Executive Team

Vertical has assembled a team of experienced senior executives to drive and manage tremendous growth in its business.

William Tauscher,
CEO and Chairman
William Tauscher is the founder of The Tauscher Group, which invests and assists in the management of enterprises in various industries. Before founding The Tauscher Group, Mr. Tauscher served as chairman and CEO of Vanstar Corporation (formerly ComputerLand Corporation), having led the group that acquired ComputerLand in 1987. Under Mr. Tauscher's guidance, Vanstar grew to be the largest PC sales and service company in the world, and was sold to Inacom in 1999. Prior to Vanstar, he was the chairman and CEO of FoxMeyer Corporation, a wholesale pharmaceutical and beauty-aid distributor, from 1977 until its sale to National Intergroup in 1986. Mr. Tauscher also helped engineer the leveraged buyout of Household Merchandising, the retail subsidiary of Household Finance. He subsequently acquired Coast to Coast from Household, engineering its IPO and subsequent sale. He currently serves on various boards of directors, including Safeway Corporation, a $30 billion NYSE grocery company, and holds controlling investments in a number of successful companies.

Peter H. Bailey,
President and Chief Operating Officer
Peter Bailey is responsible for the Company's sales, marketing and operations organizations and in this capacity coordinates the overall product direction, sales and fulfillment for Vertical. Mr. Bailey has over 15 years of experience in technology and finance, having been an executive and entrepreneur in technology and communications as well as a mergers and acquisitions specialist in investment banking. As a co-founder of Vertical Communications (along with Mr. Tauscher), Mr. Bailey has intimate knowledge of and experience in the IP telephony industry and has been a core drive of Vertical’s product strategy, sales and operations since Vertical’s inception in 2004. Prior to his current role at Vertical, Mr. Bailey held the position of Senior Vice President with responsibilities for product management, marketing, international and distribution sales, as well as corporate and business development. Prior to Vertical, Mr. Bailey led the next-generation networking banking practice for ThinkEquity Partners LLC - a San Francisco based Investment Banking Firm. In this role he advised Mr. Tauscher and the investors of Vertical in the buyout and reorganization efforts that led to the creation of Vertical Communications in 2004. Prior to ThinkEquity, he was responsible for Corporate Development at Carrier1 International S.A., a pan European alternative telecom services provider where he was responsible for M&A, corporate investment and financial restructuring initiatives. Prior to Carrier1, Mr. Bailey held various roles including CFO and Co-CEO at Convergence Media, a NY-based publishing/digital media start-up which he co-founded and developed into a leading niche media and publishing services company. Prior to Convergence, Mr. Bailey was with Salomon Brothers Inc in New York in the investment banking division, where he began his career. Mr. Bailey holds a B.A. from Princeton University.

Dick Anderson
Executive Vice President, Large Enterprise Sales
Dick Anderson is responsible for Vertical's large account sales efforts, which includes Vertical’s sales and account management activities for CVS/Caremark, Advance Auto Parts and other Fortune 500 customers of Vertical. Mr. Anderson brings a wealth of knowledge and experience gained from more than 25 years of creating, directing and executing sales, marketing and services strategies in the technology sector. Mr. Anderson has had a distinguished career, having served in Senior Executive positions for organizations in multiple industries. Most recently, he was the Executive Vice President and General Manager of CFM Corporation, a leading integrated manufacturer of home products. Previously, Mr. Anderson was CEO of Temtex Industries, prior to its purchase by CFM Corporation. Mr. Anderson also served as the Chief Operating Officer of KnowledgePlanet and held Senior Vice President positions in sales and marketing for Inacom and Vanstar Corporations. Mr. Anderson holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Bentley College.

David Ridder
Senior Vice President, Channel Sales
David Ridder is responsible for the development and execution of Vertical’s strategic channel partner sales plan. He brings over 12 years of dealer channel experience to the team and is responsible for leading the programs supporting the network of dealers and resellers. Prior to Vertical, David was a senior executive at Cintas Corporation where he was responsible for the Engineered Systems business units and all associated field and national account sales initiatives. Prior to Cintas, he founded and grew the alarm business unit at Beacon Fire & Safety before selling to Cintas. David performed client advisory investment banking services at S.G. Warburg in NY and London focused on cross border mergers & acquisitions transactions before moving to San Francisco in 1997 and transitioning to the alarm industry. David holds a BS in Business Administration, Finance from Kansas State University.

Wolfgang Maerz,
Vice President and Managing Director, International
Wolfgang Maerz oversees the Company's international operations as well as managing the Munich, Germany office.

Scott Pickett,
Chief Technology Officer
Scott Pickett has more than 17 years in engineering and management, spanning technologies from embedded software and reconfigurable logic to networking and communications systems. He has led development of several industry-first systems and networking products, including multimedia product solutions (802.9), multiprotocol VoIP gateway, integrated communications platform, and PCMCIA Ethernet card. Mr. Pickett is a founding member of the Softswitch Consortium, has served as co-chairman of the Softswitch Consortium Technical Advisory Council, and contributed to the IETF RFC on MGCP. Prior to co-founding Vertical Networks, Mr. Pickett served as director of development for National Semiconductor's LAN division and held positions with Fairchild Semiconductor and General Electric. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University of Washington.