Dan Shapiro, CEO

Prior to founding Ontela, Dan managed development of the RealArcade service at RealNetworks, enabling thousands of end-users to play classic games such as Monopoly, Scrabble and Rollercoaster Tycoon on their desktops. He arrived at RealNetworks by way of Wildseed, where he managed software development for the Identity Cellular Phone, from the modem to the Linux platform to the user interface. Dan started his career at Microsoft, where he was responsible for Windows XP user interface components, the critically acclaimed Windows PowerToys, Windows 2000 Storage Management, and consumer storage in Windows 98. He received a B.S. in Engineering from Harvey Mudd College. Dan loves unusual cuisines and blogs about his woodworking foibles at www.nothingseveredyet.com.

Charles Zapata, Architect

Before founding Ontela, Charles spent seven years as a developer at Expedia, the premier travel web site. As part of the flight search engine team, Charles contributed to the core server technology supplying real-time, high-availability flight pricings and routings. Later, as a member of the customer analytics team, Charles lead a development team which designed and implemented several systems for real time testing, forecasting and other large-scale, complex numerical tasks. Charles graduated from UCLA in 1992 with a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering. Charles began his programming career at an early age (eight years old), when he parlayed his love for his favorite game, Mad Libs, into a computerized model that made the pen-and-paper version obsolete. Charles single handedly keeps several local coffee shops in business with his latte orders, and somehow makes time for the occasional video game in between marathon coding sessions.

Brian Schultz, COO

Prior to co-founding Ontela, Brian was part of the founding team of Djinnisys Corporation (now Plectix Biosystems), where he led business development, planning and operations. Before Djinnisys, Brian spent five years in various positions at Microsoft, most recently focused on Security Business Unit IP Strategy, and led the strategy, planning and acquisition efforts for Microsoft’s entry into antivirus technologies. Prior to his experience with the SBU, Brian worked in the Microsoft Corporate Development & Strategy Group, focusing on Infrastructure technologies and international M&A, where he was instrumental in the creation of the several new business units, as well as the execution of joint ventures, acquisitions and investments. Before Microsoft, Brian was an investment banker with Lehman Brothers’ Global Technology practice in New York, where he worked with technology companies advising them on mergers & acquisitions and public & private offerings. In his “spare” time, Brian keeps busy with travels, hiking, photography and music.

Charlie Butt, VP North American Carrier Sales

Charlie is a specialist in developing hosted wireless solutions and guiding carriers through the sales, implementation and management process. He previously held several leadership positions at InfoSpace, Inc. As one of the founding team members of Infospace Mobile, he was responsible for developing Tier 1 and Tier 2 carrier relationships while selling, implementing and managing commercial-grade, white-labeled portal solutions. Previous to Infospace Charlie worked as a consultant providing overall project quality assurance on several large-scale technology projects for Washington State and prior to that worked for Dun and Bradstreet as an analyst. Charlie holds an MBA from the University of Washington and a BA from Middlebury College. If Charlie isn't answering his mobile phone chances are he's playing ice hockey or one of his two boys have stolen his phone and are playing games.

Mike Arcuri, VP Product Management

Mike brings a wealth of product management experience in designing useful and usable software that “just works” for millions of end users. Before joining Ontela, Mike held several Group Program Manager positions leading the creation of new versions of client applications, server applications and shared components within the Microsoft Office system.  Past products include the first version of SharePoint, FrontPage XP, Outlook 2003, Excel 2007 and Excel Services 2007.  Before his tenure at Microsoft, Mike worked as a programmer/analyst at Goldman, Sachs, & Co building and supporting market data and order management systems for the listed equities traders and institutional sales teams. Mike has a B.S. in Computer Science from the Engineering College at Cornell University, where he also did a concentration in cognitive science and graduate work in computer graphics. Mike enjoys reading, writing, art, photography, skiing, hiking, travel and being a dad, and is currently trying to learn Spanish and Hobie Cat sailing on the side.