Management
Michael Cole
Founder & CEOMr. Cole has more than 12 years experience in the digital media and technology space spanning the US, Europe and Japan.
Over the last eight years, he has been one of the leaders in the lifestyle gaming market. Prior to Vivity Labs, he was the co-founder and VP Business Development of Quixit, a San Francisco based company, which developed healthy games. Michael has held numerous executive positions with start-ups and early stage technology companies where he successfully structured strategic partnerships with MSN, Yahoo, Viacom, Real Networks, A&E, PepsiCo, Reader's Digest, etc.
Michael is passionate about health and new forms of gaming. He has been a speaker at the Casual Game Conference in Seattle and at the Health 2.0 Summit in San Francisco. Mr. Cole holds an MBA from Ecole Superieure de Commerce de Lyon, a leading business school in France and a BA in Communication from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada.
Mark Baxter
Co-Founder & VP ProductMark Baxter has been in the Games and digital Media industry for more than ten years. He was the President and Founder of Gnosis Games, an independent games studio that developed multiple #1 Casual Games, including "Paparazzi" and "Private Eye". In 2005, Gnosis was nominated as the Canada New Media Award's "Most Promising New Company of the Year".
In 2006, Gnosis was sold to Threewave Software, a AAA game development studio focused on producing top-tier online content for PCs and consoles. As a Senior Manager of Threewave, Mark lead the Gnosis Casual Games division and worked closely with top brands and clients including: Disney, Electronic Arts, Real Arcade, Shockwave and Big Fish Games.
Mark has a background in Psychology, and is actively involved in a variety of educational and "Serious Gaming" initiatives. He has also been a Speaker several times at the Casual Games Conference in Seattle.
Dr. Paul Nussbaum
Co-Founder, VP Health & LifestyleDr. Nussbaum is a well-known author, speaker and national leader in Lifestyle & Brain Health across the lifespan. His recent book by McGraw-Hill explains his 5 pillar lifestyle approach: Physical, Mental, Social, Nutrition and Stress Relief, and how each of these areas can be improved by understanding their connection to the brain.
Dr. Nussbaum is cited frequently by the media and national press including the NY Times, Wall Street and USA Today. He is the recent winner of the 2007 American Society on Aging "Gloria Cavanaugh Award". Dr. Nussbaum has published over 50 peer reviewed articles and is an Adjunct Professor in Neurological Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Board of Directors
Laurie Wallace
Laurie is a serial entrepreneur, who has, to date, launched and led two successful technology companies in the digital media and wireless sectors. Most recently, Laurie co-founded and led online casual game developer FlyOver which was acquired by Vivendi Games in 2006. Previously, he co-founded Datum, a designer of semiconductors for the wireless data base station market. Acquired by PMC-Sierra for over $200 million in 2000.
Boris Wertz
Dr. Boris Wertz is an Internet entrepreneur and investor and the CEO of W Media Ventures, a Vancouver-based venture capital firm that focuses on Consumer Internet investments in the Pacific Northwest in close cooperation with long-term partner Acton Capital (former Burda Digital Ventures). Previously, Boris was the Chief Operating Officer of AbeBooks.com, the world's largest marketplace for new, used and rare and out-of print books which got sold to Amazon in 2008. Boris joined the company in 2002 after JustBooks, the German company he co-founded in 1999, was acquired by AbeBooks. Boris successfully finished his PhD as well as his graduate studies at the Graduate School of Management (WHU), Koblenz, majoring in Business Economics / Business Management. Boris serves on the boards of Suite101, Indochino.com, Yapta, etc.
Curtis Terry
Curtis Terry has more than 18 years of experience in corporate finance and has a proven track record of success in both Fortune 500 high-growth companies and start-up technology firms. Most recently, he was the co-founder and COO/CFO of SiteMasher, which sold in June 2010 to SalesForce. Earlier, Terry was a co-founder and chief financial officer for Relic Entertainment until it was acquired by THQ in April 2004. Post acquisition, he held executive positions for both THQ and Electronic Arts.
Terry holds a bachelor's degree in economics with honors from University of Victoria and a master's degree in economics from Queen's University.
Nick Bedford
Mr. Bedford has over 20 years of international finance experience in Europe, Asia and North America. Nick served as Chairman of the Board for Active State, until its acquisition by Sophos Plc. He has held senior positions at UBS Warburg, including the Frankfurt-based role as Head of German Equities. In this position he oversaw all sales and sales trading of equity products, and was responsible for the merger of UBS Germany's equity business with SBC Warburg. Prior to this, he was with UBS' Securities division in Zurich, Tokyo, and London. Nick holds a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from King's College, London University.
Ralph Turfus
Ralph is an accomplished technology entrepreneur who has spent three decades in the IT sector. Most recently, he was founder and CEO of Class Software until the company was acquired by Active Network. An engineer/MBA, Ralph's passion is developing the marketing and sales capabilities of entrepreneurs. He is a highly-regarded speaker on the topic and has invested in more than 15 technology companies. In recognition of his business success and industry contributions he was named the B.C. Technology Industry Association's "Person of the Year" in 2006.