Management

Tom Pace

President and Chief Operating Officer

Tom is in charge of the day-to-day operations of the company and has extensive experience as a senior executive at both large institutions and start up operations. Before coming to Gust, Tom was President and CEO of Solbright, Inc., a well-known provider of advertising workflow services for online publishers and websites. Solbright was merged with its largest competitor in late 2010.

Before that he was President of Infogate (formed by a merger between Internet Financial Network and Pointcast), a Citigroup/Idealab backed venture that was ultimately sold to AOL. He was also Chief Operating Officer of Teleres, a joint venture between Dow Jones and Company, Inc. and Aegon, which was the first major online provider of commercial real estate information and data. Before that his career at Dow Jones was wide ranging from corporate counsel to Executive Director of cross media products and services.

Tom served as Chairman of the Information Industry Association. He received his undergraduate degree from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and his law degree from Washington and Lee University where he was Note and Comment Editor for the law review.

Andrei Godoroja

VP, Product Development and CTO

As CTO of Gust, Andrei leads the entire Technology team in the development and deployment of our platform and products.

Andrei has a classical education in the trivium (grammar, logic, rhetoric) and quadrivium (astronomy, arithmetic, music, geometry). With a triple degree in Mathematics, Physics, and Engineering, plus a complete formal classical music education, Andrei brings an unparalleled level of expertise to our development team.

Prior to working for Gust, Andrei taught Computer Science at the university level for three years and lectured in Astronomy for 10 years. His business career includes a 16-year tenure at a wireless data company, where he started as an Engineer and left as the CTO. In addition, Andrei brings over 10 years of start-up experience to Gust, having consulted to several technology organizations in the past. Andrei's rich professional experience also includes a 5-year tenure as a singer in a professional opera company.

Andrei is a good representative of Gust's global team, having lived and worked in Beijing, Sydney, London, Florence, Vancouver and New York. Andrei's passion for travel includes a sailing trip from Nova Scotia to Rarotonga on a 3-masted tall ship as a cook and deckhand for 5 months. Andrei lives in Vancouver, where our Technology team is based.

Ilana Grossman

VP, Marketing

Ilana heads up all marketing and communication efforts for Gust. Prior to joining Gust, Ilana has held senior positions at leading digital marketing agencies, most notably Digitas and Organic, where she has led the development and implementation of several CRM and digital campaigns for clients such as Bank of America, Sanofi-Aventis, Johnson & Johnson, and Astra Zeneca. Ilana is a passionate marketer who always advocates for user-centric design and improved customer experience.

Prior to starting her Marketing career, Ilana was a Senior Associate with The Boston Consulting Group, and has also worked for the Brazilian joint venture of Salomon Brothers in her native Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Ilana holds a B.S. in Business Administration from Fundacao Getulio Vargas and an MBA in Finance and Strategic Management from The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. She lives on the Upper East Side with her husband and two children.

Lisa Balter Saacks

VP, Business Development

Lisa is in charge of all business development and strategic partnership efforts globally. Before joining Gust, Lisa held senior positions in the financial and media worlds. Most recently, she was VP of Strategic Partnerships at SecondMarket, the marketplace for alternative investments, where she also created and managed Alchemy Magazine, a publication on the alternative asset class.

The launch came on the heels of her previous tenure as VP, International Publisher at the financial media organization, The Deal LLC, where she ran the firm’s custom media and events division.

She began her career in finance at the European-based Creditanstalt Investment Bank. While there she worked on project finance, M & A and PE deals in Eastern and Central Europe.

Lisa holds a Masters in International Finance from Columbia’s School of International Affairs and a B.A. in International Relations from the University of Michigan.

Drew Schwartz

VP, Product Management

As VP of Product Management, Drew leads all product management, user experience and product analysis for Gust as it seeks to transform the early stage investment community. Drew brings a wealth of expertise in delivering innovative products using a user centered design approach supported by a lean development methodology. In constant contact with user groups in the United States and abroad, he insures the Gust products deliver tremendous value to our community. Prior to joining Gust, Drew served for several years as Director of Product Management at TheLadders.com where he was responsible for substantial growth in revenue and engagement for the enterprise, consumer and international businesses through the design of eCommerce, Freemium and other product strategies. Previous to this, Drew held senior positions in user experience and business strategy at Starwood Hotels, Ellery Homestyles and EMC2 Consulting. Drew holds a BS from Skidmore College, an MFA from Pratt Institute and lives in Westchester County with his wife and two girls.