Wellcore announces leadership team and product introduction plans

Nov 25 2009

Wellcore Corporation, a Silicon Valley-based company dedicated to developing wireless products and services that promote wellness, safety and security, is announcing its leadership team and product introduction plans.

Incorporated in July 2007 by founders and technology industry veterans Vijay Nadkarni and Jeetendra Jangle, the company has been involved in ground-breaking research on systems and methods for motion detection and advanced pattern recognition. In early 2010, Wellcore plans on bringing to market its first patent-pending product targeted at the aging population. This is expected to be followed by other consumer products addressing a broad range of market segments.

"For nearly 20 years, there has been very little innovation among safety and wellness monitoring products for the aging population," said Wellcore founder and chief executive officer Vijay Nadkarni. "There is a significant gap between what is needed and what is available to help seniors live active and independent lifestyles. We're excited to bring to market affordable, intuitive products and services that will potentially change how caregivers and seniors manage their safety and wellness at home and remotely."

"Wellcore's vision, leadership team and products made the company a very attractive investment for us," said H. DuBose Montgomery, managing director and founder at Menlo Ventures. "The company is providing innovative and important solutions to help millions around the world and Menlo Ventures is proud to be a Wellcore partner in fulfilling this vision."

Advisory Board

"We're at a crossroads today as so many millions of baby boomers and seniors struggle to find the best and most economical solution to aging in place and preferably at home," said Mary Furlong, Wellcore advisory board member and founder of Mary Furlong and Associates, SeniorNet and ThirdAge Media. "Wellcore is leading the industry in developing advanced technologies that provide a complete solution to health and wellness monitoring."

In addition to Furlong, Wellcore's advisory board includes renowned industrial designer Dr. Hartmut Esslinger, founder of frog design and consultant to Apple, Sony and Samsung and wireless authority Dr. Arogyaswami Paulraj, founder of Beceem and a Professor at Stanford University, among others.

Leadership Team

Wellcore's founder and CEO Vijay Nadkarni is a pioneer in the wireless, networking and bio-med sectors, having conceived and delivered a number of "first of their kind" product lines from concepts to industry successes. Nadkarni co-founded Veraz Networks and developed the industry's first truly distributed VoIP switch. Prior to Veraz, Nadkarni built the VoIP program at 3Com (formerly US Robotics) and has held multiple roles in management and engineering at Motorola's Cellular Infrastructure Group. Mr. Nadkarni holds nine patents, with another eight in progress.

Wellcore co-founder and vice president of engineering, Jeetendra Jangle, has over 20 years of entrepreneurial, management, consulting and product development experience in the networking, pattern recognition, telecom and healthcare industries. His track record of conceiving and delivering revenue generating products includes various networking and management application products for Sun Microsystems including a Gigabit Ethernet switch and an innovative OSS architecture and product line while at Veraz Networks.

Peter Janssen, executive vice president of sales and marketing, brings to Wellcore over 35 years of experience in retail and technology companies having launched iRobot Roomba, Eye-Fi and the Presto Printing Mailbox for seniors. Janssen also served in executive level positions with Sears, Mindset, Nexgen, Acer America and Egghead Software.

Casey Pittock, executive vice president of business development, is a former executive of Philips Lifeline, the industry's largest PERS provider. Pittock is a recognized leader in the PERS industry and was founder and president of TelCARE Systems, one of the fastest growing PERS companies in industry history. From 2004 - 2006, Casey was on the President's Council of the Assisted Living Federation of America.

The newest member of the Wellcore management team, Van Krueger, has joined Wellcore as vice president of operations. Krueger has over 17 years of manufacturing, supply-chain logistics, order-to-cash and customer care experience as well as building support organizations for companies including E-mu Systems, a division of Creative Technologies and ReplayTV, a recent acquisition of DirecTV. Most recently, Krueger has been focused on scalable operations solutions for start-up companies including Roku, Presto Services and Eye-Fi.

In June 2009 Wellcore received Series A funding from Menlo Ventures, one of Silicon Valley's most prominent venture capital partnerships with over $4 billion under management since inception in 1976, and a team with over two hundred years of collective experience in technology, marketing, sales and general management. Wellcore's board of directors includes DuBose Montgomery, founder & managing director of Menlo Ventures, Cecilia Claudio, vice president and general manager of the Enterprise Solutions group at Hewlett-Packard and Vijay Nadkarni, founder and CEO of Wellcore.

SOURCE Wellcore Corporation