The Management Team

Edward Zyszkowski, Chief Executive Officer

Edward Zyszkowski is a highly-regarded visionary and scientific pioneer whose technical expertise is tempered with strong business acumen that has enabled him to build many successful companies. After his success in building robotics systems for the Space Shuttle during his tenure at Lockheed Martin, he went on to create many of the earliest “data mining” technologies and text search systems while at Thinking Machines. He founded and headed Torrent Systems, which was ultimately acquired by IBM and provides the basis for their Information Server system. He led and sold technology companies to both Yahoo! and Google. Mr. Zyszkowski holds a number of patents and was a very successful investor and executive in numerous technology ventures. He completed his undergraduate degree and graduate studies in Biophysics at the Johns Hopkins University and his MBA at Babson College. In addition to serving as CEO of Steeplechase Networks, he is chairman of the Electrical and Computer Engineering Advisory Committee at Johns Hopkins.

Bill Bennett, Marketing

Bill Bennett has spent more than three decades developing creative solutions to the media and marketing problems confronting organizations as diverse as Levi Strauss & Co., Toshiba, The Smithsonian Institution, Bell Atlantic, Sun Microsystems and Business 2.0. His experience covers marketing, communications and business development strategies for technology and consumer goods companies, including advertising, public relations, lead generation, investor relations, sales support and market research programs. Mr. Bennett is a graduate of Princeton University.

Scott Berry, Product and Market Development

Scott Berry returns to Steeplechase from SMH Capital, where he was a Senior Research Analyst covering technology. Mr. Berry is an accomplished product development executive who was responsible for product management of AT&T’s undersea cable business, and the introduction of managed wavelength services at Metromedia Fiber. He has held leadership roles in startup companies in CRM software, optical components, wireless broadband, and VoIP. He began his career at Bell Laboratories. Mr. Berry graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with a degree in Engineering and Economics, and was awarded an MSEE from Stanford University.

Michael Hentschel, Finance

Michael comes to Steeplechase with 27 years COO, CFO, EVP and board-level experience in a variety of US and European private companies. Most recently a founding team member and CFO of Desktone, Inc., raising $17 million, prior to that Michael served as CFO of Silicon Valley’s Resilience, raising $10 million. His experience includes extensive background across multiple technology industries including enterprise applications and hosted software. Earlier in his career he was a Partner at Schroder Ventures in Menlo Park, responsible for Stratacom, Telebit, Raytel, Mycogen, and other successful deals. Michael holds a BA from Yale University and an MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern.

Neil Olshansky, Content & Technology

Neil Olshansky brings to Steeplechase a unique mix of media and technology expertise and business development & management experience. With a graduate background in electrical engineering, Mr. Olshansky found his skill set ideally suited to the evolving production marketplace. He founded O&Co. Productions in 1990, producing broadcast television, TV commercials and interactive projects for companies such as HBO, Universal, Nickelodeon, American Express Travel, Ford, and Wendy’s. He is a graduate of Clark University with a dual degree in Philosophy & Communications.

Graham Richard, Business Development

Former Mayor Graham Richard has joined Steeplechase after an eight year tenure as Mayor of Fort Wayne, IN, which was marked by innovation, including the application of Lean Six Sigma quality management principles to municipal government and an investment in fiber-based broadband infrastructure that has reinvigorated the City’s economic growth. His experience informs his book, Performance is the Best Politics. Mr. Richard served as an Indiana State Senator and he is a graduate of the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University.