Management
Chief Executive Officer - Jesse Berger
Jesse has been Chief Executive Officer since August 2007. Prior to holding the CEO position, Jesse was the Chief Financial Officer and Chairman of our Board of Directors since December 2002. Along with our President, Jared Robinson, Jesse developed a business plan for Navicus that provides complete screening solutions for medium and large sized companies, including drug testing and background checks. From 2000 through July 2002, Jesse was Channel Sales Manager for a software development company for in the telecommunications industry. From February 1998 through January 2000, Jesse owned and was Vice President of First United Financial, Inc., a brokerage firm in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Jesse has a BA in Finance from American University, Washington, D.C. and a Juris Doctorate from Nova Southeastern University.
President - Jared Robinson
Jared has been President and a member of our Board of Directors since December 2002. From August 2001 until December 2002, Jared formed and operated his own company, Alltests Florida, Inc., which marketed and sold point of care diagnostic testing devices to drug rehabilitation facilities throughout the country. From July 2000 to August 2001 Jared was a national sales consultant for Apps NJ, Inc., a company that provided drug and alcohol tests, DNA testing, and a point of care cholesterol screener. From April 1996 to March 2000, Jared worked at Green's RX, Inc., which was the leading provider of pharmaceuticals to the assisted living communities in Palm Beach County, Florida, where he was responsible for sales and marketing, and was integral in the operations of the company.
Executive Vice President - Kevin Rutherford
Kevin Rutherford joined Navicus in January of 2004. Rutherford has been instrumental in building a strong reputation for Navicus. He is recognized as a leading innovator in integrated talent management solutions that electronically manage employee lifecycle transactions. Kevin brings more than 25 years of human resources leadership in organizations undergoing tremendous growth. Rutherford held the position of SVP-Human Resources at Garden Ridge Corporation, a privately held, big box retailer of home décor and crafts located throughout the southeast. While there, he developed cutting-edge recruiting and people development systems that were profiled by Recruiting Strategist and The Corporate Leadership Council. Before joining Garden Ridge, he served as the SVP-Human Resources for Michaels Arts & Crafts. Rutherford was also with Borders Group Inc. from 1994-1997, serving as VP-Human Resources for the Waldenbooks division and then as VP-Corporate Human Resources for all of Borders Group Inc. entities. His team helped drive the cultural and performance changes necessary to launch one of the most successful specialty retail IPOs of the 90s. While VP-Human Resources for FootAction USA, the athletic footwear retailer experienced explosive growth going from 125 stores to over 450 stores in four years. Earlier in his career, Kevin held progressively responsible positions in recruiting, training and compensation with The Limited, Inc., May Department Stores Company and the U.S. Air Force. Mr. Rutherford holds national certifications as a Professional in Human Resources, Certified Compensation Professional, Human Capital Strategist, and Certified Professional Career Coach. He has completed the University of Michigan Advanced Human Resources Executive Program, Cornell University's International Human Resources curriculum and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a BS in Health Care Management from Park College. Rutherford serves on several human capital Advisory Boards and is an instructor and expert advisor on ROI in Human Capital Management for the Human Capital Institute, an international non-profit think tank and educator in talent management strategies.
Board Member - Craig Stewart
Craig T. Stewart joined NAVICUS™ board of directors in February of 2007. Mr. Stewart is the founder and Principal of North Coast Advisors, Inc (NCA). NCA is a research based corporate finance and corporate development consulting practice. Mr. Stewart has 20 years experience in the financial markets and has worked with both private and public companies to help them refine and execute their business plan, manage their growth and obtain funding. From 1983 until 1991, Mr. Stewart had held his retail securities license, and worked in the brokerage industry where he was a top producer as well as a branch manager for what was H. J. Meyers Inc. in Rochester N.Y. Mr. Stewart has been successful in assisting issuers affect over $100 million dollars worth of transactions for financing, or buy side advisory for mergers and or acquisitions, including a recent focus on "PIPE" funding for emerging public issuers. Mr. Stewart has also founded several consulting partnerships, and successfully funded several start up companies since leaving the broker dealer segment of the industry. His work has included several related financial services companies, consolidation companies where acquisitions of related businesses created "platform" companies. Mr. Stewart has material experience in consumer product companies, specialty retail, life sciences and software related businesses.
Chief Information Officer - Kirk Watts
Kirk Watts has been Chief Information Officer of NAVICUS since August 2006. Mr. Watts oversees all IT infrastructure and software development for Alliant. Mr. Watts is a seasoned veteran of 20 years in the software development and management field. Previously, Mr. Watts worked at Victory Wholesale Grocers where he helped in the IT transformation of the company by developing proprietary software enabling the company to handle the distribution of $1 billion dollars of goods a year.
VP of Accounting - Liz Sultan
Liz Sultan is our VP of Accounting since January 2006. Ms. Sultan most recently served as Director of Finance for New York-based Starchefs, Inc, an online magazine, serving the foodservice industry. Prior to that, she served as the COO for Eurovest Manager, a financial management firm located in New York. Ms. Sultan holds a Bachelor''s degree in Accounting from the University of Maryland and has been a Certified Public Accountant since 1992.
