The Whaledrop Team

Whaledrop was founded by a diverse group of people who understand the value of bringing enterprise-class solutions to small businesses--empowering the masses with technology and services that have traditionally been available only to large companies with fat IT budgets. Each member of the team has experience starting and building successful technology companies that focus on client needs.

Doug Clawson

Mr. Clawson has over 20 years of experience developing technology products for a wide variety of end users. His focus has been primarily on product design, usability, and education, with a special emphasis on knowledge acquisition and interaction theory. Prior to Whaledrop, Mr. Clawson was the Chief Technology Officer for Del Mar Database, a residential mortgage origination software company, and a founding partner of ModelMinded Software, a software development company that specialized in user interaction modeling. Mr. Clawson also was the Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of NetUPDATE, one of the first application service providers to create collaborative transaction management software for business. Mr. Clawson holds a degree in Scientific and Technical Communication, with minors in Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, from Michigan Technological University.

John Button

Mr. Button has 28 years of experience in senior management, operations, product marketing, and consulting in computer software and technology services. Mr. Button is a business owner, investor, and manager living in California's Central Coast region. He is a majority investor in multiple retail businesses and consults with firms to help launch new products and businesses. From 2005 to 2007 Mr. Button was the Chief Operating Officer at Del Mar Database, a residential mortgage originations software company, with responsibility for product management, customer support, professional services, and information technology. Prior to Del Mar Database, Mr. Button was Sr. Vice President at IPS-Sendero, with responsibility for the Financial Risk software products business. He graduated from Drexel University in Philadelphia, PA with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering and has done Masters work at Drexel in Engineering Management.

John Walsh

Mr. Walsh has 22 years of experience as a senior manager in the software and financial services sector. As president/CEO, he has built three companies from early stage or start-up to successful sale to public companies. In 1996 Mr. Walsh took over RF/Spectrum Decision Science Corp. In three years the firm increased revenue and EBT over 500% culminating in a sale of the firm to a public company in 1999. From 2000 to 2003 Mr. Walsh founded and built and sold PureCarbon, Inc. to WorkStream, Inc. Most recently Mr. Walsh took over Del Mar Database in 2003. Over three years the firm's revenue and EBT increased by over 300%. In 2006 the firm was sold to Fiserv Inc. Mr. Walsh graduated from California Lutheran College and has an MBA.

Stephen Sexton

Mr. Sexton has more than 20 years of experience designing, developing and implementing quality software solutions and products that support real business needs. Software Architecture is Mr. Sexton's key area of specialization. In particular, he has extensive experience in developing data models, object models and architecting component-based distributed applications. Mr. Sexton also has extensive knowledge and experience in product development, project management and in software development best practices and methodologies. Prior to Whaledrop, Mr. Sexton co-founded ModelMinded Software, a software development company that specialized in user interaction modeling, and led numerous successful development efforts and projects for companies like Microsoft, Voicestream Wireless, Wildfire Communications and Visa International. He also developed products for the Travel Agent and Clothing Manufacturing industry while running a business in Dublin, Ireland. Mr. Sexton has an Electronics/Software Engineering Degree from the University Of Dublin, Trinity College, Ireland.

Mike Ellis

Mr. Ellis has over 15 years of experience as a senior manager in operations and product and project management. As Co-founder of SpinDance, Inc., a software engineering company that specializes in sophisticated embedded systems, Mr. Ellis is responsible for day-to-day company operations including marketing and business development, working with clients to determine requirements, and assisting in project management. Mr. Ellis' technical contributions include user interface design, software development, usability testing, and quality assurance. Mr. Ellis has a BS in Computer Science from Hope College, and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

Karl Schripsema

Mr. Schripsema has 27 years of diverse software, hardware, system integration, engineering management, and consulting experience for products and projects, including automotive telematics, user interface frameworks, simulation, consumer products, customer relationship management, wireless automated guided vehicles, and product data management. As Co-founder of SpinDance, Inc., Mr. Schripsema leads product technology, development processes, quality assurance, staff training, and technology consulting capabilities. As a Systems Architect, he provides systems and software architecture consulting services to clients. Mr. Schripsema has a BS in Electrical Engineering from Michigan State University.

Murat Divringi

Mr. Divringi has been actively involved in designing, developing, and delivering commercial software products for over 20 years. He has led development of products that are installed in thousands of sites throughout the world, many of them Fortune 500 companies performing mission critical tasks. He currently works with software start-ups through his company, Whitehot.com, and was a founder of Planario.com, a BPM consulting practice. Prior to Planario.com, Mr. Divringi served as Vice President of Engineering with CacheFlow, Inc. (now BlueCoat.com), where he was responsible for various aspects of product development for a high- performance Internet content distribution and management appliance. He also served as the Director of Engineering at Emulex Network Systems' Northwest Development Center. Mr. Divringi holds a master's degree in Computer Science from Hartford Graduate Center, an affiliate of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Randól Sargent

Mr. Sargent has 22 years' operational experience working with new and emerging companies, either as a member of the management team, or through Business Infrastructures, his private consulting practice which assists with the launch or restructuring of businesses. Focusing in the areas of accounting and finance, legal compliance, human resources, project management, and operational processes and structure, he most recently served as Vice President of Finance and Administration at Dux Area Inc., assisting the founders from its inception through six rounds of funding and growth involving the hiring of over 100 employees domestically and internationally. Prior to that, he served as Controller and Director of Administrative Services for NetUpdate, Inc., being the first employee engaged by the founders and assisting with its growth and acquisition of two other companies, and before that was an early employee and Manager of Information Services and Director of Administrative Services for Emulex Corporation. In his private consulting practice, Mr. Sargent has participated in the formation, organization, and/or operation of several Seattle-area emerging businesses, and has been a corporate officer and/or held positions with the boards of directors of several corporations. Mr. Sargent holds a bachelor's degree from Newman University, a master's degree from Washington State University, and has done PhD work at the University of Toronto.