Ripple Management 

 Chris Lude, Chief Executive Officer

Co-founded Ripple Applications in 2004.  Three patents pending including co-inventor of Ripple's ASP Platform and Scheduling Software.  Founded Denver Concierge in September 1999.  Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, served as investment officer in Moscow for AIG-Brunswick, a $300 million private equity fund to invest in Russian companies.  Prior to AIG, worked as an enterprise and transaction manager for IMAG, an investment bank based in Vienna.  On behalf of IMAG, managed oil and gas investment assignments in Siberia, and served as Managing Director of Timproc, a wood processing enterprise located in Archangelsk, Russia.

Graduated from Manchester College in 1984 with joint computer science and accounting degrees; joined Price Waterhouse in South Bend, Indiana as CPA for three years, before transferring to Cairo to audit PW clients, Exxon, Amoco, and Conoco.  Transferred by PW to Budapest in 1991 to manage privatization assignments; promoted to Senior Manager in 1992, before leaving to attend Dartmouth's Amos Tuck School of Business.  Upon graduation from Tuck in 1994, accepted a position as an investment banker in Bear Stearn's NYC emerging markets -- working on China investments, and Russian oil and gas assignments.

 

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Hanna Loberg, Chief Financial Officer

Co-founded Ripple Applications in 2004, and joined Denver Concierge in 2000.  Prior to becoming an entrepreneur, worked as a Director at Lehman Brothers Technology and Telecom investment banking group in London. 

After graduating from the Stockholm School of Economics with a Master's degree in Finance, worked as a fixed-income fund manager at the Swedish National Pension Fund.  Received an MBA from the Amos Tuck School of Business in 1994, and went to work for Merrill Lynch London, managing IPO transactions for a variety of Scandinavian and European Emerging Markets companies.  In 1997, helped open the Merrill Lynch Moscow office, organizing the opening party and the Rostelecom NYSE listing . . . just in time to help manage the closing of the office. 

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Al Gress, Executive Vice President

Founder of Ripple of Ripple Egypt in 2005.  Experienced in international upstream petroleum operations and doing business in Egypt and the Middle East.  Previously, the Country Manager of Devon Energy's operations in Egypt, with $100 million revenue per year and prior to that was a Board of Director and CFO for Apache Corporation's joint venture with the Egyptian government.  Key team member in its start up and assisted its growth to a 40,000 barrel of oil per day producer during a 4-year tenure. 

Graduated from Canisius College, Buffalo, NY, in 1985 with an accounting degree; joined Price Waterhouse and worked mostly with energy clients, serving in the Buffalo, NY, Houston, TX and Cairo, Egypt offices for Price Waterhouse during a 10-year tenure.  Co-founded a private energy consulting firm, D&D Energy and served as its president.