Local Thunder is led by media, marketing and Internet professionals. Our team of entrepreneurial leaders is the force behind our innovative, revenue-generating products and solutions. In addition, Local Thunder has appointed a Board of Advisors to assist and guide the company's growth and penetration into new markets.

Geoffrey Minte: Founder, CEO
David Vazdauskas: President
Jim Boutin: Co-Founder, COO
Bill Kaiser: Consultant, Finance and Strategy
John Martin: Controller/Vice President, Finance
Alan Buckman: Director of Sales
Dave Hatch: Director of Customer Services and Program Management
Barbara Kenney: Director of Account Relations

A highly successful entrepreneur for more than 25 years, Geoff brings his extensive experience in production, sales, and business development in the media industry to Local Thunder. Beginning with roots in program and commercial production (Founder: New Media Group) and cable television advertising (founder: Cable Air Space), he moved into the national and international markets as co-founder of Man in the Moon Productions). There, Geoff produced and distributed a number of vignette series including Today in Music History, which enjoyed a successful ten year run in the US and around the world. Geoff's current endeavors include Co-Founder and Partner of Monterey Media Concepts, the largest program exchange in the US. In addition, he continues to develop dynamic, strategic niches in the media industry, including Local Thunder, which capitalizes on both universal appeal and broad geographic applications.

David has provided strategic brand development and marketing counsel to clients in a wide variety of industries for over twenty years. Prior to joining Local Thunder, he was President of Victory Branding, where he worked with both small and large organizations to develop compelling and differentiating brand and marketing strategies. Prior to starting Victory Branding, he was a partner at Lippincott & Margulies, a premier New York-based brand consultancy. Clients included NBC, CNBC, The World Wrestling Federation, Sports Illustrated, Time Warner, and The Weather Channel. Prior to this, he was a partner at Mercer Management Consulting, a large international consulting firm, where he specialized in marketing strategy. David interrupted his consulting career to become Director of Brand Identity for BankBoston, where he was responsible for managing the brand strategy of BankBoston across all its divisions and across multiple countries. He held this position until the acquisition of BankBoston by Fleet Financial in 2000. He has also held Vice President of Marketing positions at two Internet companies: MyCounsel.com, an online provider of consumer legal information, and iBelong, an application services provider for affinity groups. He received his B.A. degree in economics summa cum laude from Bowdoin College and received his MBA from the Harvard Business School.

Jim has 20 plus years of experience in software and Internet senior company management, television station management, operations, and broadcast technical management. He served as Vice President of Worldwide Customer Support at Avid Technology, the worldwide leader in computer-based film and video editing with full P&L responsibility for the business unit. Prior to that, Jim was part of Avid's senior management team that formed their broadcast division, now responsible for a significant portion of the company's revenue. He also led the sales, engineering, and projects group that implemented the world's first news tapeless editing and playback for clients including CNN Headline News, CNN/FN and Northwest Cable News. Before joining Avid, Jim held management and technical strategy positions at various broadcast groups, and was group director of engineering, and later, Station Manager for WCSH6 in Portland, ME. Additionally, he was a technology and business consultant for a number of Internet startups including Clareon, an online business payment provider. Jim currently sets strategy and implements the business vision at Local Thunder. He received his bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maine at Orono.

Bill has extensive experience in high-growth and value enhancement situations. CPA/MBA with more than 25 years of experience in all aspects of management and finance. Senior financial roles at Atari Inc., from 1980-83 as Director of Finance, Home Computer Division; Electronic Arts from 1983-91 as Vice President, Finance; Waste Management of NY from 1996-98 as CFO; KTI, Inc. as Executive Vice President/Treasurer; and ToolZ Limited from 2000-04 and as an early stage investor, Board Member, and CFO. Background includes capital raising activities, business development and mergers and acquisitions, management of corporate financial and administrative functions in emerging growth companies as well as Fortune 500 companies.

As Controller/VP Finance, John is responsible for all of the financial and administrative operations of the company. He brings more than 12 years of experience to Local Thunder in corporate finance and executive leadership, along with a solid record of growing profitable companies. Before joining Local Thunder, he served as corporate controller for OpenPages, Inc. in Waltham, MA. Throughout his tenure there, John was responsible for all financial, budgetary and tax aspects of the company while they transitioned from a content-management solution company into the leading provider of enterprise governance, risk, and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance management software solutions. During March 2004, John provided key financial support in the closing of $10 million in development-stage financing with regional investors. Prior to joining OpenPages, John practiced public accounting for eight years, culminating as lead Accounting and Audit Partner at the CPA firm of Costantino, Richards & Martin, LLP in Woburn, MA. Besides his traditional accounting and audit responsibilities, John's role as a trusted advisor expanded into business consulting with corporate management on such issues as capital infusion, cash management, litigation support, business valuation and profit improvement. Over his professional career, John has consistently provided companies with quality financial advice and dynamic leadership, and as such, has been invaluable in the corporate growth of Local Thunder. A certified public accountant (CPA), John received his bachelor's degree in Accountancy from Bentley College in Waltham, MA.

Alan has more than 25 years in broadcasting sales, sales management, station management and new media experience. Alan held sales and executive positions at Group W/CBS for more than 25 years where he served as Sales Manager at WJZ-TV, Baltimore and WBZ-TV, Boston. Alan was also Director of Sales at KPIX-TV, San Francisco and Station Manager at KCBS-TV, Los Angeles. In addition, Alan was Vice President of Sales at Asian Media Group's KSCI-TV, the largest Asian language broadcaster in the United States. Alan has acted as strategic advisor to a number of new media companies including egotv.com and Local Thunder. Alan was a pioneer in Internet sales, heading up sales for kpix.com in the mid 1990's as kpix.com became the first television station website to generate over $1 million in ad revenue. Alan earned a Bachelor of Science, Business Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University. He is a past board member of the 3AF (Asian Advertising Federation), a past board member of STAR (Society of Television and Radio, San Francisco), and a member of NATPE (National Association of Television Program Executives).

Dave is a seasoned veteran of customer service. Before joining Local Thunder, Dave served as Customer Service Manager for AllVertical, a data, communications, marketing and e-commerce company. Dave reorganized and streamlined their customer support organization, while overseeing the implementation of three distribution groups and Smith & Wesson manufacturing into the AllVertical supply chain. Dave has also worked for Varian Semiconductor providing project management for installations worldwide. At Local Thunder, Dave is leading a growing staff of customer service representatives that are responsible for maintaining affiliate, consumer, and merchant customer relations at the highest professional level.

A sales professional with 30 years of solid sales experience in the media industry, Barbara brings to Local Thunder her ability to manage, prospect, qualify and close in both direct and agency selling environments. Prior to joining Local Thunder Barbara worked for a number of major media companies, including Citadel Broadcasting, Time Warner Cable and Gannett Broadcasting. She has been involved in direct sales, agency liaison, broadcast production and sales management in a variety of markets. Barbara cites both her experiences in client service venues and her sense of humor as important skills for success and longevity in the world of sales. Barbara earned a Bachelors Degree in Education/Speech & Drama from Columbia College, Columbia, Missouri