MonetaPro/ComComNetworks has an excellent group of experts on its Board of Advisors.

The Company continues to select dedicated, hard-working individuals to provide expertise and advice to management.

Advisory Board Chair

Dennis C. Hayes – Mr. Hayes is most famous for his position as Chairman, President and CEO of Hayes Microcomputer Products, Inc., where he took the organization from a start up to a global company reaching revenues in excess of $240 million annually, with more than 1,500 employees.  As a creator of the modem, the term “Hayes Compatible“ meant it adhered to the worldwide standard created be Mr. Hayes.  The very premise of the internet can indirectly be traced to the success of the PC Modem, and Mr. Hayes. He is a recognized technology industry leader, company and association founder, entrepreneur, senior management executive, and director or advisor to businesses and other organizations with proven skills in global organization management, market and technology development, and influencing legislation for the benefit of the on-line industry.  In November 2003 he was inducted to the Computer Industry Hall of Fame along with Steve Jobs, Michael Dell, and Bill Gates.

MonetaPro Corporate Strategy

Peter Balbus - Peter is CEO of Pragmaxis, LLC, a strategic management consulting firm that specializes in defining and operationalizing top-line growth, e-Business and transformation strategies for Fortune 1000 corporations.  Mr. Balbus is a former Vice President and General Manager at Booz Allen Hamilton/Aestix. Peter’s career includes the position of Principal with CSC Index, and Chief Strategy Officer for Spectrum Group. Peter has a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Melissa Giovagnoli - Melissa is  President of Networlding, Inc. and is one of the world’s leading experts on the development of individual and community leadership networks as a means of growing and accelerating brand loyalty and performance improvement inside and outside organizations. For more than a decade Melissa’s organization, Networlding, has provided exceptional relationship marketing and management programs for organizations like AT&T, CNA, Motorola and Disney. Melissa is the author and/or co-author of eight top-selling books. Her seventh book, co-authored with CMO of Office Depot, Jocelyn Carter Miller, held the #10 spot on Amazon (in Chicago) for a year. Other books include: Networlding: Building Relationships and Opportunities for Success, 75 Cage Rattling Questions that Change the Way You Work, The Power of Two: Rethinking and Reforming Strategic Alliances, and Angels in the Work Place.  Melissa has also been a guest on both radio and television including The Today Show, CNN, WGN, CNBC and FOX. One of her books was featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show.  Her unique program, The Extravaganza, has been highly evaluated by Meeting Professionals International (MPI).  Melissa founded Service Showcase, Inc., an innovative consulting firm started in 1986. She has grown the company to include clients Price Waterhouse, AT&T, Dean Foods and Motorola as well as dozens of smaller companies and organizations. In 1998 she was chosen one of six extraordinary women of the year by The University of Chicago Women’s Graduate Business Alumni Board. Melissa has a BA in Sociology and a J.D. from DePaul University College of Law.

Mitchell S. Roth - Mitchell is a Partner and sits on the Management Committee at the law firm of Much Shelist Freed Denenberg Ament & Rubenstein, P.C. with specialization in Corporate Law, E-Commerce, and Internet Practice.  Mitchell advises a wide range of clients, from entrepreneurs and closely held businesses to public companies. Mr. Roth’s business practice includes counseling businesses and their owners, with significant experience in negotiating and structuring joint ventures, mergers and acquisitions, commercial lending transactions, venture capital transactions, private placements, and public offerings. Mitchell is also a certified public accountant, with past experience at KPMG Peat Marwick, and he offers guidance in structuring corporate transactions and individual income and estate tax planning. Mr. Roth speaks regularly on corporate and tax issues and he is the author of a number of published articles on corporate and tax law topics. Mitchell is a member of the American, Illinois State, and Chicago Bar Associations. He has chaired the Tax Law Committee of the CBA’s Young Lawyers Division. Mr. Roth is also a member of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization, the President’s Resource Organization, the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and the Illinois Certified Public Accountants Society. Mitchell’s education includes a J.D. (with honors), and a B.S. (high honors) from the University of Illinois. He anticipates completion of his studies for an LL.M. in Taxation from DePaul University  in 2005.

Brian Wesbury - Brian is Chief Economist at Griffin, Kubik, Stephens & Thompson, Inc., a Chicago-based investment bank. The Wall Street Journal ranked him the nation’s #1 U.S. economic forecaster in 2001. The Chicago Tribune has called him “Chicago’s most prominent New Era Economist.”  He may be seen on Chicago’s Channel 11’s “Chicago Tonight” or heard on WBBM radio. His regular monthly column “The Outlook” appears in The American Spectator magazine. In addition, he is a contributor to the editorial page at the Wall Street Journal, and his comments and writing have appeared in Barron’s, Investor’s Business Daily, Forbes, and the U.S. News and World Report.  In 1995 and 1996, Wesbury served as Chief Economist for the Joint Economic Committee of Congress (JEC). While at the JEC, Wesbury advised members of Congress on economic issues relating to federal budget, tax, trade, and monetary policy. He has also worked as a Vice President and Economist for the Chicago Corporation, and as an Economist for Chicago’s Harris Bank. Brian’s academic background includes a M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Montana.

Community Commerce Strategy

Benn R. Konsynski – Benn is the George S. Craft Professor of Business Administration for Decision & Information Analysis at the Goizueta Business School. He was on the faculty at the Harvard Business School where he taught in the MBA program and several executive programs. He was a professor at the University of Arizona, where he was co-founder of  the university’s multi-million dollar group decision support laboratory. He was named Hewlett Fellow at the Carter Center in 1995.  Benn holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Purdue University. Professor Konsynski specializes in issues of digital commerce and information technology in relationships across organizations, involving domestic and international field work on inter-organizational systems, digital commerce, electronic data interchange (EDI), channel systems, electronic integration, information partnerships, and the electronic marketplace.  Benn is the author of “Information Systems and Decision Processes” and co-author of “Introduction to Computers.” He has been published the Harvard Business Review, MIS Quarterly, Journal of MIS, Data Communications, and Information Systems. Benn has served as a consultant on management and technology issues with many organizations including UPS, IBM, AT&T, Northern Trust, Texas Instruments, U.S. Army, Bestfoods/Unilever, Northwestern Mutual Life, Ernst and Young, Bank of Montreal, Plasti-line, J.C. Penney, Aetna, TESSCO, and Dillard’s Department Stores. He also serves on boards of directors and senior management advisor positions.

Bruce Marcus - Bruce has held a multitude of corporate financial and other management positions, and has a huge background in the credit card industry, including Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer for Visa International, where he formed Visa International by formulating all its features; including Board structure, budgets, staffing, initial priorities, and where he obtained membership commitments from 5,700 banks in 16 countries.  He spent many years at Unison Pacific Corporation,  an investment company holding interests in Chinese Joint Ventures and controlling interests in U.S. manufacturing companies, while providing China investment advisory services. While at Unison, he formed 38 Chinese joint ventures, he invested in 15 Chinese joint ventures, achieving a 35% IRR, purchased 2 U.S. manufacturing companies on a leveraged buyout basis and then revitalized them. In his storied career he was Director of Corporate Planning at Kaiser Aluminum Corporation; he was CFO and Planning Officer for e-Compare; and for Broadband Home, a provider of hardware for home entertainment networks, he held both the Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer positions during his tenure.  Bruce has a B.A. from Oberlin College he was a Rhodes Scholar with a M.A. in Economics from Oxford University.

Michael J. Soenen - Michael is the Chief Executive Officer of FTD and a member of the Company’s Board of Directors.  He has served in this capacity since May 2004 and in a variety of capacities over his seven years at the Company including:  President and Chief Operating Officer of FTD and President and Chief Executive Officer of FTD.COM.  During his tenure with FTD, revenue has more than doubled from $165 million to over $400 million while EBITDA has expanded four-fold from $15 million to over $60 million.  Mr. Soenen led the Company’s initial public offering in February of 2005. Mr. Soenen served as President and Chief Operating Officer for FTD where he was responsible for combining FTD.COM and FTD, Inc into one company and implemented a variety of sales, marketing and financial strategies which helped turnaround the Company’s florist segment while continuing the rapid growth of its consumer segment.  Through his efforts, the Company was sold in 2004 to yielding the investor original group a 12x return on their investment.  From August 1996 to December 1996, Mr. Soenen was an associate at Perry Corporation, a private equity investment firm.  From July 1993 to July 1996, Mr. Soenen worked for Salomon Brothers Inc, an investment banking firm, where he specialized in Mergers & Acquisitions.  Michael is a member of the Economic Club of Chicago and the Chicago Club.  He often guest lectures at the University of Chicago and Northwestern University and is an active tri-athlete using those efforts to raise money for the Lymphoma & Leukemia society.  Mr. Soenen received a B.A. from Kalamazoo College in 1992 and currently resides in Chicago, Illinois.

Roger Van Scoy - Roger is a 30 year veteran of the transaction processing industry with experience in card issuing, acquiring, processing and executive management.  In May, 2005 he took a role with Kanbay, Inc to lead the Global Banking Practice as the domain’s Managing Director.  Currently living in Europe, now for over six years, he has previously held positions with TSYS, the world’s number one processor of credit cards, as Managing Director, Europe and with First Data.  At FDC, he was Managing Director for their International card processing business after serving a year in Hong Kong as Managing Director Asia/Pacific.  Earlier in his career he held various positions in commercial and retail banking in Texas.  His career is replete with experience in business development, operations, marketing and M&A for companies such as First National Bank in Dallas, First USA and EDS.  At EDS he was the Operations Manager for the GM Card launch in the USA, the fastest growing new card product in the industry’s history (zero to two million accounts in two months).  With TSYS he managed the European business which included the RBS conversion from FDI to TSYS, 9 million accounts, 4 banks in two countries while establishing business operations and a data center in the UK and supporting other new business efforts.  Roger has extensive knowledge of the banking and card industries.

Richard G. Prendergast – Richard has over twenty years of senior and executive level sales experience.  He has held a wide range of domestic and international sales management positions with highly respected Fortune 500 companies.  He has also built successful sales channels with start up organizations.  Examples of his sales experience includes American Express corporate card division, Atlantic/Lucent Technology, First Source, an e-procurement ASP, EuroPoint International, NEC Unified Solutions, Siemens Business Services and most recently, Thomson Corporation.

His success in sales at American Express resulted in a promotion to the management team that launched a start-up business within the Corporation called “Corporate Services”.   Mr. Prendergast played a critical part in the development of this start-up, growing revenue to over $300 million within 5 years.  He was the first VP of Sales hired at Participate.com, an e-community provider. At Participate he designed and executed the sales strategy for Participate.com’s North America expansion.

Mr. Prendergast was recruited by Atlantic/Lucent Technology to lead a turn-around of the national sales organization that was not meeting revenue and market growth expectations, where his efforts resulted in growing the sales channel revenue by 350% in less than four years.  He also led other start-up sales organizations by launching the North American sales and business development for EuroPoint.  He developed and deployed the field sales force for Firstsource, an e- procurement platform focused on the middle-market. At NEC Unified Solutions, he was instrumental in driving change management where he reduced the cost of sale by 34% and grew new revenue 29% by launching a new solution-based services offering.