Business

Proven and award-winning SaaS leader, Todd Skokan, brings 25 years of experience and vision to the HR Tech and Construction Tech industries. With a strong track record of leading double- and triple-digit company growth, Todd excels at building successful teams.
Todd currently serves in several advisory capacities, including CEO and Founder of NPS Growth LLC, Sr Advisor for Next Level Ventures, and Sr Advisor for Truvise.ai.
Todd served as President and CEO of BirdDogHR, an Arcoro company, and Co-CEO of Arcoro. In his six years at BirdDogHR, Todd received several awards including Top 50 SaaS CEO of 2018 (The Software Report, 2018), 10 Best CEOs of 2018 (Industry Era Magazine), CEO of the Year (CEO Monthly) and was CEO as BirdDogHR was named to the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies for five consecutive years. Todd oversaw the acquisition of BirdDogHR by Providence Strategic Growth (PSG) and the transition to becoming an Arcoro company.
Prior to joining BirdDogHR, Todd held executive leadership positions in several fast-growth SaaS technology companies including Skillsoft, GeoLearning, Intelladon, Learn2, and ITC Learning.

Mr. Hain is a highly energetic and successful business leader with diverse experience driving profitable growth in challenging, competitive, and volatile customer markets. A key strength of his firm is the ability to allow clients to leverage existing investments in intellectual property, technology and channels of distribution into rapid, profitable, and sustainable growth in new or existing markets. Most clients are not yet in a position to invest heavily in the infrastructure required to fully engage an internal business development function. Gotham Growth functions as the clients’ Business/Corporate Development unit. In return, the client gets access to an accomplished senior executive able to quickly have an impact and drive results. The client also spends less time building and more time analyzing and closing opportunities.
Prior to Gotham Growth Group, Mr. Hain was the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of HR Technologies, Inc. – A venture backed human capital software and services company servicing vertical business markets to provide competency-based Talent Management Systems via the web, as well as through client server architecture. Mr. Hain doubled the revenue of HR Technologies during his 22 month assignment which ended in the fall of 2003 following the successful raise of additional capital through new investors.

Prior to HR Technologies, Inc. Mr. Hain was a founder and/or co-founder of several businesses and business units for global 1000 companies. In addition to founding and selling personal ventures, Mr. Hain also served in senior management, business development and sales capacities for several global 2000 companies including Veba Ag, Univar and Chemical Leaman, Inc. Mr. Hain played a key role in formalizing several business units, opening the Mexican market as well as growing a National Accounts program for the world’s largest chemical distributor following heavy M&A activity.

Mr. Hain’s sales, marketing and business development successes include strategic relationships with companies in the following Talent Management segments; LMS, Performance Management, HR/OD Consulting, Competency Management, Succession Planning, Recruiting, Training as well as extensive senior level contacts in the HRO and RPO sectors.

Additionally, Mr. Hain serves on several Boards of Directors and Boards of Advisers for private companies.

Human Resources Technology Sales Leader, Product Visionary & Growth Strategist
A veteran of Human Resources technology for over 20 years, Gordon has held senior executive roles at some of the HR technology industry’s leading vendors. Notably, he has provided strong leadership at the inflection point of HR tech’s most notable growth organizations. Most recently, with SuccessFactors (later acquired by SAP), assisting to move from a Performance & Goals leader into a Core HR and Talent platform leader, while providing leadership in North America and in Asia Pacific in Product Strategy and Sales. Gordon was also an early employee at Taleo (acquired by Oracle), joining in North America and part of the founding team of Taleo Asia Pacific. Prior to Taleo, Gordon was the first International hire at Monster and went on to advise Monster and its parent company, TMP on global partnerships, strategic sales and acquisitions. Zeilstra possesses a deep understanding of HR technologies and global practices and is passionate on emerging trends in this space.

Zeilstra has lived and worked throughout the US, Canada, Australia, Singapore, and holds directorships in organizations across Asia, Canada and the US. Gordon frequently speaks at a variety of events and conferences on topics such as The Future of Work, Innovation in Human Resources, Building the Workplace of the Future.

Currently based in Canada’s Technology Triangle (Waterloo, Ontario), Gordon holds degrees in Communications and Political Science from Trinity Western University, and has been a special advisor to the Prime Minister of Canada, a lobbyist on technology issues, a government appointed Economic Development Commissioner and also ran as Federal Candidate in the 2008 Canadian General Election.

As the CEO of Actionable Guru, LLC, Ed Cohen brings his career full circle. A pioneer and innovator in the education technology space, Ed Cohen was one of the first developers of computer-assisted learning software, helping companies to replace classroom training with highly effective, e-learning programs that shortened training cycles, enabled employees to be more productive, provided career development opportunities, and made team members safer on the job.

Today, Ed is working with executive leadership teams to define strategies and objectives for improving Human Capital Management, Learning & Performance Management, and Enterprise Software Development. In addition, he works with investors looking to capitalize on emerging technologies in the Talent Management and E-learning space to identify forward-thinking companies and evaluate product portfolios for investment potential.

In the early 1990s, Ed launched Sensory Computing, a developer of E-learning products that grew from zero to more than $1.5 million in annual revenue by its second year. Ed and his team developed a suite of tools used by companies to develop, track, and manage training courses and E-learning content online. Those tools became the foundation for Sensory Computing’s merger with Plateau Systems in 1998, where Ed became Chief Technology Officer. Plateau Systems was a leading Learning & Performance Management system used by large, global enterprises. The tools developed by Sensory Computing enabled Plateau to launch its product portfolio on the Web, giving companies the opportunity to deliver employee training in a variety of ways, from lectures to self-paced instruction.

Ed was a key player in Plateau’s growth to more than $70 million in annual revenue, positioning the company for acquisition by SuccessFactors in a deal valued at $290 million, the highest valuation ever paid in the Human Capital Management Space. Just five months later, SAP bought SuccessFactors for $3.6 billion or $40 per share, a 60% premium over the previous day’s trading and 11X the prior year’s revenue valuation. Ed remained with SAP as their Vice President of Product Management. In that role, he guided product development and continued to shape the industry as a recognized thought leader and keynote speaker at international conferences, seminars, panel discussions, and other symposia worldwide. Ed also served as the Chair of the Aviation Industry CBT Committee’s (AICC) Training Infrastructure Subcommittee and was the only software executive from outside the aviation industry to serve on that standards body.

Early in his career, Ed was Vice President of Content Development for IMSATT and before that worked as a Senior Programmer and Programmer for General Physics Corporation, ITC Learning, and Intercom Training.

Ed’s passion for programming and E-learning began in high school where, while too young to work for a paycheck, he programmed in exchange for hot dogs and milkshakes. He quickly became a sought-after “hired gun”, developing E-learning applications using technologies that evolved from a system called PLATO during the late 70’s to PC developed Computer Based Training (CBT). During the mid 80’s he worked on content using Interactive Video that allowed computer graphics to be overlaid on top of video. In the 90s, Ed’s development work migrated from DOS to Windows system tools. In the late 90’s the industry switched from desktop to client server technology and then to the web. The most recent transition has been to SaaS web-based architecture, today’s standard for enterprise software.

Bill Young is Founder and Managing Partner of Cerus Partners, a management consultancy that works with middle/lower-middle market firms to help optimize opportunities for growth by applying the Cerus Partners Flexible Resource ModelTM; deploying leverage-able technology, tools and data; and utilizing practical and efficient processes and methods. CP has a wide range of industry experience including: technology, clean tech, business services, ADG, financial services, and specialty materials.

Leveraging his 20+ year track-record of success that includes an impressively diverse background, Mr. Young has the ability to relate to his partners and clients from a pragmatic viewpoint, utilizing both proven models and techniques while at the same time, employing a heuristic approach to problem-solving and business development.

At the apex of a highly-successful, award-winning B to B sales career, which included training, management and leadership, Bill chose to follow his vision and founded QaAssociates, a quality assurance solutions company focused on Fortune 500 organizations, with mission-critical applications and systems. Within 5 years he built it into a high-achieving, globally recognized organization with over 115 employees; developed a proprietary quality assurance framework, the Progressive V-ModelTM; and then sold it to one of the largest privately-held companies in the world. The newly-acquired company scaled to 3x revenue within a year of acquisition. Once Bill successfully transitioned the organization, he was retained as VP Strategy, Global Services Division, where he helped strengthen several operating units’ value proposition.

Just prior to starting Cerus Partners, Bill founded Neos Ventures, an early-stage investment platform, focused on investing in innovative technology solutions. Also, he led the acquisition of Paradise Seafood & Gourmet Market, where he is an active share-holder; since acquisition, sales and EBITDA have sustained an average of double-digit annual growth.

Mr. Young is on the Executive Committee of China Partnership of Greater Philadelphia (CPGP), which helps a variety of world-class organizations in the U.S., at both the regional and national‐levels, convert on globally significant opportunities in the China market.

Bill is an Entrepreneurship Adjunct at Villanova University Business School, and is an Associate of the Innovation, Creativity and Entrepreneurship (ICE) Center. He is an active member of the Business Leaders Network (BLN) and the Union League of Philadelphia.

Peter Walts is the founder and CEO of Centropy Group, a new business catalyst and consulting firm focused on creating new value and client momentum through business development, strategic alliances, licensing, and transactions. The firm has industry experience spanning broad sectors such as: publishing, direct marketing, e-commerce, identity fraud/security, software development, retail and franchise development.

Peter is a highly energetic and successful business leader with diverse experience driving profitable growth in challenging, competitive and often volatile customer markets. A signature strength of his is the unique ability to assist clients in combining diverse assets and intellectual property into a coherent whole and then assuming the role of sales evangelist on their behalf for the resulting creation.

Prior to Centropy Group, Peter was the CEO of OfficeSupplies.com, a venture backed e-commerce company servicing vertical business markets to provide office products and services via the web, catalogs and a natural team of reps and distributors. Peter sold OfficeSupplies.com to Office Depot in late 2000.

Prior to OfficeSupplies.com, Peter was a co-founder of Successories, Inc. the worldwide leader in personal and professional development products. Peter played a key role in growing the business from its inception in 1990 to over $50 million dollars prior to his departure in 1999. As president of the company’s retail division, Peter was instrumental in launching the company’s franchise and corporate store rollouts, which quickly expanded to over 80 locations in the US, Canada, and Australia. As Senior Vice President of Business Development, he was responsible for implementing the company’s licensing campaign, which included branded initiatives with Office Depot, Office Max, Viking Office Products and BT/Corporate Express. In addition, Peter established elaborate strategic relationships with Franklin Covey, Sky Mall, Borders/Waldenbooks and Target Stores. His leadership also brought Successories into new international markets such as Canada, Australia, United Kingdom, Sweden, Singapore, South Africa and the Netherlands.