ONVIA MANAGEMENT TEAM

Mike Pickett
President and Chief Executive Officer

Mike Pickett serves as president and chief executive officer of Onvia. Over the last 5 years, he has managed, counseled, and served on the boards of various Internet and technology-based startups, including ZDTV, College Club, and Digital Archaeology. Previously, Pickett was chairman, CEO, and president of Merisel Inc. Under his direction, the company grew from a $200 million regional distributor of computer products into a $6 billion global corporation. Pickett also spent 14 years at Deloitte & Touche, rising to partner-in-charge of the emerging businesses practice. He has been named 5 times to the CRN list of the 25 most influential executives in the high technology industry. Pickett holds a bachelor's degree in business administration from the University of Southern California.

Irvine Alpert
Executive Vice President

Irvine Alpert, executive vice president, leads Onvia's business development efforts. Alpert was previously CEO of ProjectGuides, a customized information service that delivered leads to the architecture engineering and construction (AEC) community. Alpert grew the company from a home business to one of the top AEC market information sources in the country. Prior to starting ProjectGuides, Alpert was president of RCI Environmental, an environmental remediation-contracting firm, where he grew sales from $100,000 to $12 million in three years. Alpert also served as vice president of sales and marketing at Hart Crowser, Inc. one of the largest environmental services firms in the Pacific Northwest. Alpert has an undergraduate degree in social sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a master's degree in city and regional planning from the University of California, Berkeley.

Eric Gillespie
Senior Vice President

Eric Gillespie joined Onvia in 2007 as its chief information officer and became senior vice president in 2008. He leads marketing, human resources, products and services, as well as technology, content and research for the company. In addition to developing and deploying new strategic platforms, his teams also support existing Onvia products and services. Prior to Onvia, Gillespie served as executive vice president and chief operating officer at The Patent Board. His experience also includes senior positions at Scient, Computer Sciences Corporation, and IBM. Gillespie's views on creating value through innovation and technology have been featured on National Public Radio, The Economist, the Wall Street Journal, and the Washington Post among other leading publications, and in testimony before the U.S. Congress.

Michael Balsam
Chief Strategy Officer

Michael Balsam drives strategic planning for Onvia and is the lead product architect. Balsam came to Onvia as part of the ProjectGuides acquisition in 2001 with over 10 years of experience in bringing products to market. At ProjectGuides, Balsam was responsible for product design and product marketing. As a recognized subject matter expert on government spending, he helped to author transparency components of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). He continues to advise government at all levels on maximizing the impact of recovery spending. Balsam's views on government spending have been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Barron’s and the Washington Post among other leading publications. Balsam teaches business development at the University of Washington and graduated from the University of New Hampshire.

Naveen Rajkumar
Chief Information Officer

Naveen Rajkumar joined Onvia in 2010 as its Chief Information Officer and leads all technology initiatives for the company. In addition to developing and deploying new strategic platforms, his team supports existing Onvia services, including the Onvia Online Database, the award-winning Onvia Guide, and the Onvia DemandStar eProcurement platform. Prior to Onvia, Rajkumar achieved success building several meaningful software products, and served as General Manager at Aditi Technologies managing significant business units. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the Government College of Technology, Coimbatore.

Cameron Way
Chief Financial Officer

Cameron Way joined Onvia in August 1999, became chief accounting officer in 2003 and was named chief financial officer in 2008. At Onvia, Way provides financial and operational leadership in growth management, corporate development, and strategic planning. Prior to Onvia, his early career was spent with the public accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP from September 1994 to August 1999. His professional focus was on companies in the high tech and investment services industries, and he was involved in a number of initial public offerings. Way holds a bachelor's degree from Claremont McKenna College in Claremont, Calif.

SoYoung Kwon
General Counsel

SoYoung Kwon serves as general counsel of Onvia, Inc. and oversees its legal and corporate governance activities. Kwon was previously senior corporate attorney at Safeco Corporation, where her responsibilities included securities compliance, corporate governance, and employment and benefits matters. Kwon received a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington and a law degree from the Willamette University College of Law. Prior to joining Safeco, Kwon was an associate at the law firm of Graham & Dunn, PC.