Zipwhip Leadership

John is an Internet and mobile veteran with 20 years of corporate management experience. At 21 years old, his first entrepreneur endeavor was Rootlevel, a web application development company that built GM.com and Ford.com.He then founded Simplewire, one of the mobile industry’s first text messaging aggregators which was acquired by Qpass in 2006 and rebranded as OpenMarket. John stayed on board with OpenMarket for a year and a half as VP of Sales driving revenue from $5M annually to $500M. John is also known for throwing the most elaborate Halloween party in the state of Washington. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jlauer12

Vered brings both executive-leadership and technical skills to Zipwhip, where he will lead the company’s engineering organization. Vered comes to Zipwhip from Microsoft, where he led the development of Workplace Analytics, a service that uses aggregate user data from everyday work in Office 365 to identify collaboration patterns that impact productivity. He previously held positions at Cisco Systems, VoloMetrix (acquired by Microsoft) and Check Point Software Technologies. Aside from having the right skills and background, Vered shares Zipwhip’s internal values of determination, innovation, respect, enthusiasm, collaboration and trust.

Bob is a 20-year technology sector veteran and has 30-years finance executive experience. He most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of PopCap Games, Inc., from August 2009 through September 2011. During his tenure he worked closely with senior management and others to prepare the company for an initial public offering or other liquidity event with the company ultimately selling for up to $1.3billion to Electronic Arts in August 2011. He has served as the Chief Financial Officer of various technology companies including F5 Networks, Onyx Software Corp., WatchGuard Corporation, PayScale Inc., Photodisc, Midcom Communications and ElseWare Corporation.

James Lapic is Chief Technology Officer and co-founder at Zipwhip where he oversees the company’s industry innovation, global connectivity and overall messaging operations. Lapic played a critical role in unlocking the technology capabilities to text-enable landlines and toll-free numbers, a major catalyst for the company’s pivot to business text messaging. Lapic is a self-taught IT and telecom professional that has strategically grown his career and teams for nearly 20 years. His deep background in messaging started long before Zipwhip, including authoring industry guidelines on business messaging, building messaging platforms for Nextel and pioneering interactive viewer-engagement campaigns for television programs such as American Idol. Lapic is regarded as a true innovator and thought leader throughout the messaging ecosystem.

John is an Internet and mobile veteran with 20 years of corporate management experience. At 21 years old, his first entrepreneur endeavor was Rootlevel, a web application development company that built GM.com and Ford.com.He then founded Simplewire, one of the mobile industry’s first text messaging aggregators which was acquired by Qpass in 2006 and rebranded as OpenMarket. John stayed on board with OpenMarket for a year and a half as VP of Sales driving revenue from $5M annually to $500M. John is also known for throwing the most elaborate Halloween party in the state of Washington. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jlauer12

John is an Internet and mobile veteran with 20 years of corporate management experience. At 21 years old, his first entrepreneur endeavor was Rootlevel, a web application development company that built GM.com and Ford.com.He then founded Simplewire, one of the mobile industry’s first text messaging aggregators which was acquired by Qpass in 2006 and rebranded as OpenMarket. John stayed on board with OpenMarket for a year and a half as VP of Sales driving revenue from $5M annually to $500M. John is also known for throwing the most elaborate Halloween party in the state of Washington. LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jlauer12