ACADEMIA

FastSoft, a Southern California-based company that develops products that accelerate the transfer of data over the Internet, today announced that Mike Beard has joined as director of sales and Pamela Hunt has joined as financial comptroller. Both of these hires were made as part of FastSoft’s expansion following the closing of its Series A round of funding, which was led by Miramar Venture Partners. Companies that depend on the transfer of large files – like video and design files – lose valuable time and productivity waiting for data to download. FastSoft’s Aria product line decreases the file transfer wait time for clients, employees, partners and suppliers with a single-box tool that does not require any hardware or software on the receiving end. Beard was previously district sales director at Netli (acquired by Akamai), where he was named “Most Valuable Player” in 2005 and Top Performer in the first quarter of 2007. He has also held sales and sales management positions at Interwoven, SAP, InterWorld and HP. Beard holds a B.A. in Business Administration from the University of Richmond. Hunt has more than 17 years experience in job cost analysis, variance analysis, cash management and financial statement preparation. She holds an Associate’s Degree from Citrus College and was an Accounting Major at Cal Poly Pomona. Steven Low, CEO of FastSoft, says, “Our award-winning technology has proven itself in the real world, and our mission is to build a strong company that will help us increase sales and grow our business. Earlier this year we received our Series A funding so that we could expand our infrastructure and increase our sales and marketing presence. Having Mike and Pam join our team is an important step as FastSoft moves to the next stage in our evolution.”