- Board Of Directors
Ed White
Chairman / CEO
Ed White is Chairman of the Board of Field2Base, and he is also the founder of White Ventures LLC, a private equity and commercial real estate development company.
In 1980, after working for Westinghouse Electric Corporation for several years, Ed White founded Utility Translation Systems, Inc. (UTS)- a successful remote-meter reading software company headquartered in Raleigh, NC. In 1996, he sold UTS to Itron, Inc., a leading supplier of energy information and communications solutions to the utility industry. He served as Itron's Board of Directors Chairman until retiring in 2003, but continues to be a frequent speaker on metering, deregulation, and smart grid in the power supply industry at conferences throughout the world.
As an alumnus from NC State University's School of Engineering, Ed is the past president and board member of the university's Engineering Foundation's Board of Directors. He has served on Morrisville's Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors and is their former chairman. He is also the former Chairman of the Board for GRIDiant, Inc., and a former director of eMeter. He also served as president of North Ridge Country Club.
Currently, Ed sits on the board of directors for Stewart Engineering, Research Triangle Regional Partnership, Causam Energy and he is the Chairman and a founding board member of the Research Triangle Cleantech Cluster.
David Lea
Co-Founder & Director
David Lea has been involved in the technology industry for over 35 years with experience from start-ups to multi-billion dollar international organizations. He spent 20+ years with Memorex Telex and its predecessor companies in sales, sales management and marketing ultimately becoming head of worldwide marketing.
Additionally, David was a founder of the first commercial travel site on the Internet- PCTravel. Prior to joining Field2Base as its co-founder, he was the acting CEO of Cambar Software, a supply chain software provider.
Ed Holloway
Co-Founder & Director
Ed Holloway has over 20 years' experience designing, developing and managing mission critical enterprise software and integration projects. Prior to developing and co-founding Field2Base, he served as Senior Program Manager for Microsoft's Developer Division, and was the Chief Software Architect and Technology Manager for the State of S.C.'s Voter Registration and Election System project.
Additionally, Ed served as a Senior Technical Consultant and Architect for HAHT Commerce. In this role, Ed was responsible for the development and implementation of large-scale e-Commerce and wireless applications that integrated directly to Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, and he successfully managed and implemented projects for companies such as: Kraft Foods, Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM) Studios, Siemens, Dow Chemical, Dow Corning, LAM Research, Medline and Printronix (Hewlett Packard OEM).
Ed received his Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering from Western Carolina University.
Chris Smith
Director
Shortly after graduating from UNC Chapel Hill in 1987, Chris Smith joined Grady-White Boats - a company where he'd spent nearly 10 years learning the business and that was founded by his father, Eddie Smith. Fulfilling the tradition of his entrepreneurial grandfather who founded of one of the largest mail order firms in the country as well as his father, Chris took a break in 1996 to start his own business Chain Reaction, which he sold in 2002. At that time, he returned to Grady-White Boats and has spent the last six years leading the development and management of Safe Harbor Family Capital.
Today, Chris is the president of Safe Harbor Family Capital and is a board member of Grady-White Boats. Additionally, he serves as an important board member to the Eddie & Jo Allison Smith Family Foundation, UNC Children's Hospital, and the Virginia Episcopal School Hospital.
When he's not busy working, Chris is a competitive bicyclist which started with his business, Chain Reaction. Today, he continues to race for fun and health.
Jim Haworth
Director
Jim Haworth is the current Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) where he leads the day-to-day business with oversight of all departments including operations, finance, marketing, and competition.
As a Board of Directors member for Field2Base, Jim brings nearly 30 years of experience in the leadership and implementation of successful retail operations, merchandising solutions, strategic planning, financial restructuring, information technology and tactical marketing.
Jim joined the Professional Bull Riders after serving in a variety of senior executive positions at leading companies, including most recent positions as Executive Vice President, President of Retail Services and Transformation Officer for Sears Holding Corporation and its Sears and Kmart units.
Additionally, Jim was the previous Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Wal-Mart Stores, Executive Vice President of Operations for Sam's Club and Chairman, and President & CEO of China's Lotus Supercenters.
Mick Dannin
Director
Mick Dannin is an accomplished entrepreneur with success starting and operating both manufacturing and service businesses. His broad background, combined with his ability to rapidly identify and improve operational efficiencies, make him a turnaround specialist. Mick joined Nomaco in 1991 when his foam extrusion company Maxi Inc. merged with Nomaco, which he has since served at varying times as COO, President and CEO. In early 1997, he transferred to Europe in the capacity of CEO to improve the performance of NMC S.A. After successfully completing his mission, he returned to Nomaco in 2001.
Additionally, Mick is the former CEO of the Noël Group and its operating companies, responsible for the performance of the consolidated group and portfolio companies. Noel Group has manufacturing operations in the US, Europe and Asia. Mick received his business education from Lund, Sweden.
Sam Soliman
Director
Sam Soliman, CFA serves as the Chief Investment Officer of Safe Harbor Family Capital, LLC, a single-family office based in Chapel Hill, NC. The family still owns the operating company that generated its wealth, a sport fishing boat manufacturer named Grady-White Boats, Inc. Safe Harbor manages three generations of capital along with a private family foundation. Sam earned a BA in Finance and Mathematics from Franklin & Marshall College, earned an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business and is a CFA charterholder.
Tom Mann
Director
Tom Mann's professional leadership and experience spans over 35+ years with the General Electric Company (GE) and Genworth Financial, where he last served as Executive Vice President. He is a member of the Housing Policy Executive Committee, part of the Financial Services Round table, and has a B.S. degree in Business Administration from UNC Chapel Hill.
Tom initially served in various capacities as a member of GE's Corporate Audit Staff, following completion of GE's Financial Management Program in 1975. From 1984 to 1996, Tom worked extremely hard and diligently at GE holding leadership positions such as Finance Operations Manager, Executive Vice President of GE Capital Mortgage Operations, Vice President of GE Capital and General Manager of Vendor Financial Services.
From 1996 until 2009, Tom was responsible for U.S. Mortgage Insurance and was a member of the GE leadership team that finalized the company's initial public offering in 2004, which resulted in Genworth Financial.
As Executive Vice President of Genworth, Tom's primary focus was the company's international segment which offered mortgage insurance and lifestyle protection products.