Management Team

Rodrigo Sales - Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO

Rodrigo is responsible for leading the Vendio team from inception through profitability. Under Rodrigo's leadership, Vendio has grown from a fledgling community forum for online auction sellers to a profitable multi-channel eCommerce Platform serving the business needs of over 100,000 small and midsize merchants. Rodrigo is widely regarded as one of the leading authorities on online marketplaces and eCommerce and has been featured and quoted in several prominent publications including The Wall Street Journal, Business Week, and Forbes. Entrepreneur Magazine named Vendio one of the "Hottest Businesses in 2003." In 2008, Rodrigo was selected as a Finalist for the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Prior to co-founding Vendio, Rodrigo's professional background was in strategic analysis and supply chain management. As a Research Associate at Credit Suisse First Boston Technology Group, Rodrigo prepared comprehensive reports on key players in the telecom equipment market. As a Commodity Manager at Quantum Corporation, a leading provider of data protection and storage systems, Rodrigo managed an international portfolio of suppliers that provided Quantum with over $800 million worth of material each year.

Rodrigo received his BBA from the University of San Diego and earned his MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Mike Effle - EVP, Vendio Platform

Mike Effle joined Vendio in 1999 as one of the first 10 employees. He initially directed business development and strategy efforts and quickly gained more responsibility in his ten years at Vendio. Mike is now responsible for Vendio's eCommerce Platform and oversees Vendio's overall product development and customer support.

Prior to Vendio, Mike spent five years serving his country as an officer in the United States Air Force where he was responsible for developing and producing classified defensive systems for the F-16 that still defend our pilots today. He also held various roles at MCI, Boston Consulting Group, and Raytheon.

Mike graduated Summa Cum Laude from Georgetown University with a BS in Finance and Management and a minor in Government. He also has an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Michael Levit - EVP Marketing and Business Development

Michael is an experienced leader adding 14+ years of brand building, partnership development, and executive management to the Vendio and Dealio team. He oversees customer acquisition, communications, brand management, research, and business development.

Michael is an expert at scaling Internet businesses in both the consumer and small/ medium business (SMB) markets. Most recently he ran the business side of Hearme and Paltalk, the largest video and voice chat communities on the Internet with over 4 million unique monthly visitors. Prior to that Michael established Broadband and affiliate marketing teams at AOL, co-founded Kmart.s online venture Bluelight.com where he ran business development, and founded and helped lead Accenture.s Internet Center of Excellence.

Michael holds a Bachelors Degree in Mechanical Engineering and Bachelors and Masters Degrees in Business Economics from U.C. Santa Barbara and Oxford University.

Greg McNutt - Chief Technology Officer

Greg is an experienced technologist and executive manager with 30 years of systems, development, and engineering management experience. He oversees the technology operations, including operational infrastructure, development, quality assurance, release, and configuration management.

Prior to his current role with Vendio, Greg most recently worked at Rearden Commerce in the architecture group focusing on deployment improvements, DB connection pooling, and change review processes. Greg had previously worked for Vendio from 1999-2005, where he led the development of the company's scalable, low cost open source platform, serving in the role of CTO. Greg also spent 10 years at Sun Microsystems where he provided OS support for the Sunfire platform, served as Technical Lead for several Solaris releases, and supported OS development for secure operating system products.

Timothy Vago - Director of Finance

Timothy Vago joined Vendio as its Controller in 2005 and now serves as Director of Finance, in charge of the company's financial management. Prior to joining Vendio, Tim led the finance team as Controller at Veltec Sports, a distributor of premium bicycle components and accessories, and his previous position was Director of Finance for Automated Power Exchange (APX), a privately held technology company engaged in providing online scheduling and settlement services to businesses in the energy industry. Tim also held positions at Edison Mission Energy and The Sumitomo Bank, Ltd. following his postgraduate studies.

Tim is a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) holder, earned his Bachelor of Sciences in Economics with honors from San Jose State University, and completed his MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Radu Togui - General Manager, Vendio Romania

Radu Togui joined Vendio in 2000 as one of the first employees of Vendio Romania. In his years with Vendio, he has been instrumental in helping to develop the Vendio's award-winning Sales Management products and services, rising from senior developer to product manager and general manager. Radu is now responsible for leading the Vendio Romania team as it grows and expands its capabilities as a world-class development organization.

Prior to Vendio, Radu worked as a researcher for Romania's Ministry of the Economy and as a project manager with an independent French software company.

Radu received his Masters in Computer Science from "Politehnica" University of Bucharest, Romania, whose prominent engineering alumni have helped to build some of the most well-regarded commercial and scientific organizations in the world.

Angelus - CMO (Chief Morale Officer)

Angelus joined Vendio in 2001 at the age of 8 weeks. After a failed attempt at software development (engineering talent was extremely scarce at the time), he found his ideal role as Chief Morale Officer (CMO). As Vendio's CMO, Angelus is responsible for relieving employee stress and contributing to a positive work environment. Angelus is a graduate of puppy kindergarten, where he was voted most likely to lead a sled team. Follow Angelus on Twitter @mr_angelus.

Storm - Deputy CMO

As deputy CMO, Storm is responsible for assisting Angelus with injecting a bit of fun into Vendio's aggressive fast-paced work environment. Storm joined Vendio in 2002, seeking a more intellectually fulfilling career on the heels of a brief stint as a puppy calendar model. Storm is highly regarded for his strong communication skills and ability to sleep in virtually any position. He greets team members each morning with a loud, "AHROO," will howl on command, and ensures that no sandwich is ever left behind. Follow Storm on Twitter @stormdevil.