Executive Team
Jim Welch, President and CEO
Jim has over 25 years of experience in developing high growth, sustainable software companies. Prior to joining Marathon, Jim was Vice President and General Manager of the InfoSphere Software business of IBM. The $600 million division is a high growth business for IBM that has been recognized by Gartner and Forrester Research as the execution and vision leader in master data management, enterprise data integration and data quality. Before IBM, Jim was Vice President of Product Operations for Ascential Software, where he helped shape a new business strategy that tripled revenue growth in three years and resulted in the acquisition of Ascential by IBM in 2005. Jim started his career as one of the founders of Intellution, a PC-based automation and internet software company. Before Intellution was purchased by Emerson in 1995, Jim had advanced to the role of Executive Vice President of Strategy, Planning and Development. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute and a M.B.A. from Bentley College.
Dan Sullivan, Chief Financial Officer
Dan has a wealth of experience as CFO in venture backed, entrepreneurial companies. Prior to joining Marathon, Dan was CFO of PhyFlex Networks in Westford which was sold in an asset sale to Ciena Corp. Before PhyFlex, he was CFO of venture backed Sand Video, which he joined pre-revenue and helped grow the business successfully before it was acquired by Broadcom. Previously, he was CFO and EVP of Operations at NetSilicon. During his tenure at NetSilicon, he led the successful spin out of the company from its parent, managed their S-1 filing for their IPO and then its eventual sale to Digi International, Inc. Earlier in his career, he spent a number of years in senior finance positions at Telebit, which was sold to Cisco Systems, and Apollo Computer. He holds a B.A. in Biology from Merrimack College and a M.B.A. from Southern New Hampshire University.
Jerald H. Melnick, Chief Technology Officer
Jerry is responsible for Marathon’s technology roadmap that is driving the convergence of high availability and virtualization technologies. Under Jerry’s leadership, Marathon is developing the first-ever fault tolerant-class software solution for virtual environments. Built in partnership with XenSource, this cutting edge product was awarded “Best New Technology” at VMworld 2007. Before joining Marathon, he held executive positions at PPGx, Inc. and Belmont Research as well as management and technical roles at Digital Equipment Corporation, where he was responsible for the development and deployment of mission-critical platforms to support enterprise-computing environments. He led a variety of system and product development efforts in the area of operating systems, network communications, database systems, and computing languages. Jerry holds a B.S. in chemistry from Beloit College and graduate work in computer engineering and computer science at Boston University.
Rafael Costa, Vice President, Worldwide Sales
Rafael is a skilled sales leader and business executive with more than two decades of experience growing revenue and improving customer satisfaction for both emerging companies as well as established brands. Rafael joined Marathon from CDC Software, where he served as CDC Global Services group general manager responsible for five business units. Prior to CDC Software, he worked as general manager of Vis.align, vice president of sales at Bang Networks, and worldwide vice president of indirect and OEM channels at Inktomi. He was also instrumental in leading sales efforts at Hitachi Data Systems and IBM. Rafael holds a B.A. from Villanova University.
Rob Ciampa, Vice President, Marketing
Rob joins Marathon with 20+ years of extensive product management, marketing and channel development experience which includes bringing more than 75 products to market worldwide and generating over $1 billion in revenue. Most recently, Rob served as vice president of marketing for Tervela, a leading provider of next-generation messaging platforms for the world’s most demanding financial services institutions. Previously, Rob was the co-founder of NetEffect, a large international professional services firm, and has also served in several senior marketing and business development roles at leading global technology companies including IBM and 3Com. He has a B.S. in computer science from the University of Massachusetts, an M.S. in computer engineering from the University of Massachusetts and an M.B.A. from Boston University. He also holds two patents in information technology management.
Matt Wrabley, Vice President, Business Development
Matt brings more than 20 years of high-tech industry experience to Marathon. Prior to joining Marathon, he served as vice president of business development at Virtual Iron, where he managed OEM and reseller relationships with strategic global partners and consulting firms. Matt was also an executive vice president for Neoware, Inc., a leader in thin client computing. There, he developed and executed several large strategic alliances that helped the company grow from $11 million to over $100 million in revenue before being acquired by HP. Matt has also helped grow a number of other emerging technology companies, including CIDCO, Inc. where he led the effort that took a new Internet appliance product from zero to $10 million in revenue. Matt holds a B.S. in Economics from Shippensburg University and an M.B.A. from West Chester University.
Beth Shea, Vice President, Services and Support
Beth has more than 14 years of professional services and support experience with both software startups and large consulting firms. Prior to joining Marathon, Beth was Vice President, Professional Services for The FeedRoom. At The FeedRoom, Beth was responsible for building, restructuring and leading all client facing services including customer support, project management and custom development. Before The FeedRoom, Beth was Director of Worldwide Services & Support for Imprivata Inc, where she built the professional services and customer support organizations from the ground up. During Beth’s tenure at Imprivata the customer base grew from less than 30 to over 500 customers worldwide. Prior to Imprivata, Beth was Director of Enterprise Accounts at Saba (formerly Centra Software) and a Business Consultant for Arthur Andersen. She holds a dual B.A.in Economics and MIS from the University of Notre Dame.
Nick Turnbull, Vice President, International Sales
Nick is responsible for developing and managing Marathon’s sales operations across EMEA and Asia. Nick has secured strategic alliances with Distributors, ISVs and VARs to distribute and sell Marathon’s products to a wide range of market sectors including manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, finance, media and IT infrastructure. He has over 12 years’ sales and business management experience within the EMEA IT market. Prior to joining Marathon Nick was Director of EMEA Channels at SonicWALL, where he played a lead role in the management and development of the EMEA channel. Nick also held various positions at Azlan Group Plc, including Business Development for emerging Cisco technologies in EMEA, including security and content networking.