Kadonk Leadership
Anders Heie
Anders Heie founded KaDonk and acts as CEO.
Prior to founding KaDonk, Heie worked for Nokia. He has worked in both Europe and
the United States. Starting in Nokia's research and development center in Copenhagen,
he helped architect several core components for the Series 40 architecture. In 1998
Heie moved to San Diego, where he became the chief architect for Nokia's CDMA
software development. In this role, Heie was responsible for conducting new studies
across all the CDMA software, and managed a team of five senior software architects.
Heie also was very active in the UI area of Series 40, and created many of the now
familiar Nokia ring tones.
Heie wrote several patents while at Nokia (U.S. Patents 6,775,537; 6,675,028; 6,900,798;
6,973,336; 6,473,621 European Patent WO0216457; South Korean Patent KR20070000467).
Heie was the keynote speaker at the SPLC2 conference in 2002.
Heie is a member of the Project Management Institute.
Heie holds a Bachelor's degree in computer science from the Danmarks Ingeniør
Akademi (Danish Engineering Institute) in Denmark.
Dipanshu Sharma
Dipanshu Sharma founded KaDonk and acts as Chairman of the Board.
Sharma also founded V-Enable. At V-Enable, he works with wireless operators and
partners to deliver best-of-breed speech search technology.
Prior to founding V-ENABLE, Sharma worked for Nokia. He has worked in the United
States, Europe and Asia. He worked as a project manager at Nokia, responsible for
the developer platform for the mobile entertainment system. He has written several
patents while at Nokia (U.S Patents 6,287,200; 6,776,163; 6,801,793; European Patent
WO0143433, European patent WO0193507). Sharma worked with WAP Forum in its infancy
and has been active with voice technologies. He has delivered mobile phones for
the Japanese, European/Asian and U.S. markets.
Sharma holds specialized management/entrepreneurship degrees from the University
of California at San Diego, and HUT, Helsinki, Finland. He holds Master's degree
in Computer Science from DAVV, India and Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from
Delhi University, India.
Jari Niskala
Jari Niskala founded KaDonk and acts as CTO.
Prior to founding KaDonk, Niskala worked for Nokia. He was the software architect
for a team of 20-plus developers, responsible for maintaining system integrity across
the CDMA call user interface. In this role, Niskala performed numerous studies analyzing
new requirements and creating designs for various applications and application frameworks.
Niskala was instrumental in optimizing critical components for memory, speed and
maintainability while retaining a high level of configurability and flexibility
for future requirements.
Niskala holds a Bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Arizona.
John Major
John Major serves on the Board of Directors of KaDonk.
John Major is the Founder and President of MTSG, a strategic consulting business
specializing in emerging opportunities. Most recently, he also was also CEO of Apacheta;
a company that delivers complex wireless applications to improve worker and supply
chain efficiency. Previous to Apacheta, he was Chairman and CEO of Novatel Wireless
where he led the company's successful IPO in the fall of 2000. Novatel Wireless
provides wireless data access solutions for PDA's and laptops.
Before Novatel Wireless, Mr. Major was Chairman and CEO of Wireless Knowledge. Wireless
Knowledge developed a unique solution to allow all Internet enabled devices, including
cell phones, to access critical corporate information such as email, contacts and
calendar in a convenient and secure way.
Prior to joining Wireless Knowledge in November 1998, Mr. Major served as corporate
Executive Vice President of QUALCOMM, Inc. and President of its Wireless Infrastructure
Division. As President, he managed the high growth rate and global expansion of
the company's infrastructure business. Under his leadership, the division achieved
a leading position in open interface, wireless systems and developed a new line
of extremely compact base stations.
Mr. Major successfully held several executive leadership positions at Motorola from
1977 until joining QUALCOMM in 1997. As an SVP and CTO, he directed a broad range
of research initiatives and led Motorola's efforts to develop world-class excellence
in software. Prior to that position, he served as Senior Vice President and General
Manager for Motorola's Worldwide Systems Group, which developed the iDEN system
that was deployed by Nextel. The system pioneered PTT on cellular.
Mr. Major participates in several industry and community organizations. He is a
emeritus member of the Board of Governors' Executive Committee for the Telecommunications
Industry Association (TIA) and the Electronic Industries Association (EIA). He is
a past Chairman of both organizations. He serves on the Board of Directors of Littelfuse,
Orbcomm and Lennox Corporations. He is Chairman of the Board of Broadcom. He is
a past advisor to Wireless Facilities and a past science advisor to Loral Space
Systems. Mr. Major is a past member of Visitor's Board for the Software Engineering
Institute of Carnegie Mellon University and the Computer Science and Telecommunications
Board of the National Academy of Science. He is a past member of the Trustee's Council
for the University of Rochester. He holds ten US patents.
Mr. Major received a B.S. in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering from the University
of Rochester, and a M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Illinois.
He also holds an M.B.A. with distinction from Northwestern University and a J.D.
from Loyola University. He received an honorary doctorate from Westminster College.
He is a member of the Beta Gamma Sigma honorary society. In 2002, he received the
Meliora Citation for Career Achievement from the University of Rochester.