San Francisco Bay Area
- Current
-
- CFO at Vidtel, Inc
- Chairman at Cyracom International, Inc.
- Principal at Wilco, Inc.
- Past
-
- CEO and Chairman at BeNotified Software
- CEO at Ditto.com
- Vice-Chairman at FaxNet, Inc.
- Interim CEO at Healthscribe, Inc.
- President at Voice Tel Enterprises
- Senior Partner/COO at Hyatt Legal Services
- Education
-
- Yale Law School
- Yale University
- Recommended
-
2 people have recommended Wayne - Connections
-
428
connections
- Industry
- Management Consulting
- Websites
Wayne Willis’s Summary
SUMMARY: Since 1996, Mr. Willis has served as an investor in, consultant to, or board member of, a number of early-stage, rapid-growth, technology-based companies. Also, Mr. Willis sometimes takes short-term assignments as part of the active management of the client companies. Recent engagements:
• As Acting CFO of Vidtel, Mr. Willis assists founder Scott Wharton in business planning, fund-raising and launching the company. (2008 - present)
• As Chairman of BeNotified Software, Mr. Willis restructured and relaunched this powerful communications control technology company. (2003-4)
• As Chairman of Cyracom International, Mr. Willis instituted operational and marketing changes, restructured the balance sheet (debt to equity conversion) and hired an experienced CEO to lead the now profitable company. (2001-present)
• As CEO of Ditto.com, an Internet search engine, Mr. Willis redirected the corporate strategy and successfully sold the company to Sorceron, Inc. for stock valued at $23 million at closing (2000 - 2001).
• As Vice-Chairman of FaxNet, Willis assisted management in the successful growth and subsequent sale of the company to Critical Path, Inc., (NASDAQ: CPTH) for stock valued at $200 million at closing (1999).
• As Acting CEO and Chairman of HealthScribe, Inc., a VC-backed, internet-based medical transcription company, Mr. Willis successfully raised $10 million in the Series B round of financing, recruited a veteran CEO to run the company and maintained growth of revenues while cutting losses in half. (1999)
• As advisor to several small companies in the Bay Area, Mr. Willis has served on Boards, assisted with growth, raised funds, positioned them for sale and represented their interests during negotiations for all the above.
Mr. Willis earned a BS (1969) and MA (1974) in Administrative Sciences from Yale and a law degree from Yale Law School (1975).
Wayne Willis’s Specialties:
Services leveraging networks and startups (and perhaps paraprofessional labor); startup; strategy; governance / transition to professional management
Wayne Willis’s Experience
-
CFO
Vidtel, Inc
(Information Services industry)
April 2008 — Present (1 year 4 months)
Vidtel is a video communications services company offering easy-to-use, reasonably priced, high-quality video/voice calling and video/voice mail. Won the Trender Award for best new tech product in VOIP
-
Chairman
Cyracom International, Inc.
(Privately Held; 201-500 employees; Translation and Localization industry)
November 2001 — Present (7 years 9 months)
See cyracom.com. An INC 500 company.
-
Principal
Wilco, Inc.
(Privately Held; Myself Only; Management Consulting industry)
January 1996 — Present (13 years 7 months)
-
CEO and Chairman
BeNotified Software
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Telecommunications industry)
September 2002 — November 2004 (2 years 3 months)
BeNotified designed and developed cutting edge telecommunications software. Using a rules engine that leveraged presence and availability as well as other business logic, the BeNotified platform could connect people with business processes in real time.
-
CEO
Ditto.com
(Privately Held; 11-50 employees; Internet industry)
March 2000 — June 2001 (1 year 4 months)
Ditto was a visual search engine allowing users to search for images on the 'net. We had developed a proprietary search functionality, securing several patents. As CEO, I migrated the company's strategy from that of a consumer portal to that of an engine embedded in other websites, such a NBCI.com and Yahoo.com. After the internet bubble faded and reduced demand from our customers (other web sites primarily), we sold the company to a NYC-based technology provider.
-
Vice-Chairman
FaxNet, Inc.
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Telecommunications industry)
July 1999 — January 2000 (7 months)
Board member
-
Interim CEO
Healthscribe, Inc.
(Privately Held; 1001-5000 employees; Hospital & Health Care industry)
December 1998 — June 1999 (7 months)
Assisted the board in managing growth, raising $10m and recruiting a permanent CEO
-
President
Voice Tel Enterprises
(Privately Held; 51-200 employees; Telecommunications industry)
January 1991 — December 1995 (5 years)
I joined this 5 year old company as President and completed a difficult merger that was at risk of not being completed. After completing the post-merger integration, we refined the strategy and enjoyed a spectacular and profitable growth, being named for three years to the Inc 500. Ultimately the company was sold to Premiere Technologies (NASDAQ: PTEK) with significant returns to the investors.
-
Senior Partner/COO
Hyatt Legal Services
(Partnership; 1001-5000 employees; Law Practice industry)
September 1977 — January 1991 (13 years 5 months)
Co-founder
Wayne Willis’s Education
-
Yale Law School
JD , Law , 1972 — 1975
-
Yale University
BS , Administrative Sciences , 1965 — 1969
- Activities and Societies:
- Phi Beta Kappa
Jonathan Edwards College
Additional Information
Wayne Willis’s Websites:
Wayne Willis’s Groups:
-
Yale SOM Alumni -
Yale Law School Alumni -
Dealmaker Media -
Yale Club of San Francisco
