Executive Team

Zack B. Bergreen
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman
Zack founded Astea in 1979, and continues to serve as chief executive officer and chairman of the board. Under his leadership, the Company has grown from a consulting firm specializing in field service applications to a dominant global provider of service-centric CRM solutions, integrating all customer-facing business processes for companies that manage mission critical assets. In addition to setting corporate direction, Zack oversees daily operations and plays an active role in nurturing relationships with major customers, partners and investors worldwide. His reputation as an industry pioneer and visionary is the result of his extensive background in applications and professional services. Prior to Astea, Zack held senior executive positions with such leading companies as Gould Electronics, Bechtel Corporation and General Signal. He holds a Bachelor of Science and a Masters of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Maryland.

Fredric (Rick) Etskovitz
Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer
Rick Etskovitz joined Astea International in June 2000, when he was elected chief financial officer and treasurer. Responsible for the firm's financial planning, investor relations, and executive guidance to help drive corporate performance, Rick brings to his position 25 years of experience in financial management and reporting. A certified public accountant, he previously served Astea for seven years as the engagement partner from an independent accounting firm. Before beginning his career in private practice, Rick was part of the financial management team at Dupont where he held responsibilities for Mergers and Acquisitions, Financial Planning, Corporate Accounting and Benefits. Rick received his Bachelor of Science from the Pennsylvania State University and his Masters of Business Administration from the Wharton Graduate School at the University of Pennsylvania.

John Tobin
President
John Tobin, 40, joined the Company in June 2000 and serves as President, General Counsel, and Secretary. Mr. Tobin is responsible for general management of the Company, along with handling legal affairs of the Company and various corporate development and business development initiatives. Prior to joining Astea, John worked at the Philadelphia law firms Pepper Hamilton LLP and Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis Cohen LLP, specializing in corporate transactions and intellectual property. Prior to returning to the Philadelphia area in 1998, he worked as a corporate and entertainment lawyer in Los Angeles, specializing in motion picture, television and music transactions and licensing, most recently with PolyGram Filmed Entertainment. Mr. Tobin received his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania in 1987, and received his law degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1992.

Mark Comer
Managing Director, EMEA
As managing director, EMEA, Mark is responsible for growing Astea's business in the European, Middle Eastern and African regions. Mark Comer is a diversified senior executive with global information technology applications and services experience. He has 20 years experience in the software industry and over 15 years in direct and channel sales. Prior to joining Astea he worked at a number of startups, one of which was sold to IBM. On leaving IBM, he spent 8 years at PeopleSoft and Oracle where he held a number of field and operational roles. At PeopleSoft, Comer received numerous citations recognizing excellence in sales and customer satisfaction. He holds degrees in Electrical Engineering and Masters of Business Administration.

Ariel Katz
Vice President, Research & Development;
General Manager, Astea Israel
Ariel is responsible for leading Astea's research and development group, further enhancing Astea's offering to continue to deliver the most comprehensive service lifecycle management solution on the market. In this capacity, he executes new product lines and provides second-level support to Astea offices and customers all over the world. He is also chartered with enhancing the company’s technology infrastructure. Ariel has earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Technion, Haifa. He also brings more than a decade of senior software engineering and management experience to Astea. His success creating and leading strategic initiatives at Microsoft's R&D center in Israel dramatically improved execution efficiency and deliverables quality, and his advanced proxy and firewall expertise has earned him four patents. Ariel's extensive experience working with Microsoft will help Astea continue to leverage Microsoft's latest technologies and work practices to maximize development efficiency, system scalability, flexibility and security.

Debbie Geiger
Vice President, Marketing
Debbie brings more than 16 years of progressive technology, healthcare and consumer product experience in marketing. Prior to joining Astea, she held a marketing management position for Draeger Medical, a Draeger and Siemens Company, responsible for developing, implementing and leading the global strategic and tactical marketing communications and launch plans for acute point-of-care software. She has also worked as an independent marketing consultant, working with clients that ranged from small start-ups to larger more mature service and product technology companies, providing both strategic and tactical marketing services. Debbie began her career in consumer products, holding both sales and marketing positions with Lever Brothers and ACNielsen. Debbie earned her BS degree in Marketing from Indiana University of Pennsylvania and MS degree in Information Systems from Drexel University.

Frank Daniel
Senior Vice President, Sales
Frank is a diversified senior sales executive with global information technology applications and services experience. Most recently, Frank was Senior Vice President of Sales and Business Development for Systems and Software in Burlington VT, a leading provider of billing and customer care software for water, gas, and electric utilities. Prior to that, he was Vice President of Sales for a division of Alliance Data Systems, a $2 billion-dollar publicly traded transaction processing, marketing and loyalty-services company. Previously he held sales and management leadership positions for KPMG Consulting (now Bearing Point), ICT Group, Systems & Computer Technology, and early in his career, IBM.

He holds an MBA in Industrial Management and a BA in Mathematics from Temple University.