Management Team
Ian Widger
President and CEO
Prior to joining Encounter as President and CEO, Widger was AccessLine's Chief Executive Officer. At AccessLine, Widger repositioned the company, restructured its balance sheet and capital structure and attracted a success-oriented management team. Widger's expertise in telecommunications was gained over the previous fifteen years with companies ranging from Infonet Services Corporation to Sprint and Plessey Communications, Ltd., one of the two UK telecommunication giants. Among Widger's prior senior management responsibilities were serving as Sprint's President for Northern Europe, Infonet's Executive Vice President of Marketing and Global Strategies and Chairman of the Board of Infonet Software Solutions.
Bruce Frydenlund
COO
Bruce Frydenlund is the founder, COO and Chairman of the Board of Encounter Collaborative. Frydenlund's vision of the use of collaboration to enhance remote communications led him to develop significant enhancements to existing audio conferencing technologies and he was a pioneer in the web conferencing industry. Under his leadership, Envoy Icon developed an unparalleled Event Management business that was later sold to PlaceWare and eventually Microsoft. Encounter Collaborative continues to build upon Frydenlund's experience and vision for the collaboration industry to create an environment that places a premium on integrated conferencing services that are responsive to customer's needs and applications. He continues to be relied upon within the industry to provide direction for the integration of future technologies.
Ann Murphy
Vice President of Strategic Services
Ann is Vice President of Strategic Services with EventBuilder.com and is a 30+ year veteran of the high technology and collaborative industries. She has managed Sales, Technical Support, Product Information, Training, and Operations for technology firms ranging from Tektronix and Sequent Computer Systems to InFocus Systems. Prior to joining EventBuilder.com, Ann directed the Event Services Division of PlaceWare, Inc. which is now Microsoft Office Live Meeting™. Ann is a recognized expert in the area of virtual communications and has developed and delivered numerous training classes and seminars on Presenter Excellence and Best Practices within this field.
Steve Silves
Vice President of Software Development
As a 10 year veteran of the telecommunications and web conferencing industries, Steve Silves has been responsible for software development and design methodologies, database architectures and the development of online communication technologies. Steve has led the design, implementation and project management of emerging audio conferencing applications that are today considered to be the industry standard. Steve began his career as a software engineer with both Envoy Global and PlaceWare, Inc., which is now Microsoft Office Live Meeting™ and spent several years as Director of Software Development with Encounter Collaborative. As Vice President of Software Development, Steve oversees EventBuilder.com’s corporate software development processes, quality assurance program, and major system implementations.
Tim Oppel
Vice President of Product Marketing
As Vice President of Product Marketing, Tim Oppel is responsible for streamlining the delivery of EventBuilder.com’s products to create greater efficiencies for customers while also increasing customer satisfaction by providing products and features developed to meet the needs of all corporate communications. Tim began his career in sales with companies such as Winco Foods, Home Express and later with technology companies. Joining Visio Corporation in the role of Technical Sales, Oppel was able to combine his love of selling with technology. He also filled a Technical sales role in WebSentric, Inc. and began his career in online communications. In 2000, Oppel joined Encounter Collaborative, which is now EventBuilder.com, in sales but moved quickly into a role in Customer and Technical Support. In 2003, he transitioned to product management.