Business Advisory Board

Dr. Alf Andreassen

Dr. Andreassen is an information systems veteran with over 20 years of experience in government and private industry. In 1983, he joined Bell Laboratories, where he founded and became Director of the Command, Control, Communication and Intelligence Center. The Center developed complex, secure and robust communication and computing systems for defense and classified government clients. Subsequently, Dr. Andreassen became Command, Control, Communication and Intelligence Vice President for the AT&T Corporation. He then established the Information Systems organization, and brought to commercial customers the skills and techniques developed for the government. With the increasing need for systems integration and outsourcing skills for AT&T's commercial customers, Dr. Andreassen was appointed Client Services Vice President. He became a founder of the extremely successful professional service arm of AT&T, AT&T Solutions. Dr. Andreassen retired as managing partner of AT&T Solutions in 1998.

Prior to AT&T, Dr. Andreassen was Technical Advisor for Naval Warfare in the Office of the Chief of Naval Operations. He was responsible for a host of technical, policy, and intelligence issues facing the United States Navy. In 1982 and 1983, he simultaneously served in a dual assignment with the Science Advisor to The President of the United States. Prior to that, Dr. Andreassen directed the Systems Group in the Ballistic Missile Submarine Defense Program for the U.S. Navy.

Dr. Andreassen has served on the Board of Advisors for the National Security Agency (NSA) and on the Chief of Naval Operations Executive Panel. He has served on many corporate Boards of Directors, including Chairman of Circadence, an information technology company; MedHost and PrivaComp, medical information companies; ARBROS, a communication company; LMI, a custom manufacturing firm; and on the Board of Advisors of Xyterra, an advanced computing company. He has also served on numerous government sponsored Boards and Task Forces.

Dr. Andreassen received his Ph.D. in Physical Chemistry from Cornell University, and completed a postdoctoral fellowship in Materials Science at Cornell.

Stephen Beitler

Mr. Beitler is the Senior Managing Director at Dunrath Capital. Prior to 2001, Mr. Beitler has been a Managing Director and General Partner of Trident Capital, Inc., a private equity investment firm established in 1993, that invests in information technology and business services companies. The firm focuses on information-based companies in a range of markets, including financial services, healthcare, general business, and select consumer markets. Mr. Beitler joined the firm during Trident's third fund of $120 million, participated in the fourth fund of $350 million, which closed in October 1999, and the fifth fund of $750 million, which closed in February 2001. He is a director of the following private companies affiliated with Trident Capital: DealerSource, Inc., Questra, Inc. and Salon 123, Inc., and is a former director of ZoneTrader, Inc.

From 1993 to 1998, Mr. Beitler was Assistant Corporate Controller, National Manager of Operational Planning and Information, and Senior Director of Financial Processes and Systems at Sears, Roebuck and Co., where he played a key role in its 'turn-around'. He planned and implemented business re-engineering measures that contributed directly to a 200% increase in share price, revenue growth 2.5 times the retail industry average and improved expense leverage by 170 basis points. He also initiated and managed the first multi-dimensional multi-terabyte data warehouse, the world's largest PeopleSoft project, and one of the first terabyte relational data warehouses.

In 1993, Mr. Beitler completed his tenure, which began in 1989, at Helene Curtis, Inc., now a subsidiary of Unilever. As the Director of Strategy and Development, he was responsible for all facets of strategy, development, planning, and its enabling technology. His leadership assisted in tripling net sales and gaining a 20% market share in three of the personal care company's top six brands. He also managed a successful business refocusing that provided the basis for reconstructing the entire organization design.

Upon graduation from college, Mr. Beitler served in the United States Army as a Green Beret, achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel. For three years at the end of his military career, Mr. Beitler served as Military Assistant ('chief of staff') to the Under Secretary of Defense, where he managed ongoing operations of 850 professionals and a $179 billion budget.

Mr. Beitler is Secretary and a Director of the Illinois Venture Capital Association, a fellow and former director of the Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals, a fellow of the Inter-University Seminar on Armed Forces and Society, and a director of the United Way of Highland Park/Highwood. He was the founding chairman of the Conference Board Council on Competitive Analysis.

Mr. Beitler received his MS in Strategic Intelligence from the Joint Military Intelligence College, and holds a BA in International Relations and a Certificate of Asian Study from the School of International Service at The American University.

Vice Admiral Joe Dyer (US Navy, Ret.)

VADM Dyer is an Executive Vice President for I-Robot, an industrial and government robotics company. Prior to I-Robot, he served his entire career in the US Navy, where he last served as the Commander of the Naval Air Systems Command. He was responsible for research, development, test and evaluation, engineering, and logistics for naval aircraft, air launched weapons, and sensors. VADM Dyer's naval career included positions as naval aviation's Chief Engineer, Commander of the Naval Air Warfare Center, Aircraft Division, and F/A-18 Program Manager. Earlier in his career, he served as the Navy's Chief Test Pilot.

VADM Dyer is an elected fellow in the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and the National Academy of Public Administration. He chairs NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel.

VADM Dyer received his BS in Chemical Engineering from North Carolina State University, and MS in Finance from the Naval Post Graduate School, Monterey, CA.

Dr. William Schneider, Jr.

William Schneider, Jr. is a Washington based economist and defense analyst. He is President of International Planning Services, Inc., an international trade and finance advisory firm, and an Adjunct Fellow of the Hudson Institute. Following his service as a staff member at the Hudson Institute (1967-71), he served as U.S. Senate (1971-6) and US House of Representatives (1976-81) professional staff member. He subsequently served as the Associate Director for National Security and International Affairs at the Office of Management and Budget (1981-2) prior to being nominated as Under Secretary of State for Security Assistance, Science and Technology by President Reagan (1982-6).

Dr. Schneider's responsibilities in the Department of State included management and policy coordination of U.S. foreign economic and military assistance abroad, arms transfers, export controls, international telecommunications, and the supervision of U.S. science attaches posted at U.S. embassies abroad.

Subsequent to his government service, Dr. Schneider has served as an advisor to the U.S. government in several capacities. He served as Chairman of the President's General Advisory Committee on Arms Control and Disarmament from 1987 to 1993. He also served on several Presidential commissions and government advisory bodies in the fields of counter-terrorism, intelligence, foreign affairs, defense, and economic policy. He currently serves as Chairman of the Defense Science Board in the Department of Defense as well as the Department of State's Defense Trade Advisory Group. In addition, he serves in a consulting capacity to the U.S. Departments of Energy, Defense, and State.

He is the author of several works on defense policy including Why ABM? Policy Issues in the Missile Defense Controversy (Pergamon, 1969); Arms, Men, and Military Budgets (Transaction Press), an annual review of defense budget issues. He is also wrote Food, Foreign Policy, and Raw Material Cartels (Crane, Russak, 1976), a work on economic warfare. Dr. Schneider has also published numerous articles and monographs on defense and foreign policy, U.S. strategic forces, theater nuclear forces, and unconventional warfare.

Dr. Schneider received his Ph.D. degree from New York University in 1968. He is a member of the American Economic Association, the Council on Foreign Relations, the Econometric Society, and the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Christopher A. Williams

Mr. Williams is a Partner at Johnston & Associates, LLC, a Washington, DC-based consulting firm. He is responsible for providing strategic counsel to various American businesses. Mr. Williams currently serves on various U.S. Government boards and commissions, including the Department of Defense Policy Board (Vice Chairman); the National Nuclear Security Administration's Advisory Committee and the Senior Advisory Board on Radiological Dispersal Devices; and the Defense Threat Reduction Agency Advisory Committee. He also serves as consultant to the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and to the Potomac Institute for Policy Studies, as Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, and as a member of the Aspen Strategy Group.

Prior to joining Johnston & Associates, Mr. Williams served in senior staff positions in both the Legislative and Executive branches of government, and most recently in the administration of President George W. Bush. For the first months of the George W. Bush Administration, Mr. Williams served as Acting Under Secretary of Defense for Policy. In that position, he helped shape a broad range of Departmental and Administration policies and programs. In 2000, Mr. Williams served as a member of the Bush-Cheney Department of Defense Transition Team.

Prior to serving in President Bush's administration, Mr. Williams held a series of leadership, committee and professional staff positions in the United States Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives. These include: National Security Advisor to Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, Deputy Staff Director and Budget Director for the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and Professional Staff Member of the House Armed Services Committee.

Mr. Williams received his MA from Georgetown University in 1987, and his BA from the University of California at Los Angeles.