Leadership
Mark Hull - CEO
While CEO of Velocita Wireless, Mark Hull executed the vision to create a company with a focus on building wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) and messaging solutions for businesses and government by acquiring SkyTel in June, 2008. These two pioneering companies were merged into one entity, now known as SkyTel, where Mark is the CEO and also serves on its Board. Velocita was formerly a subsidiary of Sprint Nextel Corporation, where Mark served as its Vice President and General Manager from February, 2006 when it was purchased by Sprint Nextel, until it was sold in June, 2007.
Prior to Velocita, Mark spent 13 years at Sprint Nextel. In 2000, he led the launch of a new business called Converged Network Solutions (CNS). Mark's team designed, sold, installed and supported custom in-building and campus-based wireless networks and applications for both commercial and public sector customers, resulting in the creation of a highly profitable, significant business unit for Sprint Nextel.
Mark also served as Vice President of Analog Services where he managed sales, network operations, care and billing for Nextel's nationwide Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) business from 1993 to 2000. Mark's team integrated Nextel's acquired companies' operations (including antenna sites, care and billing) during Nextel's significant growth phase, migrated the subscribers from its analog networks to its new digital iDEN network, and then dismantled the national analog network. This experience honed Mark's operational expertise in managing wireless operations and technology migration.
Prior to Sprint Nextel, Mark spent 5 years as Vice President and General Manager of Advanced Radio, another SMR network operator, where he had responsibility for sales, network operations, care, billing, and finance which resulted in the company's high valuation and profitable sale.
A seasoned expert in wireless telecommunications, Mark began his career in 1985 with Motorola where he spent 3 years designing, selling and implementing industrial radio communications systems for commercial customers. Mark currently serves on the board of the Enterprise Wireless Alliance (EWA), an organization dedicated to assisting businesses, dealers, service providers and technology manufacturers in the deployment of wireless communications solutions that promote corporate productivity and business results. He also serves on the board of the American Association of Paging Carriers (AAPC), the largest national association dedicated to representing and advancing the paging industry.
Eric Eife - COO
Noting that there were few companies to serve the M2M market, Eric Eife conceived the strategic vision to repurpose the Velocita Wireless network and co-engineered Velocita's acquisition of SkyTel to create the merged company now known as SkyTel. Eric is the COO and also serves on the company's Board. Eric is a veteran of 15+ years in the wireless telecommunications industry. Prior to Velocita, Eric served as the Vice President of Operations at Sprint Nextel Company.
Prior to serving as the VP of Operations, Eric headed the Nationwide Sales organization for Sprint Nextel's Converged Network Solutions group, which he co-founded with Mr. Hull in 2000. Here, he developed customized solutions and reorganized the process by which network assets were deployed to benefit customers and meet their capacity, coverage, accounting, and service needs quickly and efficiently. Together, they redefined the approach to implementing in-building and on-campus wireless solutions and ultimately developed a highly profitable, significant business unit for Sprint Nextel.
As General Manager of the Analog Services division, Eric was responsible for all aspects of the day-to-day business including the overall management and migration from traditional 2-way communications to Nextel's IDEN network. He also served as Director of Field Services for Nextel Analog Services, where he integrated and decommissioned over 4000 SMR sites throughout the United States.
Eric's expertise in negotiation and cost containment and his ability to repurpose assets are key drivers to his success in managing operations, mergers and acquisitions.
David Bornmann - VP, Marketing & Product Development
Dave joined the executive team in June, 2008 and currently serves as the Vice President of Marketing and Product Development. In this role, Dave is responsible for relaunching SkyTel's branding strategy and developing the products and services needed to position SkyTel as the leading provider of M2M solutions for businesses.
Prior to joining SkyTel, Dave served as the Director of Operations at Sprint Nextel where he developed the go-to-market strategy for the launch of its in-building product line. Dave established all of the sales and operational processes and mobilized cross functional teams across various departments to ensure the success of the Custom Network Solutions (CNS) group, resulting in hundreds of millions of dollars in recurring revenue.
No stranger to the telecommunications industry, Dave served as the Vice President of Marketing at eLink Communications, Inc. and @Link Communications, both of which provided broadband communications solutions to businesses, where he supported revenue generation through brand management, field marketing, profitability analysis, product development, messaging, product packaging and positioning, collateral, sales materials, PR, direct marketing, lead generation, website and online marketing. Dave also held senior level marketing positions at SkyTel Corporation and Cellular One / SBC Communications.
While earning his MBA from the J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University, Dave worked at Andersen Consulting and Pansophic Systems where he refined his marketing research and analysis skills.
Henry Popplewell - VP, Sales
Henry is an accomplished Senior Sales Executive with a proven track record of driving strong revenue growth and improving customer loyalty. Before joining SkyTel, Henry put his highly successful sales and operations experience to work in technology startups, high growth and Fortune 250 Corporations across multiple industries including: Wireless Telecommunications/ Applications, Broadband/VoIP, Software as a Service (SaaS), Internet/e-commerce, Logistics/ Supply Chain, and Transportation.
Prior to SkyTel, Henry served as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Aptela, Inc., a leader in delivering Hosted Telecommunications solutions to small- and medium-sized businesses and an innovator in deploying communications solutions utilizing a SaaS model. Here, Henry created the sales, marketing and channel distribution strategies that continue to drive the company's rapid growth.
As the Vice-President of National Account Sales at Nextel, Henry conceived and built the first vertical industry sales model in wireless communications. This method changed the wireless industry and has since been adopted by most other national wireless competitors. Prior to his tenure at Nextel, Henry spent over 20 years with Ryder Systems Inc. where he progressed in various sales leadership positions leading to his tenure as Vice President of National Sales where he was responsible for customer retention and revenue generation.
Henry is an innovative strategist with talent for recognizing market opportunities, crafting strategic visions, building organizational commitment, and executing on objectives that result in revenue growth.
Nadia Sa'd Mulaire - VP, Business Development
Nadia currently serves as Vice President, Business Development. In this role, she is responsible for establishing strategic business relationships that will enable SkyTel to build new sources of revenue and enhance its position as a leading provider of wireless machine-to-machine (M2M) and messaging solutions for businesses and government.
Prior to joining SkyTel, Nadia spent nearly two years at TerreStar Networks where she spearheaded pre-launch commercial business development efforts for the next generation satellite communications startup and successfully positioned TerreStar as an emerging network provider in the M2M marketplace. She was responsible for wholesale partner development and strategic alliances across multiple segments and for executing joint development agreements to enable pre-subscription of the integrated satellite and terrestrial network.
Nadia began her wireless career in 1995 at Nextel where the majority of her 10-year tenure was in corporate sales and sales management. She successfully developed and grew Fortune 500 accounts, established and managed corporate sales teams and generated consistent revenue growth. She developed and hosted innovative technology forums to drive awareness and growth in key accounts and led performance enablement initiatives to identify and implement best practices that enhanced sales team productivity across the organization. From 2002 through 2005, Nadia served consecutively as Senior Director, Public Safety Strategy and Converged Network Solutions (CNS). There, she spearheaded efforts to craft innovative approaches for developing public/private partnerships with public safety agencies. She developed and implemented strategies that successfully positioned CNS as a premier offering and key solution selling tool, resulting in enhanced revenue and retention in this highly successful business unit.
An accomplished wireless sales and business development executive, Nadia holds a BA from Georgetown University.
Eric Ellis - VP, Network & Operations
Eric utilizes his extensive experience in wireless telecommunications as SkyTel's Vice President, Network & Operations where he focuses on the people, processes and tools needed to efficiently manage the National Operations Center (NOC), the Field Engineering and Site Operations staffs and outside vendors.
Eric joined SkyTel from Sprint Nextel Corporation where he was the National Director of Service Delivery for the Converged Network Solutions group, responsible for leading and training a team of sales engineers and project managers who designed, deployed and maintained in-building wireless and wireline solutions to Fortune100 companies. In partnership with the National Engineering organization, Eric and his team were able to shorten the implementation timeframe for those solutions by over 60% in two years. As a result, Sprint enjoyed increased revenue and the lowest churn in the industry. Prior to the merger of Sprint and Nextel, Eric held various positions at Nextel including Director of North Region Deployment for the Custom Network Solutions group and Technical Project Manager for the Engineering Sales Support team. In these roles, Eric served as the liaison between Engineering, Sales and Senior Management to ensure all systems were appropriately designed and deployed on time and on budget.
Throughout his career in wireless telecommunications, Eric has honed his operations and project management skills by overseeing zoning, construction, environmental assessment studies, radio testing, site selection, lease negotiation and budget management.
Eric holds a B.A. in Communications from Campbell University and has completed the Rutgers Advanced Management Program and the University of Maryland School of Business & Nextel Communications Corporation Maximum Impact Management Program. He is currently a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI).