Advisory Board

Advisory Board Member Profiles

Jeff Raikes | CEO of The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Seattle, WA

Jeff Raikes, Chief Executive Officer of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, leads the foundation's efforts to promote equity for all people around the world. He sets strategic priorities, monitors results, and facilitates relationships with key partners for all three of our program groups.

Before joining the foundation, Raikes was a member of Microsoft's senior leadership team, which sets overall strategy and direction for the company. Raikes was president of the Microsoft Business Division and oversaw the Information Worker, Server & Tools Business and Microsoft Business Solutions groups. He previously served as group vice president of the Worldwide Sales and Support Group, where he was responsible for providing strategic leadership for Microsoft's sales, marketing, and service initiatives. Before that, he served as senior vice president of Microsoft North America.

Raikes joined Microsoft in 1981 as a product manager and was instrumental in driving Microsoft's applications marketing strategy. Promoted to director of applications marketing in 1984, Raikes was the chief strategist behind the company's success in graphical applications for the Apple Macintosh and the Microsoft Windows operating system and the creation of the Microsoft Office suite of productivity applications. Before joining Microsoft, he was a software development manager at Apple Computer Inc.

Raikes, a Nebraska native, holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering-economic systems from Stanford University. He and his wife, Tricia, have three children. They are founders of the Raikes Foundation and are active members of the United Way of King County, where they served as co-chairs of the 2006-2007 fundraising campaign. Raikes also serves on the board of directors for Costco Wholesale Corp. and the Microsoft Alumni Foundation, where he is chair of the board. In June 2008, the Board of Regents at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln renamed the J.D. Edwards Honors Program in Computer Science and Management to the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management. Raikes, a longtime supporter of the highly selective and renowned school, was a part of the initial conceptualization and has served on the advisory board since its inception in 2001.

Mr. Ryan Downs (Chair) | President, Proxibid

Omaha, NE

Ryan is currently President of Proxibid, the world's leading provider of live webcast auctions. Proxibid provides real-time webcast and timed online auction bidding services to thousands of real brick and mortar auction companies. Ryan also serves on the Board of Directors for Live Ops, a leading provider of on-demand call center technology and home agent outsourcing services.

From 2006 until 2009, Ryan served as Senior Vice President of Worldwide Operations at PayPal, a leading online payment service with major operations in La Vista, Nebraska. In that role, he was responsible for approximately 5700 FTE engaged in numerous functions, including consumer service, merchant service, sales, compliance, and risk operations. In addition to his PayPal responsibilities, Ryan also managed eBay Global Customer Support, which included an additional 6000 FTEs, from 2007 to 2008. Mr. Downs joined PayPal in 2001 as Vice President of Operations and served in that capacity until 2006. From June 2000 to 2001, Ryan served as Chief Executive Officer for eTopia Technologies, Inc., an Omaha-based web development and IT consulting firm. Before that, he was a partner at the law firm of Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott in Denver, Colorado, where he specialized in complex commercial litigation.

Ryan earned a B.S. in Agricultural Sciences in 1991 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a J.D. from Harvard Law School in 1994. He was born and raised on a family farm in Hershey, Nebraska and currently resides in Springfield, Nebraska with his wife, Valerie, and their twin daughters Emily and Lauren and their son Carson. His interests include Husker football, travel, horses, basketball, history, and skiing.

Mr. Patrick Kerrigan (Vice Chair) | President, The Palm Beach Holding Company LTD Antigua & Barbuda

Barefoot Beach, FL

Mr. Kerrigan is the President of The Palm Beach Holding Company, Ltd. of Antigua and Barbuda which is developing the very exclusive Lighthouse Bay Resort on the Island of Barbuda in the Caribbean. Mr. Kerrigan spent 32 years with Information Technology, Inc., (now a business unit of Fiserv, Inc), a financial technology solution developer, which provides virtually all software and associated services required for banking to more than one third of US banks. Mr. Kerrigan retired as COO of Information Technology in 1999 and then served 11 years as a consultant to the company on many software and business issues for the company.

Mr. Kerrigan began his career as a software engineer for First Data Resources, FDR, in Omaha, Nebraska. He then served with the Burroughs (now Unisys) Corporation as a Technical Representative for three years before being hired as the first employee at Information Technology in 1977 as a software developer. Mr. Kerrigan was deeply involved in the development of several independent systems developed by the company and was an instrumental part of the staff which developed the company's core banking applications. In 1981 he was named head of the Administration Division of the company and ultimately was promoted to Chief Operating Officer of the company before his retirement in 1999.

Mr. Kerrigan is currently chairman of Solid State Networks of Phoenix AZ, a leading developer of specialized, high performance solutions for content delivery over the internet. In addition to his professional career Mr. Kerrigan has been involved in real estate ventures since 1969. These include various rental property ventures in homes, commercial and office buildings, as well as commercial land development.

Mr. Kerrigan received a B.A. in mathematics and physics from the University of Nebraska in 1973 and is a director and past chairman of The Raikes School Corporate Advisory Board at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Mr. Kerrigan is also a member of the University of Nebraska at Omaha's Advisory Board for the College of Arts and Sciences.

Mr. Chris Howard | Vice President and Chief Sales Officer for the America's Outsourcing Business Unit

Sarasota, FL

Chris is Vice President and Chief Sales Officer for the America's Outsourcing Business Unit. Chris oversees all of Capgemini Sales activity in the North American market for our Outsourcing business.

Chris has a broad and varied career in the IT Services business. The early part of his career was in Consulting in the telecommunications industry, focused on sales and marketing issues as well as customer care and billing systems. He progressed from a staff consultant to business unit leader of a $300m, 1700 person technical consulting business.

Chris' first experience in outsourcing came in the mid 90's as a deal team leader and eventually a P&L leader of an $800m a year business unit. The past 5 years he has had both domestic and international roles. Chris' last role was SVP Global Sales for Siemens IT Services based in Munich Germany for 3 years responsible for over 3 billion euro in revenue and bookings greater than 1 billion euro.

Chris has lived and worked in Europe, the United States and Canada. He obtained his undergraduate degree in business from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, his home town, a Masters Degree in Business Leadership from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln Nebraska, and Executive Education at the Stanford Business School.

Chris has built a reputation as a change agent, builder of high performance teams, strategic thinker, action oriented market driven executive. He has a passion for mentorship, evidence based management, education and excellence.

Chris serves on advisory boards for Civitium, a broadband communication professional services firm and the Raikes School at the University of Nebraska.

Chris and his wife Kim split their time living in Toronto Ontario, Sarasota Florida and Deep Brook Nova Scotia; they have two sons.

Mrs. Robin Abrams | Board of Directors, HCL Technologies and ZiLOG

Los Altos, CA

Mrs. Abrams recently completed an interim-CEO role for ZiLOG. Mrs. Abrams comes with considerable sales, marketing and executive management experiences, working with high tech companies in the U.S. and abroad. She entered the areas of financial and technology management with Norwest Banks (now Wells Fargo). While at Unisys she was Vice President, Program General Manager for Retail Delivery Systems (solutions sold to branch banks). She later headed a sales and marketing unit based in Hong Kong focused on the Asian banking market. At Apple Computer she was Managing Director of Apple Asia, opening the China and the India markets and went on to become President of Apple Americas. At VeriFone (leader in debit/credit card authorization solutions) she was President and CEO. While at Palm Computing she was President and CEO. More recently she has focused on high-profile start-ups, including Chemdex, Blue-Kite, Connection-to-eBay and most recently Firefly Mobile, the first mobile phone for mobile kids.

Mrs. Abrams also serves on the Boards of Directors for HCL Technologies, ZiLOG and BEA Systems.

Mrs. Abrams holds a B.S. in political science and history and a J.D. from the University of Nebraska.

Mrs. Nancee Berger | President & COO, West Corporation

Omaha, NE

Nancee Shannon Berger is President and Chief Operating Officer of West Corporation. She is responsible for the entire corporation's operations and growth.

West Corporation is a leading provider of outsourced communications solutions to many of the world's largest companies, organizations and government agencies. West helps its clients communicate effectively, maximize the value of their customer relationships and drive greater profitability from every interaction. The Company's integrated suite of customized solutions includes customer care, sales, 911 services, and accounts receivable management services. West, known as the brand InterCall, is also the world's largest conferencing provider. West Corporation was founded in 1986 and is headquartered in Omaha. West has a team of 28,000 employees based in North America, Europe and Asia.

Berger joined West in 1989 and was part of the team that built the largest automated voice response company in the country. She was promoted to her current position in September 1998.

She came to West Interactive from Applied Communications, Inc. a major banking software provider. Before joining ACI, Berger was employed as a Marketing Representative with the IBM Corporation.

Berger graduated in 1982 from the University of Nebraska with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration. She is married and has three children.

Mr. Doug Burgum | Founder and Chairman, Kilbourne Group

Doug Burgum, entrepreneur and philanthropist, is chairman of the board and an investor of Atlassian, the leading provider of collaboration software for product teams. He is also Executive Chairman of Intelligent InSites, a leading provider of enterprise real-time location systems (RTLS) software. He was a board member and investor of SuccessFactors, a cloud-based leader in business execution software, from October 2007 to February 2012. He served as chairman of the board from June 2010 to February 2012 when SAP acquired SuccessFactors for $3.4 billion.

He is founder and chairman of Kilbourne Group , a company committed to inspiring and supporting the redevelopment and revitalization of downtown Fargo, North Dakota, and is co-founder and chairman of Arthur Ventures , a Fargo-based venture capital group that focuses on early-stage software companies, with a concentration on healthcare.

A graduate of North Dakota State University (NDSU) and Stanford University Graduate School of Business (MBA), Doug worked at the Chicago office of McKinsey & Co. until 1983, when he returned to his native North Dakota and literally "bet the farm" for the seed capital for Great Plains Software, Inc., then a very small startup company in the fledgling PC software industry. He served Great Plains in executive roles including chief executive officer and chairman of the board of directors. Driven by a strong vision and powerful dream, he led Great Plains to a worldwide presence and to its successful initial public offering in 1997. Microsoft Corporation acquired the company in 2001 for $1.1 billion. From April 2001 to August 2007, Doug served as senior vice president at Microsoft Corporation.

Doug has received honorary doctorate degrees from NDSU (2000) and the University of Mary (2006). In 2012, he joined the advisory board of the Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science and Management at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The Raikes School is a specialized honors program that focuses on computer science and management.

In 2009, then-North Dakota Governor John Hoeven presented Doug with the state's highest honor, the Theodore Roosevelt Rough Rider Award. Doug's philanthropic efforts focus on youth, education, and the arts.

Mr. James Davidson | Co-Founder & Co-CEO, Managing Director of Silver Lake Partners

Menlo Park, CA

Jim is a founder and Managing Director of Silver Lake Partners. Silver Lake is the world's largest and most successful private equity fund focused on large-scale investments in technology companies.

Prior to founding Silver Lake in 1999, Jim was a Managing Director at Hambrecht & Quist where he was Head of Technology Investment Banking and before that, Head of the firm's Mergers and Acquisitions business. Jim was also a member of the Hambrecht & Quist's Commitment Committee.

From 1984 to 1990, Jim was a corporate and securities lawyer for Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro. Jim currently serves on the boards of Flextronics International (NASDAQ: FLEX) and Seagate Technology (NYSE: STX). He also serves on the boards of a number of private and non-profit companies. Jim received a B.S. from the University of Nebraska and J.D. from the University of Michigan.

Mr. Dale Jensen | General Partner, Arizona Diamondbacks Professional Baseball Team

Paradise Valley, AZ

Dale Jensen is an innovative, forward thinker whose high profile career spans 30 years, 8 vertical markets, 5 states, countless accolades and a 3 continent tour with rock and roll legend Alice Cooper. He is a creative problem solver who has leveraged his fascination for science and technology to pioneer efforts in multiple industries.

Born and raised in Lincoln, Nebraska, Jensen began his career as the youngest Vice President of The National Bank of Commerce at age 23. After only 3 years, he co-founded Information Technology, a computer software and solutions provider for banks and savings institutions. Revolutionizing the banking industry at a time when rarely anyone could afford a computer, Jensen's software and systems are utilized by 1 in 4 banks across the country.

Simultaneously while growing Information Technology, Jensen began investing in companies and developing land throughout the 1980's and 1990's. During this time, he owned the largest contiguous farm in Minnesota with 26,000 acres. In addition, he is the largest single investor in the "Sands Hills Golf Club," near Mullen, Nebraska, voted "Best Modern Golf Course in the World," (referring to any golf course built since 1960.) His other standout investments include Aikens Lake Wilderness Lodge in Manitoba Canada, Superior Shores Lodge in Two Harbors, Minnesota, Alice Cooperstown Restaurant in Phoenix, and is a general partner in the Arizona Diamondbacks major league baseball team. His colorful career includes holdings in technology, entertainment, oil and gas, land development, ranch and farm properties and the hotel, restaurant industries. By 1996 Jensen sold Information Technology retiring from his 20-year role as Executive Vice President to pursue other investment opportunities.

Jensen built his solid business reputation on the principals of integrity and hard work. He is well known for his philanthropic nature earning the Boomer Esiason MVP Award for "Raising Awareness and Money" for the organization, dedicated to fighting Cystic Fibrosis. In addition, he has endowed numerous teaching chairs at the University of Nebraska and funded the acquisition of a new public park and school buildings that bear his name. Throughout his years, Jensen has earned numerous awards and recognitions that include sitting on a variety of boards. They include: three time elected Board Member of the Lincoln Airport Authority; twice appointed by the Governor of the State of Nebraska to be a member of the Judicial Qualifications Commission; elected to the Nebraska and the Collegiate Football Hall of Fame; member of "Leadership Lincoln III", a community based leadership training program; selected to conduct motivational speeches to University classes on entrepreneurship; inducted into the Nebraska Computing Hall of Fame in 2008; board member of the Arizona Diamondbacks baseball team; selected for the Department of Defense's Joint Civilian Orientation Conference (JCOC 65) in 2002; and is an Honorary Squadron Commander at Luke AFB.

An avid golfer, Jensen has played on some of the most prominent golf courses in the world. Jensen resides in Paradise Valley, Arizona with his wife Vicki, and enjoys vacationing at his second home near Pine River, Minnesota. He has one son Christopher, who also resides in the Phoenix area.

Mr. Michael Murman | Chairman, Pen-Link, Ltd.

Lincoln, NE

Mr. Murman is the Chairman and Founder of Pen-Link Ltd., a Lincoln, Nebraska based software company focused on telecommunication security and analysis solutions. Pen-Link was started in 1986 and today is one of the leading providers of software for several law enforcement and government security agencies in both North and South America. Most all US Federal Law Enforcement agencies utilize Pen-Link software, including the FBI, DEA, Homeland Security, US Secret Service, and US Marshall Service. Over the past 20 plus years, Pen-Link Ltd. has received the fastest growing business award from the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce; received the Export Achievement Award from the US Department of Commerce for business growth in Latin America; and was recognized by Inc. Magazine in 2007 as one of the fastest growing private businesses in the United States. Additionally, Murman provided expert testimony in the capital murder trial of Scott Peterson in California regarding the wiretaps and was awarded the 2008 Nebraska Distinguished Entrepreneur Award from the University of Nebraska College of Business Administration.

Mr. Murman graduated from the University of Nebraska in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree in business. After a five year career with Selection Research Inc., Mr. Murman started his first software business, Measurement Systems Corporation at the age of 26. Keeping with the entrepreneurial spirit, in 2008, Mr. Murman started a commercial winery in Nebraska called Glacial Till Vineyard and Winery.

Mr. Nate Lowry | Software Engineer, Eliteform

Cairo, NE

Nate graduated in 2010 from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a B.S. in Computer Engineering. He graduated from the Raikes School in 2009 and served as a project coach for Design Studio the following year. While in school he helped out with the Raikes School and College of Engineering Student Advisory Boards. As an undergraduate, Nate interned with Pen-Link, Ltd. in Lincoln, NE and IBM in Omaha, NE. Nate now works in Lincoln as a software engineer with EliteForm, a Nebraska Global company.

Outside of work, Nate is the lead singer and guitarist for his band, Nate & AJ.

Mr. Steve Kiene | Founder, Nebraska Global

Lincoln, NE

Steve Kiene is an experienced entrepreneur, leader, senior executive, and strategist with over 20 years of experience in the IT industry. He started his first successful software company when he was 17 and has been an advisor, mentor, and investor in numerous software startups.

Recently he led the long-term strategic objectives and software development efforts at Internap (NASDAQ: INAP) as the Vice President of Engineering. During his tenure he built a new CDN engineering team in Lincoln Nebraska, creating many new high paying jobs in Lincoln. He simultaneously reduced capital expenditures and operating expenses while expanding the global footprint of the division.

Previously, Steve founded eSellerate and MindVision Software. He led the growth and strategic planning for both companies, specializing in software delivery systems and e-commerce solutions. He piloted the successful sale of MindVision and eSellerate to Digital River in 2006.

While CEO at MindVision, he developed two highly successful software products for other companies- Stacker, which was sold to Stac Electronics when Steve was 22 years old and SpeedDoubler, which was developed in partnership with Connectix.

He currently serves on the board of advisors and volunteers as an adjunct instructor at the Raikes School of Computer Science and Management, helping lead the Design Studio learning experience. He established and serves as director of The Kiene Family Foundation which is dedicated to improving lives of all Nebraskans through support of non-profit organizations. The foundation recently announced a gift of $1,000,000 to NET for their Inspire Nebraska campaign.

Mrs. Tricia Raikes | Co-Founder, Raikes Foundation

Seattle, WA

Tricia Raikes is co-president of the Raikes Foundation where she leads the Foundation's efforts to be a catalyst for innovative, collaborative and pragmatic solutions to build agency in adolescents so they are empowered with the mindsets and learning strategies to succeed in school, career and life.

In addition to her work at the Raikes Foundation, Tricia is an active community service leader. She is a long-time supporter of United Way of King County where she currently serves on the Brand/Marketing Committee and served as co-chair of the 2006-07 United Way of King County Campaign. Her leadership in higher education includes service on the Board of Directors of the College Success Foundation in both Washington State and Wash DC, and the Raikes School of Computer Science and Management at the University of Nebraska. She is also a member of the Seattle University Youth Initiative Advisory Board, the University of Washington's Futures Committee, and Stanford University's Task Force on Undergraduate Education. Previously, she was as Trustee of the University of Nebraska Foundation and the Washington State University Foundation. Tricia is also a former board member of the King County Boys & Girls Club and served as Board President of the Redmond-Kirkland Boys & Girls Club.

Previously, Tricia had a successful career in marketing communications. She co-founded Marketing Partners to provide marketing services to high tech firms. From 1981-1986, Tricia built the creative services organization for Microsoft Corporation. As Director of Creative services, she provided key leadership to a young, growing company and established a high level of quality and excellence in marketing communications. She held positions with Grey Advertising in their New York City headquarters and Chiat Day Advertising in Seattle, Washington.

In 2007, the Puget Sound Business Journal honored Tricia as one of its Women of Influence. In 2012 ParentMap has named Tricia their Humanitarian SuperHero.

Ms. Raikes holds a bachelor's degree from Washington State University. She is a native of Seattle, Washington where she resides with her husband Jeff and their three children.

Chris Isaacson | Senior Vice President, Chief Operating Officer, BATS Global Markets

Lenexa, KS

Chris Isaacson is a founding employee of BATS Global Markets where he serves as chief operating officer and senior vice president. BATS is the third-largest global equities market operator in the world after NYSE and NASDAQ. On a daily basis, BATS executes approximately 10-12% of all U.S. equity trading and approximately 5-6% of all European equity trading. BATS Options, the company's U.S. equity options market, currently has about 4% matched market share.

Mr. Isaacson is responsible for ensuring BATS remains an innovative, world-class leader in technology and his leadership has helped BATS grow quickly. He was promoted to COO in July 2007 after overseeing general operations. As a developer, he was instrumental in the architecture and implementation of the BATS trading platform.

Mr. Isaacson began his career as a software engineer at Cerner Corp., the publicly traded, Kansas City-based healthcare information systems supplier. He was a software developer at Tradebot Systems from 2003 to 2005.

He holds a bachelor's degree in computer science and business from Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, Neb., and was a two-time Academic All-American while competing in the decathlon. He also earned a master's degree in business administration from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Jeffrey S. Raikes School of Computer Science & Management.

Mr. Isaacson holds Series 4, 7, 24, 27, 55, 63 and 65 licenses.