Karl Hirsch
President & CEO
Karl Hirsch was appointed president and chief executive officer of Protexis Inc. in July 2004, after serving as the company's chairman since June 2003. Mr. Hirsch oversees all aspects of Protexis' business and defines the strategy for the company.
Mr. Hirsch is a seasoned leader in the industry, with 18 years of senior management experience at software and Internet technology companies. As a pioneer in the fields of digital rights management (DRM) and electronic software distribution (ESD), Mr. Hirsch founded two Internet technology companies: OneChannel, an analytics software company, and Preview Systems, a publicly held DRM and electronic licensing company. In 1994, Mr. Hirsch developed one of the earliest copy protection and trial-enabling DRM technologies for software, called TimeLOCK. TimeLOCK became the founding technology for Preview Systems that led to a cutting-edge technology platform for DRM and electronic distribution of software and music.
Previously, Mr. Hirsch acted as the software industry's leading spokesman on ESD and digital rights, and helped to establish some of the early standards in the space. From 1997 through 1999, Mr. Hirsch served as chairman and Internet Division board member of the Software Information and Industry Association (SIIA). He also participated in the Computer Trade Industry Association (CompTIA) Internet Committee on Electronic Software Distribution, and contributed as an architect partner to the RosettaNet E-com Initiative led by Ingram Micro.
Mr. Hirsch has published several articles on digital rights, electronic commerce and Web-based analytics, and he is a frequent guest speaker on digital rights, e-commerce technology and early-stage company growth.
Mr. Hirsch holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Los Angeles.
Ken Brown
CTO & Vice President Engineering
Ken Brown joined Protexis in 2006, and has over 20 years experience in the technology industry, with eight years spent in the DRM, electronic software distribution (ESD) and e-commerce spaces. He is responsible for leading our engineering team and for the effective execution of the Protexis technology agenda.
Mr. Brown was one of the original authors and architects of the first digital packaging system for secure content delivery called "Ziplock" from Portland Software. Portland Software later merged with Preview Software to become Preview Systems, a pioneer in ESD, where Mr. Brown later led the engineering team and was directly involved with the integration of Preview's technology at large resellers and distributors.
He also co-founded Carrier Services Inc. (since renamed to Vesta, Inc) and assumed the CTO role. Mr. Brown was instrumental in designing the architecture to support the rapid growth of the company in prepaid telecommunications, credit card processing and fraud controls.
He holds a Bachelor of Applied Mathematics from the University of California Berkeley.
Glen R. Haley
Senior Director Sales
Glen R. Haley joined Protexis in February 2002 to develop sales structure, build customer relationships and acquire new business. Mr. Haley has an extensive 20 year sales and sales management career, having held key roles with industry-leading high technology sales organizations such as Xerox Canada, Memorex Telex and IKON Technology Services.
With a diverse career spanning small and medium business sales in the early days of the PC to the closing of multi-million dollar equipment, software and professional service agreements, Mr. Haley is focused on results while being committed to building long-term, quality business partnerships. As General Manager with both an internet start-up and a niche GIS data translation software company, Mr. Haley has been instrumental in establishing regional offices, building sales teams and mentoring staff.
He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Alberta (Edmonton) and a Marketing diploma from the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology.
Board of Directors
Karl Hirsch
President & CEO
Andrew Pinkerton
GrowthWorks Ltd.
Andrew Pinkerton is an Investment Manager at GrowthWorks Capital focusing on information technology investments. Prior to joining the company in May 2003, Andrew worked in the Institutional Equity Research Groups at Credit Suisse First Boston Technology Group, Deutsche Bank Technology Group and PaineWebber Technology Group in San Francisco, California. Andrew has also worked in the Investment Banking Division of Alex, Brown & Sons in Boston, Massachusetts. Andrew also serves on the Board of Directors for Activplant Corporation, Camilion Solutions, Covarity Inc., CVD Diamond, eJust Systems and Terago (TSX: TGO) Networks. Andrew graduated Cum Laude from Harvard College and also holds an MBA from the Rotman School of Business at the University of Toronto.
Bob Paterson
Trudell Medical Ltd.
Bob Paterson is VP and CFO for the Trudell Medical Group of Companies. He is responsible for all financial activities within the Trudell Group including M&A, Investments, Risk Management, Information Technology and Human Resources. Prior to joining Trudell in 1996, Mr. Paterson was the Corporate Controller for McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Limited. He has also held CFO positions in the construction/development industry and for over 11 years, was the CFO for one of the largest agri/food processors in Canada. He has sat on a number of private corporate boards and boards within the community and presently sits on the world-renowned Lawson Health Research Institute board and Kings College board at the University of Western Ontario. Trudell is also a member of boards for a number of companies in which he has invested. Mr. Paterson holds a Bachelor of Arts in mathematics from the University of Western Ontario and is a Chartered Accountant.
