Advisors

Schoffstall Ventures' Advisors are people with experience and expertise that fortify our team in technology investing. 

Bob C. Bales

Dennis F. Fingers

Joseph E. Flaherty

Joe Flaherty is Dean of the School of Science, Amos Eaton Professor of the Departments of Computer Science and Mathematical Sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York.  Joe’s professional preparation took place at the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn where he earned a Ph.D. and M.S. in Applied Mechanics. He also earned his B.S. in Aeronautical Engineering.  

Joe developed the interdisciplinary Computational Science and Engineering degree program at Rensselaer, educating full-time and industrial students. He also developed a four-course graduate sequence in numerical analysis and computational science at Rensselaer. He is Editor or Editorial Board member of Comput. Mech. Adv., Int. J. Comput. Engineering and Science., Appl. Numer. Maths., SIAM J. Sci. Comput., SIAM Mono. on Math. Model and Comput. and SIAM Review.  His memberships include: Member ACM, IEEE, IMACS (Executive Council), SIAM, and USACM (Fellow, Executive Coun­cil, Secretary, Treasurer, and Vice President).

Appointments

Clifford L. Jones

Cliff Jones is currently serving as the Director of the Governor’s Action Team for Economic Development. He also serves over twelve advisory boards and commissions, mostly in nonprofit areas of health, conservation, culture, and education.  These organizations include the Nature Conservancy, the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority, Ecumenical Community, Modern Transit Partnership, and Heritage Foundation, to list a few.

Born in Sharpsville, Pennsylvania, Cliff now lives in Mechanicsburg.  He began working for the Boy Scouts of America in New Castle, Pennsylvania and came to Harrisburg from the Can Do Industrial Development Group of Hazleton.  He has had a long and serendipitous career of public service in Pennsylvania, serving four Governors in cabinet positions as Secretary of Commerce, Secretary of Labor and Industry, and Secretary of Environmental Resources.  He also served as Chairman and member of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission.

During Cliff’s tenure as Commerce Secretary, he headed the Pennsylvania Industrial Development Authority.  He was also Governor Scranton’s liaison implementing the conversion of Olmstead Air Force Base to civilian operation.  In his term at Labor and Industry, the agency played a key role in resolving disputes such as the Black Coalition Construction Worker conflict in Pittsburgh.  While Secretary of the Department of Environmental Resources, the agency led the response to Three Mile Island nuclear incident.

In addition, Cliff served as the Chairman of Republican Party.  During his four-year tenure, a $600,000 debt was retired. He has participated in three major State Bond campaigns:  Project 70, Project 500, and the three hundred million dollar issue, used for infrastructure loans and grants.  He was President for Effective Government for four years, participating in several hundred legislative campaigns.  As President of the Pennsylvania Chamber he became transition President for the Capital Region Economic Development Corporation (CREDC) and served as the transitional Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Health Care Cost Containment Council.  Cliff has been adjunct professor at Messiah College and Penn State University, and has conducted seminars and lectures in Public Policy.  Moreover, he was the Co-chair of Governor Ridge’s Brac Pac, a volunteer position created to assist in retaining defense jobs in Pennsylvania.  Cliff served as interim President of the Susquehanna Alliance and again served as President of CREDC.

Richard Mandelbaum

Charles J. Peters

Chuck Peters is an entrepreneur, business leader, and community leader with proven operations success and technical experience in high-tech industry.  Chuck began his career in the high-tech industry as the founding partner of McNutt Peters Creative Group.  MPCG was an innovator — the first in the region to create transactional e-commerce solutions and database-driven Web sites for dozens of companies including the Times Publishing Company, The White House Athletic Center, Plastek Group and many others.

In 1997, Chuck sold his firm to and took an equity position in ErieNet, Inc., Northwestern PA's largest Internet Service Provider.  He was responsible for the day-to-day operation of the company and a first and second round equity raise, as well as the company’s expansion plans.  Chuck oversaw the due diligence, purchase, and subsequent integration of four other Internet service providers – Blink.Net, NorthCoast Internet, Toolcity Internet, and the Knowledge Network.  In September of 1999, Peters and his partners sold ErieNet to Stargate Industries of Pittsburgh.
Chuck is currently the Regional Manager for the Northwestern Pennsylvania and Northeastern Ohio regions for Stargate, Inc.  Stargate is one of the nation's largest Internet Service Providers, providing Internet access in all 48 contiguous states.  In 2002, the company experienced a 28% growth in direct business sales.  Chuck coordinated all aspects of Stargate’s first and only cable modem project and developed the beta channel partner program.

Chuck earned his bachelor’s degree in Communications from Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania.  His related experience includes being a past instructor in Penn State Behrend’s E-Commerce Program.  He has been a speaker for Pittsburgh Technology Council’s CFO Roundtable on Mergers and Acquisitions.  In addition, Chuck is a recurring presenter at the Manufacturer’s Association of NW PA Technology Roundtable.  Chuck’s membership in trade and civic boards include:  Technology Council of Northwest PA (Chairman and Co-founder), American Red Cross, Harborcreek Zoning Hearing Board, Erie County Industrial Development Authority, Erie Rotary Club, and Erie Art Museum.

Paul M. Roos

From 1998 to 2001, Paul was the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Technology Council of Central Pennsylvania, an organization that is dedicated to promoting the growth of the technology community within a 22+ county region of the state, the area he played a leading role in branding as Pennsylvania's Technology Diamond.  He coordinated technology efforts in the region, promoting commerce and economic development through business, government, academia, and trade organization interfaces.  Before his appointment as the Technology Council President, Paul directed the Information Systems department at Keystone Health Plan Central (a joint venture of Highmark and Capital Blue Cross).  In this capacity, he established an organizational infrastructure that grew the business unit into four new divisions. 

In addition to his accomplishments at Keystone, Paul worked as a Senior Systems Engineer and Technology Consultant for the US Military.  Paul is a graduate of the University of Maryland.  Paul serves as Chairman for the Information Systems Board of Advisors of Penn State University Harrisburg.  Paul participates with the Board of Advisors for the Harrisburg Young Professionals (HYP.)  He previously served on the board of the Council of Regional Information Technology Associations (CRITA) and the Harrisburg Regional Chamber.  Paul is a native of Central Pennsylvania.

Stephen A. Schoffstall

Stephen Schoffstall is an experienced executive with more than 14 years of experience in Internet communication services, Internet software, and B2B e-commerce initiative, including financial and sales execution strategies. Specific expertise includes business development, sales, marketing, and strategic planning. Entrepreneurial spirit with successful track record of strategy through execution of sales plans that leverage direct, indirect as well as partnership relations capable of delivering revenue as well as validation of market and or vertical traction. A business leader that has successfully driven new revenue growth, new products to market, new business partnerships and models to deployment as well as new processes and implementation. Experience demonstrates ability to lend sales, marketing as well management experience to growing technology businesses. 

Stephen is the Managing Partner of Schoffstall Consulting and presently working as a consultant to Renaissance Integrated Solutions as Senior Vice President of Business Development. Following is a partial listing of companies to which Stephen has provided services: Ikimbo, Inc., E-Lynxx Corporation, StreamSage, Inc., Eidea Labs, Inc., Salvage Direct, and ServerVault, Inc. Stephen worked for PSINET, Inc. from 1989 to 1996, where he held the position of Vice President of Sales and other key positions. Stephen graduated from the University of Maryland with a B.S. in Computer Science.

Denis Yaro

Denis Yaro has over 20 years experience in the information technology arena focused on developing and bringing to market software solutions for commercial, institutional and government users.  Since 1984, he has worked in various fields of the Internet, participating in its evolution from a limited research environment to the worldwide phenomenon we know today.  Denis possesses a unique blend of technology and business skills and experience that have been applied across business functions, in organizations ranging from small start-ups to divisions of large corporations, with worldwide customers and partners.

Denis currently works as an Independent Consultant.  Initially focused on technology design and implementation, he has served in senior executive and general management positions since 1989.  Denis was President and Chief Operating Officer from 1999 to 2001 of Conducent, which focused on enabling the PC desktop to be an advertising and promotions platform.  Denis was also Vice President (Product Development) and Executive Vice President (Products and Operations as well as Strategic Business Development) for CyberCash in Bangalore, India, Redwood City, California and Reston, Virginia.  From 1989 to 1995, Denis worked for Sun Microsystems in Grenoble, France and Mountain View, California as Director (Network Management) and Vice President/General Manager (SunConnect and SunSoft Enterprise Management business unit).  Prior to that, he was employed by Systems Development Corporation (Unisys) in Santa Monica from 1984-89 as a Network Engineering Manager.  Denis began his career in information technology at TRW working in computer programming and systems analysis.  Denis earned a B.A. in Mathematics from St. John’s College.

Barry L. Zoumas

Barry Zoumas holds the position of the Alan R. Warehime Professor of Agribusiness and Professor of Food Science at The Pennsylvania State University in University Park, PA.  He is responsible for establishing a college-wide program to integrate nutrition and food safety issues into international trade and regulatory issues. In 1997, Barry was the Visiting Scientist to The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, Italy.  On this project, he worked in the Division of Food and Nutrition on Codex Alimentarius issues and nutrition programs for developing countries.

Barry held the position of Corporate Vice President of Science and Technology at Hershey Foods Corporation in Hershey, PA (1981-1997).  At Hershey Foods, he was the Chief Technical Officer responsible for R&D, Quantity Assurance, Engineering, Regulatory Affairs and Agribusiness.  Barry managed 350 scientists and engineers and was a Member of the Corporate Planning Committee.  From 1970 to 1981, he held various technical positions at Hershey Foods Corporation.  During 1969 to 1971, Barry was the Senior Scientist for Mead Johnson in Evansville, Indiana.

Barry earned his Ph.D. in Nutrition from The Pennsylvania State University in University Park, PA; his M.S. in Nutrition and Biochemistry from The Pennsylvania State University in University Park, PA; and his B.S. in Chemistry from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania in Kutztown, PA.  He also attended Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA for a Senior Executive Program, Graduate Business Program.  Moreover, Barry has 17 publications and 3 U.S. patents.