About Us

Ian Widger
President and CEO

Prior to joining Encounter as President and CEO, Widger was AccessLine's Chief Executive Officer. At AccessLine, Widger repositioned the company, restructured its balance sheet and capital structure and attracted a success-oriented management team. Widger's expertise in telecommunications was gained over the previous fifteen years with companies ranging from Infonet Services Corporation to Sprint and Plessey Communications, Ltd., one of the two UK telecommunication giants. Among Widger's prior senior management responsibilities were serving as Sprint's President for Northern Europe, Infonet's Executive Vice President of Marketing and Global Strategies and Chairman of the Board of Infonet Software Solutions.

Bruce Frydenlund
COO

Bruce Frydenlund is the founder, COO and Chairman of the Board of Encounter Collaborative. Frydenlund's vision of the use of collaboration to enhance remote communications led him to develop significant enhancements to existing audio conferencing technologies and he was a pioneer in the web conferencing industry. Under his leadership, Envoy Icon developed an unparalleled Event Management business that was later sold to PlaceWare and eventually Microsoft. Encounter Collaborative continues to build upon Frydenlund's experience and vision for the collaboration industry to create an environment that places a premium on integrated conferencing services that are responsive to customer's needs and applications. He continues to be relied upon within the industry to provide direction for the integration of future technologies.

Ann Murphy
Vice President of Strategic Services

A 20-year veteran of the high technology and collaborative industries, Ann Murphy has managed operations, training and strategic sales for technology firms ranging from Tektronix and Sequent Computer Systems to InFocus Systems. Prior to joining Encounter, Murphy directed the Event Services Division of PlaceWare, Inc., where she grew division revenue by more than 800% within the first 8 months of her tenure.

Patchen Noelke
Vice President of Marketing

Patchen Noelke is a marketing strategist with over 12 years of technology marketing experience and a proven track record in business to business, enterprise, hardware, software, service and partner marketing. As the head of SprayCool corporate marketing he renamed the company SprayCool, created a nationally recognized brand and exceeded demand goals by 50%. At VERITAS Software (now Symantec), he ran all demand generation and marketing for a $250M sales region, producing over 400 events and programs generating over 250,000 leads to support sales. Noelke has also held marketing and product marketing positions with CompuServe, Sequel Technology and Spry and is a graduate of the University of California Santa Barabara.

Tim Oppel
Director of Product Marketing

As Director of Product Marketing, Tim Oppel is responsible for streamlining the delivery of Encounter's web and audio conferencing products to create greater efficiencies while also increasing customer satisfaction. Tim began his career in sales with companies such as Winco Foods, Home Express and later with technology companies. Joining Visio Corporation in the role of Technical Sales, Oppel was able to combine his love of selling with technology . In 2000, Oppel joined Encounter Collaborative, initially in sales but moving quickly into a role in Customer Care and Technical Support. In 2003, he transitioned to product management.

Claire Leibee
Controller

As Encounter's Controller, Claire Leibee brings twenty-five years of experience and knowledge to the management team and is responsible for Encounter's accounting procedures, financial statements and Human Resources. She is also experienced in computer conversions and upgrades, including the planning, development, testing and implementing of new procedures and accounting controls. Prior to joining Encounter, Leibee was the Controller for an internationally known hotel chain and, previously, was the Revenue Audit Manager with Bally's Casino Resort in Las Vegas.

Matt Morahan
Customer Care Supervisor

Matt Morahan joined Encounter Collaborative in 2004 as a member of our Customer Care team. In addition to his work responsibilities, Matt is pursuing a Masters and PhD in Industrial and Organizational Psychology. Matt brings his knowledge of employee training and development, performance appraisal, and process improvement to Encounter to enhance the Customer Care department. Prior to working at Encounter, Matt held positions with a large international financial company and PlaceWare Web Conferencing providing service ranging from customer care for inbound customer calls to technical support.

Jim Fox
Event Services Manager

Jim Fox is responsible for leading a team of Event Managers to ensure the successful production of large-scale online events. Joining Placeware in 2000 as Media Services Supervisor, Jim lead a team of media specialists to define, execute and deliver custom media solutions while growing the media services department. With over 11 years retail management experience, Jim brings a combined knowledge of training, sales and production experience to Encounter. Jim holds a Bachelor's degree in Psychology.

Jessica Packard
Event Services Supervisor

As an 11 -year veteran of the high technology and telecommunications industries, Jessica Packard has held supervisory, training and administrative positions with Integra Telecom, Covansys and Sonitrol. Prior to joining Encounter, Jessica's responsibilities included creating processes and procedures associated with Customer Service and Operations teams, coordination of systems installations, customer and internal training and regional customer service for a large metropolitan city. Jessica brings her organizational skills and systems expertise to Encounter to further progress our strategic vendor relations. Jessica holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Information Systems from University of Phoenix.