DAVE NELSON is CEO and co-Founder of CoManage Corporation. Along with
Andy Fraley, he started the company after realizing that a customer-
aware service management system that network service providers were
asking for did not exist. Mr. Nelson has almost 20 years of experience
in telecommunications. Before launching CoManage, he spent more than
four years at FORE Systems. At Director and Senior Director levels, he
led the company’s strategic planning efforts and held product-line
management responsibility for all service provider products. He also
built and led the partnership engineering organization working with
partners including Microsoft, Nortel, Sony, Hewlett Packard, and
Cabletron. During almost 12 years at AT&T, he was InterSpan’ ATM Service
– Product Manager. He led the definition and rollout of this service
nationally, working with 15 customer Advisory Council members, including
Intel, Motorola, Merck, J.C. Penney, and Northwest Airlines. Mr. Nelson
also held positions as InterSpan Services Marketing Manager (including
frame relay and dial access services), where he developed the brand
identity and overall product strategy, X.25 Network Design Manager and
SS7 Network Architecture Manager. He contributed to the initial
specification of the Signaling System 7 protocol. Mr. Nelson holds a BS
in Systems Engineering from the University of Arizona and an MS in
Operations Research from Stanford University. He sits on the Board of
Directors of North Pittsburgh Systems, a regional telephone holding
company, and the Pittsburgh Technology Council, the largest technology
association in the country. In June 2000, Mr. Nelson was recognized by
Ernst & Young as Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year for the Pittsburgh
region.
