Gioia Messinger
Founder and CEO

Gioia is a seasoned CEO and high tech entrepreneur who combines entrepreneurial spirit, business management expertise, and a rich history of success and innovation in wireless, sensing, and imaging technologies. She brings extensive operational and management experience to lead Avaak into wide-scale consumer adoption of its Vue products. Prior to Avaak, she founded SUMMIT Design Technologies, Inc. an engineering services firm with Fortune 500 clients such as Motorola, Lockheed Martin, Texas Instruments, and SAIC. While at SUMMIT, Gioia was instrumental in helping her clients create novel technologies such as digital satellite television, cellular telephone chipsets, and satellite phone systems. She was also Founder and CEO of MedSmart, Inc. a medical information systems company that developed patient-centric, web-enabled software solutions for healthcare systems such as UCSD School of Medicine, Sharp Hospital, and Kaiser Permanente of California.

Gioia received her master’s degree with highest distinctions in Business Administration from the University of California-Irvine, Graduate School of Management, and bachelor and master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of California-San Diego.

She has 8 patents pending in areas related to wireless video networks.

Bar-Giora Goldberg
Founder and CTO

Bar-Giora is an experienced entrepreneur and renowned expert in the design of radio communications systems. He received his Bachelor and Master of Science degrees from Technion (the Israeli Institute of Technology) in Haifa, Israel. Before migrating to the US, he established himself as leading thinker in the Israeli communications, radar, and spread spectrum markets. Later he joined Linkabit in San Diego where he was involved in the design of Satcom communication systems, adaptive antennas, and fast hopping frequency synthesizers. In 1984, he co-founded Sciteq, a venture backed company pioneering Direct Digital Synthesis and fractional-n PLL with a focus on mixed signal technology, DSP, and the integration of communications with computing. Since successfully selling Sciteq in 1996, he has been active in the video and RFIC markets. Goldberg holds seven US patents, 10 pending patents, and has over 30 years of experience in the commercialization of advanced technologies. He has published numerous articles in professional magazines and has authored a book entitled: Digital Techniques in Frequency Synthesis (McGraw-Hill publishers,1996). In addition, Goldberg teaches courses on radio technology throughout the world (http://www.bessercourse.com; http://www.cei.se)

Keith Geck
Vice President, Sales

For more than 20 years, Keith has been involved in launching consumer electronics and wireless products through retail and direct selling channels. Keith has held senior sales leadership positions at innovative start-up ventures as well as established high-tech companies. Prior to joining Avaak, Keith held executive positions at Dash Navigation, Firefly Mobile, and go2 and developed and implemented national launch and distribution strategies. Spanning a 14-year career at Apple where he served as Vice President of Channel Sales, Keith lead the retail launch of both the iPod and iMac in collaboration with leading national retailers and independent dealers. He holds MBA and Bachelor of Science degrees from the University of Southern California.

Dan Gilbert
Vice President, Marketing

Dan brings more than 20 years of marketing and general management experience. Prior to joining Avaak, Dan was VP Marketing for HP’s Digital Imaging Global Business Unit, responsible for the WW marketing of HP’s PhotoSmart digital photography products, as well as the Snapfish online imaging service and HP’s Retail Photofinishing solutions. Prior to that role, he was the general manager responsible for the creation and launch of HP’s photofinishing business and ran an operation focused on online image management. In the mid-1990s, Dan led marketing efforts for the development of HP’s Photosmart printer line and other photography products. Later, he managed the worldwide marketing center for Digital Imaging, which launched and marketed the HP Photosmart family of digital cameras, printers and scanners. Before joining HP, Gilbert worked as an engineer in the aerospace and automotive industries. He has a master’s degree in business administration from the University of Chicago, and master’s and bachelor’s degrees in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin.

George Stewart
Vice President, Operations

George has more than 20 years experience as a senior level manufacturing manager working in the U.S., Asia and Latin America. He has a background in international operations, materials management, lean manufacturing methods, ERP systems, SPC, Six Sigma Quality and significant experience in bringing products into high volume manufacturing. Prior to joining Avaak, George was VP of Operations at Ethertronics in San Diego and prior to that, VP of Manufacturing & Operations at DMC Stratex Networks in Seattle. He also served as Director of Operations at General Instrument in San Diego and previously held senior manufacturing management positions at Crane/Interpoint and TRW. George received a BSEE from Cal Poly and an MS in Systems Engineering from California State University, Fullerton.

David Buckley
Vice President, Software Development

David brings more than 20 years of senior level management and experience architecting, implementing and operating complex, highly scaled, intelligent transaction systems. Before joining Avaak, he was co-founder and CTO of R4 Mobile, a mobile analytics company where he developed a patent-pending technology for tracking and reporting usage statistics on mobile websites and within mobile applications. Prior to starting R4 Mobile, David was Vice President and General Manager at Motricity, one of the wireless industry’s leading and most recognized mobile content service providers. David joined Motricity through its acquisition of M7 Networks, named one of the top 15 global wireless companies by Fierce Wireless in 2005. At M7 Networks, Buckley was co-founder, CTO and chief architect of the industry’s first nationwide virtual mobile community for gamers which received the 3G CDMA Industry Achievement Award for Mobile Game Development. David has authored several patents and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Applied Mathematics from University of California San Diego.

Christine Shay
Controller

Chris was the founder of SI Strategies, a management consulting firm specializing in recommending and implementing process improvements and performance metrics in the financial, IT, and supply chain areas. Prior to founding SI Strategies, Chris was a Principal Consultant with Computer Sciences Corporation, where she implemented accounting, performance management and supply chain solutions for software, electronics, automotive, construction equipment, consumer products, biotech, and medical device industries. Chris also has 10 years of experience as a financial management professional for Fortune 500 companies in the areas of corporate accounting, cost accounting, budgeting, forecasting, consolidations, and auditing. Chris holds an MBA with high honors from the University of California-Irvine Graduate School of Management and a BS in Finance and Accounting from Purdue University. She is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) and Certified Management Accountant (CMA).