VENTURA COUNTY PEOPLE
Troika Networks in Westlake Village, a private company specializing in data storage and clustering for e-business, has appointed Peter D. Behrendt chairman of its board of directors.
Behrendt has 30 years’ experience in the high-technology industry, much of it in the storage field. He most recently was chairman, president and chief executive of Exabyte Corp. He serves on the boards of Western Digital, Exabyte, EMS, Nanomaterials Research, InFocus, SyVox and Connex.
While in charge of Exabyte, a storage backup company, Behrendt directed all aspects of the company’s development, from initial revenue to $360 million, said Alan Skidmore, Troika president and chief executive.
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Arthur R. Ekroos has been named president of CaminoSoft, a data storage company in Westlake Village.
Ekroos, who has 20 years of executive experience in the data communications industry, has a background in product development and marketing in both the hardware and software segments of the industry.
In his most recent position as vice president of business development, sales and marketing for San Diego-based Abacus America Inc., Ekroos increased software sales 800% and expanded the customer base from 65 to more than 600.
Ekroos is trained as an electrical engineer.
CaminoSoft also announced the creation of an advisory board.
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NetZero Inc. in Westlake Village, a provider of advertising- and commerce-financed Internet access, has expanded its national sales organization with the appointment of two senior sales executives and the planned addition of four regional sales offices.
The company named Tracee Kiner vice president of sales, East, and Bob Sherry vice president of sales, West. Both will report to Michael Mathieu, who has been promoted to vice president of national sales.
NetZero also announced the departure of Perri S. Procida, senior vice president of sales.
Kiner has spent 17 years in the advertising sales industry. She previously worked at APBNews.com, where she served as senior vice president of sales.
Sherry has more than 13 years of advertising experience. He previously worked at ValueClick, where he was senior vice president of sales.
Mathieu joined NetZero in May, having worked 15 years in sales and marketing with such organizations as AT&T;, CompuServe and Wang Laboratories.
During the next quarter, NetZero will open sales offices in Dallas, Seattle, Atlanta and Miami. It has offices in New York, Boston, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Toronto, San Francisco and Los Angeles.
NetZero offers consumers free access to the Internet and free e-mail in exchange for a willingness to view online advertising and share certain information with advertisers.
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Data Exchange Corp. in Camarillo has named Ron Nathanson president, replacing interim president Sheldon Malchicoff.
Malchicoff, the company’s chief executive and chairman of the board, will focus on the company’s e-based initiatives.
Data Exchange also announced the promotion of Lynn Robison to general manager of North American Operations, the addition of Steve Miller as vice president of finance, and the appointment of Ron Kula as vice president of business development and marketing.
Under the reorganization, Ray Curran will be vice president of quality assurance, and Maurice Regan will be general manager of European operations.
Nathanson joined Data Exchange in 1985, most recently serving as chief financial officer. Previously, he was a certified public accountant at Gibson and Hawes.
Data Exchange Corp. provides computer and software repair services to original equipment manufacturers, third-party maintenance organizations, value-added resellers and retailers.
