Management Team
Michael Wexler: Founder and President
Michael co-founded HiWired in spring of 2004, after an eight-year career in management and consulting for major consumer electronics companies and start-ups. While working with clients like Philips, Sharp, Panasonic and IBM, and as technology advisor to the Wexler family, Michael identified a need among consumers for brand-agnostic, personal digital technology support. From these observations, his vision for HiWired sprang.
Michael is an avid traveler and sailor. His accomplishments include leading a group of college friends on a sailing circumnavigation of the globe. Michael is a 1995 graduate of Dartmouth College.
Singu Srinivas: Founder and President
Singu co-founded HiWired following twelve years of leadership experience in consumer electronics, telecommunications and media, where he witnessed the pain and frustration felt by personal technology users who lacked convenient access to support. Prior to launching HiWired, Singu was a relationship partner leading the Services Strategy practice at IBM Business Consulting Services. While at IBM, Singu advised electronics clients like Philips, Kodak, Cisco and IBM. He also served as the director of strategy development for IBM Global Services, Big Blue’s $48B services arm. In addition, Singu’s background includes four years working with start-up technology and content companies in Europe.
A native New Yorker, Singu has adopted Boston as home, where he spends much of his leisure time restoring his family's 135-year-old, historic house. Singu is a 1996 MBA graduate of the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania. He also holds an MS degree in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Boston University.
Lorie Halloran: Vice President, Operations
The first management team hire, Lorie joined HiWired in the summer of 2004 after eight years at CompUSA/TelVista supporting its Dial-A-Tech technical support product. While at CompUSA/TelVista, Lorie managed the technical support operational center of over 300 and had full responsibility for the company’s profit and loss status. Her dedication to the HiWired mission is motivated by thousands of hours helping frustrated personal technology users during 15 years in technology support, customer service and operations management roles at consumer electronic, PC, networking and software companies. Lorie is a snow mobile enthusiast, and her accomplishments include a 166-mile trip around Moosehead Lake in Maine, complete with a marriage proposal. Lorie is a 1990 graduate of Belford University.
Troy Jackson: Vice President, Product Strategy and Management
Troy came to the HiWired management team from Bank of America, where he managed key customer segments for its credit card business. With more than nine years of consumer marketing experience, Troy has traveled the globe launching leading brands and delivering meaningful value to profitable customer segments. Prior to Bank of America, Troy worked in market research, marketing and brand management at Procter & Gamble, where he represented Crest Toothpaste and Cover Girl Cosmetics. Over the course of his career, he has managed more than 200 consumer research studies, developed and launched more than 25 global products, and managed segments with more than $300 million in revenue.
Troy has a life-long interest in leading-edge technology and cherishes the opportunity to turn HiWired into a global brand that you can't live without. While he used to spend most of his leisure time fixing up houses, playing sports and traveling, his attention is now focused on family life with two young kids at home. Troy holds a BS degree in Business Economics from Miami (OH) and is a 2003 MBA graduate of Harvard Business School.
Keith Michel: Director, Technology
Keith joined HiWired from Englishtown.com, where as lead developer and core software architect, he led a technology team that built the world’s largest online language school for consumers, businesses and governments. While at Englishtown, Keith helped the company grow from a small startup in 1998 to a global corporation with offices in 20 countries, dozens of high-profile partnerships with technology giants such as MSN and Yahoo and a user base of over 3 million. Keith’s 11 years of experience also includes work at the Boston Museum of Science, where he authored educational software and managed advance technology projects under a federal National Center for Technological Literacy grant. In addition to his executive role at HiWired, Keith is a musician and graduate of the Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science.
Abigail Maines: Senior Director, Business Development
Abigail came to HiWired from Dell Managed Services, where she managed global managed client deployments with the support of third party service providers. Prior to Dell, Abigail was director of business development for INSTALLS, Inc. At Install, she was responsible for initiating, developing and maintaining mutually profitable client relationships in the PC and consumer electronics service markets with companies such as Dell, Costco, Sony, CDW and RadioShack.
Abigail is a native of Buffalo, New York and now lives in Austin, Texas, where she enjoys the live music scene and absence of snow. She is a summa cum laude graduate of the State University of New York at Buffalo and holds an MBA in Corporate Finance.
Chris Hooven: Senior Director, Business Development
Chris brings a wealth of strategic partnership and business development experience to the HiWired management team. Prior to joining HiWired, Chris was director of strategic partnership development at Vistaprint.com. At Vistaprint.com, Chris drove partner acquisition for the company's new retail business initiative. He was also responsible for sourcing and managing online partnership programs with major companies including Monster, Microsoft and Deluxe Checks. Before Vistaprint, Chris was director of business development for OSTG.com, where he led all strategic partnership and content licensing programs for the company's network of IT websites. In addition, Chris brokered and managed key relationships with Yahoo Hot Jobs, Speakeasy, Microsoft, HP, IBM and EMC. Chris has also held a variety of sales and account management roles positions with VI Technology, Molex, Cognex and RVSI.
Chris spends most of his free time with his family and pursues his passion for golf, tennis and skiing, whenever he can. Chris graduated with a BS degree from the Arizona State University School of Engineering.
Rich Secor: Senior Vice President, Technology
Rich has a wide range of business and technology leadership experience including software engineering, hardware integration, e-commerce, Internet operations, direct marketing, fulfillment, customer service, fraud detection, and loss prevention. Most recently Rich was executive vice president and chief information officer at Colliers International, a global commercial real estate services company, where he led technology strategy and managed worldwide production operations. As EVP/CIO at SmartBargains, Inc., an online retail company, Rich led the engineering and infrastructure groups to revolutionize the company’s business model and create systems that scaled to process more than a million dollars a day in sales. Rich also was SVP/CIO at Excelligence Learning Corporation (formed by the 2001 merger of SmarterKids.com and Earlychildhood LLC) and was CIO at W.A. Wilde Company.
Originally from Wilmington, Delaware, Rich is a graduate of Colby College and has been in New England for 26 years.
Brigitte (Gitti) Crowley: Vice President, Marketing
Gitti Crowley is a passionate consumer marketer with 20 years experience launching and building major consumer and b-to-b brands. Gitti joins HiWired from Gillette/Proctor & Gamble where she held a variety of marketing leadership roles on the Gillette razor and Oral-B brands. Prior to Gillette, she worked in the NYC area as a Marketing Director at Madison Square Garden/Radio City and at Kraft/Nabisco as Sr. Brand Mgr. on Oreo, the company’s largest brand. She has been responsible for creating marketing strategies and programs to grow household staples like Honey Maid Grahams and Gillette razors, and conceiving and creating new products like Chocolate Creme Oreo and Oral-B Triumph, which both quickly became $100M+ businesses. In addition to her consumer products experience, she spent 6+ years in the technology sector at Banyan Systems and Dun & Bradstreet Software in various marketing roles.
Gitti holds a BA in International Affairs from the George Washington University and an MBA from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. She enjoys spending her free time golfing, running, cycling, traveling, and exploring Boston’s local art and restaurant scene with friends and family.
Paul Esdale: Vice President, Business Development
As VP of Business Development, Paul is responsible for establishing new business partnerships for HiWired. He brings more than twenty five years of business development and marketing experience from numerous Boston-based technology startups in various growth stages. Paul spent the first ten years in high tech with local computer companies, and then transitioned into the software business where he was a member of the executive management team at venture-backed companies including Apollo Computer, Advanced Visual Systems, Open Market, Upromise, Revenio and iPhrase Technologies. Paul has been responsible for creating strategic partnerships, establishing distribution channel strategies, licensing technology to third-parties, and leading several acquisitions.
A native Bostonian, Paul enjoys time with his family. He also sits on the Board of Trustees of Bellesini Academy, a wonderful school providing quality scholarship education to boys from limited financial means. (www.bellesiniacademy.org). Paul holds an MBA from Boston University, and a BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Massachusetts at Lowell.
Dean Breda: Vice President and General Counsel
Dean has extensive experience in providing legal services and advice to early stage and mature technology companies, both as inside and outside counsel. Prior to joining HiWired in February 2008, Dean was providing legal consulting services to a number of venture-backed technology startups. Previously, Dean was General Counsel of VistaPrint Limited (NASDAQ:VPRT), a leading online supplier of high-quality graphic design services and customized printed products to small businesses and consumers, and StorageNetworks, Inc. (NASDAQ:STOR), a provider of data storage services and software, working for both companies prior to and through their successful initial public offerings. Dean was also Senior Counsel at Oak Industries Inc. (NYSE:OAK), a provider of components to the telecommunications industry. Dean started his legal career at the Boston law firm of Testa, Hurwitz & Thibeault, where he was an associate in both the corporate and employment/ labor groups. Dean has a BBA in Management from the University of Massachusetts and a JD from the University of Connecticut.
Scott Dussault: Chief Financial Officer
As Chief Financial Officer, Scott Dussault is responsible for all the financial and administrative operations of the company. He brings more than 15 years of financial leadership experience and a track record of success to HiWired. Before joining HiWired, Scott was Chief Financial Officer at Archivas, Inc., a developer and distributor of an online storage management solution designed for long-term storage of fixed-content digital assets. Archivas was acquired by Hitachi Data Systems in February, 2007. Prior to Archivas, Dussault was Chief Financial Officer for Astra Tech, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Astra Zeneca and a distributor of medical devices. Before Astra Tech, Scott served as Chief Financial Officer of StorageNetworks (NASDAQ:STOR), where he was instrumental in growing it from a start up to revenues of $124 million in three years, plus building the infrastructure to support over 700 employees in 16 different cities. Scott began his career with Ernst & Young LLP, where he earned his CPA and was a manager in the Entrepreneurial Services and Audit Services areas.
Scott holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Business Administration/Accounting from Stonehill College. He is a CPA and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.