Chuck Daniels
Chief Executive Officer

Chuck Daniels is the founding CEO of BITS. As the Chief Executive

Officer, Chuck is responsible for growing BITS into a world class managed services company for community banks.

Chuck has been melding vision, values, leadership, technology & true collaboration to create growth, profit, competitive advantage, and shareholder value for employees, start-ups and major corporations for over 30 years. Prior to founding BITS in 2005, Chuck was Executive Vice President, Chief Technology Officer, and Chief Marketing Officer at NextiraOne, a $700M nationwide provider of comprehensive data, voice, and converged network solutions for Fortune 500 companies in the US. In 1995, Chuck was a Co-Founder, Chief Technology Officer, and Chief Marketing Officer of Nextlink Communications (now known as XO Communications), a $1.5B competitive local-exchange and integrated data communications provider offering voice and broadband data services to business customers in over 60 US cities. Prior to founding Nextlink, Chuck was the Co-Founder of the Advanced Technology Group at MCI Communications and the Founder / Program Manager of the NetworkMCI Developers Lab. Chuck received his banking experience as a Vice President in the Strategic Technology & Research Group at Manufacturers Hanover Trust Bank in NYC.

Chuck received his B.S. in Engineering Science from the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey in 1981 where he majored in Nuclear Engineering. In 2000, Chuck was honored to be awarded NJIT’s distinguished Alumni Achievement Award.

Imran Dalvi
Chief Financial Officer

Imran Dalvi is founder and the Chief Financial Officer at BITS. Imran has more than 16 years of telecommunications and financial service sector enterprise experience, holding key positions at several start-ups. Imran is responsible for overseeing all aspects of accounting and financial reporting of the company. Imran is directly responsible for BITS sales and revenue generation efforts. During his time with BITS, Imran has increased sales four folds and helped launch the business across 11 US states.

Most recently, Imran was VP of Business Process Outsourcing Practice, for a boutique management consulting firm based in New York providing advisory services on business process improvement and turnaround strategies for mid-size market cap companies. Imran advised the Chairman and CTO of the 2nd largest prepaid calling card provider in the US in turning around a $400 million sales.

Imran was previously Director of Product Development for a leading wireless service provider that launched SMS text services in the US market. Imran was instrumental part of the team that executed the launch the product and successful sale of the enterprise to Cingular in 2002.

Prior to this, Imran worked as principal consultant with the LogicaCMG in London where he provided strategic and financial advisory services to telecommunications and infrastructure services to companies such as Barclays Bank, Lloyds TSB, and British Airways.

Imran earned his MBA from the Imperial College, University of London Business School, and MSC in Real Estate Finance from City University London and a BS degree in Mathematics from Queen Mary College, University of London.

Ted Calandra, Sr.
Chief Customer Care Officer

In his role as Chief Customer Care Officer, North America, Ted is responsible for all installations for ACBB-BITS clients in North America. In addition, Ted oversees installing partners and dedicated workforce for implementations of voice and data requirements for those clients.

In the telecommunications industry for more than 40 years, Ted has brought extensive experience in integrated systems, operations management, contract negotiations and customer-focused process improvement to his many positions in the industry and its predecessor companies since 1983. Prior to his current position, Ted held various vice president- and director-level positions in operations for New England, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast business regions where he led process reengineering and operations management strategies and created customer-focused operations improvement initiatives.

Prior to joining the Atlantic Central Bankers Bank Company, Ted worked in sales and management for American Building Supply Company, worked in installation for the Western Electric Company and installed telecommunications systems for the United States Army during his tenure with the United States Military.

Michael Dury
Chief Architect

Michael Dury is the architect of the BITS voice infrastructure delivering reliability and telephony features to Community Banks.

Michael joined BITS in 2005 and is responsible for the BITS Voice infrastructure and the research and development of new technologies. Michael has 15 years of experience in designing, installing, and supporting Voice technologies. He has extensive knowledge and experience in legacy voice technologies as well as current voice over IP.

Prior to joining BITS, Michael held the Avaya Certified Expert (ACE). As an ACE Michael deployed hundreds of Enterprise Voice Solutions to all different types of customer segments.

Michael received his B.A. in Communications from Kings College and also an associate's degree in Telecommunications Management from DeVry University. Currently Michael is CCIE-V 23858 (Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert/Voice)

Christian Ericson
Chief Marketing Officer

Christian Ericson serves as the Chief Marketing Officer. Mr. Ericson is responsible for the company's marketing operations including strategies, market development, communications, public relations, brand development, speaking engagements, and partner programs.

With more than 10 years of international sales & marketing experience in the telecommunication and information technology industry, his experience has contributed to a deep understanding of how to communicate technology related products to non-technical C-level stakeholders. In his position as Chief Marketing Officer, Mr. Ericson has helped educating hundreds of community bank CEOs in why their participation in strategic technology decisions and outsourcing is required to mitigate risk, remain competitive, and attract next generation customers.

Prior to joining BITS in 2005, Mr. Ericson led the efforts of a telecommunication carrier’s business development and marketing strategies related to client services. He also held a strategic position at a wireless application services provider later acquired by InfoSpace. In addition, he was the sole founder of a wireless payment system acquired in 2005 by an international service provider.

Mr. Ericson is a frequent speaker at various state bankers’ association events and an active community bank advisory board member.

Mr. Ericson was born in Sweden, holds a BA in Marketing from University of Lund in Sweden, and earned a full tuition scholarship to the Isenberg School of Management, University of Massachusetts, Amherst where he received his MBA in Marketing.

Directors

Ray Carolan
Director of Sales

 

Ryan Patrick
Director of Operations

Ryan Patrick is the Director of Operations and Information Technology at BITS. In his position he is responsible to ensure the BITS Network operates at optimal performance capabilities 24/7, while overseeing the Support and Network Operations teams who provide our customers with professional, knowledgeable, and timely support.

Through his experience in working with hundreds of community banks, having designed best practice voice and data communication networks, Ryan has a thorough understanding of community banks’ industry specific technical and regulatory requirements.

Ryan holds a wide range of technical and operational related certifications including Six Sigma and ITIL, to assure operational best practices and continuous process improvement.

Previously, he served on a destroyer in the U.S. Navy, where he was responsible for ensuring the security and operations for all Information and Telecommunications Systems. As a leader in the community, Ryan is a Board Member and committee chair for Veterans Resource Central in Central PA, assisting other Veterans and military families with their transition challenges.

Tom Pinou
Director of Network Infrastructure

Tom has over 20 years of professional engineering experience in Government, Public and Private sectors. Tom began his career in the Government Defense Industry. With Top Secret clearance, he worked on the Star Wars-SDI- Strategic Defense Initiative program in the capacity of Radar Systems-Engineering Group and later moving on to Sikorsky Aircraft a division of United Technologies/Norden Systems.

Tom has moved around throughout his career in various industries which include Aviation, Aerospace, Automotive, Manufacturing and Automation, Information Technology, Telecommunications and Investment Banking, He has been in the Information Technology/Telecommunications field since 1998. He has an extensive background designing and building business infrastructures and data centers.

Tom received his B.S. Engineering degree in Electrical, Mechanical and Computer Technology from the New York Institute of Technology, Old Westbury NY. He is also FAA certified to work on commercial aircraft with an Airframe and Powerplant license.

Tom has joined BITS in May 2006 and is currently the Director of Network Infrastructure. He is responsible for the complete Installation Process for Banks and Branches on the BITS Network, while also transitioning them into the Day 2 and support in Operations. He is also responsible for the Newark Data Center as well as the 3rd party Carrier and Vendor relationships on a day to day basis.

As a resident of Garden City NY, Tom is a long term volunteer for local Village Government. Currently he is the President of the Western Property Owners Association, in addition to serving on various committees, including the Ad-Hoc Committee which oversees a $36.5 million dollar School Investment Bond. He serves as direct report to his Village Trustees and to the Mayor.

Michael Vinogradsky
Director of Network Engineering

Michael Vinogradsky joined BITS in 2006 and is currently the Director of Network Engineering. Michael is responsible for the BITS network infrastructure and the research and development of new technologies. Michael has 10 years of experience in designing and implementing network technologies.

During the last few years, he has headed the BITS network infrastructure department to successfully deliver network continuity, security and innovation. Specifically, working with community banks to establish connections to core processors, ATM providers and the Federal Reserve's financial services, such as Fedline Advantage. Additionally, Michael has been working directly with the banks' IT departments to build scalable and cost effective network solutions that meet the specific needs of each bank.

Michael received his B.S. in Computer Science from Rutgers University and presently holds a CCIE (Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert) certification.