The Vitro Software Team

David Nash has extensive business experience including founding and running Peoplesupport which was floated on the NASDAQ in 2004. In addition to being CEO and Executive Chairman of Vitro Software, he is also the original funder. David has a background in business and economics and holds an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Joe Peppard BBS MSc PhD FICS, is Principal Research Scientist at MIT’s Center for Information Systems Research (CISR), Sloan School of Management. He is also an Adjunct Professor at the University of South Australia, the University of Southern Queensland and Visiting Fellow at Durham University (UK). Two recent books include; The Strategic Management of Information Systems: Building a Digital Strategy (Wiley, 2016) and Taking the Reins as CIO: A Blueprint for Leadership Transitions (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020).

In his consulting, Joe advises large complex organisations on IT and strategy related matters, leveraging information and on how to unlock business value from their IT investments. He also works with several technology companies helping with their strategy, market positioning and growth. A former Irish international athlete, he is a Non-Executive Director of IT Alliance Group, an outsourcing and managed service provider, sits on the Irish Government’s eHealth Committee, and previously served as Chairman of the Board of Fineos Corporation (ASX:FCL), a global provider of innovative software solutions for insurance, bank assurance, and social insurance.

Colin Waugh spent much of his career in investment management, research and trading. He was a Partner, Portfolio Manager and Head of Research in the New York firm of Galtere Ltd, a $2.5bn global macro fund, until 2008 when he joined Lombard Street Research as an Associate Director for Commodities Research. He also worked in the commodities division of Merrill Lynch and was Vice president, Commodities at Shearson Lehman Brothers. He is currently on the Editorial Board of GCARD, the Global Commodity Applied Research Digest, at the J.P. Morgan Center for Commodities, University of Colorado Business School.

Colin has also been an early investor for over a decade in technology and health sector start-ups including Sense Networks (acquired by AT&T/Cerberus Capital) in the US and Point-2-Point Genomics in Europe. His investment involvement with Vitro Software began in 2011. He also holds a Certificate in Future Commerce from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Colin has also worked extensively in Africa on development and migrant-related humanitarian projects and has published two non-fiction books about African political leaders: Paul Kagame and Rwanda (2004) and Charles Taylor and Liberia (2011). A recent member of the Advisory Board of Columbia University’s Institute of African Studies in New York and Associate fellow of Chatham House in London, Colin holds an MSc (Econ) degree from the London School of Economics and speaks French and Portuguese.

Jim Frings is a co-founder and partner in Wisconsin River Partners.  He has built a business organization that spans four continents in the areas of manufacturing, real estate investment and development. He has led rust belt manufacturing companies and a multi-state real estate portfolio through the best and worst of times.

Jim started out managing International Marketing and Sales Channel Development for Intel’s Systems Division, where he arranged technology transfers on six continents, achieved multiple sales records, and negotiated and started up international joint ventures. After turning around a small manufacturer for a wealthy individual, Jim decided to build his own company.

In 1993, he acquired Wire Maid Manufacturing in Wausau, Wisconsin and over the course of twenty years multiplied its revenues tenfold. During that period, he grew a separate investment starting with a 50% stake in a California four-plex into a twenty property real estate business. His investments in private companies broadened his exposure to many markets industries. Jim sits on several corporate and not-for-profit Boards.

Jim earned a Bachelor of the Science of Foreign Service from the Georgetown University and an MBA from the Columbia University School of Business.