Wendell F. Bueche

Wendell Bueche is the former Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of IMC Global Inc., a multi-billion dollar manufacturer of phosphate and potash crop nutrients and animal feed ingredients, headquartered in Northbrook, Illinois. He was also a Director of the Company and a member of the Board of Directors' Executive Committee. Mr. Bueche joined IMC Global in February, 1993 as President and Chief Executive Officer and was elected Chairman in August, 1994. He was a Director from July, 1991 through 1999. Mr. Bueche retired as CEO on July 1, 1997 and as Chairman in July, 1998.

Prior to joining IMC Global, Mr. Bueche was Chairman, Chief Executive Officer and President of Allis-Chalmers Corporation, a diversified manufacturer of industrial equipment. He retired from Allis-Chalmers in 1989 following a 36-year career with that organization, and was self-employed as an operations and strategic management consultant until assuming his duties at IMC Global.

Mr. Bueche is past Chairman of The Fertilizer Institute (TFI), is a Director of Marshall & Ilsley Bank, M&I Marshall & Ilsley Corporation and Chairman of the Executive Committee. He also serves as a Director of WICOR Inc., Wisconsin Gas Company, is a member of the Executive Association of American Industrial Partners Capital Fund, L.P, and was a Director of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM). He also acts as Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Mid-America Committee and was a Council Member of the International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA).

Mr. Bueche received a B.S. degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame. He is a member and past chairman of the Advisory Council for Notre Dame's College of Engineering, and was the 1982 recipient of the College of Engineering Honor Award.

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Robert J. Currey

Robert Currey is a 30-year veteran of the telecommunications and cable industry. He currently serves as CEO of Consolidated Communications, Inc., a family of companies offering voice and data communications service to both business and residential customers. Previously Mr. Currey served as Vice Chairman of RCN Corporation, Chief Executive Officer of 21st Century Telecom Group, and as Group President, Telecommunications Services and a Director of McLeodUSA. He served as President of Consolidated Communications ("CCI") from March 1990 until CCI merged with McLeodUSA Inc. of Cedar Rapids, Iowa in 1997.

Prior to his involvement with CCI, Mr. Currey served as Senior Vice President-Operations and Engineering for Citizen’s Utilities Company and had previously been Executive Vice President of US Sprint, and Senior Vice President-Operations for United Telecommunications, Inc.

In 1996, he was named Chairman of the Illinois Coalition, a non-profit organization of business, government, academic, and labor leaders that promotes technology-based economic development in Illinois. He has also served as Chairman of the Board of the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce.

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Andrew M. Denenberg

Andy Denenberg has been a successful technology entrepreneur for more than a decade. He most recently served as President of Upright Software, a professional services automation ASP, before its sale to Outtask Inc. Mr. Denenberg is also an active angel investor and serves on the advisory board for several early stage technology companies. Before founding Upright Software, Mr. Denenberg was Vice President for PLATINUM Technology International's Network Management Lab. He joined PLATINUM Technology in 1998 when they were acquiring Geneva Software, a leading network management software company that Mr. Denenberg founded. He also served as Geneva's Chief Executive Officer.

In 1988, Mr. Denenberg founded Denmac Systems, Inc., a computer network integration consulting firm, where he continues to serve as Chairman. Prior to Denmac Systems, Mr. Denenberg held senior engineering positions at U.S. Robotics and Hewlett Packard. Mr. Denenberg graduated with a B.S. degree in Electrical Engineering from Colorado State University.

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John M. Egan

John Egan is the former Chairman of ARRIS Corporation, a leading international technology integration company specializing in the design, manufacture and supply of products and technologies for end-to-end broadband networks. Originally a division of Anixter, the company was separated in 1991, and Mr. Egan took the company public in a highly successful offering in 1993. He served as ANTEC's CEO from 1991 to 1999.

Under Mr. Egan's leadership, ARRIS pioneered development of optical products for the cable television industry, co-developed the Laser Link line of optical transmitters and receivers with AT&T, and entered into a joint venture with Nortel Networks (Arris Interactive), the leading developer and supplier in the world of high-speed data and telephony products for cable networks.

Prior to joining Anixter in 1973 as Eastern Regional Sales Manager, Mr. Egan was a Marketing Executive with RCA Computer Systems Division. In 1980, he was appointed President of Anixter Communications. Mr. Egan was the recipient of the National Cable Television Association's (NCTA) coveted Vanguard Award in 1990, and currently serves on the Board of the National Cable Television Association, Arris Interactive, Walter Kaitz Foundation and CablePac.

Mr. Egan holds a B.S. degree in Economics from Boston College, and prior to his business career played professional football with the Miami Dolphins.

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Peter B. Foreman

Peter Foreman was a founding partner of Harris Associates, L.P., an independent advisory firm specializing in the management of equity and balanced portfolios for families and institutions. Harris also manages the Oakmark family of mutual funds and provides investment advisory services to the following: Aurora Limited Partnership, a multi-manager, multi-strategy diversified investment partnership; Perseus Partners Limited Partnership, a multi-manager, single strategy investment partnership focusing on the short selling of securities; Hesperus Partners, Ltd., focused on value-oriented investing; and Pleiades Partners, L.P., a multi-manager, single strategy limited partnership which allocates assets to a number of investment managers focusing on hedging in related securities.

In 1994, Mr. Foreman left Harris Associates, L.P. and started his own investment management firm, Sirius Corporation, which focuses on investing in outside managers. From 1969 through 1975, Mr. Foreman was a Vice President, Director and shareholder of R.J. Levy Harris & Co., where he served as a broker, investment counselor and investment banker.

Mr. Foreman is a member of the Board of Directors of Eagle Food Centers and EIS International, as well as numerous private companies. He is also a trustee of the Shedd Aquarium.

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Don Frey

Don Frey currently serves as Director, Master of Engineering Management Program for Northwestern University. Previously, Mr. Frey had a distinguished career as a corporate executive at Ford Motor Company, General Cable Corporation, and Bell & Howell Company. Mr. Frey spent sixteen years in product development at Ford Motor Company, attaining the position of Vice President, Product Development Group for Ford Motor Company before his departure. He then served a two-year term as President and Chief Operating Officer of General Cable Corporation before joining Bell & Howell Company. During his sixteen-year tenure at Bell & Howell, Mr. Frey served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board.

Since 1984, Mr. Frey has been actively teaching at Northwestern University in the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences and has served in various leadership roles within the university.

Mr. Frey currently is a Director of Quintar, My Own Meals, and Illinois World Trade Center of Chicago. Previously, Mr. Frey has served as a Director of Clark Equipment Company, Springs Industries, Cincinnati Milacron, and Twentieth Century Fox Corporation.

Mr. Frey received B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Michigan.

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John S. Gallop

John is a Managing Director of Advisory Research, an independent advisory firm specializing in the management of portfolios for families and institutions with a value orientation. Prior to joining Advisory Research, John was an investment banker at Bear Stearns and First Union
Securities. He joined First Union after they acquired Everen Securities in 1999.

At Everen, Mr. Gallop had responsibility for the investment banking, syndicate and convertible securities departments. Prior to joining Everen, Mr. Gallop spent four years with Bear Stearns in the investment banking department concentrating on growth companies in the Midwest.

Mr. Gallop received his Master of Business Administration degree in finance from the University of Chicago and has a B.A. degree in history from the University of Pennsylvania.

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Timothy K. Krauskopf
Principal, Round Lake Designs, Downers Grove, IL.

Timothy Krauskopf’s companies, Round Lake Designs and Round Lake Freight, offer technology, logistics, and truck transportation in the Midwest. Mr. Krauskopf was previously a Vice President at Motorola in the Internet Software and Content Group. He has also served as Co-Founder and CEO of Parlano, Inc., President and COO of PCQuote.com, Head of Information Services at the Field Museum of Natural History, and Co-Founder, Vice President of Research and Development, and Chief Technology Officer of Spyglass, Inc., the first public Internet/Web software company. He sits on the Board of Trustees of Northwestern University, and the Board of the Aspen Institute where he was an inaugural Henry Crown Fellow. In 1996, KPMG Peat Marwick named him one of the winners of the Illinois High Tech Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Mr. Krauskopf holds a BA degree from Northwestern University, a MS degree in Computer Science from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern. He and his wife, Mele Howland, live in Downers Grove, IL.

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John S. Lillard

John Lillard has been a participant in venture capital investments and a limited partner in several venture partnerships since the early 1960's. In 1978, Mr. Lillard co-founded JMB Institutional Realty ("JMB") where he served as President and Chairman-Founder until the company's sale in 1994. Prior to his involvement with JMB, Mr. Lillard worked for Scudder, Stevens, and Clark (1956-78) where he was a portfolio manager, managed offices in Cincinnati and Chicago, served on the firm's Board of Directors, and was a General Partner. Prior to joining Scudder, Stevens, and Clark, Mr. Lillard served in the U.S. Navy as a Lt. jg.

Mr. Lillard is a Director of publicly traded Cintas Corporation, Stryker, Wintrust Financial, and Lake Forest Bank and Trust. He is also a life Trustee of the Chicago Symphony, and a Trustee of the Children's Home and Aid Society of Illinois.

Mr. Lillard earned his Master of Business Administration degree in Finance from Xavier University and has a B.A. degree in English from the University of Virginia.

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Vito Manone

Vito Manone is a veteran of the medical products and services industry, having spent twenty years with Baxter International. During that time he started and served as President of the Respiratory Products Division and the Respiratory Therapy Homecare Division. He also served as President of the Abbey Homecare Division.

In 1988, Mr. Manone left Baxter to serve as Chief Executive Officer, President and Director of Intertech Resources, Inc., a manufacturer of respiratory and anesthesia products for the hospital and homecare markets. In 1992, it was sold to Smith Industries, a large British conglomerate.

Since divesting of Intertech, Mr. Manone has been a private investor in and director of numerous early-stage healthcare companies. He currently serves on the advisory boards of Prairie Capital, L.P. and Marquette University College of Business Administration.

Mr. Manone is a graduate of Marquette University.

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Joseph A. Piscopo

Joe Piscopo retired in 1987 after 18 years as the Chairman and CEO of Pansophic Systems, Inc., a Lisle, Illinois software firm he founded in 1969. At the time of his retirement, Pansophic had annual revenues exceeding $115 million, employed 1,100 people, and had 8,000 customers in 60 countries. Pansophic went public in 1981 and was listed on the NYSE until 1991 when it was acquired by Computer Associates International, Inc. (NYSE: CA)

Since 1987, Mr. Piscopo has been an investor and outside director of corporations in a variety of industries. He has also served as Chairman of the Board of Software Artistry, Inc., an Indianapolis software firm that was sold to IBM in 1998. Mr. Piscopo is also an investor/director in privately-held Quickstream Software, Inc., a Colorado Springs, Colorado start-up developer of a Java-based, Internet accessible document management system, and was a Director of Open Port Technology, Inc., a Chicago-based developer of client-server software for global fax and messaging.

Mr. Piscopo is also a limited partner in Broadview Capital Partners, L.P., and C.I.D. Equity Partners. He is an active member of the Chicago Software Association and is a director of private corporations in golf club manufacturing, real estate development, and book publishing. He was elected to the Board of Directors of the University of Illinois Foundation in October, 1995.

Mr. Piscopo holds a B.S. degree in Mathematics and Computer Sciences from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and is a graduate of the Owner/President Management (OPM) program at the Harvard Graduate School of Business.

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Phillip B. Rooney

Phillip Rooney was formerly President of The Business Services Group for publicly traded ServiceMaster Company, a network of quality service companies. Mr. Rooney joined ServiceMaster in 1997 to focus on new business development, and led the acquisition of two public companies - LandCare and American Residential Services, along with several private companies. Prior to joining ServiceMaster, Mr. Rooney was President of publicly traded Waste Management, Inc. from 1984 to 1997, after beginning his career there in 1969.

Mr. Rooney has been a member of the Board of Directors of Illinois Tool Works, Inc., Urban Shopping Centers, Inc., and Van Kampen Funds. He is also active in education, serving on the Board of Trustees for the University of Notre Dame and the Children at the Crossroads Foundation. Mr. Rooney is also involved in many civic/charitable organizations such as The Economic Club, El Valor, Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation, the Clinic in Altgeld and the Lyric Opera of Chicago. He is Chairman of Chicago Sister Cities, a member of the Finance Council of the Archdiocese of Chicago and is Founder of the Rooney Heart Institute of Hinsdale Hospital.

Mr. Rooney has received honors such as "Man of the Year" from the Illinois Vietnam Veterans Association and the "Semper Fidelis" award from the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation. He served as a Marine Corps Officer from 1966 to 1969 and received several awards for valor, including the Bronze Star and the Navy Commendation medal. Mr. Rooney graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor or Arts degree from St. Bernard College.

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