Payment Pathways, Inc. is founded on guiding principles and intellectual insight developed by Dr. Franco Modigliani (1918-2003), the twenty-third economist to win the Nobel Prize for Economics and second to win it from MIT.
Richard O’Brien
President and Chief Executive Officer
Mr. O’Brien’s career spans three decades in the information and communications technology marketplace where he established a reputation for taking ideas and creating entire new sources of revenue. He established Peering and Financial Exchanges for the satellite, options, and trading industries for Equinix where he also led Fortune 50 companies and the financial (trading) community to migrate global network hubs, Web, and email operations to Equinix and its foreign partner in Brazil.
At Starburst Software, Rick sold the first commercial multicast file transfer technology for global Web caching and simultaneous database updates across various security enclaves in the DoD, Intel and Satellite industries.
In 1994 he introduced the first Windows desktop video tele-conferencing software solution company, InVision, driving revenue over $1M within the first six months of product launch. In 1991, he led the sales force of the first fax server software company, SofNet, driving revenue over $2.5 million in the first year of the company&rquo;s existence.
In the eighties, his projects included privatizing Telebit’s spread spectrum digital signal processors to accelerate sales for GE Medical Systems, and introducing and selling the first commercial use of DES technology to the Fed, coupled with writing the specification for the first DES-based security processor to automate ACH payments in production control systems. This ACH dial-access capability enabled first use of on-demand “just-in-time” payments to GM’s supply chain for First National Bank of Chicago and Digital Pathways. It exceeded product lifetime expectations and was decommissioned after more than a decade of high-volume payment processing.
He has a BA in English Literature from McGill University.
Kerry Hawkins
Vice President of Sales
Kerry’s sales career has defined the leading/bleeding edge of technology. He introduced Xerox’s Star workstations into Canada. He led the sales and support arms for Gandalf, a leading IT infrastructure provider in Canada and the US. As VP of Sales and Marketing at start-up Vienna Systems, Kerry developed and implemented the sales and marketing plan that took the VoIP startup to $20M in two years, becoming one of the dominant VoIP players before its $100M acquisition by Nokia.
He has also been VP or Director of Sales for several other high-tech start-ups developing mail, security, and wireless solutions. His contribution to our efforts is the ability to help us define the “why should I care” question that will refine our audience and story.
Kerry has a B.Comm. degree from Carleton University in Canada and a M.M. from Northwestern’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management in Evanston IL.
John Condon
Chief Technology Officer
Mr. Condon managed rapid scaling of the technical operations and database systems for Classified Ventures, a joint venture among Gannett, Tribune, Washington Post, Belos, and McClatchy Company. Classified Ventures’ sites Cars.com, Apartments.com, and Homegain.com distribute their content to hundreds of affiliated Web sites owned and operated by newspapers and television stations around the country, as well as top portal operators such as Yahoo and MSN.
He is currently Director of Technical Services for Vanguard Health Systems. Past experience includes Palindrome (Seagate Technology) and Baxter Travenol. He is co-inventor in PPI’s Names-as-NAPTRs patent.
John has a dual major in Quantitative Methods and Marketing (BS) from the University of Illinois and a Masters Degree in Information Systems from RooseveltUniversity.