Intelligent Management of Innovations
About Tylu
Tylu’s mission is to enable retailers and marketers to reach specifically-identified shoppers with the right promotional message.
Tylu’s executive management team has extensive leadership experience in the telecommunications, wireless and marketing industries, with a proven track record of setting industry standards, technology innovation and business management.
Development Team
Michael Aldridge, Founder and CEO
Thomas Freeburg, CTO
Paul Schaafsma, VP Strategic Partnerships and General Counsel
Roger Hitchings, VP Product Development
Advisory Board Members
Dennis Roberson, Former CTO, Motorola
DeWayne Nelon, Former CEO, Avot Media
Craig Watson, CEO of Opti-Pay Technologies; Former CIO, FMC Corp.
Oswin Eleonora, EVP North American Sales, Acision
Ken Zdunek, Former VP of Network Research, Motorola
Zoe Quan, Former Senior VP, Fujitsu Business Communication Systems
Jane Hunter, President, Technology Transitions
Michael Aldridge, Founder & CEO
Michael is an entrepreneur, who has over a decade of business and technology experience, working both domestically and internationally with a variety of organizations. Prior to founding Tylu, Michael co-founded Research Abroad and Planning Corporation, a Chicago/Seoul based private equity firm based in Chicago and Seoul, South Korea. The firm specialized in international partnerships. With an initial focus on localized, technology-enabled content distribution, Michael recognized a larger need for localized control of wireless communications. This insight led him to launch Tylu. He is responsible for the growth and direction of Tylu, overseeing all operations, and working with strategic partners to ensure the delivery of successful growth strategies. Michael is a graduate of Hampton University, holding a BS in Finance.
Tom Freeburg, Chief Technology Officer
Tom provides leadership for Tylu's technology development and is accountable for product development, functionality and implementation. With more than 40 years of experience in management of innovative systems, he is well suited to carry the primary responsibility for developing the engineering strategy and ensuring technical success. Before joining Tylu, Tom was Corporate Vice President and a Director of Technology at Motorola, where he also Chief Futurist. He is one of the world’s foremost experts in wireless platforms. Tom is an author and a lecturer who holds 80+ patents and has published over 120 papers. Tom conceived and developed the Altair wireless network product, which broke new ground in the wireless data transmission arena, gathering more industry awards than any previous product in the company’s history. He earned a BSEE from Bradley University and an MSEE from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Paul Schaafsma, VP Strategic Partnerships and General Counsel
Paul joined Tylu from Foley & Lardner, bringing with him a wealth of strategic management experience and over 20 years of legal and IP experience. He has extensive experience in all phases of intellectual property law, including patent prosecution, patentability and infringement analysis, and client counseling involving a wide variety of technological products. Paul has focused on structuring, negotiating, documenting and managing relationships related to technology, including licensing, acquisitions, joint ventures, research and development, marketing, distribution, and consulting. He is a graduate of Loyola University of Chicago School of Law, having received his undergraduate degree from Purdue University (B.S.E.E.) and an M.B.A. from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Graduate School of Management.
Roger Hitchings, VP Product Development
Roger serves as executive vice president of Product Development at Tylu. He has served in a variety of senior leadership positions in engineering, product development and organizational development at Motorola were he was Director of Engineering Computing for Global Telecom for over 30 years. Roger directed the design and implementation of a project management process improving resource management and reducing engineering program slippage. He attended the University of Missouri at Rolla earning a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and completing post-graduate work in Solid State Physics.
Dennis Roberson
Dennis, Vice Provost at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) and a member of the Technology Advisory Board of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). He was EVP and CTO at Motorola and headed the company’s research arm, Motorola Labs, and chaired Motorola's Technology Action Council and Science Advisory Board. Prior to Motorola, Dennis had major business and technology responsibilities at IBM, DEC, AT&T and NCR. He is a frequent speaker at universities, technical workshops, and conferences around the globe. Dennis has BS degrees in Electrical Engineering and in Physics from Washington State University and a MSEE degree from Stanford.
DeWayne Nelon
DeWayne, former Chief Executive Officer of Avot Media, an innovator in real-time streaming and personalization of video delivery to web-enabled mobile devices. At Avot he raised the capital required to redesign their strategy and product line, a move that ultimately enabled Avot to secure contracts with wireless carriers worldwide. Prior to Avot, DeWayne was President and Chief Executive Officer of Ortiva Wireless, a pioneer in dynamic delivery of mobile content, where he led product changes, raised $20 million in venture capital and secured the company’s first multi-million dollar deal with a tier 1 U.S. wireless carrier. Before Ortiva, he was President of North America for LogicaCMG’s (now Acision), a major provider of IT and wireless telecommunications systems, with more than 30,000 employees across 36 countries. DeWayne also served as Vice President and General Manager with XO Communications and worked for Northern Telecom (Nortel) for several years. DeWayne holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from the University of Texas.
Craig Watson
Craig, founder and CEO of Opti-Pay Technologies, LLC, a Chicago-based technology development and intellectual property firm focusing on electronic payments. In addition, Craig is Managing Director of $30Mn technology consulting firm EKI. Craig spent 28 years in corporate roles with Cummins Engine, Merck, PepsiCo and most recently, as CFO-Asia-Pacific and then Chief Information Officer for FMC Corp. He is the author of articles published in Harvard Business Review, The McKinsey Quarterly, Chief Executive Magazine, Sloan Management Review, Newsweek, Business Horizons and Optimize. Craig holds undergraduate and graduate degrees in economics from Harvard and Princeton.
Oswin Eleonora
Oswin, Executive VP for North American Sales at Acision, Mr. Eleonora oversees strategic direction for Acision’s product and solution portfolio in North America. Oswin has over eleven years of experience in telecommunications. Prior to being named Senior Vice President, he held the role of Vice President Business Development, North America. In this role he led regional product marketing and directed the identification, establishment and development of strategic third party relationships. Previously, he set-up and developed a GSM joint venture that focused on international mobile data services as well as negotiated the world’s first Mobile .Net Passport Partner agreement. Mr. Eleonora’s areas of expertise include mobile data services & solutions, cross-border messaging and mobile content services.
Ken Zdunek
Ken, former Vice President of Networks Research at Motorola, where he directed innovation and new product activities worldwide in the areas of IP mobility, services convergence in 3G and 4G networks, network management, network security, DOCSIS, GPON and software engineering effectiveness. At Motorola, Ken established the Motorola India Research Lab and was co-director of Motorola’s Center for Seamless Communications Research at Northwestern University. He was an author of Motorola’s iDENTM system deployed by Nextel, Inc., leading the group that created the iDENTM voice and IP data architecture, including the Layer 2 air interface, handover protocol and mobile IPv4 packet data roaming approach. Also at Motorola, Zdunek developed technology essential to GSM roaming and cellular packet data, was architect for Motorola’s SmartNetTM public safety radio system. Zdunek received the BS and MS degrees in electrical engineering from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
Zoe Quan
Zoe, founder of Qingchu Thinking, LLC, is a former Senior Vice President of Fujitsu Business Communication Systems, where she was responsible for R&D, product development, marketing, business development and strategy in the convergence zone of traditional and emerging technologies. Prior positions include executive roles at Lucent, AT&T and Bell Laboratories. She holds a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics from Harvard University and a PhD in biophysics and theoretical biology from the University of Chicago.
Jane Hunter
Jane, President of Technology Transitions Inc., She has over twenty years experience in telecommunications management and information services consulting. Jane has in depth knowledge of telecommunications business planning, Operations Systems (OS), customer care environments, operations processes and procedures and field operations in a variety of environments. She also held a variety of operations management and planning positions in AT&T, Bell Laboratories and Western Electric. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Dickinson College.