Vito Bialla
Partner and Founder
vitob@bialla.comVito Bialla has spent over thirty five years in consulting and executive search working for domestic and international clients. With experience in consulting to companies ranging from entrepreneurial start-ups to leaders in emerging industries, to established giants, Vito adds unique expertise to the firm. His large contact base and long-standing business relationships give the firm access, credibility and network resources within the business community.
Vito's focus is on Consumer Product Goods, Sports, Consumer Technology, Media & Entertainment. His functional expertise is on: CEOs, Officer-level, and outside Directors.
He is a member of the Olympic Club triathlon team, a member of The San Francisco Yacht Club, and also serves on several boards of private companies. When not engaged in executive search he spends his time doing extreme long distance athletic events and raising money for Wounded Warrior project and semperfifund.org.
John McCrea
Partner
john@bialla.comJohn McCrea has been a senior marketing and business development executive with a unique balance of experience in both large corporate environments and small start-up companies, marketing everything from technology to tourism, beer to banking, packaged goods to retail.
In the 6 years prior to joining Bialla, John held Vice President of Worldwide Marketing, General Manager and Business Development positions with successful start-up companies like MarketTools, Egreetings and others, where he created, launched, marketed and/or managed multiple successful Internet applications including zTelligence, Zoomerang.com, Egreetings.com and ArtToday.com. Previously, John spent 16 years in the advertising agency business. He was a Senior Partner at J Walter Thompson in San Francisco where he ran the high technology group, and was a founder of Poppe Tyson's West Coast operation. Earlier in his career he worked at such notable agencies as Chiat/Day and Grey Advertising. During his agency career, John was responsible for such successful brands as Sun Microsystems, Dell Computer, Toshiba, Symantec, Samsung, ADT, Bank of America, Dos Equis Beer and others. John received his B.A. from Hamilton College with graduate work at the University of Southern California.
John's cross-industry experience has enabled him to successfully conduct searches in areas ranging from consumer goods to marketing services, but he concentrates on the technology sector with functional expertise in marketing, sales and business development.
In his spare time, John plays basketball in the "Over 40" League, rows for the Marin Rowing Association's master's program, coaches his kids in youth sports, backpacks enthusiastically, and plays his guitar when he can squeeze it in.
Chip Novick
Partner
chip@bialla.comChip Novick has spent over five years in consulting and executive search working with a broad range of clients across the globe. He has helped companies and organizations of all sizes grow by attracting and retaining the people needed to rapidly build profitable businesses.
Chip is a serial entrepreneur who worked as an international consultant in the wireless industry before becoming CEO of Zave Networks, a digital coupon/loyalty start-up he co-founded in 2006 and was acquired by Google in 2011. He cut his teeth working with Procter & Gamble on new products and established brands at DMB&B - NY. He joined Whittle Communications and was a co-founder of Channel One where he worked with top clients to usher in a new era of targeted media well before the Internet made it common place in consumer marketing. Later, he marketed software with Novell and spent more than 5 years at Sprint PCS as VP of Consumer Marketing helping grow annual revenue to $10 billion faster than any company before or since. Chip received his AB degree from Duke University and was the first 3/2 program graduate of Duke's FuquaSchool of Business, where he received his MBA and has also served on the Board of Visitors.
His focus at Bialla is on Mobile, Cloud and Internet Technology, Consumer Products, and Sports, Media and Entertainment companies searching for the right talent at the CEO and Officer-level, as well as outside Directors. Chip's entrepreneurial success makes him a uniquely valuable resource for client companies whether they are established or emerging. He and his wife live in Denver, Colorado where they enjoy all the Rocky Mountains have to offer winter, spring summer and fall.
Richard Henley
Partner
rich@bialla.comRichard Henley has over 19 years of experience leading organizations in Fortune 500 companies and start-ups. He has a background in the Consumer Products, Travel, Sports, and Financial Services industries.
Most recently, Richard was founder of The Hawthorne Group, a financial services company that he built to $5 million in revenue. As Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for The Indy Car Racing League (CART, Inc.) he negotiated the largest attended sporting event in North America. At Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, Richard was Head of Marketing and launched their "Get Out There" campaign which grew sales over $800 million in just two years. His career began at Gallo, Black and Decker and Polaroid where he rose through the ranks quickly in and led sales and marketing functions. While at Black and Decker, Richard was involved in the sales launch of the DeWalt Power Tools brand. During his time at Polaroid, Richard launched the I-Zone camera which became the world's #1 selling camera.
Richard received his MBA from Boston University, and Bachelors degree in Advertising from the University of Oregon.
His focus at Bialla is in Consumer Products, Financial Services, Sports, and Hospitality.
David Archambault
Partner
david@bialla.comDavid Archambault is an innovative leader and pioneer whose professional career has focused on commercializing technology in the arts and media including early initiatives for music and computers, digital recording and computer graphics. As head of Marketing and Product Management for Commodore Business Machines he lead the team that launched the Amiga personal computer and made it into the definitive multimedia machine. At TimeWarner his successes included the Madison Project which was the first industry-driven digital download system for music, founding and running WarnerActive a CD-ROM gaming division which was a joint venture between Warner Music Group and HBO and building and spinning out a very large scale multi-divisional internet commerce system that ultimately supported thousands of commercial clients in partnership with Bank of America and Wells Fargo Bank and processing over $2 Billion annually.
David has a unique talent for building highly successful and effective management teams which has included both entrepreneurial start-ups and divisional-level for multi-national Fortune 100 organizations. For the 3 years prior to joining Bialla David was founder and CEO of a consulting company that specialized in defining and implementing strategies for organizations that would enable them to take advantage of the rapid pace of change and the opportunities provided by the viral nature and evolving social networks and using open-source and cloud technologies. Many of David's clients had a particular need to create Direct-To-Consumer sales and distribution solutions that directly engaged the consumer.
David's focus at Bialla is on technology and media with a functional focus on Officer-level, operations, technology, R&D and business development.
Outside of work he enjoys building cabinetry, refinishing antique furniture and spending as much time at his cottage in Canada as possible where he can focus on canoeing and fishing.
Meredith MacNeill
Head of Research & Office Management
meredith@bialla.comMeredith MacNeill manages the Bialla office and acts as the day-to-day liaison between
clients and candidates. She oversees all research projects,coordinates interviews and
keeps the firm running smoothly and operational.She got her start with Carolyn Carpeneti & Company, an event planningand fundraising
firm, where she worked for 6 years on many high profile events for former San Francisco
Mayor Willie Brown. Before joining Bialla, she was a marketing specialist for the
enterprise-search software firm Autonomy overseeing tradeshows. As marketing
coordinator for the investment bank Thomas Weisel Partners, she managed non-deal
roashows as well as client and corporate events.Meredith sits on the Board of Directors for the non-profit organization The Princess
Project, which has provided over 15,000 prom dresses to teens who could otherwise not
afford them. She is also a passionate Giants fan who delights in talking pitching rotations
and batting averages.
Legal Counsel
Laurence F. Pulgram, Partner
Fenwick & West LLP
275 Battery Street, Suite 1500
San Francisco, CA 94111
415.875.2300 (main)
415.281.1350 (fax)
lpulgram@fenwick.comIn Palo Alto:
Fenwick & West LLP
Two Palo Alto Square
Palo Alto, CA 94306
650.494.0600 (main)
650.494.1417 (fax)
Financial Advisors
Comyns, Smith, McCleary & Co.
3470 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Suite A310
Lafayette, CA 94549
(510) 299-1040
