Board of Directors

Gary Heatherington, Board Member

Gary Heatherington has 32 years of international management and leadership experience in financial services, payment systems, e-commerce, retail and manufacturing. He was most recently CEO at Cyota Inc., an electronic payments technology company.

Previously he was CEO and President of Bank One Canada, was Executive Vice President with MasterCard International and held executive positions at National Trust Company and Bank of Montreal. He has also held a number of directorships with financial companies including First Data, RewardsNOW, Visa Canada and many other organizations.

Based in Ottawa, Ontario, Gary is active in community programs. He holds an MBA from Pacific Western University and an Honors Management Sciences diploma from the Canadian Bankers Association. He also completed the Executive Program of the University of Virginia, Darden Business School.

Sharon Nargassans, Board Member

Sharon Nargassans, a founder and board member of Saylent Technologies, brings financial, operational, and administrative expertise to the company. She was formerly Saylent’s vice president of finance and human resources.

Previously, she was the director of accounting and assistant controller at The Charles River Center (formerly Charles River Arc), a private, nonprofit human service agency. She has held a variety of financial accounting positions during her career including seven years with the U.S. government, where she was responsible for budget compliance of regional military offices. She holds a degree from Massachusetts Bay College.

Carl H. Novotny, Board Member

Carl Novotny became a General Partner of Venture Fund of New England (VCFNE) in 2001 upon the formation of VCFNE IV, and is also a significant limited partner in the fund. As one of the Managing Directors, Carl oversees the fund’s investments in all direct marketing-related investments made by VCFNE in early-stage companies. He currently serves as a member of the board of four VCFNE portfolio companies: Members Connect, Inc., SoundBite Communications, NextMark, Inc., and First Equity Card Corporation. Outside of his VCFNE activities, Carl is also a major shareholder and member of the board of directors of S&H Greenpoints, Inc. of Salem, Mass., and of Affinity Marketing Group and Affinity Venture Group of Wellesley, Mass.

Prior to joining VCFNE, Carl was the founder of First USA Partners, the exclusive sales and business development arm of First USA Bank, the third largest credit card issuer in the U.S., now a wholly owned subsidiary of Bank One. First USA Partners was the leading independent affinity marketing company in the U.S. during the 1990s. He sold the company to Bank One in 1998. Prior to founding First USA Partners in 1990, Carl also co-founded Trans National Financial Services, a pioneering company in the development of affinity marketing of financial services, most notable affinity credit card services, and served as its COO until 1988.

Carl is active in several non-profit groups including the Philanthropic Council of Boston Children’s Hospital Diagnostic Medical Center, and The Boston Foundation. He received his bachelor of arts degree from Rice University and his MBA from Harvard Business School.

Jonathan Wallace, Board Member

Since co-founding WWC Capital Group in 1998, Jonathan has focused his efforts on guiding growth-stage technology areas including new media, IT software/services, and alternative energy. He has also been responsible for the firm’s highly successful Internet advertising investments including WeatherBug and Advertising.com. In addition to Saylent, Jonathan represents WWC Capital on the boards of Double Positive and AllTrust.

Jonathan is widely regarded as an expert in designing capital structures for growth companies with the objective of increasing flexibility and/or lowering financing costs in the capital structure. Companies use his capital structure advice to help them achieve vital strategic objectives such as financing an acquisition, retirement of a shareholder equity position, or raising development capital. During his extensive career as an investment banker, Jonathan was responsible for the placement of over $3.5 billion of senior debt, subordinated debt, and equity. Jonathan holds an MBA from the University of Virginia, Darden Business School, and a bachelor of science degree in commerce from the University of Virginia.

Thomas Wooters, Board Member

Tom Wooters is primarily responsible for SEED Venture Finance’s investment operations. Prior to joining SEED Venture Finance, he worked as an independent consultant offering strategic consulting services to small businesses. Prior to his work as a consultant, Tom was a founding partner at Argo Global Capital, a communications focused venture capital firm. During his tenure at Argo, the firm successfully raised two funds totaling greater than $440 million in capital. While at Argo, Tom was responsible for all aspects of transaction execution including deal sourcing, due diligence, deal structuring and investment monitoring.

Before the founding of Argo, Tom worked at Advent International, a large Boston-based international private equity firm. At Advent, his responsibilities included transaction execution and monitoring of investments in North America and Asia/Pacific. Tom also worked at Cowen & Company (SG Cowen) in the firm’s Technology Investment Banking Group. While at Cowen, he advised and assisted Cowen’s clients in the execution of public offerings of equity and debt, merger and acquisition transactions, fairness opinions and private placements. Tom holds a bachelor of science degree in business finance from Lehigh University.