The iKnowWare Executive Team
Mark Spilotro, Founder & CEO
Mark Spilotro founded iKnowWare in November, 2002. As the company's Chief Executive Officer, he leads its management team and defines its vision and long-term strategy.
In creating the company, Mark has brought together the Web-based touch points of a business and simplified each to create views of On Demand information.
Mark is an acknowledged marketing and sales pioneer in innovative, commercially successful application software. Before founding iKnowWare he spent 15+ years working at leading edge software companies, including Oracle Corporation, e-MDs, Cornerstone Information System, CollegeView (Hobson Publishing/Daily Mail U.K.) and Apple Computer.
Throughout his career, Mark has brought his skills to Fortune 500 companies including Viacom, ADP, McDonalds, Galileo International, Schwan's, Anderson Consulting and M&M Mars. He has designed workflow and mission-critical applications for Fortune 100 companies in a wide range of industries.
In co-creating Expert System (Travel Management Transaction /Analytical Processing Software) he established the market leader in Galileo International's GDS (Global Distribution System) for Air, Hotels and Rental Car. Consequently, its installed base grew to more than 175 Fortune 500 Corporations with over 8 million users.
Mark’s interactions with domain experts in the Industries of Insurance, Construction, Healthcare, Law, Manufacturing and Distribution have provided the personalized solution sets that ensure iKnowWare and our clients increased productivity and profits.
Mark earned his Bachelors Degree at Indiana University (IU) -- while running a business serving IU’s Kelley School of Business, IU MBAs, Athletics and Consulting Groups. Mark Cuban, CEO of the Dallas Mavericks/Broadcast.com, and John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, are also graduates of Indiana University.
Mark resides north of Austin, Texas, with his wife Jill and four daughters.
Dr. Phil Francis, COO
Dr. Francis’ experience spans engineering research, academia and senior executive assignments at Motorola, Square D (Groupe Schneider), AT&T and Mascon Global, Ltd.
He wrote the first book on R&D management (1978) and the first technical article on Six Sigma (1988). He now has a new book, Product Creation. He's been active on advisory boards at Northwestern Univ., MIT, IIT, Univ. of Illinois, Northern Illinois Univ., and the Univ. of Cincinnati. Phil has a Ph.D in engineering mechanics and an MBA.
Dr. Francis is an authority and developer in the fields of New Product Development processes, higher education and overall business process improvements. He was Motorola’s first recipient of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (1988).
Dr. Francis provided a key leadership role in re-inventing Groupe Schneider / Square D’s initiative to re-invent the culture and strengthen the “working leadership” of its North American operations (20,000 employees).
His senior leadership positions and appointments include The American Society of Mechanical Engineers (Fellow), the Society of Manufacturing Engineers, the National Institute for Standards and Technology (NIST), the Board of Assessment (Technical Board of Directors) of NIST, the U.S. Army Science Board, the Air Force Science Advisory Board, NSF and others.
Dr. Francis was awarded the ASME’s Gustas S. Larson Award for excellence in engineering. He is a frequent lecturer and keynoter whose biography is included in Who’s Who in America.
Dr. Francis's latest book, Product Creation (Simon & Schuster/Free Press -- a Top 30 business book in 2001) makes the point that new product development (NPD) is the business of the business.
NPD must flow from a disciplined process that links together each and every function within the enterprise: marketing and customers, R&D, engineering, production, IT systems, intellectual property, quality, operations and leadership.
Publications and Journals include Founder and Editor (1988-92) of the ASME professional journal, Manufacturing Review. He has served on editorial boards of several other journals and has published over 70 technical papers in the refereed, permanent literature.
Dr. Francis wrote the first book on R&D management more than 20 years ago: Principles of R&D Management. He has recently written a new book, which will soon be published: Reconstructing Alma Mater: The Morphing of Higher Education. (The book is a critical assessment of higher education in America and the remarkable changes which are about to occur.)
Dr. Francis is married with four children. His interests include writing, running, competitive track & field and sports cars. He has served as a Director of Mascon Global, Ltd. and as President of the Fund Board, Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy.
Xin Chen, Lead Developer
With more than twenty year experiences in software development, Xin Chen is directing the development of web based business applications for IKnowWare. Dr. Chen, founder of Neway Technologies, Inc., architected and developed a web-based Customer Relationship Management System (CRM) system that is the core product of IKnowWare business applications.
Before joining IKnowWare, Dr. Chen served as e-MD’s senior developer, where he designed and developed the first version of their Patient Accounting and Scheduling systems and the second version of electronic insurance claiming system.
Prior to his work at e-MDs, Xin was a senior research engineer and developer for TRDF, where he designed and implemented Infrastructure Management Systems for several state Departments of Transportation. Xin was also cited as the creator of several pavement maintenance linear programming models to optimize resource allocation to the entire pavement management process.
While working on his PhD at the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Chen developed one of the first GUI based Roadway Management Systems for small to medium-sized cities. Before graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, Dr. Chen worked for the National Transportation Research Institute of China, Serving as leader of a national key research projects, Xin led the research and development team that developed the first state level pavement management system for China.
Keith Sweeney, Project Architect
Keith Sweeney joined iKnowWare in November, 2004. As Project Architect, Keith leads iKnowWare’s Programming Teams and Data Migration/Professional Services Group with defined projects and defined integration strategy.
Keith is an industry pioneer in the design of innovative, commercially successful application software. Before joining iKnowWare Keith focused on Business Analysis, Product Design, Technology Architectures, Project Management and Application Development.
An expert in enterprise development and a seasoned technology consultant, Keith has 13+ years of experience in the industry. He’s managed technology initiatives of varying scope (i.e. products, services and companies) through the lifecycle of incubation, design, development and implementation across several vertical industries.
As an expert in process mechanics and business process engineering, Keith has a keen eye for detail, functional ergonomics and information/workflow throughout the enterprise and product lifecycle.
Keith’s work experience at leading edge companies includes FathomOnline as Director of Technology. (His client list included DART (Doubleclick), Atlas, Mediaplex, Google, Overture, Kanoodle, Sprinks, Enhance (Ah-Ha), Looksmart, Lycos and Vibrant Media.
At CaseCentral Keith served as Technology Architect/Application Developer and as Senior Business Analyst at Eclipsys Corporation. In these roles he worked with a variety of clients, including Bell Atlantic, Mercedes-Benz, Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism, JBM Rehabilitation, Cleveland Clinic, Spectrum Investment Systems and Deloitte & Touche, where he worked on a large data mining project for Nextel.
Keith resides in San Francisco and is an Extreme Snow Skier.
David Houck, Implementation Specialist
David Houck joined iKnowWare in October, 2004. As implementation specialist, David takes pride in connecting people and companies with the installation of iKnowWare. David graduated with a degree in Computer Science.
His experience with web programming and development, brings strong problem-solving skills to the iKnowWare team.