Lakeridge named Best of State's top public school

Lakeridge named Best of State's top public school

Michael Rigert - NORTH COUNTY STAFF Thursday, 29 May 2008

Lakeridge Junior High School in south Orem has done a complete 180, going from being one of the district's academically struggling junior highs to a trajectory of being one of its most promising. At a special banquet on Saturday at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Lakeridge representatives will accept a Best Of State Award for the Best Public K-12 School in Utah, a milestone unfathomable just a few years ago. "Six years ago, Lakeridge was one of the lowest academically performing junior highs in the Alpine School District," said Tim Stay, Lakeridge's Community Council chairman. "At that time, a group of parents, teachers and administrators joined together and created a plan on how to become a top performing junior high." Since then, he said, the school community has seen "dramatic and consistent progress among all students." Garrick Peterson, Lakeridge's principal, believes the school was selected by the Best of State committee for the honor because of its demonstrated academic improvements in the past two years based on the school's improvement plan. Successful programs like the school's Flex Program to provide one-on-one mentoring for failing students to gain proficiency on a given subject, have been part of that plan. One of the keys to the turnaround has been involving the entire community in helping traditionally lower performing groups of students, including those from low-income and Latino households, succeed academically, Peterson said. For example, the pass rate in mathematics and English among Latino students rose from 30 percent to around 70 percent. Special-needs students' pass rates jumped from 30 to 50-60 percent while low-income students' pass rates went from around 40 percent to 75 percent. "Overall, our school has gone from a 60 percent pass rate to 85 to 90 percent, depending on whether it is math or science," Peterson said. "It's a great improvement over the last five to six years." Vernon Henshaw, superintendent of the Alpine School District, said Lakeridge's Best of State Award is a reflection of its entire school community pulling together. "It's the faculty working together with the administration inviting parents through the Community Council and PTA board to identify the needs and all working toward those needs," he said. "It's very simple, but it's a lot of work ... That's been tremendous with what they've done." Lynn Eyestone, a parent on the Lakeridge Community Council, said rising student scores are a direct result of the school community cooperation. "We still have much more work to do, but we are excited about where Lakeridge is headed," she said. Peterson said the Best of State Award is a validation of the efforts of the school community working together to try to make Lakeridge the best place it can be for education. It says "what's going on is effective and affecting kids' lives in a positive way," he said. "More kids are going to have more opportunities in their lives."

Paying Bloggers as a Business Model

Photo by BRUCE CHAMBERS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

This article appeared in the Orange County Register and was a very nice promotion of Know More Media.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Paying bloggers as a business model

Brea company shares ad revenue with bloggers who are part of their network.
By JAN NORMAN
The Orange County Register

As the number of Web sites soared into the hundreds of millions, companies like Yahoo and Google were started to help Internet users find the content they wanted.

Now, as the number of Web logs, more popularly known as blogs, has moved past the hundred million mark, blog networks are springing up to organize the chaos of these informal, frequently updated journals.

The vast majority of blogs are still the random musings of individuals. Think of a teenage girl's diary.

But increasingly, blogs are dispensing news, technical know-how, topical insights and gossip. And that's what companies like Know More Media, a Brea blog network, hope to corral into profitable business models.

Hal Halladay and Tim Stay started Know More Media in 2005 as an online publisher of business blogs written by experts in their field. They pay their bloggers a few dollars per posting and share ad revenue.

In 10 months, the network at http://www.knowmoremedia.com/ has had more than 2 million visitors; October traffic alone exceeded 500,000, up 45 percent from September.

Know More Media already ranks seventh among blog networks for number of blogs and 22nd overall based on such factors as pages indexed on Yahoo and Google.

Halladay and Stay have been monetizing the Internet since the '90s. They started Freeservers.com to build and host Web sites and sold the company to About.com for $40 million in 1999.

They didn't intend to retire, just move on to the next venture. But the aftermath of the dot-com bust wasn't pretty for people trying to make money with Internet businesses. The pair wrote a business plan for a social networking site for sharing photos and music long before MySpace.com came along but couldn't attract investors.

"It was the wrong timing," Halladay said. "The tools weren't there."

Networks are another effort to organize blogs. Others are collators such as Technorati.com, directories including Blogtopsites.com and communities including Blogcritics.com, according to Australian blogger Darren Rowse, founder of another blog network, b5media. "New movements often start as fairly chaotic and disconnected entities but generally over time will self-organize and form clusters."

BlogNetworkList.com, a Web site that compiles a comprehensive directory of blog networks, noted that each is experimenting with different models. Some are large networks with their own content, others concentrate on driving a lot of Web traffic to a few sites through extensive use of hyperlinks, and still others try to form loyal communities.

Know More Media "looks for practitioners who know their stuff. … We create the tools for them to write their blogs, and we host their blogs," Halladay said. "They aren't journalists, and we don't edit what they write. You're going to find typos and writing that won't get an 'A' in a journalism course."

Diane Ensey in Washington writes two blogs for the network, http://www.alistreview.com/ about the Internet's most popular blogs, and http://www.dorealtime.com/ about Web-based collaboration.

"I had a personal blog and thought it would be nice to get paid," Ensey said. The value of a network "is a one-stop (site) for readers and support for the writers. We have 50 or 60 blogs advertising each other."

She estimates that she spends two to three hours a day writing the blog for which her pay totals about $500 to $1,000 a month.

"The payments are insignificant compared to the authority and business opportunities I have gotten," she said. "My technology business has increased a third since I started blogging."

Although Know More Media's more than 50 bloggers write in English, some live in the Philippines, Malaysia and India. Their topics include customer service and leadership, all with a business focus.

The company is seeking 30 more bloggers immediately, and Halladay envisions the network growing to several hundred authors who will build communities of people interested in narrow business topics.

"We might have someone who runs a dry cleaner writing about and for people who understand the industry," he said. "We could have thin slices (such as) restaurants, accounting and, separately, tax issues."

Know More Media charges advertisers $8 to $12 per 1,000 impressions. Halladay and Stay know from some of their other Internet ventures that certain hot topics can draw $45 to $50 per 1,000 impressions.

"Business (blog) advertising rates can be substantially higher than for nonbusiness sites because advertisers want to reach the audience for this information," Halladay explained, adding that his network's traffic is approaching the level that is attracting interest from large companies with multi-million-dollar Internet ad budgets.

"Our goal is to establish legitimate news and information destinations where business people want to come, learn and engage in conversations about business," he explained.

If Know More Media proves its concept – it's approaching profitability although the company won't give specific financial data – it could develop separate blog networks for other broad categories.

Lakeridge will Test Flex Schedule

This article appeared in the Daily Herald and is regarding the new remediation tool that was put into place at Lakeridge Jr. High School. I serve as chair of the Community Council for Lakeridge.


Lakeridge Jr. will test flex schedule


MICHAEL RIGERT - North County Staff
Lakeridge Junior High School is testing a new program this year aimed at better helping struggling students while extending enrichment activities to achieving students.
The flex schedule program will give students who need more help the chance to work in small groups with teachers on material they haven't been able to grasp. While they're catching up, the rest of the students will participate in a variety of activities, ranging from ballroom dancing and advanced art projects to academic competitions, said Lakeridge principal Garrick Peterson.

"We did an interest inventory of students and tried to match their interests" with education-promoting activities that would pique their interest, he said.

The program will last 30 minutes every other day. It replaces the time students spent watching Channel 1 programming or last year, a silent reading period.

"It was some news and a lot of commercials," Lakeridge Community Council chairman Tim Stay said of the television segments. The school community council is an advisory committee made up of school administrators and parents that helps make decisions concerning the school.

Peterson said Lakeridge decided it wasn't using the time as effectively as it could and began in the last few years to look for an alternative.

A group of teachers attended a conference in Chicago where the flex schedule program was presented as an option to traditional remediation programs such as summer school and after school programs, Stay said.

"By doing remediation during the day while the students are still in school, we [found] kids can get a mastery of the subject," he said.

The school is currently working with parents through events like Back to School Night to give an overview of the flex schedule so parents will understand the program benefits. Along with Lakeridge, Willowcreek Middle School in Lehi has also adopted the flex schedule on a trial basis.

"No class time is being taken away from students," Stay said. "We see this as a way to help those students who need remediation to get help right away and learn before they move on, as well as rewarding students who are grasping information and provide an accelerated learning opportunity for them."

Peterson said some students simply require more time to learn any given subject matter, or thrive in a smaller learning environment.

And dangling some attractive and fun options in front of kids' eyes to get passing grades in their classes is exactly the kind of positive reinforcement Lakeridge is looking for.

"That's the motivation side," Peterson said. "Hopefully, kids will want to be involved in something they really enjoy and want to be a part of it."

Stay said Lakeridge's test scores in recent years have shown a definite upswing and the flex schedule can only bolster that success.

"Our ultimate goal ... is to give students the education they deserve," he said. "We believe every kid can learn and that Lakeridge can be the highest achieving junior high in the district. I think we're on track to achieving that."

About Acquires NorthSky, Inc.

I couldn't find any old articles still online about the acquisition of NorthSky and the Freeservers brand by About.com in December of 1999. Here is an old FreeServers newsletter that tells a little bit of the story:

We launched our millionth web site this month which propels us into the ranks of a handful of other large web hosting companies that have achieved this milestone. In 21 months we've become a booming Internet property, which is amazing considering our humble beginnings in a back room at a former dance club. We grew so much that we were noticed by About.com (the 10th largest Web property on the Internet) and then purchased by them. (NASDAQ: BOUT). We believe this will help us provide FreeServers.com members with a truly world class web hosting experience, and look forward to being able to continue developing tools and services for those free web site owners and all of those people who continue to discover what a great service we are providing when they sign up for their own free web sites.

"We have been driving this thing at light speed since we came out of the gate." says Hal Halladay, North Sky's CEO. "Reaching one million sites is a significant milestone for North Sky and our site-hosting community." We attribute the meteoric growth of FreeServers.com to the grass roots popularity of our web building tools and the unique ability for site owners to incorporate their name or special interest into the site address (i.e. halladay.freeservers.com). Halladay also suggests the achievement is great for Utah; "This is the place where it all started." With Utah in-mind, North Sky developed and launched an honorary millionth site: www.thisistheplace.freeservers.com. The site is a tribute to Utah.

FreeServers.com is owned by North Sky, Inc., and we started our company in 1998 in a back room at the Star Palace, a former dance club, in Provo, Utah. The company has since grown to 45 employees and moved to the former WordPerfect/Novell campus in Orem. Late last year, North Sky was purchased by About.com (NASDAQ: BOUT), for $40 million in an all-stock transaction. Media Metrix, a leader in Internet and Digital Media measurements, has ranked About.com as a leading news, information and entertainment Web property in the U.S. The addition of FreeServers.com's million web sites and more than 5 million unique visitors per month has moved About.com to the # 10 Web property in the world (Media Metrix, January 2000).

Web Publisher and Advertiser Hires Hal Halladay as President

This was a press release from Tornado about hiring Hal Halladay as Tornado's CEO and President. There are a few quotes from me.

Web Publisher and Advertiser Hires Hal Halladay as President
(2004-12-18)

Tornado Solutions, a fast growing web publisher and advertiser, announced the hiring of Hal Halladay as President today at the Chicago Search Engine Strategies Conference.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tornado Solutions, a fast growing web publisher and advertiser, announced the hiring of Hal Halladay as President today at the Chicago Search Engine Strategies Conference.

“We are ecstatic that we have grown to the level to be able to bring on such star talent as Mr. Halladay,” stated Rich Christiansen, co-founder of Tornado Solutions. “Hal has tremendous leadership skills, world-class analytical and process skills, and great human relationship skills. We are fortunate to have him lead our team.”

Hal Halladay stated, “I am excited to move into this new media of online publishing and advertising arena. We see that whether a consumer needs information about cheap tickets, mortgages, or some business vertical specific information such as call centers or ad agencies, we will be able to provide free relevant, rich, and useful content to the online consumer, supported by advertising.”

“Hal has proven himself over and over with the ability to take a good functional model and grow it at exponential rates, while tightly controlling costs,” stated Tim Stay, the other co-founder of Tornado Solutions. “Having worked with Hal in the past, we consider ourselves very fortunate to be able to bring him on board to grow our company to new levels.”

“One of my key goals is to use Search Engine Optimization techniques, like what we have been learning here at Search Engine Strategies Conference, to facilitate our organic search ranking in such search engines as Google, Yahoo!, and MSN,” exclaimed Hal Halladay.

Hal G. Halladay was recently a partner at BizCradle, LLC, a private equity incubator, focusing on investing and building value in technology start-up companies. Prior to joining BizCradle, he was President and CEO of North Sky Inc., an Internet user community that grew to become a top 50 web site and was acquired by About.com in December 1999. Previously he served as CFO, VP Corporate Development, and Director at Inari, Inc., a provider of power line networking products.

Prior to Inari, Mr. Halladay worked as an investment banker for Furman Selz in San Francisco, Paine Webber in Los Angeles and Kidder Peabody in New York. He has expertise in building value in start-up companies. He also has extensive experience in raising capital and in providing strategic and financial advisory services for technology, telecommunications, and media companies. He has led numerous companies through their IPO and has raised nearly $2 billion in capital for his clients. Mr. Halladay serves on the board of directors for several companies and is Chairman of Infopia. He received an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and a B.A. from the University of Utah.

###

Marketing Ally acquired by IDT

This appeared in a Deseret News article by David Politis on September 22, 2003/

Marketing Ally acquired by IDT

By David L. Politis

On a totally unrelated note, Provo-based Marketing Ally was acquired last week by Newark, N.J.-based IDT Corp. (NYSE: IDT).
Formed in 1992, Marketing Ally was, at its height, one of the leading inbound/outbound call centers in the United States with three locations in Utah and a fourth in Brazil, the former LDS mission field of the company's founder, Tim Stay.
During the DotCom boom, companies like Marketing Ally boomed right along with the Internet companies, providing them with inbound/outbound telemarketing services, as well as outsourced Web-based support functions.
The company was frequently recognized by industry trade publications as one of the leading companies in its field, and it also landed on the Utah100, the MountainWest Venture Group's annual ranking of the 100 fastest growing companies in Utah.
Stay eventually turned day-to-day management functions over to others so he could pursue additional interests, including the formation of a non-profit and creation of an investment incubator in Orem known as BizCradle.
Unfortunately, the longest economic recession in the past 40 years was on the horizon, something few people foresaw, including Stay.
"As the market downturn and the industry specific downturn continued, and competition from India grew, we had to consolidate and lower our overhead," Stay said.
Where Marketing Ally revenues at their peak had reached nearly $16 million, 2002 revenues were at $4.5 million.
"It became clear to me that Marketing Ally had to be part of a larger firm, and IDT has been really good to work with," Stay said.
Stay stepped back into Marketing Ally as its president in the beginning of 2003.
Just prior to last week's announcement, Marketing Ally was down to 350 employees centered in one location — the company headquarters at the former dance hall in Provo known in the late 1970s and early 1980s as the Star Palace.
Stay and his 350 co-workers are now employees of IDT, a $1.8 billion telecommunications and technology company, and more specifically, part of a newly formed call center business unit called IDT Contact Services.
Although terms of the transaction were not disclosed by either party, Stay can apparently receive an earn-out over a three-year period based upon the success of the new IDT Marketing Ally business unit.

University Honors Seven at Homecoming

This article appeared in the BYU Magazine, Summmer 2005

University Honors Seven at Homecoming

SEVEN alumni and supporters of BYU who have made significant differences in the lives of others will be honored with university awards at Homecoming 2005.

The Distinguished Service Award, for outstanding service in a profession, community, church, or nation, will be given to Loretta Seneca Crane (BS '61), W. Kenneth Hamblin (BS '53), Firoz "King" Husein (ME '71), and Timothy V. Stay (BS '86). William C. Duncan (BA '95) and Donald G. Anderson (BS '72) will receive the Service to Family Award, for exceptional service to families, whether in their home, community, or nation. Receiving the Honorary Alumni Award, for people who have not attended BYU but have rendered significant service to the university, will be Hal G Moore.

Crane has distinguished herself as a lawyer and a nurse. She was on the faculty in BYU's College of Nursing and works as the district director for clinical operations of Kindred Healthcare in Utah. In the 1990s Crane became instrumental in resolving a conflict regarding the Seneca Nation's tribal lands. The negotiated resolution to the dispute resulted in a multimillion-dollar compensation package for the Native American tribe that formed the basis for further economic development and for scholarships for the tribe's young people.

A retired BYU professor, Hamblin has been referred to as the Carl Sagan of geology. His textbooks are highly acclaimed and widely read. With research focusing on the landscape evolution of the Grand Canyon, he is also a master of geologic illustration. Through the W. Kenneth Hamblin Field Trip Fund and the Hamblin Global Geology Fund, BYU upper-class and graduate students have visited many geological sites. Hamblin recently published another book, Beyond the Visible Landscape.

Husein provided the endowment for BYU's King and Diane Husein Professorship in Civil Engineering. He is a volunteer mentor for BYU civil engineering students and a member of the President's Leadership Council, and he was the inspiration for the joint venture between Okland Construction and his company, Span Construction, to build the new Student Athlete Building and Indoor Practice Facility.

Unlike many who have succeeded financially and then turned to making a difference in the world, Stay has never seen these as sequential goals. His business and engineering skills have helped him create jobs in poverty-stricken areas of the world. In 2000 Stay cofounded Unitus, a nonprofit organization that facilitates and stimulates the growth of micro-credit institutions around the globe. In 2004 he cofounded the Center for Economic Self-Reliance at BYU.

Duncan has been an influential voice in the defense of marriage at a time when very few legal professionals were actively engaged in the battle. For the past year he has consulted with those working to pass state marriage amendments around the country. Duncan has written or co-written more than 30 major law review articles in legal periodicals and other respected legal publications.

Anderson has been a positive influence in the lives of innumerable children and families. His skills as a licensed clinical social worker have helped many parents nurture their children, and he has also developed numerous community programs. Anderson's achievements and service may seem even more remarkable within the context of his being blind, but he has never let his disability hinder his success.

A former public-school math teacher, Moore joined the BYU mathematics faculty in 1961 and retired in 1994. According to university policy he could continue to work as an adjunct professor for three years after retirement, and he did so. Following that period, he volunteered to continue teaching without remuneration, and he has been donating his time as a professor for the past six years.

Website Publisher Hires Matt Ellsworth

This was a press release from Tornado Solutions, with a quote from me.

Website Publisher Hires Matt Ellsworth as a contracted Web Content Writer
Tornado Solutions, LLC, an online publisher of niche content, announces the hiring of Matt Ellsworth as a contracted Web Content Writer.
Distribution Source : PRWeb

Date : Wednesday, July 27, 2005

(PRWEB) July 27, 2005 -- Matt Ellsworth is a new contracted Web Content Writer for Tornado Solutions, LLC, a fast growing website publisher.

Tornado Solutions, LLC, an online publisher of niche content, announced that Matt A. Ellsworth has joined its community of independent contract writers, known by the Company as Web Content Writers. Mr. Ellsworth will be providing expert content for various topic-specific websites that Tornado Solutions is planning to create and publish on its network.

"Our top priority is to provide original quality content for people searching for a variety of topics online," stated Tim Stay, co-founder of Tornado Solutions. "To create in-depth, relevant content, we need world-class, expert authors and journalists such as Mr. Ellsworth to write for us."





"I am pleased to have this forum as an outlet to publish," said Matt Ellsworth. "I look forward to the opportunity to write from personal experience, as far as the topic allows, and aim to be both informative and entertaining."

"We are thrilled to have Matt writing for us. He brings valuable expertise and a gift for communicating his expertise through writing," said Dan Smith, Web Content Managing Editor of Tornado Solutions. "Matt is a perfect fit for our topic-specific websites and our focus on nano-publishing and participatory journalism – the future of online media. We endeavor to provide the Internet reader with free, expert, useful information and advice on the topics they care about, whether it be health http://www.be-health-smart.com/, call centers http://www.freecallcenterquotes.com/, or finances http://www.financial-guide-savvy.com/."

"Matt will join a growing community of writers that publish their expertise on the Tornado Solutions network of websites," said Hal G. Halladay, President of Tornado Solutions.

Matt A. Ellsworth was most recently a translator for the Department of State, working on increasing confidence and security among nations. From 1986 to 2000 he was a Foreign Service Officer, serving in a variety of positions in the United States and abroad. He speaks Spanish, Russian, and Arabic, and also translates into English from French, German, and Italian. Mr. Ellsworth is a serious linguist, having done significant research into the earliest roots of language. He has also applied his language skills to his great personal interest in genealogy and family history.

Mr. Ellsworth is a native of the Arizona desert and recently returned to his ancestral home after 30 years on the road. He looks forward to research, writing, and spending time with his fast-growing posterity.

About Tornado Solutions, LLC
Tornado Solutions, LLC, http://www.tornadosolutions.net, is a rapidly growing online publisher of topic-specific websites, with headquarters in Provo, Utah, and an office in southern California. Tornado Solutions" purpose is to provide expert and detailed information, solutions, and resources on a wide range of subjects. Tornado Solutions" recognize the need and value of presenting expert, information-rich websites to the end consumer-the reader. Led by a team of seasoned managers with many years of website creation and management experience, Tornado Solutions utilizes professional expert writers to supply valuable website content to the online world.

# # #

VSpring names 100 top entrepreneurs

This was vSpring's V100 list for 2004.

VSpring names 100 top entrepreneurs

Deseret Morning News

Salt Lake-based vSpring Capital has assembled a group of top entrepreneurs deemed "most likely to play an active role in building and growing successful technology or biotechnology companies in the next five to seven years."
Selected by peers, the group is known as the vSpring Capital Top 100 Venture Entrepreneurs, or "v100." Each member is based in Utah or has significant ties to the state.
VSpring said the group was compiled as a way to recognize the region's outstanding entrepreneurs and to support and promote collaborative partnering and mentoring among top entrepreneurs in the region.
Members will determine the group's future activities.
"The v100 is an extraordinary group of business leaders who are being recognized by their peers in the business community," said Greg Warnock, managing director of vSpring Capital. "As a result, the v100 represents individual business excellence in a unique way.
"Most importantly, the v100 members are being recognized on the premise that their peers believe they will continue to be the leaders and innovators of the technology and biotechnology industries throughout the coming years. I also believe the concept of the v100 may prove to be a valuable framework for other venture capital organizations looking for a vehicle to identify, promote and support successful venture entrepreneurs in their areas."
Late last year, vSpring asked business community leaders to nominate people for the group. Nominees then were asked to participate in a confidential online survey to vote for the top 10 individuals each nominee felt would be the most likely to meet the selection criteria, with the final tally generating the v100.
VSpring will build a private Web community for members to communicate among themselves and vSpring partners. Members will be invited to participate in a vSpring-sponsored recognition lunch and golf tournament designed to kick off the group's inauguration and to further membership collaboration, and they will also be invited to participate in ongoing, executive-level roundtables and will continue to help identify and recognize Utah's successful executives and managers.
VSpring said the initial membership has raised more than $1.8 billion in capital and formed companies that created more than 7,000 jobs. Ninety percent of the members live in Utah and more than 70 percent of members have founded Utah-based businesses during the past decade.
"Those nominated to the v100 have made a significant positive impact to the Utah economy and the quality of life for its people," said Scott Peterson, Ernst & Young's Pacific Northwest area assurance managing partner and the former managing partner of the Ernst & Young Salt Lake City office.
"The v100 is solid proof that Utah is not only a phenomenal incubator of innovative technologies and technology companies, but that it has a large pool of seasoned executives and technologists driving that success. It is likely they will continue to drive this trend, which makes it appropriate for them to be recognized in this way."
Group members are Curt D. Allen, Agilix Labs; Matt Asay, Novell; David Bailey, RappidMapper; Ragula Bhaskar, FatPipe; Jack Blount, Dynix; David Bradford, Intermountain Technology Ventures, Jeff Brimhall, Ikano Communications; J.D. Brisk, KeyLabs; Nolan Bushnell, Uwink; Greg Butterfield, Altiris; Patrick M. Byrne, Overstock.com; Kevin Calderwood, Baan Americas; Matt Cameron, Engage Thoughtware; David L Carter, S5 Wireless; Don Cash, First Choice Solutions; Edwin Catmull, Pixar; David Clark, NPS Pharmaceuticals; James Clark, Neoteris; Michael Colemere, MediConnect.net; Paul H. Cook, A Child's Hope Foundation; Art Coombs, KomBea; Jonathan Coon, 1-800-Contacts; Kim A. Cooper, Exceed;
Julian B. Critchfield, Dynix; Dr. Gregory C. Critchfield, Myriad Genetics Laboratories; Gary L. Crocker, Crocker Ventures; Bernard Daines, Linux Networx; Nicole Toomey Davis, Enclavix; Thomas C. Davis Jr., LANDesk; Terry Dickson, Avinti; Dana Doggett, LanSchool; Jim Dreyfous, UV Partners; Brett Error, Omniture; Bjorn Espenes, Infopia; Rick C. Farr, C. Eric Farr & Associates; Bob Frankenberg, Kinzan; Darin D. Gilson, Banyan Ventures; Gary Goodrich, ProPay USA; Mike Hall, LANDesk Software; Robert Harbour, Lumidigm; Joshua Harr, Linux Networx; Ron Heinz, Helius; Glenn J. Hinton, Intel; Brent Israelson, NxLight; Eliot Jacobsen, 0 to 60 Ventures; Eric Jacobsen, Dolphin II;
Josh James, Omniture; James U. Jensen, NPS Pharmaceuticals; Kimberley A. Jones, Verite; Gary D. Kennedy, Double Eagle Ventures; Pratap Khanwilkar, MedQuest Products; William Kilmer, Intel; John M. Knab, Phonex Broadband; Jeff Knowles, Mtrex; Richard K. Koehn, Genta; Fred Lampropoulos, Merit Medical Systems; Darren Lee, NextPage; Scott C. Lemon, The SCO Group; Amy Rees Lewis, IPOP; Ron S. Lindorf, Humanvoice; Drew Major, Move Networks; Ty D. Mattingly, SBI Group; Margaret McKenzie, 4Charity; H. Scott McKinley, Northface University; Peter D. Meldrum, Myriad Genetics; Glen D. Mella, Triton PCS; Craig Miller, LDS Church; David Moon, EsNet; Matt Mosman, Cerberian; Jan Newman, Altiris; Tom Ngo, NextPage; Eric Olafson, Tomax; Daniel Oswald, Star Bridge Systems; Dinesh Patel, vSpring Capital;
Brad D. Pelo, NextPage; Tyrone F. Pike, Cemaphore Systems; Larry Rigby, ZARS; Shane Robison, Hewlett Packard; Brad Romney, Intel; Nolan Rosen, LANDesk Software; Robert K. Rowe, Lumidigm; Eric Ruff, QuicKutz; Michael R. Samuelian, Altiris; Kimball C. Shill, The Event Source; Eric Smith, Control4; James L. Sorenson Jr., Sorenson Media; Bryan Sparks, DeviceLogics; Tim Stay, Marketing Ally; Randy Steck, Siprian; Patricia Steigauf, Career Management Counseling & Coaching; Tom Stockham, MyFamily.com; Chris Stone, Novell; Chuck Stucki, Cisco; Jack W. Sunderlage, JW Sunderlage & Associates; John Sutherland, BYU Office of IT; Daren Thayne, MyFamily.com; Mikko Valimaki, Cerberian; Joe Wang, LANDesk Software; Will West, Control4; and Phillip J. Windley, The Windley Group.

vSpring Names Top 100 Entrepreneurs with Utah Ties

This article was about being names to vSpring's Top 100 Utah Entrepreneur's list

Deseret Morning News
March 3, 2005

vSpring Names Top 100 Entrepreneurs with Utah Ties
Early-stage venture capital fund vSpring Capital on Wednesday announced the 2005 class of the vSpring Capital Top 100 Venture Entrepreneurs.
The list, also known as the v100, is composed of people with ties to Utah who are most likely to lead a successful startup venture in the next five to seven years in the information technology or biotechnology industries as a chief executive or chief technical officer.
Nominations are made by members of the Utah business community. The nominees are then invited to participate in a confidential online survey to vote for the top 10 individuals they feel would most likely meet the selection criteria. Nominees garnering the most votes from their peers in this annual process are then elected into the v100.
Those making the v100 list are encouraged to participate in activities throughout the year that are designed to increase exposure, resources and collaboration among group members.
The new class includes 42 new members. In total, members of the class have raised more than $4 billion in capital assets and created more than 15,000 new jobs during their careers.
The class includes:
Curt Allen, Agilix Labs president and chief executive officer; Paul Allen, Infobase Ventures managing partner; Dallin M. Anderson, Montigen Pharmaceuticals CEO; Matt Asay, Novell's director of the Linux business office; David Bateman, Property Solutions founder; David Bean, Attensity Corp. chief technology officer and co-founder; David J. Bearss, Montigen Pharmaceuticals chief scientific officer; Ragula Bhaskar, FatPipe Networks CEO; Patrick Burke, Myriad Genetics business development manager; Greg Butterfield, Altiris president and CEO; Patrick M. Byrne, Overstock.com president and chairman;
Mark Calkins, Agilix Labs, vice president of platform marketing; Don Cash, Omniture vice president of sales; Brad Christensen, Novell's director of product management; Craig Christensen, Altiris vice president and general counsel; James Clarke, Clear Link CEO; Josh Coates, Berkeley Data Systems president and CTO; Tom Creighton, Epixtech chief architect; Gregory Critchfield, Myriad Genetics Labs president; Gary L. Crocker, AnzenBio and Crocker Ventures president and managing director; Nicole Toomey Davis, Enclavix president and CEO; Terry Dickson, Avinti CEO;
John Dunn, Banyan Ventures director; Mike Dutton, Dolphin II partner; Adam Edmunds, Silent Whistle president and CEO; Bjorn Espenes, Infopia CEO; J.D. Gardner, vSpring Capital venture partner; Lee Gibbons, LDS Audio CTO; Stephen W. Gibson, The Academy for Creating Enterprise founder and social entrepreneur; Darin D. Gilson, Banyan Ventures managing director; Brett Graham, Ingenix vice president of strategic planning; Michael Hall, Senforce president and CEO; Richard D. Hanks, Mindshare Technologies chairman and president; Jon Hansen, MSTAR.NET and Chicago Venture Partners CEO;
Nathan S. Hatch, Helius senior vice president of marketing and corporate development; Ron Heinz, Helius CEO; Sheryl G. Hohle, BioCatalogia president and CEO; Spence Hoole, Diversified Insurance Brokers partner; Eliot Jacobsen, 0 to 60 Ventures president; Eric Jacobsen, Dolphin II managing director; Josh James, Omniture CEO and co-founder; Rob Jeppsen, Primary Intelligence chief strategy officer; Seth B. Johnson, Redi2 Technologies CEO; Greg Jones, Visual Influence president; Kimberly Jones, Verite CEO; Jeff Kearl, LogoWorks chief marketing officer; Gary Kennedy, Double Eagle Ventures owner;
Dwain Kinghorn, Altiris chief technology officer; Rebecca Olpin Krull, Star Bridge Systems director of sales; Fred Lampropoulos, Merit Medical Systems CEO; Bruce Law, Sprout Marketing president and founder; Carl Ledbetter, UV Partners partner; Scott C. Lemon, Agilix Labs president; Amy Lewis, Mediconnect.net CEO; Ron Lindorf, Humanvoice chairman; Drew Major, Move Networks founder; William Marble, Calixus board member; Ty D. Mattingly, Raser Technologies consultant; David McGinn, Agilix Labs chief financial officer and chief operations officer; Peter D. Meldrum, Myriad Genetics managing partner;
Glen Mella, Control4 chief marketing officer; Craig Miller, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints director of member needs; W. Tim Miller, Echelon Biosciences president; Blake Moderzitski, UV Partners general partner; Matt Mosman, Levanta CEO; Jan Newman, Altiris vice president of business development; Thomas Ngo, NextPage CTO; Amy Paul, Bard Access Systems president; Brad Pelo, NextPage chairman of the board; Jim Perry, Perrypoint Ventures CTO; Ben Peterson, MingleMatch president; Greg Peterson, GH Peterson Holdings managing partner; Glenn D. Prestwich, University of Utah and Sentrx Surgical presidential professor and chief science officer;
Michael Proper, DirectPointe president and CEO; John E. Richards, BYU Center for Entrepreneurship associate teaching professor; Larry Rigby, Zars president and CEO; David Rowe, Trend Micro executive vice president of global marketing; Todd Shepherd, Studeo co-founder and partner; Eric Smith, Control4 CTO; James Sorenson Jr., Sorenson Media CEO; Bryan Sparks, Solera Networks managing partner; Tim Stay, Marketing Ally founder; Joshua J. Steimle, MWI CEO; Ian Stiles, Agilix Labs software architect; Tom Stockham, MyFamily.com president and CEO; Weston Swenson, Forum Systems CEO;
Cydni R. Tetro, NextPage vice president of product and corporate marketing; Daren Thayne, CTO; Kent L. Thomas, CFO Solutions founder and managing member; Rodney Tiede, Broadcast International president and CEO; Mike Tippets, Helius senior vice president of engineering and strategy; Jay Verkler, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints director of the FCH Group; Brett Walker, VitalSmarts chief marketing officer;
Brad Walters, MaxStream chairman, president and CEO; Will West, Control4 CEO; Greg Whisenant, Wasatch Solutions president; Weston Whitman, Harvard Business School MBA candidate 2005; Gary Williams, Brigham Young University associate director of the Center for Entrepreneurship; Phillip J. Windley, The Windley Group associate professor; Ralph Yarro, Canopy Group president and CEO.

Tim Stay Named to Board of Directors

This was a press release by Directory.net.

Tim Stay Named to Board of Directors

Provo, UT (Oct. 22, 2004) — Directory.net chairman Paul Allen today announced the appointment of Tim Stay to the company's board of directors. This most recent appointment strengthens an existing group of exceptional executives and entrepreneurs as the company continues to expand its offerings in the Internet market.

"Tim has an exceptional background, especially in technology markets," stated Allen. "We're looking forward to his contributions as we push forward with several new and important initiatives." In his statement, Allen was referring to the recent commercial launch of Searchability EssentialsTM - an ASP-based service designed to increase the online visibility of small and medium-sized merchant sites to their prospective online customers. The market for Search Engine Optimization is growing rapidly, but no other service provides the same value for business owners.

According to Stay, "The Searchability offering is one of the most exciting elements of Directory.net, I've followed the developments of this service for the last year and I'm certain it will be well received by the SME market." The company expects to announce several distribution partners within the coming weeks, according to Allen.

About Tim Stay
Tim Stay is president and founder of Marketing Ally. He has also founded NorthSky, Rappore Technologies and several other companies. In 2004, he was named by vSpring Capital as one of the top 100 executives in Utah likely to play a lead role in building a successful technology company. He is a founding Board member of Unitus and served as Executive Director during the early formation of the Seattle-based organization. Tim holds a civil engineering degree and also has an M.B.A. and a masters degree in international relations, with a focus on third-world economic development, all from Brigham Young University.


About Directory.net, LLC.
Directory.net, LLC is a privately-held company based in Utah and is the publisher of www.directory.net, one of the most highly ranked public directory sites online. The company also develops software and technologies to assist Web site owners achieve a more visible position in the natural listings of Google, Yahoo!, and other leading search engines. The company was created by Infobase Ventures founder Paul Allen.

Alumni Unite in Forming Unitus

This article appeared in the BYU Marriott School of Management Alumni magazine in the Winter 2003 issue:

Alumni Unite in Forming Unitus

What began as a group of philanthropists desiring to make a difference has grown into a leading microenterprise lender, Unitus. This high-impact microenterprise accelerator dramatically expands the lending capacity of carefully selected microfinance institutions (MFIs) in developing countries.

Unitus' mission is to catalyze the growth of small and midsized MFIs, allowing millions of poor people to improve their standard of living by gaining access to microfinance products and services.

Marriott School graduates Tim Stay and Louis Pope are two of the founders who are successfully helping the poor start businesses. Unitus selects and partners with MFIs that have demonstrated a clear capacity to design, implement, and grow a successful microfinance program. Unitus provides funding and consulting services to these MFIs, with the aim of dramatically accelerating the number of microcredit loans that can be made to the entrepreneurial poor in developing countries.

"We know microcredit works; it's just not reaching its potential," said Geoff Davis, president of Unitus. Marriott School professor of organizational behavior Warner Woodworth is a consultant to NGOs such as Unitus. "In the future I see Unitus as moving from small-scale experiments in a few countries to a successful long-term, large-scale methodology for addressing poverty, especially in the Third World," he says.

Interest in microenterprise firms like Unitus continues to grow at BYU. The Marriott School and Romney Institute of Public Management will cosponsor the Sixth Annual Conference on Microenterprise Development 13–15 March 2003. More conference information can be found at microenterprise.byu.edu or by emailing microenterprise@byu.edu.

Y grad aims to eliminate poverty

This article is primarily about Geoff Davis, CEO of Unitus, but includes some quotes from me.

By Evan Spencer Mackay NewsNet Staff Writer - 31 Jul 2002

Unitus is a microfinance company headed by a BYU graduate.One BYU grad is doing his part to alleviate worldwide poverty, and it's all in a day's work.

Geoff Davis is president of Unitus, a company that provides money to institutions that give microcredit - small, unsecured loans made to foreign entrepreneurs living at or below the poverty line.

"With a Unitus investment, an institution that gives out 3,000 loans would have the potential to give up to 30,000 loans," he said.

Microcredit is not a new concept at BYU. Students and faculty are already aware of the concept through HELP, which has BYU students traveling to Latin America to help impoverished people learn about these small loans.

According to Unitus, almost one half the world's population lives on $2 or less a day, less than some BYU students spend on a single meal of a junior bacon cheeseburger and soda.

Today, only 10 percent of third world entrepreneurs have access to these loans. Unitus exists to help increase the number of loans disbursed.

Tim Stay, one of Unitus' founders, said that as the poor repay these loans, the money can be loaned out again and again.

"We believe that we can literally help millions break the oppressive chains of poverty through this approach," said Stay.

Mike Murray, co-founder and chairman of Unitus, was looking for someone to lead Unitus and give the company a new approach, as well as redesign and implement new strategy. He said he found what he needed in Davis.

As president, Davis has many responsibilities, including creating and managing a competent staff and designing important strategies and policies.

"The success of Unitus rests on Geoff's ability to get all of this done," said Murray.

Davis attributes his success and ability to several factors, including his BYU education.

"BYU gave me an international perspective and an ability to think critically and analytically about the problem of poverty in the world," he said.

Davis received his bachelor's degree in international relations from BYU in 1996, and later went on to Harvard, where he received his Master's degree in public policy.

Additionally, Davis helped to found the Grameen Foundation in Washington, D.C., where he spent three years working with international microfinance institutions. He also helped a group of students start the first Grameen support group at BYU, which later became a general microcredit group.

Another BYU student is following in Davis' steps, and is doing it with Davis' help.

Natalie Cook, 20, a senior from Sammamish, Wash., majoring in international finance, is interning at Unitus this summer.

"I love to help people and I also have an interest in finance, and Unitus has a perfect combination of the two," said Cook.

"The knowledge and satisfaction that I am helping people change their lives makes it enjoyable to work here," she said. "I have been blessed with so much and it's nice to be able to give something back."

Utah entrepreneurs urge passion for projects, giving back

This article came after a visit to BYU Hawaii

By Mike Foley
Media Relations, (808) 293-3699
March 15, 2005

Tim Stay and Rich Christiansen shared salient tips
during the School of Business Entrepreneurship Lecture Series

A pair of Utah-based Internet entrepreneurs told BYU-Hawaii students in the School of Business lecture series on March 15 that to be successful, they need to be passionate about their ideas; then when they're successful, they need to be passionate about giving to the less fortunate.
Tim Stay, who lived in Laie as a child, was a civil engineer with an MBA and a master's in international economic development focusing on third world countries when he realized that "entrepreneurship is an effective tool to drive that development."

After working in Guam for a few years he decided, "I needed to get into business." So he moved back to Utah and started a call center, one of his MBA research projects for which he got a 'C', "but the business turned out better than my paper."
"Within a few years we had over 1,200 employees and were doing close to $20 million in revenues. This was in the mid-90s, and we saw there was this new thing called the Internet. At the height of the internet craze we had over 300,000 accounts," said Stay, who sold that business and got involved with a business incubator.

"We would find smart engineers and entrepreneurs who had good ideas, but didn't know how to wrap a business around it." He also partnered with Rich Christiansen, and together they run Northsky Inc. and Tornado Solutions, Inc. — an Internet service company and online media publishing company, respectively.

"I call myself a perfectly good engineer who went bad. At some point a button switched, and I realized I was a lot better at business than I was as an engineer. My true passion, however, is entrepreneurship and running small companies," said Christiansen, who formerly ran Mitsubishi in the U.S.

The partners, who are ranked among the top 100 entrepreneurs in Utah, shared a long list of entrepreneurial tips, including:

"Be a catalyst for change. I can guarantee if you're on the leading edge of change you're going to have a much higher probability of success," said Christiansen.

"Differentiate yourself. In a business sense, you go across a bridge, then burn the bridge behind you," he said, explaining this creates barriers to competition.

"Dream about your finances at night. Most small businesses fail because they fail to plan their finances carefully. Cash flow is king," he said, also stressing many companies carry too much inventory.

"Just get out there and do it, but try to learn from other people's mistakes. If you aren't making some mistakes, you aren't trying hard enough," he added, quoting the full version of President Spencer W. Kimball's well-known admonition: Do it, do it now, do it with a purpose, and make no small plan, for it has not the magic to stir the soul of man.

"It's critical to understand what your critical variables are," said Stay. "What are those two or three things that if you manage to stay on top of every day, your business will survive."

"Become a student of your business. I try to be an expert in whatever business I'm running. I try to become as educated as I can," he added

"An entrepreneur should know what his break-even point is each day. If you're profitable every day, you'll be profitable at the end of the month. If you're profitable every month, you'll be profitable at the end of the year."

"I love digital assets, or things that can be reproduced digitally. The costs of reproducing them are miniscule," said Stay, pointing out that "Microsoft's margins are so good because they're selling digital assets: They come up with an idea and sell it over and over again.

"Be passionate. Entrepreneurs are usually passionate about what they do, and find passion in their activities and hobbies."

Stay also encouraged entrepreneurs to be "passionate about giving back. My way of doing this is through Unitus, a global microfinance accelerator that gives small loans to the very poor." For example, he told of a woman in India who worked as an indentured servant for 25 rupees a day. She used an 8,000 rupee micro-loan (about $200) to buy a water buffalo, which has dramatically changed the quality of her life.
"What we've found with micro-credit, as people go through this program we see their education, nutrition and housing improve. We've found this to be a very effective tool," Stay said, next quoting Ghandi: My life is my message.

"What is my life about?" he asked, "and I want to ask you, what will your message be?"

Article published by Unitus about Tim Stay

Tim Stay and his wife Dalita Stay visit Pro Mujer Mexico borrower Hortencia Santiago Díaz and her daughter.

This article appears on the Unitus website

Tim Stay: A Technology Entrepreneur’s Passion for Poverty Alleviating Loans

In 1984, Unitus board member Tim Stay was a civil engineer, installing water and sewer facilities in some of the world’s most impoverished regions. Despite his good work, he knew he wasn’t solving the underlying causes of poverty, and he wanted to do more.

While studying international economic development in graduate school, Stay marveled at the enormous resources spent alleviating world poverty with seemingly little accountability or success. At times, the problem seemed overwhelming.

“Eventually, I found pockets of success where poverty was actually being eliminated,” says Stay. “It was happening at the grassroots level, utilizing basic entrepreneurial principles and empowering individuals.”

What Stay discovered was microfinance institutions (MFIs), organizations that make small loans to the working poor – usually women – to help improve their small businesses. The high repayment rates on these small loans of approximately $100 demonstrated that the working poor are willing and able to repay their loans and are capable of transforming their lives, if given the chance.

In 2000, instead of starting yet another MFI locked into one geographic area, Stay formed an organization with several other like-minded individuals. The result was Unitus, a global microfinance accelerator that provides lending capital and capacity consulting to the highest-potential MFIs, vastly increasing the number of loans they can make. As a result, MFIs can serve exponentially more clients in a short time period – an economic miracle to the poorest families.

“We can all donate time and money to organizations that dole out money, food or services to the needy, but they often do not create or facilitate individual self-sufficiency,” says Stay. “Through Unitus, I am involved in an effort on a global scale to eliminate poverty, where millions will benefit.”

Stay holds a civil engineering degree, an M.B.A. and a master’s degree in international relations with a focus on third-world economic development. He has founded Marketing Ally, NorthSky and Rappore Technologies. Unitus is privileged to have him on our Board of Directors.

Tim Stay in the Media

I will post links and articles where I am in the media.