The Team | Directors | AdvisorsTeam Biographies
Ben T. Smith, IV - Chairman and Co-Founder, MerchantCircle
Ben T. Smith, IV - Chairman and Co-Founder, MerchantCircle Ben has always been excited about local businesses in his community. Growing up in the Mobile Bay area of Alabama, Ben spent a lot of time around a quite a few small businesses. One of his first jobs was at Daphne Pharmacy, which eventually went out of business as CVS and Walgreens came to town. He often walked past Manci's Bar, where one of his grandfathers spent a bit of time, on his way to Triones grocery store, which eventually closed as Winn Dixie and Wal-Mart came to town. All of his father's family worked at Original Bens Jr., a famous BBQ pit founded by his grandfather that is still one of the best BBQ places in the south. Smith is the Co-Founder and Chairman of MerchantCircle, and is an Executive in Residence at Rustic Canyon Partners, one of the investors in MerchantCircle. Ben began his career at A.T. Kearney. While a Partner at A.T Kearney, Ben was selected as one of the most influential consultants in the world in 2002. He was one of the youngest partners in the firm's history, and helped spearhead EDS and Kearney's venture development efforts. While on leave from EDS and A.T. Kearney after 9/11, Ben was honored to have the opportunity to serve the Bush Administration as the Senior Advisor for Strategy and Planning, to the Secretary of Transportation. Thereafter, Ben co-founded Spoke Software with US Venture Partners, Chris Tolles (who also serves on MerchantCircle's advisory board), and a couple of other great entrepreneurs, in 2002. Ben has been actively involved in advising a number of Fortune 500 and emerging technology companies on strategy, marketing, and business models. Recently, he successfully spun off CodeGear, a Borland company, as their first CEO. He is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University's Tepper School of Business and received a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California at Davis.
Bens favorite local merchants include Gambinos in Fairhope, Ala., Dodd Priority in Scotts Valley, Calif., American Italian Deli in Los Altos, Calif., Murray Avenue Grill in Pittsburgh, Penn., and Aesops Room in Davis, Calif.
Wayne Yamamoto - CTO and Co-founder, MerchantCircle
Wayne is the co-founder and VP of Products at MerchantCircle, and is also Entrepreneur in Residence with Rustic Canyon Partners, one of MerchantCircle's investors. He is a serial entrepreneur and has worked at big companies, as well as small, including BroadVision, Sun Microsystems and AT&T Bell Laboratories. At BroadVision, he was the first engineer, architect and eventually VP of Engineering (applications). Previously, Wayne was a Visiting Scholar in the University of Washington CSE department. Earlier in his career, Wayne architected one of the first desktop telephone platforms at Sun Microsystems. He cut his teeth as a developer at AT&T Bell Labs, hacking Unix and one of the largest software projects ever -- the 5ESS. Wayne is a graduate from the University of Washington with a BS and MS in Computer Science.
Wayne's favorite local merchant is the Green Store (now known as Gants Market), in Seattle, Wash.
Doug Kilponen
Doug Kilponen serves as VP of Business Development for MerchantCircle. A native Californian, Doug has lived and worked in the Bay Area for more than a decade. Prior to joining MerchantCircle, Doug was Director of Product Management at Digital Impact, the leading provider of online direct marketing services to the Fortune 500. Doug also served as product manager of e-commerce at RealNetworks, and spent four years with A.T. Kearney, a management consultancy, in San Francisco. Doug holds an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Management and a BA from Northwestern University. Doug is focused on helping merchants reach out and connect with their local communities. The day that every small business can easily connect with friends and other local merchants on MerchantCircle will be the day that Doug will consider his work at the company a success.
Doug's favorite local merchants include Taqueria el Metate, Browser Books, and Crown Cleaners, all in San Francisco, Calif.
Darren Waddell
Darren is the Senior Director of Marketing at MerchantCircle, bringing over eight years of marketing experience in the retail, internet and software industries. Prior leadership roles include leading Outbound Marketing for VeriSign’s SSL Division and heading up marketing at Offermatica, the marketing optimization platform acquired by Omniture. Darren has also held senior management roles at venture-backed internet companies and at market research firm Gartner, Inc. Darren is passionate about the evolution of internet marketing and aims to accelerate the adoption of the internet as a means of connecting businesses and people everywhere. Darren holds an MBA from Santa Clara University and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of California, Davis.
Darren’s favorite local merchants include Rainbow Pizza, Talbots Toyland and Gator Games in San Mateo, Calif., Sneaker’s Pub & Grill in San Carlos, Calif., Watercourse Way in Palo Alto, Calif.
Walt Duflock
Walt is the Senior Director of Channel Development for MerchantCircle. Prior to joining MerchantCircle, Walt launched and managed marketing initiatives for a number of programs at eBay for seven years, all aimed at helping small-to-medium eBay sellers grow their business. Walt also spent two years at Giga Information Group working with bay area startups, and six years at Lexis-Nexis focused on delivering information management tools to law firms. Walt has a law degree from Santa Clara University and a Business degree from Cal Poly SLO. Walt’s focus at MerchantCircle is helping merchants connect with other local merchants and local customers, and developing the right tools to deliver even more value for subscribing merchants. Walt’s interest in working with small merchants stems in part from numerous business visits and meetings he had with his grandfather (a Chamber of Commerce executive in Southern California for almost 50 years) and a wide variety of local businesses during his childhood.
Walt’s favorite local merchants include Forbes Mill Steakhouse, Andale Taqueria, Icing on the Cake, and Courtside Club, all in Los Gatos, CA.
Irit Epelbaum
Irit Epelbaum serves as the Revenue Product Manager for MerchantCircle coming from Stanford Graduate School of Business where she completed her MBA. She was born and grew up in Bolivia, but decided to attend college in the US. She received her Bachelor degree in Economics from Yale University and subsequently moved to NY to work as a Research Associate for Cornerstone Research, an economic and financial consulting firm. At Stanford’s GSB, Irit realized her passion for online technology and worked for Google before graduating.
Irit’s favorite local merchants include Coupa Caf’e and Tea Time in Palo Alto, Calif., and Destino and Slanted Door in San Francisco, Calif.
Kevin Leu
Kevin is the Community Relations Manager at MerchantCircle, bringing with him a background in journalism. Prior to joining MerchantCircle, Kevin worked as a local television reporter all over the country, including San Diego, CA, Pocatello, ID, Redding CA, and Columbus, OH. His joy of meeting new people and listening to their stories has made him well suited to represent MerchantCircle at community events and functions. Kevin’s work in analyzing and explaining situations to a diverse audience, has helped bridge the gap between ‘tech-savvy’ and the rest of the world! Kevin graduated with a Communications degree from the University of California, San Diego.
Kevin’s favorite local merchants include Florentine in Cupertino, Calif., The Spot Pizza in Los Altos, Calif., and Roberto’s in San Diego, Calif.