NBC; Hollywood technical advisor as a US Navy Public Affairs officer; marketing and entertainment director for Caesars hotel-casinos and followed by over 25 years in international roles covering sales and marketing, president and board positions public and private. In addition to Natural Insight, companies have included Vocus, StrikeIron, Bridgeborn, 3Pillar Global, Valencell, Entertainment Industries Council and others.
Glen is a Managing Partner of Originate Ventures (based in Bethlehem, PA), an early stage-oriented venture capital firm that is primarily focused on investing in emerging companies located in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He has been a Partner with Mid-Atlantic Venture Funds since its founding in 1985 and combined MAVF’s fifth fund to help establish Originate Ventures. Glen began his venture capital career when he joined Key Venture Capital Corporation upon completing his MBA and opened its Boston office in 1984.
Glen was the Chairman of the Greater Philadelphia Venture Group (now IMPACT) in 1996-1997, where he conceived and organized the GPVG Venture Institute and has been on the Investment Advisory Committee for the Ben Franklin Technology Center, Southeast Pennsylvania for over 20 years. In addition to his Originate Ventures Board positions, Glen is Vice-Chairman of Innovative Solutions and Support, Inc. (NASDAQ: ISSC) and a member of the Board of Alum-a-Lift, Inc., a family-owned manufacturing business servicing over 200 of the Fortune 500. Glen is also a Board member of St. Christopher’s Hospital for Children in Philadelphia.
Glen holds a BSBA, cum laude, from Boston University and an MBA from Babson College.
MICHAEL DERING, CHAIRMAN EMERITUS
Michael Dering brings to Natural Insight over 25 years of technology industry experience. Most recently, he served as President and CEO of ServiceBench, a leading provider of on-demand service management solutions that was recognized by Deloitte as one of the 500 fastest-growing technology companies in North America. Previously, Michael served as President and CEO of CrossAccess Corporation, a multinational software infrastructure company, and as President and CEO of two publicly traded Bell & Howell companies. Prior to these positions, Michael had a 20-year career at TAB Products Company, a $170 million publicly traded manufacturer of information storage and retrieval solutions. He served in a variety of sales and marketing positions at TAB, and in his last five years served as the corporation’s President and CEO, helping turn the company around and make it the industry leader. Michael holds multiple board positions including Cernium, Bridgeborn, Washington Management Group/CCS, eXpresso and MindShare. He received a B.S. in business administration and computer science from the University of Maryland.