Executive Team
Led by a team of talented engineers, analysts and innovators, 7SIGNAL is committed to helping business and organizations foster thriving connections.
Thomas M. Barrett
President & CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
Tom Barrett has 25 years of management experience in high growth enterprises, from startups to Fortune 500 companies. He has extensive experience in building and developing high performing teams and delivering results. Barrett was most recently CEO of several portfolio companies at Brennan Management Group. Prior to that he was the GM/Executive Director of Learn.com, where he developed and led sales teams for the global knowledge exchange that provided more than 30,000 e-learning courses on the Learn.com LMS. Barrett also built and led the North American sales organization for iPass, a leading global remote access provider, which grew from startup to $100 million in recurring annual sales during his tenure.
Tom has been an active contributor to the Cleveland community with The Ohio Business Roundtable, Young Presidents Organization, St. Ignatius High School, the Great Lakes Science Center, Catholic Charities and the Community West Foundation. Barrett earned a B.A. in Organizational Communications from the University of Kansas.
Ted Schneider
Chief Technology Officer
As Chief Technology Officer, Ted Schneider partners with the Executive Leadership Team, Customers and other strategic partners to drive product development and technological strategy. His responsibilities include Cloud Operations, Software Development, QA,IT, Product Architecture and DevOps.
Ted has completed successful acquisitions with Arcos, Taleo, and Learn.com as part of the executive team. In these previous roles, Ted guided the strategy and development of SaaS offerings and has experience with Product Marketing/Management,Product Roadmap, Services, Support, Technology, Software Development, QA, IT, Hosting Operations, and much more. He is an expert on the building of growth companies and regularly briefs customers and analysts about the product lines and strategic direction. Ted brings a wealth of knowledge of industries such as EdTech, industrial automation, engineering consulting, healthcare, biomedical and manufacturing.
Mr. Schneider holds a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and a master’s degree in engineering management from the Milwaukee School of Engineering.
Don Cook
CHIEF MARKETING OFFICER
Cook brings more than 15 years of global marketing leadership experience and a proven track record of driving innovation, market adoption and growth across the technology and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) industries. Cook’s omni-channel strategies have supported growth initiatives, served as a platform for international expansion and driven demand for new product launches leading to millions in sales; venture capital and equity investments; and over $1 billion in acquisitions.
Cook’s approach to marketing has helped to lead industry visionaries Learn.com, Taleo Corporation and iCare in the disruption of their respective industries.
Christine Braelow
Chief Revenue Officer
Christine Braelow has been in the technology space for 20+ years and is passionate about innovative technology.
Christine is an expert in growing international teams, driving revenue, and reducing churn. Recently at iPass she helped her team’s revenue contribution grow over 33%, while reducing churn by 15%. As the owner of Lynx Consulting for 20 years, she grew a multi-national team when ERP business was exploding and competed with (and beat out) larger firms because of her team’s talent.
Christine holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from the University of Michigan. In her free time, she enjoys travel, adventure, and staying active.
Simon Renouf
Vice President OF PRODUCT, SUPPORT AND SERVICES
Simon Renouf is a multi-disciplinary business leader with 20 years of operational product management, marketing and sales experience across B2B SaaS, IT Services and Telecommunications. He has extensive experience building and executing successful product strategies in complex technical environments.
Most recently, Simon spent 8 years at iPass Inc – where he successfully drove revenue growth through carrier partnerships in the Pacific region before moving to San Francisco as Head of Product Management. iPass was acquired in February 2019. Prior to that he developed and managed multi-technology solution for Telstra, with a focus on Enterprise Mobility and teleworking enablement for Enterprise.
Simon has a B.Com and B.A. from the University of Melbourne, Australia and a M.eBus from RMIT University.
Kristen Nieberding
VICE PRESIDENT OF FINANCE & OPERATIONS
Kristen Nieberding is a seasoned financial professional with 15 years of management and accounting experience. Kristen is the Director of Finance and Operations, where she manages the company’s finances, operations, and human resources. Prior to 7SIGNAL, Kristen spent seven years at Hyland overseeing the company’s revenue and six years at Sherwin Williams in financial reporting and internal audit roles.
Kristen has a BS in Accounting from the University of Dayton and an MBA from Baldwin Wallace University.
Jim Vajda
VICE PRESIDENT AND CHIEF WIRELESS OFFICER
Jim Vajda has over a decade of professional experience as an expert-level wireless network engineer in healthcare, K12, higher education, nonprofit, MSP, and government verticals. He has successfully designed, deployed, and troubleshooted mission-critical Wi-Fi networks in high stakes environments. At 7SIGNAL he serves in a pre-sales role to effectively connect 7SIGNAL’s solutions to our customer’s needs, and acts as the wireless SME at the management level to inform product direction and decision making. He has delivered technical presentations at the Wireless LAN Professionals Conference, Wi-Fi Trek, and Wi-Fi Design Day, and he routinely hosts educational webinars, authors blog posts, and appears on podcasts as a public representative of 7SIGNAL.
Jim has a B.A. from Berklee College of Music and an M.A. from Miami University, and he currently holds these certifications: CWNE #183, Cisco CCNP Enterprise (Core, Wireless Design, Wireless Implementation), Certified Wireless IoT Connectivity Professional, CBRS Certified Professional Installer, Aerohive Certified Wireless Professional, Wireless Adjuster Level II, along with amateur radio callsign KE8OKV.
You can follow him on Twitter and read his technical blog at framebyframewifi.net.
Board of Directors
Thomas M. Barrett
Donald E. Bossi, PH.D
Bryson D. Hollimon
John McIlwraith
Bill Trainor
Bill Priemer
Thomas M. Barrett
Tom is President and CEO of 7SIGNAL. He owns over 25 years of management experience in high growth enterprises, from startups to Fortune 500 companies. He has extensive experience in building and developing high performing teams and delivering results. Barrett was most recently CEO of several portfolio companies at Brennan Management Group. Prior to that he was the GM/Executive Director of Learn.com, where he developed and led sales teams for the global knowledge exchange that provided more than 30,000 e-learning courses on the Learn.com LMS. Barrett also built and led the North American sales organization for iPass, a leading global remote access provider, which grew from startup to $100 million in recurring annual sales during his tenure.
Tom has been an active contributor to the Cleveland community with The Ohio Business Roundtable, Young Presidents Organization, St. Ignatius High School, the Great Lakes Science Center, Catholic Charities and the Community West Foundation. Barrett earned a B.A. in Organizational Communications from the University of Kansas.
Donald E. Bossi, PH.D
Don is a General Partner with Technology Venture Partners (TVP) and has been actively engaged with the firm’s venture-capital investments, both as an operating executive and as a representative of the firm. As Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of two TVP companies, Aegis Lightwave, Inc. and Inlet Technologies, Inc., Don was pivotal in leading the expansion efforts of both companies, as well as positioning them for successful acquisitions. In addition, he has served in key board and advisory roles across several TVP companies at various stages. Prior to TVP, Don was Group President of JDS Uniphase Corporation’s Transmission Products Group, a division that grew ten-fold under his leadership. Don also served as President of FIRST, the leading global non-profit organization that inspires young people’s interest in science, technology, and engineering.
Don holds B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is an owner of a number of U.S. patents.
Bryson D. Hollimon
Bryson is the Managing General Partner of Technology Venture Partners. Prior to founding TVP, Bryson was a Senior Managing Director and Head of Investment Banking at Dain Rauscher Wessels, now RBC Capital Markets, where he was directly responsible for the execution of over $18 billion of public and private equity financings and $8 billion of merger and acquisition advisory work. Bryson has over 25 years of experience as an investor, strategic advisor and board member to numerous high-growth public and private technology and healthcare companies.
Bryson holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and Economics from the University of Minnesota, Carlson School of Management.
John McIlwraith
John started his career as a corporate lawyer at Jones Day, where he co-founded the Private Ventures group after determining that the firm needed a better way to serve the needs of early-stage companies and venture capital/private equity investors. After several years of representing VC firms, like Primus and Morgenthaler, and early-stage technology companies, he decided he was jealous of how much fun his clients were having, and that he wanted to go down a more entrepreneurial path.
John’s investment experience includes software, business services, and healthcare companies, such as Assurex Health (sold to Myriad Genetics), Bluegill Technologies (sold to Checkfree), Inspiris (sold to United Healthcare), Medhost (sold to HealthTech Holdings), Healthscribe (sold to Spheris), and Renal Solutions (sold to Fresenius).
Bill Trainor
Bill is a co-founder and Managing Director of Mutual Capital Partners Fund I & II, investing in rapidly growing, post-revenue, technology businesses generally located in the Midwest. Bill previously was Senior Vice President-Head of E-Commerce Investment Banking at McDonald Investments, an investment bank acquired by Key Corp.
At McDonald Investments, he focused on consumer, retail, healthcare, and service companies working closely with companies that were using technology to expand and complement their existing business structure. Bill received his A.B. from Columbia University.
Bill Priemer
Bill Priemer is the CEO of Hyland Software. He is an accomplished enterprise software executive with over 25 years of experience in the information and process solutions industry. He joined Hyland in 1997 as Vice President of Marketing becoming Vice President of Sales & Marketing in 2001, Chief Operating Officer in 2005, and CEO in January 2013. Hyland is a leader in providing software solutions for managing content, processes and cases for organizations across the globe. For 25 years, Hyland has enabled more than 15,000 organizations to digitalize their workplaces and fundamentally transform their operations.
Prior to joining Hyland, Mr. Priemer worked at FedEx Corporation and AST Research. As a global sales and marketing leader, Bill brings knowledge, experience and strategy to 7SIGNAL. Mr. Priemer received a master’s degree in marketing from Northwestern University and undergraduate degrees from Boston College. He was born and raised in Northeast Ohio. While he has lived elsewhere and travels extensively, he is happy and proud to call the Cleveland area home.