Rory J. Cutaia

Rory J. Cutaia

Founder, President & Chief Executive Officer, Chairman of the Board

Rory J. Cutaia began his career as an attorney at a major NYC law firm, representing world renowned entrepreneurs. With that background, Mr. Cutaia left the practice of law and set out to change the landscape of the telecom industry through a tech company start-up he founded called Telx. Telx went on to become the internationally recognized leader in the data center sector and still the de facto standard by which the world’s telecom carriers interconnect with one another. Mr. Cutaia assembled a top management team and over the course of only 6 years, took the business from a start-up to a successful sale and liquidity event priced at more than $215 million in cash, returning 18x invested capital to early investors.

As Founder, President, CEO and Chairman of Telx, Mr. Cutaia provided the vision for the Company’s strategic goals and objectives. Operating the business like a public reporting company, he created the processes by which he and his management team crafted the Company’s business plan, and then led the Company through its virtually flawless execution. He personally identified, negotiated and oversaw the successful integration of acquisitions, while at the same time engineered and implemented the policies, procedures, and processes that drove double digit organic growth, year over year. A truly hands-on CEO, Mr. Cutaia built a sales team, a marketing team, as well as technical support, customer satisfaction, HR, and finance departments. By employing new and innovative marketing strategies, Mr. Cutaia drove revenue, beat EBITDA targets and created an international reputation for Telx as the “best of the best”. Telx was sold again in 2015 for approximately $1.9 Billion.

After the sale of Telx, Mr. Cutaia became a partner and entrepreneur-in-residence in a NYC-based private equity fund, where he went on to create several other ventures, including a new technology to clean up toxic coal waste sites, and then launched a next-generation, fiber-optic network constructed along railroad rights of way, a ground-breaking, innovative deal he personally negotiated. Now as Founder & CEO of VERB, Mr. Cutaia has created what has been called the best new platform for consumer brand activation, CRM, and sales lead generation. Mr. Cutaia conceived the VERB concept, created the Company’s business plans and marketing strategies, and with more $2.8M of his own capital invested, personally financed R&D and all start-up costs. As CEO, Mr. Cutaia provides the vision and leadership for the management team, establishes the goals and objectives for the Company and the policies and procedures by which they are executed, remaining keenly focused on building stockholder value.

James P. Geiskopf

James P. Geiskopf

Lead Director

James P. Geiskopf became a director of VERB in May 2014 and serves as its lead director as well as Chair of the Compensation Committee. Mr. Geiskopf has over three decades of experience leading major organizations. He was former President and Chief Executive Officer of Budget Rent-a-Car of Fairfield California until 2007, when Mr. Geiskopf sold the franchise. He also served on the Board of Directors of Suisun Valley Bank and on the Board of Directors of Napa Valley Bancorp. Since 2014, Mr. Geiskopf has served the Board of Directors of MetaWorks Platforms, Inc., a publicly traded company quoted on the OTC Markets Group Inc.’s OTCQB tier, where he is lead director.

Honorable Phillip J. Bond

Honorable Phillip J. Bond

Director

Phil Bond is President of Government Relations at D.C. consulting firm, Potomac International Partners, Inc. Mr. Bond is the former Undersecretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce for Technology, a position he held from 2001 to 2005. He also served as Chief of Staff to Commerce Secretary Donald Evans during the period 2002 to 2003. In his dual role, Mr. Bond worked to advance America’s technological leadership at home and around the world. He oversaw the operations of the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the Office of Technology Policy, and the National Technical Information Service. During his tenure, the Technology Administration was the pre-eminent portal between the federal government and the U.S. technology industry.

Mr. Bond also held positions at Monster Worldwide, the world’s largest online career site, as Senior Vice President of Government Relations, and General Manager of Monster Government Solutions. Mr. Bond also served as Director of Federal Public Policy for the Hewlett-Packard Company; Senior Vice President for Government Affairs and Treasurer of the Information Technology Industry Council; as Chief of Staff to the late Congresswoman Jennifer Dunn (R-WA); as Chief of Staff and Rules Committee Associate for Congressman Bob McEwen (R-OH); and a role as Special Assistant and a role as Principal Deputy Assistant of the Secretary of Defense for Legislative Affairs.

Mr. Bond is a graduate of Linfield College in Oregon. During his 25-plus year career in Washington, Mr. Bond has been recognized for his leadership roles in the Executive branch, on Capitol Hill, at major high technology companies, and most recently as the CEO of TechAmerica, the largest technology advocacy association in the U.S. His professional accolades include:

  • Named to the Federal 100, the annual listing by Federal Computer Week of the most influential people in government technology;
  • Named one of the Top 50 Tech Leaders of 2003 by Scientific American magazine for his policy leadership around nanotechnology;
  • Elected Deputy Chair of the World Information Technology and Services Alliance, a federation of more than 70 national technology associations around the world;
  • Named a Tech Titan in Washingtonian Magazine’s annual listing of tech leaders; and
  • Recognized by Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper, as one of The Fabulous Fifty, a listing of the most powerful staff in Congress.
Kenneth S. Cragun

Kenneth S. Cragun

Director

Ken Cragun joined our Board of Directors on September 10, 2018. He was appointed Chairman of the Audit Committee, as well as a member of the Compensation, Governance, and Nominating Committees. Mr. Cragun has more than 30 years of finance experience, leading major financing transactions, including IPOs, acquisitions, executing integration strategies, and building teams in more than 20 countries. His area of focus has been in the technology and digital marketing sectors, including SaaS model software companies, with CFO experience in multi-national businesses of up to $600 million in annual revenue.

Mr. Cragun served as Chief Financial Officer of several NASDAQ-listed companies: Local Corporation, from April 2009 to September 2016, which operated Local.com, a top 100 website; Modtech Holdings, Inc., from June 2006 to March 2009, a supplier of modular buildings; and CorVel Corporation, from January 2018 to September 2018, a $1.1B market cap company and a nationwide leader in technology driven risk management programs. Since October 2018, Mr. Cragun has served as the Chief Accounting Officer of DPW Holdings, Inc., a diversified holding company. Since January 2019, Mr. Cragun has served as the Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer for Alzamend Neuro, Inc., a biopharma company. Mr. Cragun also serves as a partner of Hardesty, LLC, a national executive services firm and has been a partner of its Southern California Practice since October 2016.

Mr. Cragun has broad business knowledge combined with strong technical skills related to GAAP accounting and SEC reporting. Mr. Cragun is two-time finalist for the Orange County Business Journal’s “CFO of the Year – Public Companies.” Mr. Cragun is also a CPA and began his professional career at Deloitte. Mr. Cragun earned his BS in Accounting from Colorado State University-Pueblo and his AAS in Business Management from Brigham Young University-Idaho.

Judith Hammerschmidt

Judith Hammerschmidt

Director

Judith Hammerschmidt has spent the last 37 years as an international attorney, general counsel and corporate board member. She began her legal career as a Special Assistant to two consecutive Attorneys General of the United States, focusing on international matters of interest to the US government, including negotiating treaties and agreements with foreign governments. Thereafter she joined Dickstein, Shapiro & Morin, LLP, a Washington, DC firm where she represented companies around the world as they expanded internationally in highly regulated environments. Her clients included Guess? Inc, Pfizer, Merck, The Receiver for BCCI Bank of the United Arab Emirates, Recycled Paper Products, Inc, Herbalife International and more. She provided structuring, growth and regulatory advice for these and other companies. She joined Herbalife International as Vice President and General Counsel of Europe in 1994, becoming Executive Vice President and International Chief Counsel in 1996., with responsibility for 60 countries. In 2002 she was part of the management group that sold Herbalife. Since that time she has served as outside counsel to a series of direct selling companies looking to expand both domestically and internationally. She has particular expertise in compensation plans, regulatory challenges and international expansion, and continues to advise companies in the industry as part of her practice today.

Ed Moy

Ed Moy

Director

From 2001 - 2006, Mr. Moy served as special assistant to the President of the United States at The White House, after which he was appointed as director of the United States Mint at the U.S. Department of the Treasury, a position he held until 2011. Mr. Moy began his career as a sales and marketing executive with Blue Cross Blue Shield United of Wisconsin, then appointed head of the federal regulatory agency Office of Prepaid Health Care and then selected to head the Office of Managed Care at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Thereafter, and before his most recent public service, he became an exclusive advisor to private equity firm Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe.  Mr. Moy currently serves as a director and member of the audit committee of MetaWorks Platforms Inc. (MWRK:OTCQB, MWRK:CSE), a director and chair of the audit committee of Parsec Capital Acquisitions Corp. (PCXCU:NASDAQ), and an advisory board member of Draganfly Inc. (DPRO:NASDAQ).  He also advises and consults with several privately held companies, is an exclusive provider of autographs to Numismatic Guaranty Corp., and serves on the Board of Regents for Trinity International University.  His prior board service includes privately held Emerald Health Network and L&L Energy, Inc. (LLEN:NASDAQ). He earned his B.A. in Economics, International Relations, and Political Science in 1979 from the University of Wisconsin - Madison.