Board Members

Stephen W. Ritterbush - Chairman
Mr. Ritterbush serves as the Chairman of the board for Assyst. Mr. Ritterbush is also a Managing Partner of Fairfax Partners I, II and III, each of which he co-founded. Over the last 18 years, Mr. Ritterbush has founded, or co-founded more than 25 companies. Fairfax Partners I is a seed/early stage investment fund created to invest in emerging technologies in health care, software and the environment. Together with Johnson & Johnson, Mr. Ritterbush was the founder or co-founder of three medical device companies and one drug company.

Mr. Ritterbush co-founded Fairfax Partners II, in October 1996 to create and invest in growth companies. Fairfax Partners II helped create AppNet, Inc., ISR Solutions, and InterActive Health Systems, among other companies and helped to restructure and grow Cohr, Inc. Fairfax Partners III was established in January 2001 and has established and invested in HealthAspex, Inc.

From 1989 to 1991, Mr. Ritterbush was President and CEO of Greater Washington Investors, a $38 million SBIC, where he repositioned a stagnant, underperforming portfolio, ultimately resulting in an eleven-fold increase in the share price from $3 to $34.

From 1986-1990, Mr. Ritterbush was an operating officer and director of ICF Kaiser International, Inc., and President of its subsidiary, American Venture Investments, Inc. During this period, ICF's revenues grew from $18 million to more than $500 million, as the company became one of the largest environmental engineering and remediation firms in the United States. In 1989, the company was taken public.

From 1981-1986, Mr. Ritterbush served as President and Chief Executive Officer of Arthur D. Little Far East, Inc. in Singapore. While in the Far East and later in Washington, DC he worked with Advent International of Boston, MA to establish and develop venture capital funds in Singapore, Hong Kong, and Malaysia.
    
David Gibson - Director
Mr. David E. Gibson serves as Assyst Board Member. Mr. Gibson is an Emeritus trustee of the Darden Foundation for the Darden Graduate School of Business, a Founding Sponsor and now emeritus trustee of the College and Graduate school of Arts and Sciences, and a current trustee of the Miller Center Foundation for the Miller Center of Public Affairs, all at the University of Virginia. He is a trustee of the Montpelier Foundation for the protection and management of President James Madison ancestral home, a member of the Advisory Board of FairFax Partners, venture investors, and a member of the board of proprietary mutual funds distributed by the Citigroup Private Bank.

David Gibson has broad experience in corporate banking around the globe. He joined Citibank New York in 1969. In 1975, he was named Vice President of Citibank while working in Japan. Mr. Gibson served as World Corporation Group Country Head for Citibank Brazil for three and a half years and as Chief-of-Staff for the Caribbean, Central and South American Banking Group based in New York. In 1981, he was appointed Senior Vice President of Citibank and Division Head of the Australia and South East Asia Division of the Institutional Bank based in Singapore. At the creation of the Private Banking Group in 1985, Mr. Gibson was appointed Group Head.

In 1992, Mr. Gibson became Executive Vice President of Citicorp / Citibank, and in 1993, he returned to corporate banking as Executive Vice President for Central and Eastern Europe, The Middle East, Africa, and the Indian subcontinent based in London. In 1995, Mr. Gibson was appointed Executive Vice President for all Citibank Emerging market's corporate business in 75 countries, adding responsibility for all of Latin America and all of Asia, excluding Japan.

Mr. Gibson graduated from the University of Virginia in 1962, and received his law degree from University of Virginia in 1965. He served in the U.S. Navy in Vietnam and Washington, DC prior to joining Citibank.
    
Charles Anderson - Director
Charles A. Anderson serves as Assyst Board Member. Mr. Anderson also serves as the CEO of CSCL, an SDVOSB founded in 1994, which has over 800 customers worldwide. Mr. Anderson joined CSCL as VP, government marketing in 1996 focusing on the Federal Sector. In October 2000, Mr. Anderson became majority owner of CSCL and was appointed CEO by the CSCL board.  Under Mr. Anderson’s leadership, CSCL has developed three upgrade releases to the project and process management COTS software tools, and developed a new integrated knowledge base. During 2003, CSCL organized an IT services division to compliment the company’s software products division. As CEO, Mr. Anderson has negotiated and established product distribution channels and partner alliances with companies in the Federal Integration IT services industry in the United States, Saudi Arabia (prior to 9/11/2001), and India.

Prior to joining CSCL Mr. Anderson served as Director for DOD Strategic Planning for Boeing Information Systems, an operating division of Boeing Company. Mr. Anderson had a significant lead role in Boeing’s win of the largest IT services program ever won by BIS. In this capacity he was engaged in market analysis, competitive analysis, strategic planning in terms of program focus, call plan development and coordination, advertisement plan development and coordination, and overall proactive marketing and proposal support.  As program manager in implementation, he participated in day-to-day program management functions, overseeing and supporting project team members and becoming involved with management processes in the performance of three programs which Mr. Anderson’s contributions were paramount to successful competitive wins. The IT programs were The Forces Command Information System (FIS) -50 million dollars, The Alabama Super Computer Program- 70 million dollars and the Reserve Component Automation System (RCAS) - 1.7 billion dollars.

Mr. Anderson also served in the US Military and retired from the military with an honorable discharge. During his military service he was awarded the Vietnam Service Medal with four campaign stars, the Korean Service Medal, the Service Defense Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Bronze Star Medal, and the Legion of Merit.
 
Joseph M. Perta - Director
Mr. Perta serves as Assyst Board Member. Mr. Perta also serves as Vice President of Bernstein Investment Research and Management, one of the premier private client investment managers, with a distinctive disciplined, systematic and integrated approach to wealth preservation.  Mr. Perta is responsible for management of private client assets in discretionary investment accounts of U.S. and international equities and fixed income instruments

Prior to joining Bernstein, Mr. Perta worked for various organizations, providing investment advice and counsel to CEOs in mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, joint ventures, privatizations, and other strategic alliances, with particular expertise in cross-border transactions. He has also been responsible for leading clients’ corporate growth programs in the development and implementation of a variety of growth strategies.
    
Alan Wade - Director
Mr. Wade retired from federal service in 2005 after a thirty-five-year career in the Central Intelligence Agency. He retired as the Chief Information Officer, a position he held since 2001. Early assignments at CIA involved technical programs in the United States and overseas, principally in the areas of telecommunications and technical security. The last fifteen years of his career involved a series of executive positions, including that of Director of Communications, Director of Security, and Chief Information Officer. While the CIO, he was dual-hatted as the CIO for the United States intelligence community.

Mr. Wade was instrumental in introducing significant new information technology initiatives into the Central Intelligence Agency’s inventory – including technology that achieved direct successes in the Global War on Terrorism. Mr. Wade's contributions to the Agency during his career were recognized several times. He received the Meritorious and Distinguished Officer Designations, and is a recipient of the National Intelligence Distinguished Service Medal and the Central Intelligence Director’s Medal.

Mr. Wade graduated from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in Blacksburg, Virginia in 1973, receiving a bachelor’s in electrical engineering. In 1978, he received his master’s in electrical engineering from the George Washington University in Washington, D.C.