Management Team
David Macdonald, President
Mr. Macdonald has founded a string of successful high tech startups that have created dozens of bestselling software products. At Vertex, Mr. Macdonald has overseen the development of a number of Web-based software applications, including the popular online driving course sold to DefensiveDriving.com. Prior to founding Vertex, Mr. Macdonald founded Arion Software, a home productivity software company that created the MasterCook series, the world's best-selling cooking and nutrition software. The MasterCook series featured numerous co-branded bestsellers, including the Betty Crocker, Cooking Light, Jenny Craig, and Graham Kerr digital cookbooks. Arion was sold in 1995 to Sierra On-Line, at the time the world's largest maker of PC game and home software titles. Before founding Arion, Mr. Macdonald co-founded Styleware, which pioneered GUI and integrated software for Apple II computers. Styleware was sold to Claris Corporation, Apple Computer's former software subsidiary. Styleware's final product, AppleWorks GS, was the #1 best-selling software program in early 1989, and the Styleware team went on to create the best-selling integrated software package, ClarisWorks, for Macintosh and Windows (now sold by Apple under the resurrected name AppleWorks).
Rick Matejka, Director of Software Development
Mr. Matejka leads the software engineering team at Vertex, where he has directed the development of a host of Web-based business applications for Vertex, including the e-learning driving course Defensive Driving Online (www.defensivedriving.com); Javabook, a book interface browser for database content display on the Web; Document Xchange (DocX), a MAPI-based document management system that supported complex workflow and a wide range of storage, user access, and document markup options; Site Press, a Web-based content management tool, DHTML editor, and Web application development platform; and numerous ASP.NET and Adobe Flash-based products. Prior to his work at Vertex, Mr. Matejka served as the Lead Engineer for Arion Software's MasterCook series, the world's best-selling cooking and nutrition software. Before Arion, Mr. Matejka worked for Lawrence Associates in Dayton, OH, where he developed a natural language programming environment for advanced process control strategies. Mr. Matejka also developed qualitative expert systems for process control for the Wright-Patterson Air Force Base Materials Lab for Universal Technology Corporation.
Rumiana Lazzi, Director of Web Development
With eight years of experience in graphic and interactive design and production, Rumiana Lazzi is responsible for all Web development, graphic design, and art direction for Vertex software and interactive projects. Ms. Lazzi has been responsible for the development of numerous high profile projects for a variety of clients, including Dell, Fujitsu-Siemens, Harcourt, and many others. Prior to joining Vertex, Ms. Lazzi worked for a number of leading European design firms, where she was responsible not only for Web and interactive but also for print and traditional advertising design. Ms. Lazzi’s experience prior to joining Vertex included work for McDonald’s, Daewoo, PC Magazine, and many others.
Kristina Walker, Account Supervisor
Kristina Walker, CSP, OHST, brings to Vertex over eight years of project management experience with corporate giants Aramark, URS, and Mead-Westvaco, as well as five years experience as a consultant to industry. Her work experience includes services in chemical, pulp & paper, laboratory research, air purification, metal fabrication, and managed services. Her recent focus has been on software development project management. Ms. Walker has performed a wide range of project oversight services and has extensive experience with safety program development and management, behavior-based safety, compliance auditing, employee training (classroom and computer-based), and merger integration implementation strategies.