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About Us Company History  Who We Are |
Who We Are BILL SIMMETH, PRESIDENT Bill Simmeth is President, CEO and Founder of Merchant Software Corporation. He has over 30 years experience in marketing, business development and general management in technology companies. Prior to founding Merchant Software in 1995, Bill was President of Dataline Corporation, a $10 million per year vertical market software provider based in Wilton, CT, a position he held for four years. He served as Dataline's Vice President of Sales and Marketing for three years prior. Previously, Bill served in marketing and business development positions of increasing responsibility in technology firms such as Boeing, Hewlett-Packard, Atari and Convergent Technologies. Early in life, he gained a fond appreciation of the hard work and customer focus required to be a successful retail merchant by working weekends and summers in his parents' butcher shop and delicatessen. Bill received an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BS with Distinction in Engineering from The University of Virginia. When not writing software code, Bill enjoys messing with vintage sports cars and woodworking. KATE SIMMETH, VICE PRESIDENT Vice President of Merchant Software Corp since 1995, Kate has been involved with nearly every aspect of the company, her duties developing and changing to meet the needs of the business and its customers. She currently oversees technical support and sales in addition to managing all the company accounting needs, utilizing her in-depth knowledge of Merchant Software products, customer base and the highly specialized market of retail liquor software. Prior to assuming her multiple roles at Merchant Software, Kate honed her customer relations skills as Branch Manager at Liberty National Bank (KY) and in sales for Electronic Systems USA (KY) before joining Flarecraft USA (CT), a small aircraft company where she worked in marketing and regularly rescued her boss when he ran out of fuel while flying over the Long Island Sound. Kate's vast technical knowledge of each software package, friendly demeanor, outstanding ability to communicate with clients and juggle multiple projects are strong assets to the company. Merchant Software's first priority is to help customers run their businesses, and she recognizes that customers have a great deal invested in their point-of-sale systems and rely on them every day. In her spare time, Kate tends to her barn full of horses and tries to ride and compete as much as Merchant Software will allow. TOM RAPP, PRODUCT SUPPORT MANAGER Tom joined Merchant Software in 2004 as a tech support agent while he was still studying for his undergraduate degree. As Merchant Software has grown so have Tom's responsibilities and he has since moved on to manage the team of agents that provide Merchant Software's technical support. In his years with Merchant Software Tom has developed an encyclopedic knowledge of Merchant Software's products and in fact wrote "the book" on LiquorPOS®, the help file you find in every software package. Though Tom's technical knowledge is almost entirely self-taught his innate critical thinking and problem solving skills have made him an invaluable part of the Merchant Software team. Tom earned a BA in Political Science from the University of California San Diego and will be pursuing his MBA at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business in the Fall of 2011. Despite his background as a cross-country runner, Tom is an avid rugby player and can often be seen limping around the office after a match. KATY CARTER, SALES & PUBLIC RELATIONS Katy Carter joined Merchant Software in 2011. She brings a variety of experience and flair to the company, where her in depth knowledge of the inner workings of Washington, DC brings an added dimension to marketing and public relations. Katy spent six years working in the U.S. House of Representatives, serving on the staffs of two Members of Congress from her native New York State. While on Capitol Hill, she handled a variety of legislative issues in addition to media relations and speechwriting. Katy also led the American Horse Council's national educational campaign for responsible horse ownership through its formative years before working as a project manager at a local non-profit organization. She has worked on a number of election campaigns at the local and Federal levels as well. Katy's work has appeared in publications such as The Hill, the Chronicle of the Horse, and the Steeplechase Times, as well as in high-end real estate listings in Northern Virginia. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Syracuse University's Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs and a Master of Public Administration from George Mason University. A lifelong horsewoman, Katy showed hunters and jumpers before moving to Virginia, where she soon lost her mind and took up eventing, foxhunting and galloping racehorses. HEIDI BAUMSTARK, OFFICE MANAGER The multi-talented, multi-tasking Heidi Baumstark has bestowed her innate attention to detail and dedication to Merchant Software and its customers since 2008. She is the go-to woman for information on LiquorPOS®, MerchantPOS® and Go!POS®, hardware and support contracts. Heidi manages the customer/dealer databases and direct mail, as well as tracks shipments of all Merchant Software products. Additionally, her artistic aptitude lends a creative touch to the design, development and acquisition of marketing materials. An accomplished journalist as well, Heidi pursues her passion for story telling covering history and conservation related topics for the Bull Run Observer newspaper, and is a freelance writer for the Virginia Wine Gazette, Piedmont Virginian, and Flavor magazines. In her free time, Heidi is also active in local conservation and land preservation issues and has written pieces for the Land Trust of Virginia, among other organizations. Before joining Merchant Software, Heidi was employed as a meeting planner for a Washington, DC-based trade association and in the training department at a non-profit organization in Reston, VA. A seasoned traveler, she has journeyed throughout the world, and even lived in Vienna, Austria for a time. Heidi earned her Bachelor of Science in Psychology from Virginia's James Madison University. |
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