About UsManagement Team
David C. McCourt For over 25 years, David C. McCourt, Chairman and CEO of Narrowstep, Inc. has been an innovator, entrepreneur, and business leader across the construction, communications and media industries. He has founded or bought 10 companies in 3 countries, and is widely recognized as a transformational force in the telecommunications business. The Economist described him as having "incredible credentials as a telecom revolutionary. One of seven children, David McCourt was raised in Watertown, Massachusetts, and graduated from Georgetown University. In 1982, he created his first company, McCourt Cable Systems, which quickly became the largest privately owned designer and builder of cable systems in the country. The breakthrough methods he deployed to lay cable systems would, 15 years later, become the industry standard. During this same time period, Mr. McCourt also founded the Grenadian TV station, Discovery TV, which eventually was sold to the Grenadian government. By the late eighties, Mr. McCourt had also built Corporate Communications Network which merged with MFS Communications, and later sold to WorldCom for 14.3 billion dollars. For his next venture, Mr. McCourt forged an alliance with Peter Kiewit Sons, Inc., (PKS) the world-renowned engineering and construction firm. Together they formed the London-based McCourt/Kiewit International, which quickly became the largest designer and builder of residential cable television and telephone networks in Europe. These new networks and the creation of the first competitive cable systems in the UK, foreshadowed the surge of new network construction in the United States in the last decade. In the mid-1990's, Mr. McCourt took C-TEC, a diversified telecommunications company based in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, recapitalized the company, monetized several non-strategic subsidiaries, and then split the balance into three publicly traded companies: RCN Corporation, Cable Michigan, Inc., Mercom, Inc., and Commonwealth Telephone Enterprises, Inc. The return on the C-TEC investment beat industry indices by almost 300%. Beginning with his station in Grenada, Mr. McCourt has maintained a long-time interest in film and television production. Over the past several years he has served as an Executive Producer, including on the ten-part documentary series "What's Going On?," which examines the impact of global conflict on the lives of children around the world. The widely praised Showtime television series, produced in cooperation with the United Nations, attracted the support and participation of numerous prominent actors including Michael Douglas, Richard Gere and Meg Ryan. In 2005, Mr. McCourt won an Emmy for the critically acclaimed children's series "Reading Rainbow" and most recently produced "Miracle's Boys" on Nickelodeon's new teenage network, "The N". "Miracles Boys" is a six part mini-series directed by Spike Lee and other filmmakers such as LeVar Burton and Bill Duke. In December, 1984, President Reagan presented McCourt with the first-ever award from the White House recognizing extraordinary accomplishments by private sector businesses. Mr. McCourt was among the first recipients of this "C Flag" award, recognizing his contribution to telecommunications, media, education, and humanitarian efforts. He was also selected as "Entrepreneur of the Year" by Ernst & Young LLP, as well as top entrepreneur by the Harvard Business School Club of New York. He has been profiled in numerous publications, including USA Today, Forbes, Fortune, The Economist, The Boston Globe, The New York Times and was one of New York Magazines' New Yorkers of the Year. Mr. McCourt has had numerous opinion essays published in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times. In November 2004 the American-Irish Historical Society presented Mr. McCourt with its Gold Medal, an award previously bestowed on President Reagan, author Mary Higgins Clark, and entertainer and human rights advocate Bono. In December 1, 2006, Mr. McCourt assumed the role of Chairman and CEO at Narrowstep, Inc. Since that time he has been working tirelessly to help scale the business for growth. Today Mr. McCourt sits on the boards of Cable Satellite Public Affairs Network (CSPAN), The National Advisory Board of J.P. Morgan/Chase, the North American Advisory Board of the Michael Smurfit Graduate School of Business at University College, Dublin, Megacable and Megacable Communications de Mexico, S.A., the Board of Overseers of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, the American Irish Historical Society and the Society de Louvre, Paris. |
Barak Bar-Cohen Barak Bar-Cohen has over 12 years experience as an operator, advisor and investor in the telecommunications and media industries, both in the U.S. and abroad. Mr. Bar-Cohen currently serves as President and Chief Operating Officer at Narrowstep. His responsibilities include managing the sales organization, product development team, network group, and customer support for the UK and European territories. Mr. Bar-Cohen also serves as the Chief Financial Officer of Granahan McCourt Acquisition Corporation a publicly traded acquisition vehicle focused on the video over IP space and a position Mr. Bar-Cohen has held since inception in July 2006. In addition, Mr. Bar-Cohen is also President and Chief Operating Officer of Granahan McCourt Capital, LLC, a private investment firm focused on making investments and advising companies in the telecommunications and media industries. Since inception in January 2005, Granahan McCourt Capital has significantly outperformed the NYSE Telecom and Media Index. From April 1999 through December 2004, Mr. Bar-Cohen served in several senior management roles at RCN Corporation, a provider of bundled communication services to residential customers across the US. From October 2003 through December 2004, Mr. Bar-Cohen served as Vice President of Customer Service, Marketing and Public Relations. While under his management, RCN's customer service operations reduced call volume by over 12% while also receiving the prestigious JD Powers Customer Service Award. From January 2002 through September 2003, Mr. Bar-Cohen served as Vice President of Financial Operations for the New York market, where he successfully led the operational turnaround and network upgrade of RCN's New York market, a $100 million business unit servicing over 70,000 customers. Prior to 2002, Mr. Bar-Cohen held roles as Director of Corporate Initiatives at RCN, where he implemented cost savings initiatives across the company which resulted in annual savings of over $125 million, as well as Product Manager of Internet Product Development. From February 1997 through August 1998, Mr. Bar-Cohen was Vice President of Investment Banking at Zannex Investments, a boutique investment firm based in Tel-Aviv, where he raised seed-funding for technology start-up companies. From 1992 through 1996, Mr. Bar-Cohen worked as a Senior Associate at Putnam, Hayes & Bartlett, a world-wide economic consulting firm based out of Washington, DC, where he specialized in financial analysis of securities fraud litigation cases as well as quantitative analysis of mergers and acquisitions for electric utilities and energy companies. Mr. Bar-Cohen holds a B.A. in Economics with Honors from Brandeis University as well as an M.B.A. from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College. |
Lisa VanPatten Lisa VanPatten joined Narrowstep in December 2006 as Chief Financial Officer. Prior to joining Narrowstep, Ms. VanPatten served as Controller and VP of Finance at NYSE-listed Vonage, where she managed the company's financial, accounting and treasury function during its period of explosive growth. Ms. VanPatten was also responsible for the consolidation of eight international companies and was a key member of the Sarbanes-Oxley compliance team where she helped identify and document all internal control and procedure gaps. From 2003 - 2004, Ms. VanPatten served as VP of Finance for Princeton Lightwave Inc, where she assisted in the development of the new business plan, including the implementation of a new accounting system. From 2000 - 2003, Ms. VanPatten served as the Director of Financial Planning and Analysis at Nasdaq-listed RCN Inc, one of the first bundled telecommunications services providers. While at RCN, Ms. VanPatten was instrumental in implementing the processes, financial systems, and reporting mechanisms necessary to scale a rapidly growing company. Mrs. VanPatten holds a BSc in Management, graduating Cum Laude, from Rider University; she is also an accredited CPA in the state of New Jersey. |
Louis Holder Louis Holder joined Narrowstep in April 2007 and is responsible for its technical operations, including its network and internal IT. From April 2005 - April 2007, Mr. Holder was President of Novega Venture Partners, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Vonage Holdings Corp, where he was responsible for the development of new business and product offerings. Mr. Holder is one of the original co-founders of Vonage, where, from January 2001 - April 2005, he led the company's technology infrastructure, products and support services, including systems development and web application development. Mr. Holder holds a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering with a minor in computer science from Polytechnic University, New York. |
Ellyn M. Ito Ellyn M. Ito is currently Senior Vice President of Administration at Narrowstep. Previously she served as Chief Administrative Officer at Granahan McCourt Capital, LLC. From 1999 to 2003 Ms. Ito worked as Director of Corporate Staff Development and Director of Staffing at RCN Corporation, and in 2003 was promoted to Senior Vice President of Employee Services. Prior to joining RCN she was a Management Consultant for Ernst and Young, LLC, serving clients within their Finance, Technology and Administration Group. Before that she ran her own independent consulting practice, working with Fortune 500 clients such as MetLife, Harvard Management, Sun Life Financial, New England Financial, and Putnam Investments in addressing their talent acquisition and human capital management. Ms. Ito is FPHR certified and is the recipient of the Top Human Resource Business Leader for 2004 Award from the Society of Human Resources Management Organization and holds a B.A. from the University of Colorado. |
Anthony Yi Anthony Yi has an extensive background in software and strategic management consulting. As Vice-President Business Development at Narrowstep, Mr. Yi has created the business and corporate development program and is responsible for all major strategic partnerships with the William Morris Agency and Microsoft's Silverlight and Media Center divisions. Additionally, he is responsible for North American sales and related marketing, as well as due diligence with investments, joint ventures and partnerships. Most recently, Mr. Yi has worked on financial and management consulting engagements for some of the largest consumer companies in the world, including a large beverage company based in Atlanta and a Fortune 500 company based in Pittsburgh. Previously, he led business development in North America for global media conglomerates such as Bertelsmann, specifically for their billion dollar Arvato division in areas of television, music and publishing solutions. He started his career in management consulting for Ernst & Young, LLP. Mr. Yi has his Bachelor of Science from Johns Hopkins University and studied at Harvard University and the George Washington University School of Business and Public Policy. |