Our Exec Team

Greg Kostello PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

As Founder, President and CEO of VMIX, Greg Kostello brings more than 20 years experience in technology development and management.

Previously, Greg was President of Vivendi-Universal Net Technologies, where he integrated advances made in technology at MP3.com into the music industry’s commercial systems.

Prior to the sale of MP3.com to Vivendi-Universal in 2001, Greg, as Executive Vice President of Technology, was instrumental in developing MP3.com into the top online music community with over 30 million registered visitors.

Greg also co-founded DigitalStyle, an early developer of web tools, sold to Netscape in 1997.

His experience in the industry includes past positions with companies like Apple Computer and Netscape, where he was a Technical Lead on the Gecko browser engine that became the foundation for Mozilla-based software. Greg has also founded or participated in five other start-up ventures.

Greg Kostello graduated from UC Irvine with a degree in Information and Computer Science. He served on the UCSD Connect Leadership Council from 1999-2001.

Phil Chen DIRECTOR OF SYSTEMS ENGINEERING

As Director of Systems Engineering, Phil Chen brings more than a decade of experience in architecting and deploying scalable infrastructures.

Prior to joining VMIX, Phil managed data filtering and security implementations at Websense Inc. for large scale clients including IRS, Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers.

Before that, Phil was also Founding Systems Architect of the SIP and STUN infrastructure for SIPphone Inc. (Gizmo5) which was later acquired by Google Inc. He has also held key technical positions at CERFnet, an original signatory of the Commercial Internet eXchange, AT&T Enhanced Network Services and American Greetings.

Phil graduated with a Bachelors Degree in Organizational Psychology from San Diego State University.

Lonnie Brownell DIRECTOR OF SOFTWARE CONFIGURATION MANAGEMENT AND QA

As Director of SCM and QA at VMIX, Lonnie Brownell has more than 30 years experience in software development, configuration management and quality assurance.

Prior to joining VMIX, Lonnie was Director of SCM and QA at Kintera (now part of Blackbaud), a leader in online services for non profits like The American Heart Association, Heifer International and The Lance Armstrong Foundation. Prior to taking on this role, Lonnie managed a team working on end-user applications and Kintera’s in-house payment processing systems.

Before that, Lonnie worked at Akamai as Director of Engineering, leading the development of video-based applications. Akamai acquired Lonnie’s prior employer, INTERVU, where he was one of the first employees and developed a number of applications, including one of the first web-based video players. Lonnie also worked at PSS, implementing compilers for DoD languages, which supported the operation of B-2 stealth bombers.

Lonnie has a Bachelors Degree in Information and Computer Science from the University of California at Irvine.

Steve Watanabe DIRECTOR OF CLIENT SERVICES

Steve Watanabe brings more than 15 years experience in client management, corporate communications and marketing strategy.
 Before joining VMIX, Steve provided marketing project management for The San Diego Union-Tribune where he was responsible for brand development, corporate marketing strategy and promotional planning.

Earlier in his career, Steve played key marketing-management and client-advisory roles with several advertising and branding agencies. During this time, he helped influence corporate and channel marketing strategy for clients like Hewlett-Packard, JD Edwards, Heska Pharmaceuticals, and Hach.

Steve graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Marketing from the Daniels College of Business at the University of Denver.