Management Team

Next IT has assembled an experienced, proven team of people who have helped build successful companies and taken innovative technologies to market.

Fred A. Brown
President & CEO 
With over 20 years of engineering experience and entrepreneurial leadership in the software industry, Fred Brown founded Next IT in July 2002. Prior to Next IT, he was founder, President and CEO of LineSoft Corporation in Spokane, WA from 1989 to 2002, when that company completed a successful merger with Itron, Inc. At LineSoft, Fred and his team developed and created an innovative and unique way to enable line-design engineering for utilities. Under his leadership, LineSoft attracted $26 Million in venture funding, at that time the largest-ever VC placement in Spokane County.

Fred is actively involved in a variety of organizations serving the northwest educational and scientific communities, including serving on the Board of Trustees at Gonzaga University. In addition, he is the founder of WIN Partners LLC, a private investment fund for aspiring technology entrepreneurs in Spokane.

Mark Zartler
Chief Scientist
Mark developed the core stimulus/response technology, integral to all of the Next IT platforms.  Proficient in all modern programming languages, he is also a recognized domain expert in several fields critical to artificial intelligence, including audio and speech processing, computer graphics, Internet multimedia, communication software robots and text processing.  At Next IT, Mark continues to lead the company’s R&D effort and is responsible for enhancing and improving the company’s core technology. Before Next IT, he worked at Learn2.com, where he was Chief Scientist for interactive and agent technology products.  While there, he developed courseware for Windows and the Macintosh operating system, a voice-based e-mail application, speech-recognition technology, and automatic lip synchronization for animation.  Mark also conceptualized and implemented agent technology for use in multiple products.

Professor George Luger
Chief Technology Advisor
Dr. George Luger, Professor of Computer Science, Psychology, and Linguistics at The University New Mexico, is Next IT’s Chief Technology Advisor, an advocacy position counseling the company’s senior technologists on artificial intelligence and expert systems, and their application to semantic web technology.

George is a Spokane, Washington native, and Gonzaga University graduate.  He received his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania, then performed five years of post-doctoral research in the Department of Artificial Intelligence of the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.  His research in AI has been funded by the National Science Foundation, the Department of Energy, NASA and others.  He is the author of many articles and several books, including his popular AI text, Artificial Intelligence: Structures and Strategies for Complex Problem Solving, which is in it’s fifth printing, and has been translated into multiple languages, including Russian, Chinese, and German.

George conducts regular online and in-person brainstorming sessions with Next IT’s development staff, and is available to discuss ideas and problems with Next IT technologists one on one.

Find more information on George’s work at http://www.cs.unm.edu/~luger/.

Jeff Brown
Executive Vice President, Sales
Jeff Brown has deep experience with multiple software products, formerly specializing in asset- and service-management systems at Peregrine Systems.  He understands the value-proposition and market requirements necessary to sell in the fields of customer service, sales optimization, information management, and asset optimization.  At Peregrine Jeff used his team-building skills and successful sales record to become the company’s youngest Regional Manager.

John Dale
Executive Vice President, Finance/Administration
With over sixteen years of experience in the business and financial services sectors, John brings an abundance of experience to Next IT. Prior to Next IT, John was a financial advisor for the Global Private Group of Merrill Lynch in Scottsdale, Arizona. He also has directly managed the finance and operational development of international industrial projects. His deep-rooted knowledge in both finance and operations gives Next IT the edge when it comes to running and managing a business.

Cleat Grumbly
Vice President, Customer Solutions
Cleat brings long experience in successful enterprise software implementation projects, and strong program, product and professional services management skills. His firsthand experience with user and customer organization needs during and after solution deployment—first at LineSoft Corporation, then with Itron, Inc, and lately at Next IT—gives him a unique perspective on the real-world challenges of rollout and ongoing support. Cleat is responsible for formulating Next IT’s overall product line direction, driven strongly by present customer need and future business segment expectations.