Mason Bridge Leadership

NED STRINGHAM  |  ADVISOR 

Ned is a recognized entrepreneur, business strategist and technology investor.  In 2006, Ned successfully sold SBI Group, a digital marketing and technology consulting firm which he co-founded in 1998 and then grew to nearly 1,000 employees with 13 offices across the U.S. and Europe.  He guided SBI through the dot com bust acquiring several well know public firms including Lante, MarchFirst, Scient and Razorfish. By 2004, SBI had become the largest and most respected independent interactive marketing firm in North America.  SBI was acquired by Aquantive where Ned joined the Board.

Prior to SBI Group, Ned founded and ran Impact Partners, a management consulting firm based in Sydney Australia that served several leading industrial companies and the largest hotel and casino operation in the country. Ned began his career working at McKinsey & Company in their Texas and Sydney offices.

He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School (1990) and degrees in Philosophy and Political Science from the University of Utah where was Student body President and selected as a Truman Scholar.

CALVIN CARTER  |  ADVISOR 

Calvin Carter, Bottle Rocket’s founder and CEO, built Bottle Rocket on the belief that exceptionally innovative technology redefines our lives.

In March 2008, the day after Steve Jobs announced the iPhone was open to third-party developers and months before the App Store opened, Calvin launched Bottle Rocket. His visionary and entrepreneurial spirit would earn him the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2013. Calvin has pushed Bottle Rocket to become a renowned Connected Lifestyle specialist that connects future-focused brands and their customers through sophisticated yet simple experiences. With more than 450 award-winning, preeminent experiences to date and over 200 Rocketeers, Bottle Rocket continues to set new standards in connecting people to what they want and transforming how our clients compete and win in the marketplace.

Before Bottle Rocket, Calvin ran a private equity and business development company. He has founded or co-founded several other businesses, including i.con interactive, an Internet software development and professional services company. This company eventually merged with seven other Internet firms to form Luminant Worldwide, a publicly-traded company with $160 million in revenue and more than 1,000 professionals. Outside of Bottle Rocket, Calvin serves on numerous corporate advisory boards and has served as president of the Dallas Chapter of Entrepreneurs Organization, an international membership organization of more than 5,500 business owners worldwide. He later served on the President’s Council of EO and as its North American Regional Director.

Calvin holds degrees in Accounting and Organizational Behavior and Business Policy from Southern Methodist University, is a graduate of the Stagen Integral Leadership Program and Transformational Leadership Program and is an active member in the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO). Calvin and his wife Kelly have twin daughters, Caden and Kellan, and are proud to call Dallas home.

REX KURZIUS  |  ADVISOR 

Rex Kurzius is the Founder and CEO (Chief Panda) of Asset Panda, a revolutionary new system that automates and simplifies the job of tracking, managing and supporting fixed assets.  The powerful cloud based platform combined with mobile apps is used by companies all over the world for the following purposes: Fixed Asset Tracking/Audit, Facilities Management, Equipment Support Ticketing, Compliance and Purchase Order management.

Kurzius was the Founder and President of Timberhorn IT Solutions. Timberhorn was recognized by Inc. magazine in September 2013 as one of the “Inc. 500 Fastest-Growing Companies in America.” In fact, this prestigious list ranked Timberhorn number 25 in the country and Number 2 on the list of Top 100 IT service companies.  Rex sold Timberhorn to the Ettain Group in October of 2015.

Timberhorn is Kurzius’ second company to be recognized as an Inc. 500 business. Few entrepreneurs have accomplished the feat of founding and growing more than one company that makes the prestigious Inc. Fastest-Growing list. An earlier Kurzius-founded company named Resulte was included in the Inc. 500 Fastest-Growing list, from 2003 – 2006. Kurzius has since sold Resulte.

A respected leader in the North Texas entrepreneurship community, Kurzius is the former president of the Dallas Chapter of Entrepreneurs Organization and former chairman of the North Texas Young Presidents Organization. Kurzius is passionate about entrepreneurship and comes from a family of Entrepreneurs.  His father Karl was a first generation American from Germany who owned a bakery in New Mexico. Rex’s older brother, Dan Kurzius, is the co-founder of Mailchimp, one of the largest email marketing services in the world. Rex is a sought-after speaker and donates a significant amount of his time to mentoring entrepreneurs. He graduated from Southern Methodist University with a bachelor’s degree in business and lives with his wife and three children in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas.  Rex is an Eagle Scout and loves the outdoors.

Kurzius’ leadership and vision have resulted in tremendous growth and recognition for his companies, including awards such as:

Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Finalist
Deloitte Technology Fast 500
Texas Crescent Technology Fast 50
Dallas 100 Fastest-Growing Private Companies
MTBC Tech Titans
Hire Power, Inc. Magazine
Inc. 500

MATT LEVY  |  ADVISOR 

Matt Levy is an experienced Board Director, Investor and Entrepreneur with a history of rapid, profitable growth across various endeavors over more than 20 years.

As an operator, Matt co-founded the management and technology consulting firm Credera in 1998, and sold a majority interest of the firm to Omnicom (NYSE: OMC) in August of 2018. He sold his remaining interests to Omnicom in July of 2019. Credera was profitable every quarter he was involved, averaged year over year company growth of 15%+ and EBITDA averaged over 25%. Credera had 400+ employees when sold. Credera was recognized nationally from 2012-2019 as one of the fastest growing companies in America by Inc. 5000 while also winning consistent national recognition as a Best Place to Work.

Matt has helped start and/or sell 10+ other successful organizations. He remains an active investor, board director and/or trustee in several entities and is involved in a variety of real estate projects. Matt is a member of Watermark Community Church, YPO Gold Maverick and YPO Aspen. He graduated from Texas Tech University in 1996.

TIM STORER  |  EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 

Tim Storer is a visionary business leader and entrepreneur with demonstrated success building multiple businesses in the marketing technology space, managing high-value corporate transactions, and executing market expansion plans through mergers and acquisitions, opportunity valuation, and go-to-market strategy. Tim leverages a strong business acumen and expertise in startup ventures, commercial expansions, capital funding, and private equity investment modeling to identify opportunities for market entry and deploy explosive growth strategies in niche markets.

Leveraging his entrepreneurial skills, Tim developed and managed a portfolio of three companies consisting of Distribion, Vertical Nerve, and MarketingFX, which he sold to a publicly held media company. Tim continued as a member of the executive management committee, managed all corporate mergers and acquisitions and also served as President of the marketing services division.

Earlier, Tim successfully launched Distribion, a multichannel marketing automation business offering SaaS marketing solutions focused on meeting the needs of the Financial Services and Insurance industries. Tim grew the company to 200+ customers and over 200,000 users on the platform, including some of the largest companies in their respective industries.

Previously, Tim founded Vertical Nerve, a digital marketing and analytics agency focused on producing measurable results for clients and providing visibility and insights from marketing data. Serving as CEO, Tim grew the company to the largest web analytics provider in Texas at the time and developed close relationships with partners and clients such as Google, Yum Brands, The Container Store, and other Fortune 500 companies.

In addition to Distribion and Vertical Nerve, Tim started MarketingFX, a direct marketing and fulfillment company offering full-scale print, production, advertising materials, and specialty promotional items, growing the customer base to over 250 active accounts.

Earlier in his career, Tim founded New Media Gateway, a SaaS-based marketing and sales technology company serving the Hospitality and Tourism industries. Tim grew the company to 150 employees prior to it being sold and built a client portfolio of destination marketing organizations in major markets across North America, including Las Vegas, Dallas, Houston, San Diego, Hawaii, Nashville, Palm Beach, Kissimmee, Vancouver and many others.

Tim is regarded as a thought leader and business disruptor with a keen ability to identify and capitalize on viable opportunities which has resulted in building numerous businesses and realizing significant exit value.

Tim graduated from Vanderbilt University with a double major in Engineering and Mathematics while on a full athletic scholarship to play football in the SEC, and later attended the Executive MBA program at Southern Methodist University. Tim also served on the board of directors for the Entrepreneur Organization for five years where he served as president for two consecutive terms. Tim is an active member in the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO), and has served on the board of the Dallas All Sports Association as well as a director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra’s marketing committee. Tim lives in Dallas with his wife and three children.