Leading OpenTV as one of the world's dominant providers of digital television solutions are some of the industry's brightest visionaries, technology pioneers and innovative thinkers - all of whom are passionate about convergent media.

Ben Bennett,
Chief Operating Officer, Acting Chief Executive Officer

Ben Bennett was appointed Chief Operating Officer and Acting Chief Executive Officer in August 2007. He previously held the positions of Senior Vice President, Customer Operations, responsible for delivering and supporting OpenTV solutions and Managing Director for OpenTV’s European Operations overseeing operations and relationships with European network operators, broadcasters, and STB/CA manufacturers. He brings significant international management experience in the commercial deployment of advanced digital and interactive TV and has overseen a number of OpenTV's worldwide customer deployments.

Ben also served as Senior Vice President and General Manager of OpenTV's Worldwide Professional Services, Consulting and Support group, managing the company's product deployment and integration teams in the U.S., Europe, and Asia Pacific .Prior to OpenTV, Ben was Vice President for the Internet devices and mobile communications division of Spyglass, developing and marketing products such as the Web phone.

Ben has held technical, management, and senior management positions at companies throughout Europe, such as Logica and British Telecom. He holds an Honors Degree in Engineering Science & Technology from Loughborough University of Technology in England, and is active in several industry groups.

Shum Mukherjee,
Chief Financial Officer

Shum leads OpenTV’s worldwide finance organization and has the responsibility for accounting and reporting, strategic planning and analysis, treasury, tax, audit, and investor relations.

Prior to joining OpenTV, Shum served as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer at Genus, Inc., a semiconductor equipment company then publicly-traded on NASDAQ.   Before that, he served as Vice President, Finance and Corporate Controller for E*Trade Group, as well as Chief Financial Officer for E*Trade International.  In addition, Mukherjee also served in various financial roles for Raychem Corporation, including Worldwide Group Controller.

Shum holds a Masters degree in Management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management, a Masters in Operations Research and Statistics from the Indian Institute of Technology, and a Bachelor’s degree from St. Xavier’s College, India.  He is also a member of the Silicon Valley Bank CFO Advisory Board.

Mark Beariault,
General Counsel

Mark is responsible for managing the company’s worldwide legal and regulatory affairs. 

Before joining OpenTV in 2003, Mark served in senior legal positions at VERITAS Software and OmniSky Corporation.  Prior to moving in-house, he was a corporate attorney at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett in New York, NY and Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati in Palo Alto, CA.  Mark’s legal background includes significant experience in intellectual property, commercial transactions, corporate finance and governance matters, securities laws and mergers, acquisitions and strategic transactions.

Mark received a B.A. and B.S. from the University of Pennsylvania and a J.D. from the Georgetown University Law Center.

Michael Ivanchenko,
Senior Vice President, Sales

Michael has more than 13 years of experience in the CATV, satellite and broadcasting industries and is responsible for aligning OpenTV’s worldwide sales efforts.

Michael previously served as Managing Director of OpenTV’s Asia Pacific operations, successfully establishing the company’s Australian operation and launching the FOXTEL and Austar deployments, as well as overseeing the creation of OpenTV’s regional research and development presence. During this tenure, he was also responsible for the implementation of digital television networks and applications in China, Singapore, Japan, India, Thailand, Taiwan, New Zealand and the United States.

Prior to joining OpenTV, Michael served as the General Manager and joint Founder of Vulcan Software in Sydney, Australia, a company specializing in the development of Interactive Transaction systems for the gaming and finance industries. He is also a frequent industry speaker.

Sid Gregory,
Senior Vice President, Special Projects

Sid has an extensive background in the cable and satellite industry encompassing the commercial introduction of digital cable television up to the development of high speed broadband services and the introduction of interactive television. 

Prior to joining OpenTV, Sid was Senior Vice President of Advanced Technology at both ATT Broadband and TCI, where he led the development and technology teams that introduced the first generation of Motorola and Scientific Atlanta digital set top boxes (DigiCipher, Headend in the Sky,…).  He was also responsible for developing the platform technology and commercial services surrounding TCI’s and ATT Broadband’s interactive television services and led the development activity which was eventually adopted as the foundation for DOCSIS.

Sid headed the Professional Services group of Intellocity/ACTV and was also Managing Partner for the Cayde Group, a broadcast to broadband strategy company assisting content owners in discovering new outlets for their video programming.  Sid’s broadband consulting service, Gregory and Associates, developed satellite two-way broadband alternatives and business planning for the U.S. marketplace, high definition capacity planning for satellite fleet operators, and market analysis for manufacturers of DVR solutions. He is a graduate of the University of Oregon.

Joel Zdepski,
Senior Vice President and General Manager, Middleware

Joel joined OpenTV in 1995 and was initially responsible for MPEG and server product development. He later headed the Application Engineering department in the Applications Business Unit from 1999 to 2001.  More recently, he worked in the CTO office, functioning in part as CTO for the Asia Pacific region, where he was instrumental in technical evangelizing and selling to FOXTEL, SkyPerfecTV, and J:COM, and most recently network operators in India.  

Joel was also part of an Intellectual Property Business Unit looking at models for monetizing OpenTV’s IP portfolio until the company’s business strategy evolved in 2005.  He continues to work with the Legal department on prosecution of patents and portfolio renewal where he chairs the OpenTV Innovations Committee.

Prior to joining OpenTV, Joel was Head, Digital Video Communications at Sarnoff, working on MPEG and HDTV system design and design of the DirecTV compression/transmission chain.  Joel holds a PhD in Electrical Engineering from Rutgers University, specializing in Video Compression and Video Communications.  He is a named inventor on 30 issued US patents.

Tracy Geist,
Senior Vice President, Market Development

Tracy oversees all aspects of the company's communications, product marketing, solutions marketing, partner management, training, and digital content production, working closely with the other members of senior management to identify and map strategic direction, product roadmap, and market development opportunities .

Tracy has been with OpenTV since 2000, and has held various roles in Business Development, Market Development, and Partner Management.  Tracy has more than 15 years of experience developing solutions, services, and products in media and technology for companies such as Oracle Corporation, nCUBE (now C-COR), ExtendMedia, and the Bulldog Group. 

Tracy holds a BBA in Information Systems and Strategic Business Analysis from Baylor University.

Tony Webster, Senior Vice President Human Resources

Tony joined OpenTV in 2007 and is responsible for executing the company’s overall human resources strategy. His responsibilities include leadership and employee development, performance management, recruitment, compensation, as well as employee relations and workforce development.

Tony has more than 20 years of experience in a broad range of human resource activities. Prior to joining OpenTV, Tony was Vice President Human Resources at Centillium Communications where he headed the company’s worldwide HR strategy and operations. He previously held senior HR management positions with Samsung Semiconductor Inc., Sony Electronics and  SBC Communications.

Tony holds a BA in History from Westmont College.

Board of Directors

André Kudelski
André Kudelski was appointed to OpenTV’s Board of Directors as director since January 2007 and as Executive Chairman since March 2007; Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kudelski SA since 1991; member of Kudelski’s Board of Directors since 1987 and its Chairman of the Board since 1991; currently a director of the Edipresse Group, Nestlé, HSBC Private Banking Holdings and Dassault Systèmes.

James A. Chiddix
Jim Chiddix was appointed to OpenTV’s Board of Directors in 2004; Vice Chairman since May 2007; our Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer from May 2004 through March 2007; President of MystroTV (a business unit of Time Warner Cable) from July 2001 to January 2004; currently a director of Vyyo Inc. and Symmetricom, Inc.

Joseph Deiss
Joseph Deiss was appointed to OpenTV’s Board of Directors in 2007; Federal Councillor for the Swiss federal government from March 1999 to August 2006; Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Economic Affairs from 2002 to 2006; President of the Swiss Confederation from January 2004 to December 2004; Head of the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs from 1999 to 2002.

Lucien Gani
Lucien Gani was appointed to OpenTV’s Board of Directors in 2007; General Counsel and Head of Legal Affairs of Kudelski since January 2006; currently also a Partner of Luthy, Wanner, Jaton, Hofstetter, Gani, Ramel and Elkaim, a Swiss law firm, since 1990.

Jerry Machovina
Jerry Machovina was appointed to OpenTV’s Board of Directors in 2003.; currently a private investor and director and Senior Consultant to Vehix.com; Executive Vice President of Yankees Entertainment and Sports Network (YES) from September 2001 to October 2002.

Mercer Reynolds
Mercer Reynolds was appointed to OpenTV’s Board of Directors in 2007; Chairman of the Board of Directors of Reynolds, DeWitt & Co., an investment firm, since 1979 (except during his tenure as United States Ambassador); United States Ambassador to Switzerland and Liechtenstein from September 2001 to April 2003.

Pierre Roy
Pierre Roy was appointed to OpenTV’s Board of Directors in 2007.  Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Nagravision S.A. (a subsidiary of Kudelski) since January 2003; Owner of Pierre Roy Consulting Company from 1999 to 2003.

Mauro Saladini
Mauro Saladini was appointed to OpenTV’s Board of Directors in 2007. Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of the Kudelski Group since 2003. Partner of consulting firm McKinsey & Co. since 2001.

Claude Smadja
Claude Smadja was appointed to OpenTV’s Board of Directors in 2007; Founder and President of Smadja & Associates Inc., a strategic advisory firm, since June 2001; currently the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Kudelski and director of the Edipresse Group and Infosys Corporation.

Eric Tveter
Eric Tveter was appointed to OpenTV’s Board of Directors in June 2007.  He is currently Managing Partner of ETC Ventures, LLC.  Prior to this role, Mr. Tveter was President and Chief Operating Officer of Telewest Global, a major broadband communications and media group based in the United Kingdom.  Prior to his position at Telewest, he was Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Mastec, a leading infrastructure solutions provider. Mr. Tveter has also served in executive positions at Cablevision Systems Corporation, Metromedia International Group, Time Warner Cable and Comcast Corporation.  He currently serves as the non-executive chairman and a director of SightSpeed, a video and voice over internet service provider to the consumer and SME marketplace, and as a trustee of Long Island University.  Mr. Tveter holds a B.S. in Economics and Accounting from Long Island University and an M.B.A. in Marketing from Rutgers University