Benetech® is led by a highly motivated team of engineers and professionals, all committed to working collaboratively to bring critically important technology to social applications.

• Jim Fruchterman, Founder and CEO
   
• Justin Adams, Director, Communications
   
• Betsy Beaumon, Vice President and General Manager, Benetech Literacy Program
   
• Anh Bui, Director, Product Strategy and DIAGRAM Center
   
• Gerardo Capiel, Vice President of Engineering
   
• Marcy Goot, Director, Marketing
   
• Jane Simchuk, Vice President, Human Resources and Administration
   
• Fred Slone, Director, Literacy Operations
   
• Teresa L. Throckmorton, CFO and Vice President, Finance
   

Jim Fruchterman

Founder and CEO

A technology entrepreneur, Jim Fruchterman is a former rocket scientist who has founded two of the foremost optical character recognition companies and developed successful social enterprises. Jim co-founded Calera Recognition Systems in 1982. Calera developed character recognition that allowed computers to read virtually all printed text.

In 1989, Jim founded Arkenstone, a nonprofit social enterprise, to produce reading machines for the disabled community based on the Calera technology. Following the sale of the Arkenstone product line in 2000, Jim used all the resulting capital to fund Benetech, with an explicit goal of using the power of technology to serve humanity.

Jim has also been active in public service, with two stints on U.S. federal advisory committees. In 2006, he received a MacArthur Fellowship. Jim was named an Outstanding Social Entrepreneur in 2003 by the Schwab Foundation and continues to participate in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Benetech received the Skoll Award for social entrepreneurship under Jim's leadership. Jim also received the Robert F. Bray Award from the American Council of the Blind in recognition of his outstanding efforts to make literary works accessible to people who are blind or visually impaired.

Jim believes that technology is the ultimate leveler, allowing disadvantaged people to achieve more equality in society. "I'm an advance scout for social applications,” notes Jim. “I find exciting technology waiting to be turned into non-commercial tools for disadvantaged groups."

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Betsy Beaumon

Vice President and General Manager, Benetech Literacy Program

Betsy Beaumon has served for more than twenty years as a technology executive and entrepreneur. She is a former Senior Director for BEA Systems, Inc. and managed international e-business initiatives for Cisco Systems, Inc. In 1995, she founded Social Online Service, the first web-based information and referral service for social service organizations. As Executive Director of the company, Betsy was an early supporter of Web accessibility standards.

Betsy was also one of the founders of TradeBeam Inc., a provider of global trade management software services. She began her career in engineering, then moved into product management for GTE and Lam Research Corporation.

Betsy brings an extensive background managing high growth organizations to her leadership of the Benetech Literacy Program. Her past experience in operations, marketing, product management, services, training and strategic partnerships supports the ongoing expansion of Benetech's Bookshare and Route 66 Literacy projects.

Betsy earned a BSEE from Northwestern University. Active in volunteer work, Betsy has taught English classes to adult students in Tanzania.

Anh Bui

Director, Product Strategy for Literacy
Director, DIAGRAM Center

Anh Bui brings extensive experience in digital publishing to Benetech's literacy projects. Before joining Benetech in February 2012, Anh served as the Associate Director of Product Management at HighWire Press, a Division of the Stanford University Libraries that provides technology for publishers of peer-reviewed journals and scholarly content.

After leaving Stanford, Bui first worked as senior manager of Benetech's DIAGRAM Center and was promoted to Director of Product Strategy for the Literacy Program as well as Director of the DIAGRAM Center in August 2012. She is responsible for overseeing the Center's partnerships, budget and development of new technologies. She also leads the development and implementation of Literacy's overall product strategy, in conjunction with Literacy's management team.

"I am playing a dual role integrating the DIAGRAM Center with the overall strategic creation of accessible content," says Bui. "This work is particularly gratifying because it blends the real world needs of users and a long term vision that comes with research and development projects."

Bui, who has a PhD in English from the University of California, Berkeley, lives in Silicon Valley with her family.

Gerardo Capiel

Vice President of Engineering

Gerardo Capiel has over 15 years of experience leading the development of innovative Internet and enterprise software. Prior to joining Benetech, he was Co-Founder, Director and CTO of Digital Impact, a publicly traded e-marketing software vendor. Gerardo was also Co-Founder and CEO of Gydget, which created social network marketing products for the entertainment and non-profit sectors.

In addition, Gerardo has worked at MySpace, Altro Solutions (IT services), BroadVision and HP. His software industry experience spans SaaS, data mining and analytics, e-marketing, e-commerce and social networking. Some of his pioneering achievements in e-marketing included being awarded a key patent related to web measurement.

Gerardo has a B.S. from M.I.T. in Engineering Systems and Computation and an M.B.A. from the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Gerardo has traveled extensively through the developing world and has served as a volunteer in the Dominican Republic and Cambodia. At Benetech, he feels he is now able to apply his entrepreneurial experience and technical creativity to give back to humanity every day.

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Marcy Goot

Director, Marketing

Marcy Goot came to Bookshare from Kaplan Publishing, one of the nation's top publishers of academic and professional development resources and test prep materials for standardized tests. She was Executive Director of Sales and Marketing responsible for marketing books to schools, precollege and college students and parents. Previously, she held VP or Director of Marketing positions at National Lampoon, Tokyopop, Hachette and the Walt Disney Company, where she helped launch Hyperion books, building it to a $63M enterprise in six years.

She brings skills in social media, email and online marketing campaigns, viral video, branding, advertising, PR and lead generation with very visible brands. She puts a strong emphasis on analytics and success metrics across all aspects of the marketing mix and has managed sizable, successful teams. In many of her roles, she was responsible for developing and maintaining critical partnerships in areas such as digital content distribution, as well as direct sales, all of which will be very beneficial for Benetech.

Marcy studied at Pitzer College in California and graduated from Arizona State University.

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Jane Simchuk

Vice President, Human Resources and Administration

Jane Simchuk brings over 15 years of administrative management experience in both the high tech and banking sectors.  Her previous experience includes executive staff assistant at the Portland Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank as well as managing the administration function at Calera Recognition Systems. Jane received her B.A. from Stanford.

Jane has always enjoyed the broad challenges found in two distinct areas of business: managing the day-to-day affairs of busy office environments, and helping to set strategy for ongoing growth. As an early member of the Calera team, Jane ran the office, managing everything from facilities to personnel during years of rapid growth. Later, Calera's foundation OCR product became the inspiration for Arkenstone and helped to germinate the idea of Bookshare, a successful Benetech initiative.

From 1996 to 2000, Jane served as Executive Administrative Assistant to the Senior Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank (Portland, Oregon branch). In this capacity, Jane balanced a wide range of duties, including administration, Board relations and special projects. Today, Jane oversees Human Resources and office functions, serving as ad-hoc marketing communications manager, and participating in fund raising and management.

"My work at Benetech has helped me to understand a primary rule where non-profits are concerned," says Jane. "Accountability is the key. We owe it to our user communities and our donors to push out the best possible products and, at the same time, manage dollars aggressively to the last penny. My job is to continually revise our processes toward that goal."

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Fred Slone

Director, Literacy Operations

Fred Slone joins Benetech with over 15 years of experience leading high performing teams in publishing, technology, and workforce. Most recently, he was the Executive Director of the San Mateo County Workforce Investment Board. He managed the operations of One Stop Career Centers throughout San Mateo County and helped over 100,000 residents in their efforts to find jobs. During this time, he secured over $13 million in grant funding and received national recognition for innovative programs.

Fred also brings skills and experience working in the publishing industry.  He was a Publishing Manager for Macmillan Computer Publishing and also worked for Sybex, Inc. His teams published over 100 books, including some of the early titles on key new technologies such as Linux and Active Server Pages.

Fred brings a diverse background of professional skills and experience to Benetech. He has experience as a financial analyst, in business development and strategic alliances, and has managed a wide array of grant funded programs.

Fred has a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Michigan and Bachelor of Arts degrees in Mathematics and Economics from Indiana University.  He is an active volunteer in youth sports and with the schools in his community.

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Teresa L. Throckmorton

CFO and Vice President, Finance

Following experience in banking audit and management, Teresa Throckmorton provided financial management at Calera Recognition Systems and has spent the last 15 years as Chief Financial Officer and Vice President of Finance for high tech companies in Silicon Valley.

Later, also in the roles of VP Finance and CFO, Teresa helped to start up two technology companies in Silicon Valley. Through this experience, Throckmorton learned all about careful financial management — where every dollar matters — as well as the factors of risk and reward. In the process, she was part of the culture of innovation that is still so important in developing the best in technology.

At Benetech, Teresa's role includes day-to-day management as well as the development and implementation of an overall strategy for building a sustainable social enterprise. Teresa is excited by this challenge: "This work is so important. The balance here will be to keep an eye on reality, but to not lose sight of the dream."

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