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History | CEO
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Daniella Russo is a business executive
whose 20+ years experience includes executive management within
high-tech startups from an initial investment phase through a successful
IPO, general management within Fortune-100 companies as well as
successful brand repositioning and brand management.
In 1999 Ms. Russo founded Mindzone, Inc., a consulting firm that
specializes in strategies to survive and thrive in a global e-commerce
marketplace. Ms. Russo founded Mindzone on the principle of the
high-tech keiretsu as a strategy for success in a very crowded marketplace.
Mindzone leads with the philosophy that for each company a natural
keiretsu is already in existence. Success is defined by the company’s
ability to identify and to join its keiretsu and to engage in a
fruitful “co-opetition” with its members. Mindzone helps
its clients identify their keiretsu, join it and most effectively
leverage their presence.
Mindzone has attracted clients such as Phone.com, WAP Forum, Microsoft,
WebTV, Sun Microsystems, AllBizDepot.com, Callidus Software, NetManage,
Telera (acquired by Alcatel), Silicon Valley Systems Group,
PlanetStop, YellowPages, Artworks Magazine and others.
Prior to starting Mindzone, Ms. Russo was a Senior Director, Marketing
at Sun. In this position she directed the company to solve a major
challenge for the Internet: a set of low-cost, rack-mountable, fault-tolerant
systems that are built to mission-critical specifications without
the associated costs. These systems were needed by all ISPs struggling
to manage the tremendous growth spurt of the Web. To address this
problem, Ms. Russo led the definition of Sun’s Service Provider
product portfolio and successfully managed its growth to $500M.
She helped formulate Sun’s strategy for service providers
and in January 1999 in New York led Sun’s Telecommunications
Launch introducing the company’s new products and direction.
Prior to Sun, Ms. Russo was a member of the executive team that
launched Infoseek, a pioneer of the Internet communications Infrastructure.
As a VP of Product Management, Ms. Russo built the product marketing
organization and led the definition of a series of award-winning
products. Ms. Russo was instrumental in Infoseek’s IPO. Infoseek
provided a terrific opportunity to participate in one of the most
exciting developments of the past decade – the growth and
phenomenal spread of the Internet communications infrastructure.
It was a time of fast learning, where making a mistake and fixing
it was easier than long deliberations to prevent mistakes. Ms. Russo
came to Infoseek armed with general management expertise and solid
knowledge of natural language technologies, obtained at Xerox Corp.
While at Xerox, Ms. Russo had built a profitable business based
on a linguistic technology developed at PARC. The business was modeled
after a startup, with Ms. Russo overseeing the entire operation
as a general manager. She developed the business plan, secured funding,
retained the team and initiated worldwide product development. Ms.
Russo also secured significant licensing arrangements with Oracle
Corp. as well as Navisoft/Navistar, subsequently acquired by AOL.
Prior to that, Ms. Russo has held a variety of executive positions
with Frame Technology, Sun Microsystems and Rank Xerox Ltd. EEO
Ms. Russo has earned her BA from the London School of Economics,
prior to which she has studied Marketing of office automation systems
at the Xerox Business School. Ms. Russo also holds a Masters degree
in English Philology, University of Sofia, Bulgaria.
Ms. Russo has a passion for the arts and sponsors many emerging
artists. She is the founder of MZGalleries, a division of Mindzone,
dedicated to promoting the personal enrichment and learning through
visual art. Ms. Russo serves as a Director on the board of Silicon
Valley Visual Arts, an organization dedicated to promoting emerging
artists within the larger Bay Area. In 2002 she served as the Executive
Director or Silicon Valley Open Studios
(www.svopenstudios.org),
a widely publicized cultural event that drew over 350 artists from
South San Francisco to Monterey. Since 2005 Ms. Russo has been the
President of the Board of Silicon Valley Visual Arts.Ms. Russo is also a Director of the board of Art
21, a Palo Alto art gallery that focuses on creating a unique
art experience.
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