Executive Team
Amar is our founder and leader. His insights into the broader markets, as well as
the markets of our clients, enable us to remain open to change and move with our
clients. Amar grew up in Florida, but left the swamps for beautiful Ohio, attending
Ohio State University (Bachelor of Science, Business Administration) before heading
west yet again to California in search of fame and fortune. His brush with destiny
occurred as he attained his licensure to practice public accountancy (CPA), which
provided for many fond memories of 1040's, 1020's and endless schedules. Not convinced
he had enough initials after his name, he obtained his Master's Degree of Business
Administration from Golden Gate University in San Francisco. Currently, Amar keeps
busy in his "free time" by helping raise his three beautiful (and vocally capable)
children and by serving on the Board of Directors of Hog Island Oyster Company.
Simon is our production chief and technology leader. His ability to think logically,
creatively, and calmly enables us to maintain our high level of service and grow
as a business. He also drives the early adoption of new technology to ensure that
the AIS Group has tried it before our clients have to. Simon came to the AIS Group
via Birmingham, England, where he graduated from the University of Central England
with a B.A. Hons. in Accounting. After working as a company accountant for a number
of years, Simon "jumped ship" and decided to move to a system oriented role. After
successfully navigating the Y2K waters, he decided to jump across the pond and found
himself at AIS in 2000. Recently, Simon spent a month touring Italy with his lovely
new bride. We missed him.
The Rest of the Team
Pim is our data management expert. She manages the data conversion for all new implementations
and additions to current GP systems. She oversees data cleanup and conversion from
all outside accounting systems, as well as GP system setup and integration. She
is also a resource for report building and project support. Bringing years of experience
in the Pharmaceutical industry, including work for Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer
International, Pim moved to the US to attain her MBA from Golden Gate University.
Pim has been with AIS since 2004, and is the proud new mother of a beautiful baby
girl.
Randall is our Senior Embedded Systems Engineer, responsible for new products that
integrate sales and operations with Dynamics GP. A graduate of the University of
Michigan (Master of Science in Electrical Engineering, 1999), Randall has worked
in robotics, physics, photography and radios. Randall left Michigan for California,
searching for warmer climes; the best he could do was San Francisco. Randall rides
a scooter.
Hailing all the way from mostly sunny Salinas, Michael heads AIS's development department,
building integrations and customizations to bridge the gaps between GP, CRM, and
clients' disparate systems. Michael also spearheads our external development projects,
bringing new ideas and solutions to the table as AIS plans for the future. He has
recently brought AIS's sales team into the Web 2.0 space, building mobile Web applications
and working with the embedded systems team. Michael attained a BA in Applied Mathematics
from UC Berkeley. He also maintains this Web site, so he has complete control over
what goes in his personal bio, despite what Simon says.
Ben was born in Berkeley but spent his formative years in Maryland, just outside
Washington DC. Realizing his political career wasn't going to pan out, he went north
to Boston to attend Emerson College, where he studied film and met his wife, sealing
his fate as a Red Sox fan for life. With a background in technology and experience
working with a vast array of customers, Ben's role as Applications Consultant has
been integral to our implementation and services staff. He's been building and modifying
computers for most of his life, and came to AIS when he realized there were people
willing to pay him for something he does as a hobby.
Alicia is the newest member of our sales department. She has been an Inside Sales
Representative for more than 10 years. She graduated from San Francisco State University
with a B.A. in Radio and Television and from City College of San Francisco with an A.S.
in Business. Born and raised in San Francisco, she enjoys listening to jazz music and reading
good books in her spare time.
Ana is AIS's office manager, running all of our daily operations and keeping everyone
on task and in line. A native San Franciscan, Ana was a VP and Branch Manager at Bank
of America for 11 years, and then the office manager for Peninsula Holistic Health Center
before coming to AIS. While employed there, she attended the World School of Holistic Health.
She began to miss working in a professional business environment but did not want to work at
a huge corporation, and is very happy to have landed here at The AIS Group. We're happy
she landed here as well, though we're not sure how professional we are.
