Eric L Pratt
Chief Executive Officer

Eric has a distinguished record of building highly successful, profitable organizations in the high tech industry. Prior to joining the Taqua team in 2005, he was President and COO of Avatech Solutions, a design and engineering technology provider focused on the implementation of next generation software solutions. Prior to joining Avatech, Eric spent 15 years in the telecommunications industry holding various senior executive, management and sales positions with Sonus Networks, Telecom Technologies (acquired by Sonus), InterVoice and DSC Communications (acquired by Alcatel). Eric began his career at Texas Instruments. He holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from Texas Tech University.

Dave Long
EVP, Operations and Development

David has been an integral part of Taqua since 2001. He began his tenure as AVP of Software Engineering and most recently at Tekelec held the position of Vice President of Operations and Development for the T7000 Business Unit. Prior to joining Taqua, Dave worked at Lucent and Bell Labs for 14 years where he held a broad range of management and engineering roles in 5ESS switching development. Dave brings a wealth of experience in software design and methodologies, and is an expert in application of critical chains theory to software development. David holds a BS in Computer Science and an MBA from the University of Nebraska and an MS in Computer Science from the University of Kansas.

Scott Weidenfeller
Chief Marketing Officer

Scott has over 27 years of experience in the telecom industry, the bulk of which consisting of senior executive and management positions. As the Chief Marketing Officer of Tekelec, he led a global marketing organization responsible for strategic marketing, marketing communications and product marketing. Prior to that, he was an Officer and VP PLM, Marketing and Business Development for Santera Systems, a next-generation switch vendor. Prior to Santera, he held various VP leadership and line positions in Sales, Marketing, PLM and Research and Development at Nortel Networks. Scott holds a B.S. in Accounting/Finance from the University of Texas at Dallas and an M.B.A. from the University of Dallas. 

Payam Maveddat
EVP, Product Management

Payam Maveddat is responsible for Taqua’s product line management organization and all of Taqua’s convergence switching and RF backhaul products.   Payam has considerable expertise in wireless, IMS standards and architectures.  He is a technologist, pioneer, and veteran of mobile communications industry, with expertise in product management, strategic planning, technology development, network planning, and systems engineering.  Previously, Payam held executive positions in product management, systems engineering and marketing at Mavenir, Tekelec, Nortel, and AT&T Bell Labs. He specializes in mobile Internet, FMC and IMS, Voice & Messaging over LTE/4G, and soft-switching. Payam has been granted eight (8) US patents in mobile networking. He has BSEE from University of Iowa, MSEE from Georgia Tech, and MBA from University of Texas..

John Hoadley
Wireless Chief Technology Officer

John Hoadley has been in the wireless industry for over 20 years and worked at Nortel in a series of executive business, technology and sales roles. As Nortel’s Wireless CTO, John provided vision and managed advanced wireless research that led to Nortel's 4G (WiMAX and LTE) product developments. John graduated from the University of British Columbia with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and received an MBA from the University of Western Ontario.

Prentiss Gregorie
Chief Financial Officer

Prentiss brings over 17 years of financial and accounting experience to the Taqua team.  Prior to joining Taqua, Prentiss served as Controller for the Switching Division of Tekelec.  As Controller, Prentiss successfully integrated the Santera, Taqua, and Vocal Data acquisitions, and managed the division's finances through a period of high growth where revenues increased twenty-five fold from $5M to $140 million in three years. Prentiss also led the recent sale of the Switching Division, as well as the creation and funding of Taqua.  Prior to joining Tekelec, he held a senior finance management role at Santera Systems, where he played an integral role in raising over $100M in funding for Santera and in the sale of Santera to Tekelec.  He began his career in public accounting serving numerous high technology companies with Deloitte & Touche.  He is a certified public accountant and holds a BS in Accounting from Auburn University and a MBA from Tulane University.  

Todd Daniels
VP Sales, Global Direct Accounts

Todd has been an integral part of Taqua since 2001. He was instrumental in building the Taqua customer base from 2 to over 100 customers in two years in addition to raising $18M in new venture capital. Todd has 26 yrs of telecom experience having held senior sales positions at Tekelec, Taqua, Nortel, Stromberg-Carlson/Siemens and Centel. Todd has many years of experience serving the IOC market with the DMS, DCO, and Taqua product lines. Prior to joining Taqua he most recently held the position of VP Sales for Nortel’s Carrier Solutions Division responsible for IOC and CLEC customer relationships nationwide. He has a BS Marketing from Eastern Illinois University.

Frederick Reynolds
VP, Marketing

Frederick is responsible for Taqua’s marketing and business development activities.  He first joined Taqua in 2002 coming from General Bandwidth, where he was VP of Marketing and a part of the original management team starting in 1999.  Frederick left Tekelec after the Taqua acquisition in 2005 and later rejoined General Bandwidth to help manage the acquisition communications and re-branding efforts that formed GENBAND.  After GENBAND’s acquisition of Tekelec’s Switching Division, Frederick choose to rejoin the Taqua management team.  Throughout the 1990s, Frederick directed the marketing efforts for a variety of companies in the semiconductor and telecommunications industry, while helping take two of them public.  Before coming to General Bandwidth in 1999, Frederick was the Vice President and Director of Ketchum Public Relations’ Southern California Technology Practice.  He holds a BBA in Marketing from the University of North Texas.