John Croce – President & Chief Executive Officer
Mr. Croce’s specialty is in start-up businesses and having successfully managed three companies from the ground up, his passion is evident. As President & CEO of NVT Phybridge, Mr. Croce brings balance with his seasoned experience in management and finance. Prior to joining the company, Mr. Croce was the founding President and CEO of Counsel Wealth Management. Under Mr. Croce’s leadership, the company grew to over $2 billion in assets, making Counsel one of the fastest growing fund companies of its time in Canada. Mr. Croce has also served as a partner of Anthem Properties based in Vancouver, Canada. During his time with the company, Anthem Properties grew to over $500 million in real estate assets and over $200 million in investor equity. In 1998, Anthem Properties became public and was listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange, Mr. Croce playing a pivotal role in the company’s monumental achievement. Prior to establishing Anthem Properties, Mr. Croce’s earlier success was as business development representative for AGF Management, a leading Canadian mutual fund company.
Steven Fair – Executive Vice President
Mr. Fair brings to NVT Phybridge a proven track record of building strong revenue performances and creating long term stability for sales divisions. His ability to identify, attract and retain top talent has allowed him to build foundations of people for which to layer effective business strategies. As one of the founding members of NVT Phybridge, his leadership has helped to create strong partnerships and relationships with the top entities in their markets. As the EVP at NVTP, he oversees Global expansion and personally engages with their direct manufacturer relationships. Prior to NVT Phybridge, Mr Fair was Vice President of Sales and later interim President of Avaya Canada. Steven has established a growing list of senior contacts within North America and abroad. His experience in working with the manufacturing side of the Telecom and Security industry gives him an exceptional understanding of the VAR and Distribution communities. Prior to joining Avaya, Mr. Fair was the National Sales Manager at Dictaphone and Country Manager of Canada at Panamax. Steven contributes his vast global experience to the complete market from the SMB to large Enterprise customers for the NVT Phybridge team. He has an Honours Degree in Economics and Political Science from the University of Toronto.
Frank Cerpnjak – Vice President of Finance
Mr. Cerpnjak has spent the past 20 years as a financial consultant and advisor to a variety of small to medium-sized privately owned companies, from business inceptions through maturation, having annual revenues ranging up to $100 million. His expertise includes strategic areas involving financial reporting, taxation, corporate finance and business acquisitions. Earlier in his career, he gained public practice experience at a national predecessor firm to Doane Raymond, attaining the position of audit manager, and his business valuation experience at a mid-sized firm, McCarney Greenwood Vottero. Thereafter, Mr. Cerpnjak spent four years as controller and manager of finance for Canadian Business Machines Limited, manufacturer of a standard line of AV accessary products, cash security solutions for Frisco Bay Industries and NCR and OEM specific products for Canon, Ricoh, Sharp and Toshiba. During his time with the company, he developed his passion for operational restructuring and cross-border strategic planning. As NVT Phybridge’s vice president of finance, Mr. Cerpnjak is charged with strengthening and aligning the company’s central administrative and financial functions over its global operations. In this role, he oversees a broad range of departments including finance and accounting, resource planning, business affairs, risk management and human resources. His focus lies on continuous improvement for the reporting and management of the company and has a genuine appreciation of the contributions of all the people in the organization. Mr. Cerpnjak is a University of Waterloo alumnus with an Honours Degree in Accounting and Economics and is a Chartered Accountant, Chartered Business Valuator and Certified Public Accountant (US).
Richard Kasslack – Vice President, Strategic Accounts
Mr. Kasslack has over two decades of presence in Application and Systems Architecture, Network Administration and Call Center Operations. His impressive appointments have included Director of Call Centre Operations at The Toronto Sun Newspaper, where he oversaw the implementation of one of the first automated dialing solutions in Canada and Director of Information Services at Investment Planning Counsel, part of one of the largest Wealth Management companies in Canada. Mr. Kasslack has also founded several Internet startups. In addition, Mr. Kasslack has been a board member of a number of private companies and charitable organizations and is a contributing member to various industry groups and committees. He is a seasoned professional and his expertise brings great potential to NVT Phybridge.
Jovanco Spiroski – Director, Hardware Engineering
Mr. Spiroski brings to NVT Phybridge his expertise which ranges from design work at IMAX to a customer facing role with Arrow Electronics. His development skills are wide ranging, including Analog and Digital circuit design, power electronics, interface, magnetic circuit design and numerical analysis. Mr. Spiroski’s experience and personal approach allows him to address the challenges during all phases of product development from concept to manufacturing. He is a graduate of the University St. Cyril and Methodius in Macedonia from the Faculty of Electrical Engineering with a Major in Electronics.
Graham Ward – Vice President, Operations
Mr. Ward is an Operations Leader with diverse industry experience who brings a practical approach to Operational Excellence that is grounded in business results. Ten years of experience at Kraft Foods Canada and Maple Leaf Foods, in both Continuous Improvement and Operational roles, Mr. Ward has overseen a $50MM portfolio of projects that has spanned manufacturing, logistics, product supply and customer service. In addition to being well practiced in project management and structured problem-solving, he has experience with complex change management initiatives and organizational re-structuring.
At Epicor Software Corporation, Mr. Ward directed the Professional Services and Support teams in the Manufacturing Execution and Intelligence (MEI) division. Graham was successful in his mandate to restore profitability and bring consistency to both US and UK operations. Demonstrating his broad business acumen, he worked closely with Sales to establish a coherent pricing strategy for small and Enterprise customers, and collaborated with Product Development to establish and adhere to a robust product roadmap.
As Director of Pre-Sales Consulting at Shoplogix Inc, Mr. Ward was responsible for proof of concept business analytics and project management. During his time at the Company, he devised a 100-plant global deployment plan for their largest customer that met the rollout timeline and the expectations for rapid adoption and payback of the solution. Also, as a Management System Consultant, Mr. Ward was a key contributor to the ISOsoft© application at Intelex Technologies Inc.. Graham authored comprehensive instruction and provided end-user expertise throughout functional development.
