In 2009, the Zenergo team started with 3 simple observations about people and their social lives.
These observations sparked ideas and a vision for creating a more meaningful and fun social networking experience.
We were then faced with the incredible challenge of building an activities-focused social platform that also helps people engage more deeply with their real world. But our mission was clear: to help you Activate Your Life! So, after 2 years of development, we have created a free social networking solution for:
Zenergo's innovative, integrated social tools eliminate the need to participate in multiple other website services (such as online photos, invitations, calendars, groups, contact managers and friend finders). Zenergo provides a simple, safe, and free network for managing your social life, exploring new real-world activities and friends, and creating and managing events and groups of any size...all from one website. Give Zenergo a try and Activate your Life today!
View Patrick's ProfilePatrick J. Ferrell, CEO/Founder
Pat Ferrell has over 25 years of business experience, including the successful launch and development of four startup companies. A CPA, Pat's early career was primarily focused on finance and operations. Diverging from this background, Pat founded GamePro magazine in 1988, and, after selling the company to IDG in 1989, stayed with them for 9 years as he built Infotainment World to over $50 million in revenues. During this time, Pat also created and launched E3, the world's largest trade show launch. Following his departure from IDG in 1997, Pat then co-founded the first true social networking company, SocialNet, which was sold in 2000. Pat's most recent startup was the creation of the first teen-only fitness/wellness center, which is currently operating in Mountain View, CA. In the 18 years Pat has been a CEO, he has fostered his expertise in business development, marketing/branding, consumer products, and the Internet and media industries.
Pat's favorite activities include winemaking, tennis, coaching youth sports and networking.
View Cyndy's ProfileCyndy Sandor, VP Sales & Marketing/Co-Founder
Cyndy Sandor has more than 20 years of senior executive sales and marketing experience in high tech media for consumer and IT industries. An accomplished sales leader and marketing strategist in online media, her expertise in working with top-tier accounts has driven notable revenue growth within the high-tech sector for leading media companies. Her strategic approach to revenue growth is reflected in her work as former President of IDG's Games Media Group Internet Division; Executive Director, Strategic Accounts, for Ziff Davis Enterprise; Associate Publisher for Jupitermedia's Developer Network; and Associate Publisher for CMP's Dr. Dobb's Journal. Cyndy also had significant impact on profitability and growth as VP of Business Development at RocketCash, now the interactive online promotions division of Coca Cola, and as Promotions Manager at Nike.
Cyndy's favorite activities include spending time with her family (dogs included), youth baseball, running, dance, cooking and computer games.
Steve Goldner, Interim CTO
Steve Goldner is a co-founder of Cresta Partners an innovative executive search and consulting firm focused on early to mid-stage technology companies. He has more than 30 years of operational experience and has served as Vice President of Engineering and Operations at a number of startups and public companies. Steve has extensive experience in development, quality assurance, IT and data center operations. He has participated in raising venture capital, IPOs as well as a number of mergers and acquisitions. He has held executive positions at Selectica, Active Decisions, Cascadeworks, i2 Technologies, Supplybase, Diffusion, Worldtalk, Polycom and Sun Microsystems. Steve has been an advisor to a number of private companies. He has a BSEE and a MSEE from the University of Michigan.
View Mac's ProfileMac McCarthy, Community and Operations Manager
Mac McCarthy has 30 years experience writing, editing and managing print and online editorial teams, as well as creating and leading technology publishing businesses from periodicals to books to Web publications. Prior to joining the Zenergo team, Mac was reviews editor of InfoWorld, editor-in-chief of SunWorld, founding editor of IDG Books (where he conceived 'DOS for Dummies'), and president of Web Publishing Inc., where he launched five Web publications.
Mac's favorite activity is winetasting; he publishes two blogs on the topic and serves as a wine-tasting judge at industry competitions.
Dean (Kip) Witter III, Chief Financial Officer
Kip Witter's finance career started in 1974 with US Leasing International, Inc., after which he spent 12 years in various finance positions with Amdahl Corporation (formerly ASE: AMH), where he served his last 5 years as Vice President and Treasurer. Since Amdahl, Kip was a founder of Eeonyx Corporation and a senior consultant with The Capstone Group and The Brenner Group, where he specialized in providing financial executive consulting to high-growth and early-stage clients. Kip joined Hello Direct, Inc. (formerly NASDAQ: HELO) and served as Chief Financial Officer until the time of its acquisition by GN Great Nordic in 2001. In May of 2003, Kip became President of William D. Witter, Inc., a privately owned Registered Investment Adviser based in New York City, and Chairman in February 2005. Kip rejoined The Brenner Group in January of 2009, serving as a director of Eeonyx Corporation and Provista Software Intl, Inc.
Kip received his MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business and his BA in Applied Mathematics from Harvard College (magna cum laude), where he was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. Kip is president of The Dean Witter Foundation and serves as a trustee of the Harvey and Maud Sorensen Foundation. Additionally, Kip is a member of both the Mathematical Association of America and of the Mounted Patrol of San Mateo County.
Kip's favorite hobbies include recreational mathematics, puzzles and (Western) horseback riding. He is twice Reserve Champion in California State Horsemen's Association Trail Trials.
Ellen Izuka, Accounting Manager
Ellen Izuka handles Zenergo's day-to-day accounting responsibilities. After 11 years as a dental hygienist and 14 years as a volunteer accounting official for US Figure Skating, Ellen has found her niche at Zenergo.
If Ellen isn't surfing the web, she's likely to be in her craft room. Her favorite hobbies include knitting, sewing, painting, doll making and paper crafts.
View Dennis' ProfileDennis Ferrell, Consultant, Business Development
Dennis Ferrell brings more than 20 years of experience at major media and Internet companies, as well as start-up ventures. Dennis' diverse background includes senior roles in business development, sales and marketing. Most recently, he served as a senior executive of the Search and Media business unit at IAC, driving large revenue producing distribution partnerships. Dennis also spent six years at Yahoo!, where he directed both domestic and international business strategies for Web Search and Social Media. He developed the initial business strategy and distribution planning for Yahoo's Social Media products - Answers and Delicious - driving revenues and user acquisition, structuring key brand and publisher partnerships.
Dennis is an enthusiastic snowboarder and golfer in his spare time.
Jon Merripen, IT Expert/Consultant
In addition to being the consulting IT manager for Zenergo, Jon Merripen is also the manager of server operations for Meebo. Prior to Meebo, Jon was the Director of IT and SaaS infrastructure at Altus Learning Systems, a senior Unix systems administrator at LinkedIN, and a Director of IT at Avici Systems. His expertise encompasses scalable web infrastructure, Network and Systems security, Disaster Recovery, and Business Continuity planning.
Jon is also a part-time martial arts instructor, holding several black belts in TaeKwon Do.
Aditya Alurkar, DB/Scale Expert/Consultant
Adi Alurkar is currently a database architect at LinkedIn. He has over 13 years of experience designing DBMSs that handle large volumes of data through his positions as senior database administrator at SourceForge as well as Zembu Labs and Astata. Adi's specialty is architecting solutions to support high growth, with a strong emphasis on availability and reliability. He is experienced in Oracle, MySQL, PostgreSQL, and DB2. His experience enables him to take a business/real-world requirement and design a technical solution that can be implemented to suit the environment and infrastructure. Adi holds degrees from Fairleigh Dickinson University and Goa University.
Adi loves to hike and spend time with his family.
Brand Advisory Council
Working with Zenergo in the capacity of our Brand Advisory Council is a team of senior level marketing professionals who bring consumer product and social media marketing expertise to our company. The team comes from companies such as premier interactive advertising agencies, leading brands in teen/young adult sports apparel and shoes, world-renowned consumer electronics devices companies and luxury wine brands. An active group, Zenergo is fortunate to have their help in shaping the site!
Zenergo Interns
In addition to the strong team of executives dedicated to Zenergo, a team of devoted interns works to improve the functionality and offerings of the site while providing ongoing entertainment at the Zenergo offices. The intern team consists mainly of high school and college students with an interest in social media and the various activities and interests on Zenergo. Affectionately referred to as the "Youth Marketing Team," the interns play a pivotal role in the creation and development of Zenergo and will continue to shape the site as it grows and evolves.