Executive Team
North End Technologies is comprised of videoconferencing and robotic veterans who bring a whole new slant to these existing technologies.
Brad Kayton - CEO
Brad Kayton is the CEO of North End Technologies. Mr. Kayton has over twenty years of experience in successful new product category creation in audio-visual communications and networked products. Mr. Kayton is credited with the introduction of the residential gateway (RGW), the digital media adapter (DMA), the set-top video conferencing form factor, home control services for broadband carriers, and hospital-compliant telemedical video conferencing. Prior to joining North End, Mr. Kayton was Chief Operating Officer of 4Home, Inc., which has emerged as the leader in home control services, the next set of for-fee broadband services after voice-video-data; he had been CEO and co-founder of the predecessor company, Nearmedia, prior to its acquisition in 2007 by 4Home. Prior to that, Mr. Kayton was the Senior VP of Marketing & Business Development for PRISMIQ, the inventor of the digital media adapter product category, and winner of 16 Editor Choice and seven major “consumer product of the year” awards in its first year on the market; Mr. Kayton joined PRISMIQ through their acquisition of Paros Software, a software firm he co-founded and served as CEO.
In the late 90s, he co-founded and was VP of Marketing & Online Services at 2Wire, a pioneer and current leader in broadband residential gateways (over 27M units sold) and home networking peripherals. Mr. Kayton was also the Director of Video Products for Polycom where he defined, managed, and launched worldwide what quickly became the market share leading ViewStation product line (over $3B in total sales). In the early 90s Mr. Kayton spent five years at VTEL where he co-invented the world’s first hospital-compliant two-way video telemedicine product which was a market leader and won many accolades in its day. Mr. Kayton began his career as a software programmer, received an MBA and a MA in communication technologies from the University of Texas in Austin, and a BA from the University of Virginia where he was an Echols Scholar.
Founder and CTO, VP Product Development -Tim Root
Tim Root is a founder of North End Technologies and oversees product development as its CTO and Vice President of Product Development. Mr. Root brings more than 20 years of systems design and world class management experience to North End Technologies. Mr. Root developed the first product concept and then helped to build the company team. Today he is building and leading the development organization and is responsible for the product road map.
Mr. Root has extensive expertise and successfully designed and engineered products that have captured leading market share within the video conferencing industry. Mr. Root has previously held senior management positions at OzVision, Polycom (PLCM) and PictureTel (PCTL) corporations. At OzVision Mr. Root served as CTO and VP Product Development. At Polycom he served as CTO & VP Business Development, which involved overall responsibility for the technical and business direction of Polycom’s Video Division representing over $300M in revenues, and VP Strategy, which involved developing a fully integrated product strategy for the company’s Audio, Video, and Network Divisions. At PictureTel, he held Director of Product Development and CTO positions and led the company to a recognized world class leader in video conferencing. The company was successfully sold to Polycom (PLCM) for $362M.
Mr. Root has also served as a strategic consultant within the video communications industry helping companies create new products and business revenues. Clients have included Avaya, Nortel, RemoteReality, and Revolabs. Prior to PictureTel Mr. Root was a Sr. Engineer developing DSP based defense related imaging systems. Mr. Root has a dual degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology / Sloan achieving a SM in Management and Engineering, an MSEE, DSP and Video from Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and a BSEE, Computers from Northeastern University.
Founder and Chief Robotics Officer - Grinnell More
Grinnell is a founder of North End Technologies and serves as its Chief Robotics Officer. Mr. More is a life-long entrepreneur and robotics industry pioneer. He founded his first robotics company, Real World Interface, Inc. in 1983, the year he graduated high school. Mr. More developed RWI into the leading developer & supplier of academic and research oriented mobile robots and from the mid 1980s through the 1990s RWI supplied the worlds leading robotics research organizations with developmental systems, accelerating their ability to create new robotics algorithms and technologies. Customers included MIT, CMU, Stanford, IBM, NASA, Army Research Labs, Navy Research Labs, Etc.
In 1998 Mr. More merged RWI, Inc. with MIT spin-off IS-Robotics to form the iRobot Corporation. From 1999 to 2003 Mr. More ran iRobot’s Military Systems Division, during which time he established the major military robot platforms and contract awards that continue to underpin iRobot’s defense business, including the PackBot-EOD, Warrior, and SUGV programs and platforms. Mr. More left iRobot shortly after their IPO in 2005 and founded North End Technologies with Partners Tim Root and Tom Ryden.
Founder and COO - Tom Ryden
Tom Ryden is a founder of North End Technologies. As its COO, Mr. Ryden leverages a broad business background in emerging technology companies. Prior to starting North End, Mr. Ryden was Director of Government & Industrial Sales & Marketing iRobot Corporation from 2003 until 2007. Under his leadership annual revenue from its government and industrial products increased from $8M to +$80M, helping position the iRobot to go public in 2005. From 2000 through 2002 Mr. Ryden filled operational, program management and business development roles in iRobot’s Military Systems division, including successfully executing the development of key iRobot products.
Previously Mr. Ryden was President and Co-founder of Exeter Analytical, Inc, a manufacturer of analytical instrumentation. Under his leadership Exeter expanded rapidly, securing large contracts with US Government and major pharmaceutical companies. Before founding Exeter Analytical, Mr. Ryden worked for Teledyne Leeman Labs where he served in numerous roles including Director of Customer Support and Controller. Prior to Leeman, Mr. Ryden was a program manager at Lotus Development Corp. Mr. Ryden has a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Vermont and an MBA from Bentley College, Waltham, MA.
VP Marketing and Product Management - Ned Semonite
Ned Semonite is the VP of Marketing and Product Management at North End Technologies. Mr. Semonite brings a wealth of experience as a seasoned product and marketing professional with over 25 years experience in bringing innovative hi-tech products and services to enterprise and consumer markets. Prior to North End, Ned joined American Power Conversion to help define and build a new line of business - Management and Enterprise Software Solutions - a strategic initiative to deliver intelligent data center management software. The new business line was instrumental in extending APC’s value to over $6B in its acquisition by the French conglomerate, Schneider Electric.
Prior to APC, Mr. Semonite was instrumental in developing the videoconferencing industry. Joining PictureTel in 1991, Ned first worked to sign and develop telco channel partners then rose through the organization in a series of management roles including VP of product management, VP of engineering and EVP of worldwide marketing . Mr. Semonite executed two acquisitions, an OEM partnership, and two significant joint development programs with Intel and Sharp which resulted in a new product line that set off a wave of award winning innovation throughout the industry. The new product line and customer base strengths led to the acquisition by Polycom where Ned took over product responsibility for Polycom’s entire videoconferencing portfolio. Prior to PictureTel, Ned spent 8 years with ICL (International Computers Limited), where he held management and marketing positions in their network systems group. At ICL, he developed an audio/data software application for ISDN and LAN connected PCs which was the first desktop screen sharing application – a forerunner of today’s web conferencing solutions. From lower Manhattan in New York City, he had the privilege of making the first ISDN call on a public network in the US. He earned his engineering degree from Brown University.