Michael Teitelbaum
Chief Executive Officer
Michael brings extensive business leadership experience to Velaro. As the guiding force in Velaro’s dramatic growth, his vision is to help businesses of every size bring their websites to life by delivering the most reliable live help platform in the industry.
Not satisfied with having the best live help platform, Michael is equally focused on the service side of the business. Velaro clients are assigned a dedicated Success Manager that takes them through a proprietary implementation process, guaranteeing maximum benefit from Live Help.
Since 1995, Michael has been serving in leadership roles for companies in the Internet services industry. He first served as Managing Partner for Emagination, a website development and marketing firm that he co-founded. He sold his interests in 1998 and co-founded Mom.com, a vertical portal for moms. He arranged for the sale of that company in 2000 and started Eisner Interactive. As President, Michael had the good fortune of helping companies like US Airways, AMF Bowling, Johns Hopkins Medicine, Maryland State Lottery, Medifast and Washington DC Tourism develop their Internet marketing strategy.
Five years later, Michael was recruited to become President of TruePresence. He immediately converted the struggling company from a Web development franchisor into an Internet marketing franchisor. Under his leadership, the company grew from two franchises to 25 franchises in two years.
Just prior to joining Velaro, Michael was the Chief Digital Officer for South Central Media. He was responsible for creating and growing the digital marketing division for this traditional media company that owns 11 radio stations throughout Tennessee and Indiana.
Before getting involved in the Internet services industry, Michael started a direct mail marketing business that grew to serving thousands of customers throughout the Mid-Atlantic area during the course of 16 years.
When Michael is not at the office or hanging with family and friends, he can be found on the golf course, at the gym or playing his bass guitar in one of two classic rock bands.
Alex Bloom
President
Alex Bloom is an established veteran of the high-tech industry. Early on, Bloom co-founded Harmony BBS, an original SaaS. After graduating with a computer science and business degree, Bloom used his training to design solutions for clients such as AT&T, Lucent Technologies, General Electric, Vanguard Healthcare, Duron Paints, and Home Depot.
Bloom was a co-founding member at Sequoia Software and was instrumental in laying the groundwork for the company’s IPO and ultimate sale to Citrix Systems for $184 million. After leaving Sequoia, Bloom founded 180Net Incorporated, a network services management company. He sold that business to once again join forces with Jasen Fici at Velaro.
Bloom has leveraged his unique mix of computer development, networking, and business skills to grow Velaro by more than 2,000% during his tenure. He has been instrumental in helping hundreds of companies benefit from the company’s industry-leading live help platform, including such well known brands as LG Electronics, Sabre Holding, MarketStar, Blue Cross of Michigan, Epicor, Skillsoft, Experian, Dell, Elance, Novartis, Taylor Corporation, Laureate Education, EBay, 1-800-GOT-JUNK, McKesson, and MyFax.
Outside of work, Alex spends time with his family and dog. He enjoys things like playing billiards, learning new languages, trying out new restaurants, traveling, and thinking about new technologies.
Jasen Fici
Chief Technology Officer | Founder
As the founder of Velaro more than 10 years ago, Jasen Fici has more experience than virtually anyone in the industry. Fici’s dual expertise in technology and marketing has given him an advantageous perspective with which to direct the product vision and manage the development team.
Fici was one of the founding members of the management team at Sequoia Software. He served as the Vice-President of Marketing for seven years before the company was sold to Citrix. Soon thereafter, he took a position as the Chief Technology Office at Artifact Software.
When he’s not in front of a computer, Jasen can typically be found on the tennis court knocking the yellow off of any ball that comes his way.
Derrick Harris
Vice President | Product Development
Since 2009, Derrick has been a leader on the product development team at Velaro. In his role as Vice President of Product Development, Derrick is responsible for continuing the product leadership role that Velaro has had in the live help industry. His entire focus is to lead his team and ensure that Velaro deliver the most stable, secure and innovative live help application available.
Derrick has been involved in application development for more than 16 years. He originally was involved in the development of eLearning authoring and management systems. Some of his many accomplishments in this area include developing virtual reality training systems for large government organizations like the United States Air Force and United States Marine Corp.
Derrick first met the founder of Velaro while working at Artifact Software. His primary focus at Artifact was development of a sophisticated asset management system.
Outside of Velaro, Derrick enjoys spending time with family and friends. In addition to his hobby of working on cars, he also develops code for fun, and has lots of “game changing” ideas that he plays around with.
Clare French
Director | Marketing
Clare is a passionate online marketer. She works to promote Velaro’s customers, products and people through engaging and diverse mediums. As Director of Marketing, Clare spearheads our brand strategy and web presence, bringing our vision to the masses. She graduated from Towson University with a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and since then has worked to develop and test innovative marketing strategies leveraging a blend of best practices and creativity.
As part of a client-driven management team, Clare loves success and is always looking for ways to shine the spotlight on the live chat victories of our customers. When she’s not evangelizing for Velaro, Clare can be found at the gym training for her next sprint triathlon or on the open road logging cycling miles.
Justin Smith
Director | Business Development
Justin manages business development and strategic growth, and oversees partners and channels at Velaro. Justin is always exploring new technology mediums and creative ways to expand Velaro’s visibility across markets. Justin’s dual prowess in technology and business makes him the perfect candidate to lead Velaro’s business initiatives.
Prior to joining the Velaro team, Justin worked for the Department of Education assisting in developing and maintaining the Federal Student Aid system. Jumping to the private sector, Justin joined Velaro in 2009, where he headed up the Client Services Team. As head of Client Services, Justin served as the chief point of contact for senior enterprise clients; managing evolving customer expectations for clients such as LG Electronics, Blue Cross Blue Shield, McKesson, eLance, AstraZeneca, Epicor, and Skillsoft.
When Justin is not at the office he can be found spending time with his friends and family, watching sports, or working on fun projects to hone his entrepreneurial skills.
Rob Seeley
Director | Support and Implementation
Rob manages the Support and Team for Velaro, ensuring superior customer support and quality product demonstrations and trainings. He also oversees new client implementation in conjunction with the Success Management team, whose goal is to provide clients with the tools to reach their chat objectives. His passion for new technologies is present in every aspect of his life, from his education, to his career, to his hobbies.
Prior to joining the Velaro team, Rob worked as a Senior Product Support Analyst for Micros Systems, Inc. supporting various database systems in the hospitality industry. After much success with Micros, Rob joined the Velaro team as part of the Client Services Team. He received a degree in Business Technology Administration from UMBC, and is interested in furthering his education in the near future.
When Rob isn’t at work he enjoys spending time with his friends and family. Depending on the season, you will either find him on the golf course or passionately rooting for the Baltimore Ravens and the Orioles.
Michael Mackin
Director | Account Management
Michael oversees Velaro’s Account and Success Management teams, working diligently to ensure every client maximizes Velaro’s decade+ of live chat experience to exceed their individual live chat goals.
He attended College at Elon University, where he graduated with a B.A. in Political Science. Always interested in technology, his curriculum also included courses in Computer Science. Before graduating Michael joined Alpha Kappa Psi Business Fraternity and was active in Epsilon Sigma Alpha, a service organization.
Post collegiate job positions include those of Project Manager and LEED AP (Accredited Professional) for a large construction management firm, Business Analyst for a London financial representation firm and Political Analyst for a federal government think tank. He honed his client relations and project management skills with each of his previous employers.
Michael is the proud owner of Cooper, a Papillion and the Velaro office dog. During breaks in the work day, he likes teaching Cooper new tricks like put’m up, close-the-door and break-dance. After work, he enjoys using the skills he picked up becoming an Eagle Scout and frequently climbs, camps, hikes and helps old ladies cross the street.