MANAGEMENT TEAM
Jim Arseneault
CEO & President
Mr. Arseneault has over 26 years telecoms experience, most recently as an EIR for Skypoint Capital culminating in the formation of Gridpoint. Prior to Skypoint he was a founding CEO of wireless startup DragonWave, leading the Company to 1st customers & $4M/yr revenue within 3 years. Prior to DragonWave, he was EVP & GM, Internetworking at Newbridge Networks. His background includes senior roles in Business Management, Marketing, Product Management, and Business Development.
Brian Smith
CTO & VP, R&D
Mr. Smith has 24 years experience leading innovative technical teams in designing first to market products in the field of Ethernet services & provisioning systems. Formerly CTO at Diatem Networks, Senior VP R&D at Syndesis, and AVP R&D at Newbridge Networks, he has delivered over 16 products to the telco market from 8 product families.
Natalie Giroux
Chief Scientist
Ms. Giroux is a specialist in traffic engineering and co-inventor of 13 issued patents. She was instrumental in the design of the architecture of several of Newbridge's and Nortel's ATM switches. She authored a book on Quality of Service in ATM networks published by Prentice Hall. Natalie held the role of Chair of the Traffic Management working group at the ATM Forum during the standardization of the key ATM traffic management features. Through her work at Newbridge and Alcatel, she also developed expertise in intellectual property management. Recently as a partner at Skypoint Capital, she was responsible for the financing and mentoring of several new companies.
Pat Dowling
Business Development
Mr. Dowling has over 28 years experience in data communications networks, having worked in international management roles in Bell Canada, Nortel Networks, Newbridge Networks, and Siemens Canada. He has also served as a consultant and as an advisor to several start-up and early stage companies. Mr. Dowling focuses on marketing, sales, customer service, and business development and has successfully delivered products and services of enduring value.
Michael Kelly, CA
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. Kelly has more than twenty five years of financial and strategic business planning and operational management experience in the technology sector with both start-up and multi-national corporations. As Chief Financial Officer, he has successfully concluded numerous financing rounds and capital market transactions. Prior to joining Gridpoint, he was the Chief Financial Officer for FirstHand Technologies. Previously held positions include CFO at Spacebridge Semiconductor and AVP, Business Portfolio Management with Newbridge Networks. He is a Chartered Accountant and holds a Bachelor of Commerce degree from Carleton University in Ottawa.
Ben Stringer
VP Sales
Mr. Stringer is a recognized veteran of the telecommunications industry, with eighteen years of executive tenure. He has been instrumental in the operational and financial growth of three standard setting start-ups. Prior to joining Gridpoint, Mr. Stringer was Vice President of Sales of Versatel Networks. During Mr. Stringer’s tenure as Vice President of Versatel Networks, he led Versatel through one of the most challenging telecom environments to start a new line of business in creating a next-generation Selective Router.
Before joining Versatel, Mr. Stringer held executive leadership positions at Net Insight, Ascend Communications (acquired by Lucent Technologies) and Shiva Corporation (IPO, then acquired by Intel). Earlier in Stringer’s career, he held sales executive positions at Motorola and Hatteras Networks. Stringer holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Information Systems from University of Texas Arlington.
Nick Cadwgan
Director, Product Line Management
With over 15 years of experience in the international telecommunications industry, Nicholas (Nick) Cadwgan brings a proven combination of product management, network architecture and business management expertise to his global position at Gridpoint Systems.
Prior to joining Gridpoint he has held numerous senior management technical, product management and business development roles with responsibility for corporate worldwide activities in multinational companies such as Nortel and Newbridge Networks and early stage companies including Meriton Networks, Tatara Systems and Critical Telecom.