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MARK PETROFF |
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MARK
PETER PETROFF
Mark Petroff, 49, is a proven Entrepreneur who has built two
start-ups into worldwide market leaders in their respective
fields. Petroff is a “business builder” with more than 25 years
of successful CEO/CFO/COO global experience in high technology
operating in both the Commercial and Defense sectors.
Petroff has worked in a variety of industries including:
wireless communications, remote data acquisition and control,
semiconductors, sensor networks, radar systems,
government/defense contracting, and environmental monitoring.
Currently, he is Managing Director of the Magna Vista Group, a
management consulting firm, and serves on a number of boards of
both private and non-profit organizations.
In 1975 Petroff, his brothers and their NASA rocket scientist
father, co-founded ADS Environmental Services, a sensor
monitoring and networking company in the pollution monitoring
market. ADS developed the industry’s, and perhaps the world’s,
first digital data logger in 1975. It was one of the very first
companies to field commercial products that incorporated dynamic
memory (Intel’s 4Kx1 DRAM in 1975), CMOS microprocessors (RCA
1802 in 1978), POTS modems (1979) and DSPs (TMS 320C25 in 1987).
As COO and CEO, Petroff helped grow ADS from the Petroff family
garage to the worldwide market leader with 55 offices in 5
continents and 12 countries. Overseas offices were founded in
Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Singapore and South
America. ADS was internally financed with no outside venture
capital funding. In 1989, ADS sold controlling interest to Axel
Johnson A.B., a very large privately held company based in
Sweden, and Petroff was retained for an initial three-year
management agreement. In 1992 ADS was named Axel Johnson Inc.,
“Company of the Year”, and Petroff was asked to remain for an
additional three years.
From 1990 to 1995, Petroff was responsible for directing all the
International Operations of the Company, which ultimately
included 12 foreign subsidiaries. In 1991, Petroff moved to
Sydney, Australia with his family to start the Company’s first
foreign subsidiary which generated the largest profits in the
company’s history. He relocated to Frankfurt/Wiesbaden, Germany
in 1992 to direct European expansion and returned to the US in
1994.
ADS is a fully vertically integrated technology services company
with patented sensor and hardware design, manufacturing, data
acquisition, telemetry, professional engineering services, an
inside sales force, and the industry’s largest patent portfolio.
In its 30 year history, ADS has generated over one billion
dollars in worldwide revenue. Independent estimates show that
ADS saved its municipal customers in excess of $20 billion in
water and wastewater infrastructure improvement costs.
Petroff’s strategy after completing his tenure at ADS in 1995
was to become a “mentor capitalist” to technology start-ups by
providing promising companies with the executive perspective,
business skills, and contacts to reach their goals. In late
1996, Petroff became Chief Operating Officer (COO) in Time
Domain, Inc., a start-up focused on the emerging ultra-wideband
technology (UWB) communications and systems industry.
While COO at Time Domain, Petroff was responsible for managing
both operational and administrative units of the company. He
successfully raised over $100 million in venture capital and
private equity sources from US and international investors
(Canada, Japan, Singapore, Korea, UK and Germany). Significant
business obstacles were overcome during his tenure including
resolving a patent dispute with Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory, obtaining U.S. FCC approval, technology and product
development, and scientific/industry skepticism. FCC approval
was obtained in 2002 and commercialization began immediately. A
multi-billion dollar mass market opportunity in ultra high-speed
(480 megabits/sec) wireless Personal Area Networks (PAN) was
identified, developed, and then licensed in 2003. Industry
analysts currently predict that the world-wide UWB market will
grow to $10 billion dollars within 10 years including both the
Defense and commercial markets.
Time Domain’s Board of Advisors included: renowned Silicon
Valley venture capitalist, Heidi Roizen, Mobius Venture
Capital’s Managing Director; General Wesley Clark, former NATO
Commander and US Presidential candidate; and Hamilton Jordan,
former White House Chief of Staff to President Carter. Time
Domain reached cash flow breakeven in 2004, and Petroff stepped
down as COO.
Petroff is currently a partner in the Magna Vista Group, a
management consulting firm that he co-founded. Magna Vista Group
provides strategic planning, corporate communications,
marketing, and general management consulting to small and
mid-sized firms.
Petroff was born in Goose Bay, Labrador, Canada, lived in
Saigon, Vietnam and Melbourne, Florida. His family moved to
Huntsville, Alabama in 1963. He graduated from Huntsville High
School in 1974 with highest honors. After attending two years at
Cornell University in Ithaca, Petroff transferred to Stanford
University in Palo Alto, California where he graduated in 1980
with a Bachelor Degree in Economics. He also completed almost a
half of a masters degree in business/industrial engineering
while still an undergraduate at Stanford.
Petroff is active in a number of state, civic, and volunteer
organizations. He is on the Board of Directors of Biztech (the
Huntsville business technology incubator), the Alabama
Information Technology Association (AITA), the Huntsville Angel
Network, and several private companies. Petroff is currently
Co-Executive Director of the “Alabama Image Initiative” which
seeks to make the Saturn V Rocket the State Symbol of Alabama,
and “First to the Moon” the State Motto. He and his efforts on
the Saturn V are featured on the cover story of the January,
2006 issue of “Partners”, the magazine of the Economic
Development Partnership of Alabama (EDPA).
Petroff has
two daughters, is an avid runner, reader, and
traveler.
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