Management Team

Richard L. Mooers
Executive Chairman of the Board

In 1985, Rick graduated summa cum laude from the University of Maine, United States, with a bachelor of science degree in business administration. He trained as a certified public accountant and subsequently worked at various accounting firms, including Kenneth Foster & Co CPAs and MacDade Abbot & Co CPAs, in the Northeast USA from his graduation until 1991.

In late 1991, Rick joined Dominion Group Limited, an investment/merchant bank which specialized in the technology, agriculture, and environmental industries, initially as director of corporate finance. He subsequently became CEO of that company. In these roles, he gained a wide range of both international and US experience, including being involved with a number of businesses in various stages of development, including start-ups, commercializations, and public offerings.

Rick co-founded Mooers Branton & Company and MB Merchant Group, LLC with Roger Branton in 1997. Mooers Branton & Company is an international merchant bank which provides early-stage financing to emerging businesses in the technology, hospitality, and real estate sectors. Mooers Branton & Company manages its portfolio of investments through the privately held company, MB Merchant Group, LLC.

Rick's merchant banking activities have given him a wide range of international experience, including experience in restructurings, turnarounds, and mergers and acquisitions. Together with Roger Branton and Joe Bobier, Rick co-founded xG Technology, Inc. in August 2002.

As a merchant banker, Rick from time to time takes on operational roles in portfolio companies. That is the case with xG Technology Inc. where he presently serves as Executive Chairman. Drawing on his varied experiences as a serial entrepreneur from a merchant banking platform, Rick is a generalist in a world of specialists. For example, he possesses a working knowledge or better in areas such as management, finance, accounting, tax; international dealings, restructurings/turnarounds, business start-ups, mergers and acquisitions, securities, legal, investment banking, consulting, negotiating and structuring transactions, licensing; regulatory issues, and most importantly risk management. Rick has both international and US-based experience. Rare and uniquely beneficial to an early stage company, he brings this multinational experience, as well as his key international relationships, to xG Technology, Inc. Rick has been involved in leading the various stages of business from start-up to private placements to commercialization to IPO to exit.

On a day–to-day basis with xG Technology Inc., Rick’s responsibilities include a) communicating the vision and message of the business; b) key relationship management; c) liaising with media and advisors; d) management of the business; and again most importantly e) risk management. He strives to effectively execute on his responsibilities while simultaneously aligning the goals of various parties. First and foremost, he ensures that the goals of the Company are aligned with those of the shareholders. Likewise, he ensures appropriate incentives are in place to provide for the alignment of the goals of various external relationships such as customers and key vendors with those of the Company.

John C. Coleman
CEO

John C. Coleman brings to xG Technology, Inc. 34 years combined experience in expeditionary operations from both government service and the private sector. In his final years as a U.S. Marine, he was posted as the Chief of Staff, 1st Marines Expeditionary Force for the first two years of OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM supervising the largest field headquarters ever assembled in wartime by the Marines. Though an Infantry Officer by trade, he was known and remains widely recognized throughout the Corps as a visionary and leading innovator in the exploitation of digital technology to enhance command, control, and communication within military forces.

Following government service, Mr. Coleman joined Hunter Defense Technologies and served for two and half years as Vice President of Business Development. At Hunter he pioneered an entirely new business sector specializing in the development and delivery of expeditionary command and control infrastructure for civil first responders and the DOD. Validating the efficacy of this effort, he led a team that deployed and operated an Expeditionary Emergency Operations Center (E2OC) in the city of Chicago for Barack Obama’s Presidential acceptance speech on 4 November 2008. Though only on the ground for 18 hours, this highly mobile facility integrated an ad hoc team from 43 different federal, state, and local agencies and provided them fully interoperable voice and data communications along with integrated visual information display.

Most recently, Mr. Coleman established Joint Command and Control Consulting (JC3). JC3 provides consulting services focused on the development, integration, and delivery of mature and emerging technologies in support of expeditionary operations, particularly as related to command, control, and communications. In conjunction with its strategic partners, JC3 provides C4ISR-related systems, service, training, and support to expeditionary responders, both civil and military.

James Woodyatt
President

James has worked in the financial markets industry since 1990 and held various positions in institutions, including Nomura Bank (Japanese equities, convertible and warrant bond sales), Tradition SA (interest rate swaps, inter-bank dealing) and Decillion AG (convertible arbitrage fund marketing). In 2001 James joined Optimal Investment Services SA, the hedge fund arm of Spain’s Grupo Santander where he was a Senior Vice President, head of International sales and marketing and a member of the company’s management committee. In 2006, James co-founded and became the president of Veegoo Holding and Managing Director of Veegoo Capital Services SA, a group which is active in business advisory and private equity.

 

Roger G. Branton
CFO

In 1989, Roger graduated from West Chester University in Pennsylvania with a bachelor of science degree in accounting. He trained as a certified public accountant and worked for Horty & Horty in Wilmington, Delaware, USA from his graduation until 1993. Roger went on to become an associate at Dominion Group Limited, an investment/merchant bank which specialized in the technology, agriculture, and environmental industries, where he worked until 1997. His work at Dominion Group Limited included, but was not limited to, acting as interim chief financial officer for several companies within its investment portfolio.

Roger co-founded Mooers Branton & Company and MB Merchant Group, LLC with Rick Mooers in 1997. Mooers Branton & Company is an international merchant bank which provides early-stage financing to emerging businesses in the technology, hospitality, and real estate sectors. Mooers Branton & Company manages its portfolio of investments through the privately held company, MB Merchant Group, LLC.

Together with Rick Mooers and Joe Bobier, Roger co-founded xG Technology, Inc. in August 2002, where he presently serves as CFO.

Roger takes an operational role in the companies managed by Mooers Branton & Company and he draws on a wealth of general experience through his merchant bank experience.

In his role as an officer of xG Technology, Inc., he works quite closely with Rick Mooers in a wide variety of roles including management, finance, accounting, tax; international dealings, restructurings/turnarounds, business start-ups, mergers and acquisitions, securities, legal, investment banking, consulting, negotiating and structuring transactions, licensing; regulatory issues, and risk management. Roger has invaluable international experience and relationships, and has been involved in each of the various stages of business.

On a day-to-day basis with xG Technology, Inc. Roger’s responsibilities include a) overseeing the successful execution of, and adherence to, the business plan; b) ensuring timely completion of key projects; c) facilitating efficient communication of the message and corporate vision to key employees and relationships; d) contract review; e) liaising with the financial community; f) both macro- and microeconomic analysis; and most importantly g) ensuring that the Company does not exceed its already secured resources.

Joseph Bobier
CTO

Joe is a lifelong inventor. He invented xG's core technology, and holds several additional patents for wireless technology. Joe continues to advance the technology through patent filings. Before “WiFi” had a name, he successfully developed and deployed such wireless systems in the U.S. and Europe. He received his initial training in the US Navy where he was schooled in advanced electronics and satellite communications. He qualified for and earned the highest licensing designation recognized by the FCC. He holds several US and foreign patents for electronic designs in the area of photovoltaics. Mr. Bobier has lectured for organizations including NASA and British Petroleum in the areas of photovoltaic power systems, electronic power conversion and telemetry systems.

Joe co-founded xG Technology, Inc. with Rick Mooers and Roger Branton in August 2002.

Rick Rotondo
Vice President of Marketing

A frequent speaker at wireless industry seminars and events, Rick brings to xG over 20 years of extensive telecom and wireless experience from such companies as Motorola, MeshNetworks, Lucent and Nortel. Prior to joining xG Mr. Rotondo was co-founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Spectrum Bridge, Inc. where he was responsible for planning and implementing the company’s marketing and communications strategy. Through successful thought-leadership programs and events, he successfully positioned the company as the acknowledged leader in multiple areas of spectrum policy and technology including secondary market trading, TV white spaces, database driven architectures and dynamic spectrum allocation solutions. Previously, Rick was VP of Marketing for MeshNetworks, which he established as the ad hoc networking brand leader before the company was acquired by Motorola in late 2004.

Prior to that, Rick served as VP of Marketing for the Open Platforms Group at Lucent Technologies, where he was responsible for all Marketing and Business Development initiatives for this business unit.

Rick earned a BS in Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, an MBA from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and a Masters of Telecommunications from the University of Dallas.

Scott Garlington
Vice President of Engineering

Scott Garlington was the Senior Product Manager for Motorola’s Mesh Network Product Group. In this role Scott drives Motorola’s product roadmap and strategy as the industry leader in high-reliability standard based and purpose-built mesh networks. Over the past 25 years, Scott has brought to market many new products in the Voice, Data and Wireless networking industry including T1 multiplexer, IP Router, Soft Switch, Voice application servers and Mesh Wireless Networks.

Scott’s experience has brought him from Systems Engineering, Director of Quality assurance to Market Development and Sr Product Management for Motorola’s Mesh Networking product team. Scott initially spent 13 years with Motorola, but then worked in several successful start-up companies such as Excel Switching acquired by Lucent Technologies and Mesh Networks acquired by Motorola. Scott earned his electrical engineering degree from the University of Massachusetts.

Chris Whiteley
Vice President of Business Development

Chris has broad experience in operations, sales, and management across several industries with particular focus on emerging technologies such as wireless broadband, photovoltaic semiconductor manufacturing, and renewable energy.

Chris has an in-depth knowledge of the telecom business models that offer data, voice, video, triple play, and quadruple play services. Chris is a highly sought-after public speaker on various telecom topics and has shared panels with some of the largest telecom providers in the world at industry events such as COMPTEL, ITEXPO/4GWE, IWCE, CTIA, and INTEROP. Chris is fluent in data networking, VoIP, radio spectrum, and wireless technologies including, but not limited to, CDMA, GSM, Wi-Fi, TDMA, HSPDA, WiMax and LTE. Chris has presented several times to the FCC and often is called upon to update industry analysts, financial analysts, reporters, and journalists. His efforts have resulted in xG receiving the Internet Telephony Product of the Year award in 2009 for its xMax mobile VoIP & broadband technology.

Prior to joining xG Technology, Chris was chief operating officer for iDigi Wireless, a wireless service provider that deployed city-wide broadband Wi-Fi networks in Sweden, Iceland, and the United States from 2000 to 2002 before the term “Wi-Fi” was coined. Chris also served as a senior executive for @Link Networks, a broadband network operator with network deployments throughout the middle third of the United States where he developed a proficiency in data networking, digital subscriber line (DSL), and other last mile technologies.

In addition to serving as Vice President of Business Development for xG Technology, Chris Whiteley is also Chairman of its Advisory Board.

Rich Schubiger
Vice President of Government Sales

Rich Schubiger brings to xG over 20 years of experience in the wireless communications industry with a focus on the public safety and first responder markets. During his career he has served in a variety of corporate positions including executive management, sales, operations, design, and project management.  Rich has amassed a wide range of management experience with private and public companies, which has featured extensive, hands-on executive consulting in the wireless and security industries.  He served as Chairman and CEO of Global Technology, Inc., a provider of innovative communications solutions for the security, law enforcement and business sectors. Global Technology had seven facilities in North and South America and employed sales, project management, and engineering specialists.

Mr. Schubiger was the co-founder of Quality Communications and served as the company President/CEO. His leadership skills took Quality Communications from launch to become one of the fastest growing wireless sales and engineering companies in the United States. In 2004, Quality Communications was acquired by WPCS International. Rich held a Corporate Executive Vice President position with WPCS until his resignation in November 2008. Prior to establishing Quality Communications, Rich had a successful career with Motorola designing and supporting major wireless systems for utility, enterprise, and government applications. He also served proudly in the United States Marine Corps.