Moderator:
Jon Lansner, Business Columnist,
OC Register
About
the Panel
Nicolaas
Vlok, CEO, Vision Solutions
Nicolaas Vlok's entrepreneurial career began at age 14 when he
started selling computer hardware. At the age of 21, while studying
engineering at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, he
started TST, a computer hardware and network integration company.
TST thrived off Vlok's unique mix of business acumen and technical
skills. His passion and knowledge for IT were the building blocks
of his visionary thinking. In the next three years, before going
public, the company had zero gearing, was cash flow positive and
returned a profit every year.
Vlok rebranded
the business IDION and in August 1998 listed IDION Technology
Holdings on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. Financial Mail rated
IDION as the best IT listing of 1998. At age 25, Vlok was the
youngest CEO of a listed company in South Africa.
As IDION continued
to grow, Vlok's focus shifted to solutions and services. He set
his sight on turning the company into an international software
developer that could meet the growing needs for information availability
through world-class software and services.
Through four
strategic acquisitions, Vlok started building IDION into a proprietary
software solutions business. This then marked an important leap
into the international arena that lead to IDION's acquisition
of US-based Vision Solutions, Inc. Since the acquisition, Vlok
has led Vision Solutions to become a force in the industry providing
information availability management solutions to customers around
the world.
Jonathan
Epstein, President, GameSpy Industries
Jonathan Epstein joins GameSpy Industries after having served
as Executive Vice President, International, of ZDNet, the Internet's
leading source for technology and Internet content and commerce.
Prior to that, Mr. Epstein was one of the three founders of GameSpot,
where he served as President, Publisher and CEO. Prior to GameSpot,
Mr. Epstein spent nine years at IDG, where he held key leadership
roles in multiple launches, including those of Digital News (as
Director of Operations), and Multimedia World magazine, and served
as President of PC World New Media, where he launched the PC World
Interactive CD-ROM, and oversaw the growth of PC World Online.
Jon Lansner,
Business Columnist, OC Register
Jonathan Lansner is The Orange County Register's business columnist.
His job to explain and analyze the world of money and commerce
for Orange County residents. Lansner has been a business journalist
since 1983. He has been with The Register for 18 years as a writer
and editor in the business section. He has also authored three
books on investing and the economy. Before taking the columnist's
job in April 1997, he spent five years as part of The Register's
four-person management team that overseas financial coverage and
The Register's business section. In his first five years at The
Register, Lansner was a writer covering personal finance and banking
issues. Before coming to Orange County, Lansner spent seven years
at The Pittsburgh Press, working in the sports and business departments.
Lansner, a native of New York City, is a 1979 graduate of the
University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business. He lives
in Trabuco Canyon, California, with his wife, Marianne, and two
kids: Rachel, 9, and Jake, 5.
