About Us

Executives

Executive Team

Behind VOC Systems is an experienced team of dedicated hospitality and related industry professionals with decades of experience in customer relationship management, web-enabled database technology, and marketing research. Each VOC Systems team member works one-on-one with organizations to identify and enhance customer experiences by facilitating top-of-mind communication between consumers and their service providers, resulting in greater customer commitment and client profitability.
Brad Kesel, President & CEO

Brad is an experienced entrepreneur with multi-functional experience attained at Fortune 500 and several early stage companies. Focused on hospitality and retail industries, Brad’s role at VOC is to drive strategy, execution, marketing and partner relationships for the company’s revolutionary technology and service offerings.

Before founding VOC Systems in 2007, he served as Vice President, Projects and Business Development at iCRM (Institute for Customer Relationship Management). There, he led and/or participated in consulting and market research initiatives for organizations such as Kimberly-Clark, Bose, Nautilus, PRG-Schultz, GMA (Grocery Manufacturers Association), FSMA (Foodservice Sales and Marketing Association), and City of Atlanta. At Parker-Hannifin, he held positions in sales engineering, product management and market management and led the development and launch of a multi-million dollar product line for use in the PC industry. At Texas Instruments, he held engineering and marketing roles in specialty components for the cable communications and computer industries.

Brad holds three patents in areas ranging from thermal management to consumer feedback systems, as well as an MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School and a BS in Engineering from Lehigh University.

Scott Wiman, CTO

Scott has over 28 years of experience in the Information and Communications Technology field, and has delivered technology solutions for a diverse range of companies from Fortune 500 (Scientific Atlanta) and academic institutions (Emory) to early stage ventures. As CTO, he brings significant talent to VOC Systems rooted in his previous engineering and management experience with information technology, telecommunications, satellite and video design and engineering, and other technologies. For the last two decades, he has worked as an independent consultant and developer in a computer networking and software development company that he founded. Scott is a graduate of Georgia State University and Mercer University in Atlanta.

Israel DelRio, (Senior Advisor)

A business and technology leader who has contributed the technology vision as key strategist and designer behind the enterprise technology roadmaps of several large hospitality and travel companies, Israel was recognized by Computerworld Magazine as one of their Premiere 100 IT honorees for 2007.

In his role as Senior Vice President & CTO for IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group Plc), he led the core systems and strategic technology transformation efforts, designing, and implementing IHG’s enterprise-wide architecture roadmap. Previously, as Senior VP—Technology Solutions at Starwood, he oversaw the development of technology solutions for guest-facing applications, including web channel and property management systems. Both at IHG and in Starwood, Israel has successfully architected and driven hotel reservation systems using the latest generation Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) solutions. His career also includes working for Sabre, United Airlines and IBM. During his time with United Airlines, Israel pioneered the diskless workstation LAN infrastructure at Chicago’s O’Hare Airport, and while at IBM he provided international support to IBM’s world trade systems engineering organizations, including writing IBM Red Books on networking and on UNIX Internals. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics & Communications from Mexico’s National Polytechnic Institute.

Mike Wittenstein (Sr. Advisor)

Mike is a seasoned marketing/branding/operations/strategy execution veteran with over 20 years of experience at both large and small firms. Focused primarily on service companies, Mike has a long track record at designing and delivering service innovations that help brands become more appealing—and more profitable. Mike has influenced key decisions at Air Canada, Apple, AT&T, Carlson/Wagonlit, CarMax, Delta Air Lines, Diversakore, Goodwill Games, Holiday Inns, IBM, iPay Technologies, Kinko’s, McDonald’s, MCI, SOHO HERO, Southern Company, Turner, US Forest Service, Val-Pak, and Wingate Inns. A former e-visionary at IBM , Mike introduced then revolutionary ideas which are now common. He also founded GALILEO, one of the nation’s first interactive agencies. Mike earned an MBA in international management from Thunderbird and a BA in foreign languages and cultures from the University of Florida. Mike represented the United States in exchange programs to the former Soviet Union and to Brazil and he speaks four languages.

Richard Brock, Senior Advisor

Richard Brock Chairman & Chief Executive Officer Mr. Brock founded FirstWave Technologies, Inc., formerly Brock International, Inc., in 1984 to answer the call of businesses needing a solution to automate their sales, marketing and customer service processes. The founder of Brock Capital Partners, a capital investment firm, and a director of Datastream Systems, Inc., a leading provider of maintenance software, Mr. Brock also served as Chairman of the Technology Association of Georgia. Prior to starting FirstWave, he founded and served as Chief Executive Officer of Management Control Systems, Inc., now a division of the Research Institute of America. A CPA, Mr. Brock received an MBA from Louisiana State University and a BS from Spring Hill College.

Roland T. Rust (Sr. Advisor and Board Member)

Roland T. Rust is Distinguished University Professor and David Bruce Smith Chair in Marketing at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, where he is Chair of the Marketing Department and founder and Executive Director of two research centers: the Center for Excellence in Service and the Center for Complexity in Business.

His lifetime achievement honors include the American Marketing Association’s Gilbert A. Churchill Award for Lifetime Achievement in Marketing Research, the Distinguished Marketing Educator Award from the Academy of Marketing Science, the Outstanding Contributions to Research in Advertising award from the American Academy of Advertising, and many others. His book, Driving Customer Equity (written with Valarie Zeithaml and Katherine Lemon) won the Berry-AMA Book Prize for the best book in marketing.

Rust is the founder and Chair of the AMA’s annual Frontiers in Service Conference, and was founding Editor of the Journal of Service Research. He is an Academic Trustee of the Marketing Science Institute and serves on the Executive Committee of the European Marketing Academy. He is the immediate past Editor of the Journal of Marketing, and serves as an Area Editor for Marketing Science and the Journal of Marketing Research. He has consulted with many leading companies worldwide, including such companies as American Airlines, AT&T, Chase, Comcast, Dow Chemical, DuPont, Eli Lilly, FedEx, Hershey, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, NASA, NCR, Nortel, Procter & Gamble, Sears, Unilever, and USAA.

K.A. Tolmie (Sr. Advisor and Board Member)

Kim Tolmie brings over 25 years of human resource management experience in consumer products, manufacturing and telecommunications. She began her career with GTE Corporation where she participated in a “fast track” development program and gained experience in staffing, compensation and employee relations. She then became the first Human Resources Manager for Trotter, Inc., a manufacturer of fitness equipment in Massachusetts that later merged with Cybex. Her most recent experience has been with The Coca-Cola Company where she worked with the Key Account Teams on team effectiveness, capability planning, staffing, compensation and restructuring projects. After leaving Coke, she began her consulting career and has continued in that capacity with Coke as a major client. She has assisted in leading a worldwide restructuring initiative, facilitated large departmental planning meetings, and designed and facilitated various management development training programs. She has her BS in Industrial Relations and Psychology from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and completed MBA coursework at Boston University.