Management Team
Joseph (Joe) Kessler
After earning a B.S., Accounting degree at the University of Maryland Joe began a career in vehicle leasing. As President and owner of Executive Auto Leasing, he grew the company first through the creation of a strong internal sales force and then through a series of acquisitions. In 1998, this business merged with Crestar Bank and later with SunTrust Bank (this merger creating one of the country's ten largest banks.) Kessler continued with each bank as a Senior Vice President and as division CEO, directing SunTrust Vehicle Leasing, Inc. After 24 years in leasing and finance, Kessler left SunTrust and co-founded the Next-Stage Development Group in 2001.
Joe aslo served two terms on the board of the National Vehicle Leasing Association and is the founding Chairman of its Capital Chapter. He represented the industry and worked with the Federal Reserve Board on the Consumer Leasing Act. He is also a founding member of the International Lessors Group and served as its 2002 Meeting Chairperson.
In addition to Executive Auto Leasing, Joe is the cofounder of two existing finance companies, Bethesda Funding LLC (which works with national banks) and Bluescale Capital LLC (factoring and asset-based lending). As part of the Next-Stage Development Group, Kessler spent three years as Corporate Director on the board of MHR Technologies, a Gaithersburg, MD start-up specializing in the use of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for school pick-up synchronization. In early 2007, Kessler took on a strategic planning and business development role at Partners International, a software and network services firm in DC which specializes in support for international development and relief organizations. He currently advises Gold Lasso (software), Global Edge Consultants (oil and gas industry staffing), and Partners International (software).
Marshal (Mickey) Greenblatt, Ph.D.
Mickey received bachelor's degrees in liberal arts and flight sciences from Columbia University, a diploma in fluid dynamics from the Von Karman Institute in Belgium, and a doctorate in aerospace sciences from Princeton University. From 1966-1973, he worked as a researcher for NASA Langley on plasma flow fields and the Naval Research Laboratory on nuclear weapons effects.
Mickey co-founded Fusion Systems Corporation in 1971. Fusion invented, built, and sold a microwave-powered ultraviolet lamp used for drying inks and coatings on metal, paper, plastic, wood, optical fiber, and semiconductor surfaces. The company raised venture capital in 1973, went public, and was sold in 1997. Greenblatt handled sales and marketing for the company in its early years. After Fusion, Greenblatt joined Materials Engineering Associates, a metals testing company that he ran until he sold it in 1993. He established a subsidiary of MEA to manage the research nuclear reactor at SUNY Buffalo 1985-93.
His other significant business endeavors include founding two laser applications companies and purchasing, serving on the board, and profitably selling a home security company (Lifewatch). He purchased and serves on the board of Marlin Steel Wire Products, a wire and sheet metal fabricator in Baltimore, MD. Lifewatch and Marlin were businesses undertaken with two of his sons.
Previous board experience includes serving with two publicly traded companies: C3, Inc., (NYSE) 1988 to 1989 (now Telos Corp.), when it was sold, and he continued on the board to represent former shareholders; and Data Measurement Corporation (NASDAQ) from 1990 to 1996, when it was sold to Measurex, another public company later acquired by Honeywell. He also was on the board of Advanced Power Technologies, Inc., until it was bought in 2003 by BAE Systems.
He joined the boards of Sol, Inc. of Palm City, FL, a designer and manufacturer of solar outdoor lighting systems in 1995 and of Phocos AG of Ulm, Germany, a designer and manufacturer of charge controllers/regulators for solar energy systems in 2008. Mickey currently sits on the boards of Marlin (since 1998), Sol (1995), and Phocos (2008).
Michael (Mike) Goldberg
Mike earned his undergraduate degree at the University of Rochester in mathematics and received an MBA from the University of Chicago in Math Methods and Production Management. He began his career at Mobil in 1969 as a supply analyst. In 1973, he became Assistant Manager of Crude Oil Supply and managed the worldwide crude oil operations for Mobil during the 1973 supply crisis. During this time he developed several computer programs and models that helped to optimize the allocation of Mobil’s crude oil and to track deliveries around the world. Following this experience, he became Corporate Manager of Crude Oil Supply Analysis.
In 1982, after four years of selling and managing sales of crude oil to international customers, Mike moved to London to become General Manager of European Supply. In 1984, the London supply group developed the first trading operation for Mobil, and Mike became Managing Director of Mobil Trading and Supply, responsible for crude oil and product trading throughout Europe. In 1987, he was named Vice-President of Mobil Europe.
In 1991, Mike became General Manager of Financial and Information Systems for Mobil in the United States. In addition to managing this portfolio, he was a leading contributor to the management team that led the successful drive to move Mobil from last to first among its major peers in the U.S. in per gallon profits. He later headed the teams that re-engineered Mobil’s worldwide accounting, audit and information systems.
In 1996, Mike returned to the supply department as General Manager of Global Crude Oil Trading. In addition, he took on responsibility for managing Mobil’s U.S. pipelines and integrated domestic crude oil trading with this operation. The result of this merger was the first profitable operation of these pipelines post deregulation.
After the merger of Mobil and Exxon, Mike was asked to redevelop Mobil’s successful Speedpass effort for ExxonMobil. He led this effort as President of Speedpass Network until he retired in 2003.
Michael (Mike) Rider
Mike over 30 years of senior level management and entrepreneurial experience in the retail and management consulting fields. He earned his undergraduate degree with honors at George Washington University with dual majors in economics and statistics. His continued at GW and earned a masters in econometrics. After school Mike began his career in the late 60s in the management consulting field. Utilizing his computer programming background, he developed economic models for New York City Bureau of the Budget, NASA, Burlington Northern Railroad, Volkswagen of America, and AT&T.
In 1977, Mike took a sabbatical from his work in order to assist his parents with the sale of a small retail business they had operated for many years. With his curiosity piqued, within a year, Rider founded Sassafras, a specialty women's ready to wear discount concept, which he conceptualized, developed, and built from a single location into a 27 store regional chain with revenues in excess of thirty-five million dollars annually.
Mike sold his solely owned company in 1996 and remained on as a consultant to the purchasers. During his tenure, in addition to serving as the CEO responsible for determining strategic direction, he is credited with designing creative "data mining" solutions to a myriad of issues confronting retailers in the areas of relational marketing and merchandise purchasing, allocation, and vendor relations.
In 1997, Rider founded MDR Consulting Group, Inc. which specializes in strategic planning, niche marketing, next stage business development, and turnaround management. Currently, Mike has contracts with a broad range of organizations from fields such as petroleum distribution, biomedical research instrumentation, religious not-for-profit consulting, education, and publishing, and specialty niche retailing.
