Executive Officers

E. Scott Crist, 60
Chief Executive Officer and Chairman

E. Scott Crist, our Chairman since July 2024 and Chief Executive Officer since August 2024, has over 30 years of business experience and an extensive background as an entrepreneur, venture capitalist and chief executive officer. He has founded, built and successfully exited a number of businesses in the technology, telecommunications, and industrial sectors, including companies involved in emerging 5G, AI and IoT technologies. He has been a partner at Texas Ventures, a leading technology venture firm, since January 2000, and the chairman and CEO of Osperity, Inc. a market leader in AI-assisted industrial computer vision, since September 2019. From November 2021 to May 2024, Mr. Crist served as a director of Next Renewable Fuels, Inc., a private company engaged in the manufacturing of renewable fuels. From January 2021 to October 2023, Mr. Crist served as the CEO and director of Industrial Tech Acquisitions II, Inc. (Nasdaq: ITAQ), a blank check company that raised approximately 172.5 million in its initial public offering in January 2022. In addition, from June 2020 to October 2021, Mr. Crist served as the CEO and director of Industrial Tech Acquisitions, Inc. (Nasdaq: ITAC), a blank check company that raised over $75 million in its initial public offering in September 2020 and consummated an initial business combination with Arbe Robotics Ltd. (Nasdaq: ARBE) in October 2021; following the business combination, Mr. Crist has been serving as a director of Arbe Robotics Ltd. (Nasdaq: ARBE). From March 2016 to September 2019, Mr. Crist was the CEO, and from March 2016 to September 2020, the Chairman of Infrastructure Networks, Inc. (“iNet”), a leading 4G and 5G-LTE wireless broadband provider for the energy industry, until its control position sale to Apollo Global Management. In 2012, Mr. Crist founded VA-Gov Housing Fund, a partnership of profit and non-profit companies advocating for U.S. veterans and their families and has been serving as its Chairman since then. In such capacity, he became a large lender for the U.S. government’s homeless shelter program for veterans while deploying significant capital and achieving a blended internal rate of return of approximately 15% for the “for-profit” limited partners. From 2000 to 2002, Mr. Crist was the founding chairman of Asset Nation Inc., formerly known as SalvageSale, Inc., (“SalvageSale”) an ecommerce leader in the surplus and salvage industry for the insurance brokerage and underwriting industry, which was acquired by Ritchie Bros Auctioneers Inc. (NYSE: RBA) (“Ritchie Brothers”) in May 2012. The original SalvageSale platform served as a cornerstone of the Ritchie Brothers ecommerce strategy. Earlier in his career, from 1994 to 2000, Mr. Crist was the founder and CEO of Telscape International Inc. (“Telscape”), a telecommunications company focused on emerging global markets and he built Telscape from its start-up stage through multiple acquisitions, into a publicly traded industry leader with a market cap in excess of $100 million. From 1991 to 1995, he was the President and CEO of Matrix Telecom, Inc., a long-distance telecommunications company, which ranked the 7th on the list of the 500 fastest growing private companies in the U.S. by Inc. Magazine in 1995. Mr. Crist was named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2000 for the Texas region. He holds a BS in Electrical & Computer Engineering from North Carolina State University. He has an MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University, and is a former adjunct professor and current lecturer at Rice University’s Jones Graduate School of Business. We believe Mr. Crist’s experience may facilitate us to identify, source, negotiate and execute an initial business combination with the goal of pursuing exceptional risk-adjusted returns for our shareholders.

R. Greg Smith, 66
Chief Financial Officer and Director Nominee

R. Greg Smith, our Chief Financial Officer since August 2024 and our director nominee, has more than 35 years of corporate finance and management experience, including the last 30 years in the capacities of CFO, Senior Vice President, Executive Vice President and Director of venture and private equity-backed private and public companies and their respective subsidiaries. Since July 2020, he has been the director and CFO of Texas Ventures. From January 2021 to October 2023, Mr. Smith served as the CFO, and from January 2022 to October 2023 as a director of Industrial Tech Acquisitions II, Inc. (Nasdaq: ITAQ), a blank check company that raised approximately $172.5 million in its initial public offering in January 2022. In addition, from June 2020 to October 2021, Mr. Smith served as the CFO of Industrial Tech Acquisitions, Inc., a blank check company that raised over $75 million in its initial public offering in September 2020 and consummated an initial business combination with Arbe Robotics Ltd. (Nasdaq: ARBE) in October 2021. He has extensive experience in mergers, acquisitions and divestitures including due diligence, valuation analysis, transaction negotiations, term sheets, letters of intent and definitive agreements. He served as the CFO for iNet from February 2017 through May 2020 and subsequently served as a special advisor until December 2020. In his capacity as the CFO of iNet, he helped grow the company through the completion of its Series D round of financing with a global private equity firm. Prior to iNet, he held executive and director positions for over 13 years in a wireless broadband company which provided high-speed broadband and remote connectivity for mission-critical applications to energy companies, banks, and hospitals. Mr. Smith received a BBA degree in Finance and minor in Economics from Sam Houston State University. We believe that Mr. Smith is well qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his extensive business experience cited above.

Board of Directors

Andrew Clark, 62
Independent Director Nominee

Andrew Clark, our director nominee, has over 40 years of business experience spanning many facets of technology, industrial and energy businesses. He has been a founder, principal, CFO and CEO with The Castell Group, an investment and advisory firm assisting companies in technology businesses, since 2003. In this capacity, he currently serves as CFO for Photon Vault Inc., an early-stage energy storage company. On a daily basis, he interacts with some of the region’s top entrepreneurs assisting them with their businesses while identifying the best of breed in which to invest. In addition, from January 2022 to October 2023, Mr. Clark served as a director of Industrial Tech Acquisitions II, Inc. (Nasdaq: ITAQ), a blank check company that raised $172.5 million in its initial public offering. From September 2020 to October 2021, Mr. Clark was a director of Industrial Tech Acquisitions, Inc. (Nasdaq: ITAC), a blank check company that raised over $75 million in its initial public offering in September 2020 and consummated an initial business combination with Arbe Robotics Ltd. (Nasdaq: ARBE) in September 2021. In addition, he has been serving as director of Texas Halo Fund I, LLC since 2012, of AETolls, LLC since 2018 and of TapNpay Inc. since 2020. Mr. Clark also served as a director of Surge Accelerator, LLC (2011 to 2013), CSIdentity (2007 to 2009), Onit, Inc. (2010 to 2012), and Metal Networks (2013 to 2016). Mr. Clark was also a Venture Advisor for Mercury Fund from 2010 to 2016. In his earlier career, he served as VP of Interactive Marketing at Reliant Energy (now NRG) from 2000 to 2003, as Director of Strategy, Planning, and Business Operations at Compaq Computer (now Hewlett Packard) from 1989 to 2000, and as a consultant with Coopers & Lybrand (now Pricewaterhouse Coopers) from 1985 to 1989. He began his private equity investment experience at Compaq Computer where he served as an observer on various boards. He is a graduate of The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania where he received his BS degree in Economics with a concentration in Entrepreneurship, and was both a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and a University Scholar.

Harvin Moore, 60
Independent Director Nominee

Harvin Moore, our director nominee, has been a principal of Frontera Technology Ventures (“Frontera”), an investment and advisory service firm, since July 1991. From January 2022 until October 2023, Mr. Moore served as a director of Industrial Tech Acquisitions II, Inc. (Nasdaq: ITAQ), a blank check company that raised approximately $172.5 million in its initial public offering. In addition, from September 2020 to October 2021, Mr. Moore was a director of Industrial Tech Acquisitions, Inc. (Nasdaq: ITAC), a blank check company that raised over $75 million in its initial public offering in September 2020 and consummated an initial business combination with Arbe Robotics Ltd. (Nasdaq: ARBE) in October 2021. From December 2018 until January 2021, Mr. Moore served on the governing board of the Houston Angel Network, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting startups with financial resources and mentorship. From June 2019 until July 2021, he served as a President, Director, member of the Audit Committee and CEO of Houston Exponential, an independent non-profit focused on accelerating the growth of the technology innovation ecosystem of Houston, Texas, and as the co-chairman of the Houston Aerospace and Aviation Regional Task Force, a committee of the Greater Houston Partnership, that pursues commercial arrangements in aerospace and aviation for the Houston region, from August 2020 until July 2021. He was previously a director of Space Service Holdings and Celestis. Mr. Moore has been involved in the technology innovation movement in Texas since the 1990s as an entrepreneur, advisor, and venture investor. As a Principal of Frontera, Mr. Moore has invested in and/or advised growth-stage technology companies, holding equity stakes in many of Frontera’s portfolio clients. Mr. Moore has also been a director of Frontera Furniture Company since October 1991 and Emeritus International Education since August 2017. In addition, Mr. Moore has been deeply involved with K12 education since 1996, having worked with several prominent education reform organizations, including KIPP, Inc., a public charter school network, as a founding director, Treasurer, and Vice Chairman from 1997 to 2003. Mr. Moore was elected to the Board of Education of Houston Independent School District in 2003, and was re-elected three subsequent times before retiring as the longest serving member in 2017. Mr. Moore was the Chief Operating Officer and Director of both Space Service Holdings, Inc. (2003-2015), and Sentinel Satellite Inc. (2008-2014). Mr. Moore currently serves on the governing boards of TXRX Labs, a non-profit makerspace and job training organization, since December 2018, The Manned Spaceflight Educational Foundation Inc., d/b/a Space Center Houston, a nonprofit which operates the visitor center for NASA’s Johnson Space Center Space Center Houston, since September 2012, and the Powell Foundation, a private charitable foundation supporting public education, arts, conservation and human services, since December 2000, where he also serves on the audit committee and as Treasurer since 2018. He holds a Master of Business Administration in Finance from New York University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Northwestern University. We believe Mr. Moore is well qualified to serve on our board of directors due to his extensive operational and management experience in technology and finance related organizations.

Aruna Viswanathan, 53
Independent Director Nominee

Aruna Viswanathan, our director nominee, was the co-founder of AlphaX Decision Sciences (“AlphaX”), a provider of artificial intelligence software and cloud infrastructure solutions, and has been serving as its Chief Operating Officer and VP Finance since August 2017. In addition, she has been a board member of Texas Innovation Center since January 2023, and a venture advisor of Ecosphere Ventures, a Houston-based fund focused on investing in transformative climatetech and sustainability in the U.S., since May 2023. From January 2022 until October 2023, Ms. Viswanathan served as a director of Industrial Tech Acquisitions II, Inc. (Nasdaq: ITAQ), a blank check company that raised approximately $172.5 million in its initial public offering in January 2022. In addition, from September 2020 to October 2021, Ms. Viswanathan was a director of Industrial Tech Acquisitions, Inc. (Nasdaq: ITAC), a blank check company that raised over $75 million in its initial public offering in September 2020 and consummated an initial business combination with Arbe Robotics Ltd. (Nasdaq: ARBE) in October 2021. Prior to her position at AlphaX, from July 2016 to August 2017, she was the Chief Operating Officer of The RBR Group, a technology development and commercialization firm. From April 2006 through June 2016, Ms. Viswanathan was a partner and Chief Investment Officer at Clearspring Capital Group and involved in managing two private equity funds that provided growth financing across a broad range of industries. Her other notable experiences in connection with funds include BorderComm/XC Networks (acquired by Transtelco in 2013), Softlayer Technologies, Inc. (acquired by International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) (NASDAQ: IBM) in 2013), and Sweet Leaf Tea Company (acquired by Nestle S.A. (OTCMKTS: NSRGY in 2011). In addition, as the former Director of Operations and board member for the Houston Technology Center from 2001 through 2006, Ms. Viswanathan helped direct the growth of the organization and launched the Gulf Coast Regional Center for Innovation and Commercialization. She was employed by Motorola Solutions Inc’s (NYSE: MSI) Wireless Signal Processing Division from 1994 through 1999 and began her career at Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMD) as an Associate Engineer from 1991 to 1993. Appointed by Texas Governor Rick Perry, Ms. Viswanathan served on the Texas Emerging Technology Fund Committee from 2007 to 2012. From January 2015 to January 2017, she was a Director for the Houston Angel Network. She has been a current board member since January 2014 and was the President in 2014 and 2015 of the Houston Chapter of The Indus Entrepreneurs (TiE), a global entrepreneurship organization, since 2014 and was on the Board of Advisors for the Cullen College of Engineering at the University of Houston from 2005 through 2013. Ms. Viswanathan was the 2018 recipient of the Indo American Chamber of Commerce “Women in Business Award” in Houston, the recipient of the 2011 Houston Business Journal’s 40 under 40 awards and the 2003 Women in Technology award from the Association of Women in Computing. Ms. Viswanathan graduated with a Bachelor of Science and Master of Science in Electrical Engineering from University of Texas, Austin and a Master of Business Administration from Rice University. We believe Ms. Viswanathan is well qualified to serve on our board of directors due to her extensive operational and management experience in technology and finance related organizations.