Vmedia Research Management Team
Vmedia's senior management team shares a history of bringing new products and in particular, new storage formats to market.
Steve Volk
Chairman and CEO
Steve Volk founded Vmedia Research in 2002. As Chairman and CEO, Steve Volk is responsible for setting the overall strategic vision and charter for Vmedia Research, Inc. Volk is actively involved in forging key global alliances and partnerships, as well as raising private equity financing.
Volk is a well known entrepreneur who has founded several storage technology companies over the course of his career. Under Volk's leadership, these companies invented and developed significant new technologies and storage form factors including the 2.5 inch hard drive found in virtually every laptop and notebook computer today, and the 1.8 inch hard drive utilized in Apple iPods and many other MP3 music players.
Previously, Volk was founder, Chairman and CEO of DataPlay, Inc., which developed digital media and micro-optical storage engines for the music industry. In 1990, Volk founded Intégral Peripherals, Inc., which invented the 1.8-inch hard drive used today in notebook computers, Tablet PCs and mobile consumer electronic devices. Volk was also a founder of PrairieTek where he was responsible for the introduction of the 2.5-inch disk drive form factor, the dominant storage device in today's notebook computers. Prior to PrairieTek, Volk founded TallGrass Technologies, a tape and disk subsystem storage company that was acquired by Exabyte Corp. in 1996.
PK Bala
President and COO
PK Bala has responsibility for all R&D, operations, sales, finance and strategic relationships with suppliers for Vmedia. Bala has extensive international experience in the management of technology related companies. His background includes appointments as CEO, COO and the management of international subsidiaries in such countries as Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and China.
Prior to Vmedia, he was the President and CEO at Eastern Pacific Circuits, a $150 million provider of specialty printed circuit boards to the automotive and computer networking industry. Bala was the COO at DataPlay Inc. in Boulder, Colorado where he successfully led the development of a micro-miniature optical storage solution for the distribution of secure music content. He also led the development of the company's worldwide manufacturing infrastructure in Taiwan, China, and Singapore.
Prior to DataPlay he was Senior Vice President and General Manager at ASAT semi-conductor, a $300 million semi-conductor contract manufacturing company based in Hong Kong. He was Vice President of Far East Operations of Integral Peripherals, a disc drive company. Bala has held senior engineering and manufacturing positions at Seagate Technology and Texas Instruments.
Jerry Hurst, Ph.D.
Chief Technology Officer
Jerry Hurst's responsibilities as Chief Technology Officer for Vmedia Research encompass the optical system architecture for Vmedia products. Hurst was most recently Director, MEMS and Optical Engineering at XROS Inc./Nortel Networks. There he was responsible for design, development, testing, and preproduction of a large, all-optical 3D-MEMS switch fabric for use in telecommunication system applications. Hurst led a team of 18 optical MEMS and test engineers and technicians in the fabrication of prototype switch fabrics that were successfully tested at several customer sites.
Previously, Hurst was with Quinta Corporation and Seagate Technology where he was Director, Optical Systems Integration. Hurst was responsible for leading Seagate's research in hybrid optical/magnetic technologies. Before joining Quinta, Hurst was a Research Staff Member at the prestigious IBM Almaden Research Center as well as the IBM T.J. Watson Research Center. He won numerous Invention Achievement and Technical Achievement awards while at IBM for his work in optical storage technologies including media chemistry, blue lasers and channel technologies. Hurst holds over 19 patents and patent applications, and he has published more than 25 publications.
Brian Wilson
Executive Vice President, Business Development
Brian Wilson is responsible for the global development and integration of all facets of the company's business ecosystem: Vmedia playback devices, disc manufacturing, program content, distribution, and retail sales relationships.
Before joining Vmedia, Wilson was Senior Vice President of Business Development for Cinram International, a $2 billion company based in Toronto and the world's largest supplier of optical disc manufacturing and logistics services. Prior to Cinram, he was President of Denon Digital LLC, a Georgia-based company specializing in manufacturing, packaging, and distribution services for optical discs. He was also Executive Vice President of Allied Digital Technologies, a major independent manufacturer of prerecorded media, and has held key positions with CBS and RCA Records.
Wilson has over 30 years of experience in the entertainment media manufacturing and logistics industry and is Chairman Emeritus of the International Content Delivery and Storage Association (CDSA).
Richard P. Brier
Vice President, Business Development
Rich Brier is responsible for global sales and business development at Vmedia Research. He has over 20 years of experience in international business development with a strong background in technology and telecommunications. Brier was most recently with TeleTech, a customer management services company, as Vice President of Sales, Media and Communications.
Previously Brier was a senior sales executive with Mahi Networks, a telecommunications equipment manufacturer, where he was responsible for business development and helping the company raise venture financing. Prior to joining Mahi Networks, Rich served as Senior Director of Sales for Pirelli Optical Systems and Cisco Photonics. Rich was responsible for staffing and managing the Pirelli Sales Team for the Western United States and Canada. Brier also has a strong telecom structured finance background having spent several years in National Sales Manager and Program Manager roles at GE Capital, Copelco Capital, and Tokai Bank.
Wendy T. Volan
Vice President, Marketing
As Vice President of Marketing, Wendy Volan is responsible for the company's marketing strategy and planning, co-marketing and partner marketing programs, as well as the day-to-day operations of marketing and corporate communications. Prior to joining Vmedia Research, Volan spent 24 years as a founder and CEO of Volan Design, an award-winning, international product and brand development firm. Volan's experience includes marketing, branding, co-marketing and channel strategies for companies such as DataPlay, Hunter Douglas, Waterpik, and Hansgrohe of Germany. She has set strategy for and executed consumer direct marketing programs for Nokia and Time Warner Communications.
Volan has over 20 years of background in marketing of data storage products for companies such as DataPlay, Intégral Peripherals, PrairieTek, SanDisk, HP, LMSI, Ecrix, Exabyte, Storage Technology, Quantum and MiniScribe. She also has extensive experience in planning and executing partner marketing programs for Sun Microsystems, SAP America, HP and Oracle.
SC Quek
Vice President, Operations
SC Quek is responsible for all aspects of Vmedia's offshore manufacturing and logistics. This includes serving as primary liaison with Vmedia's OEM partners, contract manufacturers and program management for Vmedia-enabled device programs. He is based in Singapore since the majority of those manufacturers are in Asia.
Quek has over 16 years of experience in operations including manufacturing, purchasing, program management, materials management and ERP system. Prior to joining Vmedia, Quek was the Senior Vice President of Operations for Eastern Pacific Circuits managing a total of six manufacturing sites in both Hong Kong and China. Quek has extensive experience in operations for storage technology companies across Asia. His previous positions include General Manager of DataPlay Asia, Materials Director for Integral Peripherals, Director of Operations at ASAT HK and various positions at Seagate Singapore.
