Management Team
We’ve assembled a world-class team of executives at the crossroads of social media marketing and technology, with experience across key sectors, to provide unparalleled service and expertise. Following are key members of the Appnostic executive management team:
Brian Dass
CEO
Mr. Dass, a seasoned technology entrepreneur who is widely-recognized as one of the leading pioneers in the hospitality ecommerce and online reservation industry, is the founder and CEO of Appnostic, LLC. Mr. Dass brings to his position years of international hotel experience and expertise. He began his career managing multiple boutique hotels in New York City for the HK Hotel Group. While working at the Casablanca Hotel, Mr. Dass implemented and launched New York’s first real-time, web-based hotel booking system for an independent hotel.
Mr. Dass went onto found two travel technology-related companies. His first venture was acquired by TravelClick, one of the largest travel marketing and electronic reservations companies. In 2004, Mr. Dass co-founded the next-level incarnation of his prior endeavor Open Hospitality, which was recently acquired by Pegasus Solutions. While at Open Hospitality, he led the development of multi-city distribution channels for booking engine hotel clients. He developed a portfolio of ancillary products and services provided by a multitude of partners which complemented the company’s booking services and which assisted in exponentially growing new revenue streams. Mr. Dass was also responsible for Open Hospitality’s expansion outside of the U.S and he managed the UK/European offices.
For Appnostic, Mr. Dass focused his talents on building world-class social media enterprise software that can be used for small, medium and large fortune 500 companies across multiple sectors. Pioneering a new way of bundling complementary services to help verticals with a ‘one stop shop for all’ of their social media needs, the company is rolling out an innovative PartnerNetwork to provide many services and tools to companies with multiple accounts.
Mr. Dass spends his time with his wife and daughter, enjoys hardcore boxing classes which he says as a serial entrepreneur helps him to stay ‘focused’.
Jeff Thomas
EVP, Business Development
Jeff Thomas is a 27-year travel industry veteran and subject matter expert in the areas of travel and hospitality distribution, Internet development and marketing, and visual content management. Jeff leads business development activities for Appnostic to companies in the travel industry vertical.
Prior to Appnostic, Jeff served as the VP, Global Distribution for VFM Leonardo where he led the company’s efforts with managing existing and developing new distribution relationships with travel intermediaries, OTAs, search engines, travel search research web sites. Prior to joining VFM Leonardo, Jeff was the Vice President – Commercial Operations for Leonardo Media where he led the company’s business development initiatives on a global basis. Prior to Leonardo, Jeff served as Vice President, Business Development – The Americas for Open World Limited, a U.K.-based Web site design and marketing company. In this position, he was responsible for the company’s growth with hotel brands, travel distribution partners and search engine marketing strategy. While at Open World he led the development of several very successful hotel & travel affiliate web sites, including LuxuryTravel.com, WorldExecutive.com and WorldAirportGuides.com.
Jeff was also on the start-up team at Orbitz.com where led the development of the hotel product, followed by taking on the role of Manager, Hotel Partnerships and Advertising Sales where he developed and managed distribution partnerships with all major hotel companies. Jeff was also the Corporate Director, Internet Marketing for Hyatt hotels & Resorts where he successfully directed the design and implementation of the Hyatt Hotels & Resorts global Web site and also served as Hyatt’s Manager, Global Distribution Marketing, where he developed and managed annual marketing and incentive programs to increase total revenues generated through travel agency consortia and GDSs. Jeff also held various roles with Galileo International and Holiday Inns Worldwide.
G. Christopher DCosta
EVP of Technology
Gaurav Christopher Dcosta built his first website when he was just 12 years old. He has worked with hundreds of SMEs over the years to bring to life their Websites, Web Applications and Web-based ERP systems. With an in-depth understanding of technologies including PHP, jQuery, MySQL, Joomla, Magento, Photoshop and Flash he strongly believes that Web based applications are the future of computing, both in the Desktop as well as the Mobile space.
His passions include singing, listening to music [all forms of Rock, Country and Jazz], driving cross-country and geeking-it-out over a long weekend behind a laptop, building the next ‘killer’ Web/iPhone/Android Application.
Sarah Murphy
Director of Account Management
Sarah Murphy joined Appnostic after leaving Open Hospitality where she served as Account Manager with overall responsibility for the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia. She is now tasked with managing the direction of Account Services for Appnostic, ensuring the highest level of customer support for the portfolio of four- and five-star clientele. Before her tenure at Open Hospitality, from 2004-2007, Sarah served as Front Office Manager for the London Bridge Hotel, a four-star, 141-room hotel in Central London. At London Bridge her primary responsibilities included managing the reservations and reception teams as well as the overall yield/revenue management of the property. Previous roles include management positions at Kingsway Hall Hotel in Covent Garden, London and De Vere Hotels.
Kenneth Kaplan
Senior Legal Counsel
Ken has extensive experience representing public and private businesses in a wide variety of transactions including mergers, acquisitions, financing, licensing, consulting, development, distribution, marketing and strategic alliance matters. His experience in commercial transactions has a particular emphasis on technology, advertising, telecommunications, entertainment and pharmaceutical matters. Ken has completed more than one thousand transactions for businesses throughout the United States. He also routinely serves as lead counsel on complex acquisition and financing transactions including mergers, acquisitions and venture capital matters.
Frank J. Prudente
Financial Officer/Managing Partner-Channel Partner Sales
Mr. Prudente brings to Appnostic more than 20 years of financial, accounting and capital raising experience. At Appnostic, Frank will oversee the company’s channel sales strategy. He previously served as Partner in global accounting firm Arthur Anderson, and financial officer for a publicly-traded financial services company.
Peter Kalanda
Operations Analyst
Peter has a strong financial background having served as Transaction Advisory Service Analyst on behalf of Ernst and Young, where he provided portfolio analysis for real estate and hospitality transactions. Peter also had a strong background in hotel management, having held top front office and operations positions. As Appnostic’s Operations Analyst, Peter manages the day-to-day business intelligence and analytics, providing data assessments and measuring performance.
Peter comes to Appnostic most recently from the famed Gansevoort Hotel Group, where he served as Accounting Analyst, performing various accounting functions for both of their NYC properties, including Hotel Gansevoort and Gasevoort Park Avenue. He also held key operations positions at the Library Hotel and HK Hotels, both in New York City, as well as oversaw portfolio analysis for Ernst & Young. Peter is a graduate of Boston University’s Hotel Management School.
Martin Kalanda
Creative Director
Martin brings a wealth of design experience to his role at Appnostic with more than a decade of Graphic, Web and User Interface design. He has created web startups from the ground up, worked with clients form an array of diverse industries, and won multiple awards for web design and development. He’s worked with MSNBC, ESPN, Discovery Channel TSX, many travel industry businesses, film and Broadway, as well as educational institutions including Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Columbia University and Huntington Learning Center.
Martin started his professional career as a travel researcher and Hotel website designer. He recently came from a interactive design agency where he was the lead Web and UI designer. As an artist, Martin has won awards for his drawings and paintings with group shows in Chelsea, NYC including Rush Gallery, as well as a one man show in Tribeca, NYC. He is a graduate of Boston University’s College of Communications with degrees in Communications, Visual Arts, and History.
Nat Harris
Director of Interactive Design
Nat Harris is an experienced web designer with more than a decade of experience working for topnotch web publishers. He comes to Appnostic from the New York Times, where he worked for the past 8 years as assistant photos and graphics editor. Nat’s expertise lies in the areas of layout, design (logos, websites, print), CSS development, Flash Animation, WordPress implementation and site customization.
Nat is originally from Georgia, where he received his Undergraduate degree in Painting from the University of Georgia. While in Georgia, Nat received two awards, including the 2005 and 2006 Printing Association of Georgia, Print Excellence Award. He later received his Graduate degree in Painting at Pratt Institute; and he currently resides in Caldwell, NJ, with his son, wife and dog.
Steffen Kaplan
Director of Social Media, TweetAgent
Steffen Kaplan, a graduate of Baruch College with a degree in Political Science, joined Appnostic’s TweetAgent in December 2009 after a long-standing career at The New York Times where he served as a Photo Editor and Supervisor for 15 years. Kaplan, a social media addict, is now tasked with directing a team of creative content writers and developing social media strategies for businesses here and abroad, ranging from luxury hotels to restaurants. During his years at the Times, Kaplan was also an accomplished freelance photojournalist who specialized in documenting the NYPD. He has been published in newspapers and magazines around the world. His photographs are part of the permanent archives at the Museum of the City of New York and also appear in the opening montage of the NBC’s Law & Order: Special Victims Unit.
These days, Steffen, an ex-roller disco king who used to perform at the The Roxy Roller Rink, has traded in his eight wheels and his love of photographing the action on the streets of New York, for the quiet of the Ramapo Mountains, near his home in Ramsey, NJ.
