J.R. Smith is CEO for AVG Technologies. It is his job to keep the company running smoothly and efficiently. AVG owes its recent explosive growth over the past several years to J.R.’s vision and leadership. Successes include refining the corporate strategy to further enhance and focus on the “Power of Free”. J.R. also led the shift in AVG’s focus to improve product quality, acquire free customers and leverage the web as the dominant sales channel.

Before joining AVG in 2007, J.R. founded and worked with a number of telecom companies. He was founder and CEO of the UK’s Dot Mobile Limited, an MVNO he launched within six months of concept and was responsible for the conceptualization, strategic direction and operations including profit and loss, proposition creation, sales channel definition, vendor selection, customer service, purchasing and logistics as well as software and system development.

J.R. was also founder and CEO of Dutch firm TSG-Telecomm Solutions Group where he created all proprietary project and operational software in-house and helped the company achieve ISO 9002 compliant certification while building a team of 160 professionals, who to date have deployed over 31 mobile networks in 14 countries.

Prior to this, J.R. spent 6 years at T-Mobile USA, in a variety of positions including PCS Development Manager and National Acquisition Manager. Amongst his duties, he managed contract negotiations, financial forecasting and controls, project management and the resolution of various technical and legal issues related to network deployment and operations.

Don’s big task at AVG Technologies is defining product strategy and delivering the product development roadmap. With over 23 years of experience in IT security and business software solutions with vendors such as RSA the Security Division of EMC, SAP, Calico Commerce, Pure Atria and CA, AVG is pleased to have him as part of their team.

Don’s expertise lies in such areas as Product Strategy, P&L Management, Process Design & Management, Field Operations and Global Resource Coordination. Prior to joining AVG, Don was the Senior Director of Product Management for RSA where he was responsible for a high-growth, $130m product portfolio in Security Information & Event Management, Governance Risk & Compliance, Data Loss Prevention and Web Access Management. At SAP, Don held the position of Director, SRM Solutions Marketing in which he was responsible for global strategies, thought leadership content and go-to market enablement for SAP E-Sourcing.

In 2006, Don was named a “Pro to Know” by Supply and Demand Chain Executive magazine. He is a frequent speaker on best practices at industry forums such as ISACA, The Conference Board, Sourcing Interests Group and SAPPHIRE. Don holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Acadia University in Canada.

Karel Obluk is the Chief Scientist for AVG Technologies, responsible for technological strategy, M & A, innovation and thought leadership. Karel’s tenure with the company dates back to 2003 and he has played a variety of important roles, helping to grow AVG through his responsibilities in both technology and the product line. He joined AVG as the Head of Development in which he led the development department, defined proper processes, coding standards and project control as well as cooperated with universities, mentoring students and leading several student projects, among other duties. He continued to grow with the company, becoming the acting CEO for more than a year and eventually CTO.

His vast technology experience includes product development and supervising and managing the release of various AVG Anti-Virus editions, as well as other products. His business acumen has also been valued as he develops relationships with key industry and business partners and advances important technological partnerships and acquisitions.

Before joining AVG, Karel worked for VEMA as the lead system developer in which he was responsible for the development team that focused on a variety of development systems.

Siobhan MacDermott is one of the foremost experts on the future of Information Technology, consumer dynamics, cybersecurity, privacy, and business leadership, both within the U.S. and globally. She currently serves as Chief Policy Officer of AVG Technologies.

Ms. MacDermott has worked in senior leadership positions at some of the best U.S. and global technology companies. As both advisor and executive, she helped direct strategy, global marketing, media relations, communications, investor relations, government relations, issue management and policy for companies such as Intel-MacAfee, AVG Technologies, Oracle, HP, RSA Security, Betrusted and Sprint PCS. In that capacity, she has worked directly and extensively with Boards of Directors and has lead successful initiatives to engage governments, stakeholders, including policymakers, NGOs and global institutions on existing and emerging issues and regulations.

Ms. MacDermott is widely published, appears frequently in the media and speaks at conferences around the world — working with and participating in the World Economic Forum and the Clinton Global Initiative. She has authored white papers and articles on privacy, consumer dynamics, consumer rights and winning leadership and business strategies. Most recently, Ms. MacDermott authored a Children’s book on Internet Safety and is currently working on two 2012 books – one focused on “CyberGap” dynamics — examining generational dynamics as related to the future of technology and one on “The Future of Privacy.”

Ms. MacDermott is both a US and EU national, and has worked on four continents and speaks five languages. She received her MBA in International Business from Thunderbird School of Global Management, and advises and serves on several Board of Directors of U.S. and international institutions.

Tony Anscombe is the Ambassador of Free Products for AVG Technologies. Tony’s role at AVG is to bring our growing free users population products and solutions that allow them to enjoy their online experiences while trusting AVG to provide them protection from malware and data loss. Tony is also instrumental in relationships with third party testers of AV products which help AVG to continue with its focus on delivering product quality and excellent security.

Tony joined AVG in August 2009, bringing over 20 years of IT experience with the last 12 years being focused in the Security sector.  Before joining AVG Tony worked for German based Antivirus company Avira and was responsible for the consumer product division that included both paid and free antivirus products.

Prior to moving into the consumer antivirus market Tony worked with a number of companies that  provide authentication, data leakage prevention and the more complex environment of government certified encryption technology. The experience of multiple technologies all in the security sector and a technical background make Tony well placed to understand the requirements of this very fast moving sector of the industry.

As CTO for AVG Technologies, Yuval is responsible for the strategic and technical development of the AVG product line as well as developing key partnerships within the industry and identifying technologies offering potential for acquisition. He is well-suited to this position, as a security industry veteran with more than 15 years of global IT security experience.

Some of this vast experience was earned as CTO at web security company Finjan where he led the company’s vision, strategy, innovation, IP and technology and a successful multi-million dollar patent litigation case in the US. Prior to Finjan, Yuval was the founder and CTO of KaVaDo Inc., a leader in web application security. Yuval was also CTO at Ness Technologies, a global provider of end-to-end IT solutions and services.

Yuval’s industry expert status is demonstrated in some of the kudos he has received, including being selected as InfoWorld’s “Top 25 Most Influential CTOs of 2004″ and Computerworld’s “40 Innovative IT People to Watch, Under the Age of 40″ for 2007. He has been a key speaker in dozens of security conferences around the world and is often quoted in the international business and technology media. Yuval has a BSc. in Information Systems and Engineering, cum laude from Ben-Gurion University in Israel.

Tom Kelchner is a former newspaper journalist who has worked in the computer security field for more than 15 years. He tested anti-virus products at ICSA Labs and was the editor of a variety of newsletters and periodic publications for the ICSA research group.

In recent years he has been a blogger for EarthLink’s Threat Research Group in Orlando, Fla., and the Sunbelt Software blog in Clearwater, Fla.

He holds a BA in communications/journalism from Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA.