About Our Bloggers

Dale Calder, President and CEO, Axeda 

Mr. Calder founded Axeda in 2000 and is responsible for the company's overall strategic direction and day-to-day operations. With more than 20 years experience in technology, Mr. Calder created the vision for the remote service and support market and the technology required to serve it. Mr. Calder recognized that providing businesses with a real-time connection to their remote assets would revolutionize the way they deliver service and support to their customers. Upon this vision, he has built the leading organization in the industry.

Prior to his role with Axeda, Mr. Calder was the founder and president of FactorySoft, a world leader in connectivity tools for the automation industry. As Axeda' s predecessor, FactorySoft supplied device connectivity solutions to over 100 major organizations. Mr. Calder also held positions at Iconics, Inc. and Turning Point Software, where he managed product delivery for Word Perfect Organization. He began his career at Westinghouse Electric as an engineer.

Mr. Calder received a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and Duke University. He also attended the M.B.A. program at Carnegie-Mellon University and holds three technology patents. 

James R. Hansen, Chief Technology Officer, Axeda 
An Axeda co-founder, Mr. Hansen is the head architect for Axeda® ServiceLink (formerly Axeda DRM), the industry's leading Internet-based remote monitoring and services platform. In his role, he sets the direction of the product design and functionality for everything from the embedded cross-platform agents to the J2EE application server. A recipient of four patents, Mr. Hansen has also filed eight additional patents related to the Axeda ServiceLink product.

Mr. Hansen joined Axeda ten years ago from FactorySoft, where he was principal software architect, providing technical direction for the company's OPC technology initiative. While there, he created the most widely used OPC toolkit for standards-based factory automation. With 23 years of experience in software and hardware design, Mr. Hansen has designed a multitude of hardware interfaces and software data acquisition and control systems on Windows and Linux, as well as VxWorks and other embedded kernels.

Mr. Hansen has a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from UCLA and a Master of Science degree in electrical engineering from California State University, Northridge.

Richard MacKeen, Senior Vice President Research & Development and Services, Axeda

Mr. MacKeen co-founded Axeda and is responsible for leading the R&D and Professional Services teams. With over 25 years of experience in the development and management of world-class product and service organizations, he has personally driven the success of Axeda's rapidly growing customer base. As a seasoned operational executive with experience in all phases of Axeda's business, he architected the company's Total Quality Initiative (TQI) and is the main driver behind Axeda's Maximum Results services.

Prior to joining Axeda, Mr. MacKeen co-founded FactorySoft, the industry leader in connectivity tools for the Industrial Automation market. At FactorySoft he was responsible for the technology and the delivery of product to over 100 major organizations. Mr. MacKeen has also held a variety of management and development positions at Iconics, Sapient, Telco System Corporation, Analog Devices, and EG&G.

He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in computer science from Northeastern University.

Jim Pendergast, Vice President of Customer Success, Axeda 

Jim Pendergast joined Axeda in 2007, and is responsible for driving the success of Axeda customers in creating, deploying, and growing their remote service programs using Axeda products and services.

Prior to joining Axeda, Pendergast was the Director of Programs within the Global Support Organization at Openwave Systems, where he had a distinguished track record of success and innovation, creating key corporate programs for customer advocacy, crisis management, and value-added services. He has more than 15 years of high-tech experience, focusing on driving operational excellence, managing process improvement initiatives to stimulate revenue and margin growth, and building programs to increase customer loyalty and satisfaction.

Jim holds a bachelors degree in operations management from Northeastern University.

Brian Anderson, Vice President of Marketing, Axeda

Brian Anderson joined Axeda in the fall of 2001, and is responsible for marketing at Axeda including product marketing and management, marketing communications and programs. During his tenure at Axeda, Brian has been integral to both the marketing and product strategy of the company, resulting in Axeda's position as the market leader.

Brian has more than 20 years of software marketing and product development experience with a strong background in Web-based business applications, application servers and infrastructure, databases, and development tools.Prior to joining Axeda, Brian was director of strategic development and product management at Art Technology Group. He has also held senior marketing roles at Lotus Development, Progress Software and Centerline Software.

Brian holds a bachelors degree in computer science from the Illinois Institute of Technology.

Dan Murphy, Director of Product Marketing, Axeda

Dan Murphy joined Axeda in early 2006, and leads Axeda's efforts in promoting Axeda ServiceLink as the leading solution for remote service across the collaborative enterprise. Dan's background in enterprise software and security solutions spans many years with industry-leading companies such as Symantec, Macromedia, and PTC.

Dan holds a bachelors degree in mechanical engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Randy Thompson, Director of Technical Account Managers, Axeda