James F. Watson
Chairman of the Board, Amitive
Managing Director, CMEA Ventures
Mr. Watson joined CMEA Ventures as Managing Director in 2001, and is on the Board of Directors of Apriso, a provider of plant and warehouse automation solutions for the industrial sector; HassoPlattnerVentures, a German fund that hosts young, IT-driven companies and guides them into the marketplace; iSuppli Inc., a market intelligence service for the electronics supply chain; LiveOps, a provider of innovative, state-of-the-art call center solutions and a leader in the $20 billion outsourced teleservices industry; MailExpress, a provider of outsourced mail service for large commercial mailers throughout the world; Amitive (Formerly Mitrix), an on-demand supply chain management software company; Odyssey Logistics, a provider of outsourced logistics management services to the chemical industry; SpikeSource, business-ready, open source solutions; and Untangle, an emerging leader in network virtualization for small- to medium-sized enterprises seeking powerful yet simple network solutions. Mr. Watson was also on the board of CMEA portfolio companies PathScale, acquired by QLogic (NASDAQ: QLGC), and Teros, acquired by Citrix (NASDAQ: CTXS).
Prior to joining CMEA, Mr. Watson was consultant to several professional services firms and venture capital partnerships in the areas of strategic planning and partnering, board development, and supply chain management. Mr. Watson was also one of the Founders of Monterey Bay Partners, a venture management firm specializing in high technology start-ups. Prior to that, Jim founded Skyway Systems, a high technology logistics company. Mr Watson's tenure with Skyway included company President and leader behind the supply chain strategy that twice landed Skyway on the Inc. Magazine list of fastest growing U.S. companies in the 1990's. In 1993, Inc. Magazine named Mr. Watson as one of the Entrepreneurs of the Year. That same year, Skyway, with over 1,300 employees, hit revenues above $100 million. Skyway was subsequently acquired by Union Pacific Corporation (UPN) in 1994. Prior to Skyway, Mr. Watson was with IBM's large computer systems division where he worked with several large companies, such as United Airlines, in designing and marketing computer systems for all phases of business. Mr. Watson graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland and served five years as a Navy pilot from 1969 to 1974.
Amar Singh
President and CEO, Amitive
Mr. Singh joined Amitive in April 2007 and brings over 17 years of supply chain management (SCM) and enterprise software experience to the company. Prior to joining Amitive, Mr. Singh was a Senior Vice President at SAP with overall product development responsibility for SAP’s entire SCM, Product Lifecycle and Manufacturing solutions. At SAP, Mr. Singh also led the global product management organization for SCM and was the General Manager of the RFID business unit. Before joining SAP, Mr. Singh spent several years in leading management positions at companies like i2, Procter & Gamble, Warner Lambert, Logictools and Bain & Company. He was the founder and CEO of Simplexis, a SCM software company for the public sector. Mr. Singh graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree from University of Ilorin, Nigeria, earned a Masters in Operations Research from University of Waterloo, Canada and completed an MBA at the Harvard Business School.
Frans van Schaik
Managing Partner, Logispring
A graduate from the University of Amsterdam Law School, with a diploma in International Relations from the University of Vienna, Mr van Schaik served the University of Amsterdam five years in various academic and support roles. In 1986, after a year with OCE as a project manager and member of the M&A team, he started his own Corporate Finance Advisory Firm (Intermatch, later amalgamated with Corporate Development International), followed by interalia, a high-tech/large ticket lease brokerage (Reloc & Duter), a Middle East Technical Contracting Company (IME) and a Software Support business (Florijn). The latter failed in 1991, and triggered the sale of the other – successful – businesses. From 1991, Mr. van Schaik concentrated on corporate finance and advising a venture capital investment he made in Singapore.
In 1993, Mr. van Schaik joined Gilde Investment Funds as a partner. During his 4 years at Gilde, he was involved in numerous new investments and portfolio companies, both in venture capital and buy-outs. Mr. van Schaik also assumed the position of temporary Managing Director for an existing portfolio company, Haag Food Services, in high care food processing, and successfully guided it through a turn-round. Having joined the other partners and shareholders in selling all Gilde Funds, the management company and the carried interest vehicles to Rabobank, he left Gilde in 1997.
Operating from his own investment and management development company, Nielaster, Mr. van Schaik then restructured, as their CEO, all the European pet food companies of Rafino Holdings (seven sites in the UK, Netherlands, Germany, France and Italy). In 1998, Mr. van Schaik restructured in the role of Group Managing Director, the Industrial Division of the BCE Group (operating companies in Germany, Austria and Italy). In 1999 Mr. van Schaik initiated, in a joint venture with Goldman Sachs International, the “buy-and-build” of a Global Supply Chain Company in the Consumer Products Industry. In November 2000, TPG and Booz Allen Hamilton contacted Mr. van Schaik to discuss their ideas for establishing Logispring.
Padman Ramankutty
Partner, Intrigo Systems, LLC
Mr. Ramankutty is a partner at Intrigo Systems LLC and a well-noted supply chain expert. Mr. Ramankutty serves as a strategic advisor to industry-leading companies, including Nike and Rubbermaid, and brings to Amitive more than 20 years of experience and thought leadership in supply chain management and advanced planning and scheduling solutions.
Mr. Ramankutty previously served as the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Bristlecone, Inc., a global technology consulting company and provider of extended supply chain solutions. In his role, he oversaw the development and execution of go-to-market strategies for Bristlecone's competencies in supply chain management, ERP, and applications management services. Achievements at Bristlecone included securing partnerships with SAP AG and SAP Labs India and merging with Mahindra Consulting.
Prior to founding Bristlecone in 1998, Mr. Ramankutty headed SAP's High Tech Global Industry Business Unit where he successfully positioned SAP R/3 as the premier enterprise solution for the semiconductor industry. Mr. Ramankutty has also played a key role in the development, strategic assessment and marketing of SAP's Supply Chain Optimization and MES programs. He has held senior operational positions in diverse industries ranging from aerospace and defense, food processing and engineering. |
