about us
Management Team
- Daniel Ross - Chief Executive Officer
With more than 25 years experience as an operational executive building and leading some of the most successful software and services start-ups in New England, Ross brings exceptional management expertise to this emerging marketplace. Combined with Illume Software’s core strength in developing solutions for mobile safety, Ross’s track record of creating category winners has helped position the company as a market leader in the prevention of distracted driving.
Prior to joining Illume Software, Ross was managing partner of Maxis Capital in Boston, a global private equity firm. Ross was also a member of CommonAngels, an organization of successful entrepreneurs in the software, information technology and internet business communities. Over the past decade as CEO, Ross led the turnaround of middle-market software and services companies including Optiant, Manna and DarwinSuzsoft (now Dextrys), which became one of the top three U.S.-based Chinese offshore IT services companies. As senior executive at OpenMarket, Ross played a major role in building the company to become the global market leader in e-commerce and taking it public for the most successful IPO on NASDAQ during 1996. Ross was also an Entrepreneur in Residence at GrandBanks Capital.
Previously, Ross led the financial and operational turnaround of Picturetel, where he doubled profitable revenues to $500 million in less than two years. In his 16 years at Digital Equipment Corporation, Ross held various senior management positions building several units to over $2 billion in profitable revenue. He brings to Illume Software significant start-up experience in the software and services industry and a career history of growing businesses, raising $130 million across six companies.
Dan is also active with inner city high school entrepreneurial programs at the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship, where he is a past board member, and serves as an advisor to the MATCH school in Boston. Dan is an Advisory Board member to the Capital Network, providing education and resources to new entrepreneurs. Ross has consulted at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and has lectured at MIT Sloan School and Babson College on Entrepreneurship, speaking on the topic of how to make money while serving the greater good. He has also been a featured speaker and panelist at a number of government-sponsored events on Capitol Hill regarding distracted driving.
Education:
Graduated from a 13 month Executive program at INSEAD.
B.S. in Finance, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
- Dan Maier - Vice President, Sales
Dan has over 11 years of enterprise software experience. He brings extensive global sales management experience, coupled with domestic and international channel sales management. Prior to joining Illume, Dan spent 11 years at PTC, Parametric Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: PMTC). There he served in several sales & sales management positions to include Senior Vice President for the Americas Channel Sales Organization and Vice President for Worldwide Inside Sales. He was also responsible for building the Asia Pacific Channel for PTC, living in Shanghai, China from 2005-2007. Before joining PTC, Dan was a Captain in the 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, North Carolina as a Field Artillery Officer in the 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment. Dan has been a guest speaker for the Sales 2.0 Conference. He is active as a volunteer for the Cub Scouts of America, as well as an investor in Knob Hill Partners. He has a B.S. in Political Science from Loyola University in Maryland.
- Oren Kagan - Chief Software Architect
Oren Kagan was appointed Chief Software Architect of Illume Software, Inc. in July 2010. From the period 2004 - 2010, he was Chief Information & Software Development Officer of Protein Forest, Inc. a start-up lifesciences company focused on proteomics and the analysis of data obtained by mass spectrometry. From the period 1995 - 2004, he was a founder and CTO of two software companies, Sanskrit Software Systems, Ltd. and Noga Software Solutions, Ltd., both companies specializing in software development for large corporations. From 1989 - 1995, he was a researcher and a project leader within IBM's Research and Technology Lab in Haifa, Israel, focusing on image processing and algorithm development. Mr. Kagan is a graduate of the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) with a degree in Computer Engineering and a Master of Science in Information Technology Management from Brandeis University.