Steaphan Weir – CEO
Mr. Weir has been deeply involved for the past 10 years in the restructuring and turnaround of private and public companies in diverse markets such as Entertainment, Banking Services, Real Estate and Electronics. The success of 4 private companies and 1 public company can be attributed directly to Mr. Weir’s leadership. With Smart Holdings, Mr. Weir has embarked on his sixth project and the one he sees as having the highest market cap potential. Mr. Weir has also raised capital from public and private sources in excess of $100M for various projects unrelated to his primary business objectives. Mr. Weir serves on the board of directors of the Nobel Charitable Trust and Smart Holdings.
Before beginning his entrepreneurial career, Mr. Weir climbed the ranks of corporate America where his last post was Regional Director for Rohm Electronics, securing multinational high level agreements for the company between the United States and Asia. Preceding Rohm, he held posts at Future Electronics, Bell Industries and Rockwell Financial in electronics and stock trading.
Mr. Weir served in the U.S. Navy, where he was instrumental in the testing and program management of electronic weapons and navigation systems for special operations for electronic weapons systems. Mr. Weir received a degree in engineering from the United States Naval Electronics School and worked closely with companies including Grumman, Hughes and Lockheed.
Layne Bednar - Chief Operating Officer
Layne Bednar was formerly Director of Operations of Legend Locations, an exclusive property rental database for the entertainment industry with more than 4,000 locations, including some of the most prestigious real estate in the greater Los Angeles area. While at Legend Locations, Mr. Bednar created and implemented custom database solutions, streamlined and designed all sales procedures, and was responsible for all Information Technology implementations. Mr. Bednar was also responsible for all new property acquisitions, and was the key interface to all new clients and property owners. In his first complete fiscal year, Mr. Bednar’s efforts resulted in a revenue growth of over 30% in comparison to the previous year.
Prior to his position at Legend Locations, Mr. Bednar held various Regional Sales Management positions in the Electronics Semiconductor Industry for over 17 years. From 1990 to 1996, he was a top Sales Manager at Bell Industries (NYSE:BI) a top electronic components distributor. From 1996 to 2003 he held a Sales Engineering and Territory Manager position with Harper & Two, that was the exclusive manufacturer’s representative for semiconductor manufacturers AMCC (Applied Micro Circuits Corporation), Atmel, Globespan DSL (now Conexant) and other manufacturers. In this position, Mr. Bednar was responsible for frontline concept and design sales of microprocessor and advanced memory semi-conductor technology solutions to the emerging bankcard industry. His work included technology financial card solutions designed for the United States Navy and large volume retail and consumer programs. Mr. Bednar holds an Electronics Engineering Degree from Electronics Institutes in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
Peter C. Godwin, Esq. - Executive Vice President, Business & Legal Affairs
Mr. Godwin has over 15 years of experience in the technology and telecommunications industries. As an in-house attorney, Mr. Godwin was legal counsel for several Fortune 500 telecommunications companies in the United States, including MCI WorldCom, Cox Communications and Comcast Corporation. As an attorney in private practice with Dow Lohnes in Washington, D.C. and Gordon & Glickson in Chicago, Mr. Godwin was instrumental in defining policies and compliance procedures for telecommunications clients in connection with the Cable Television and Consumer Protection Act of 1992 and the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
He has conducted seminars and written papers on federal and state legal compliance, e‑commerce policies and online gaming. Mr. Godwin established his own practice in 2000, representing national telecommunications and technology companies, specializing in complex corporate transactions, regulatory compliance and litigation.
Before joining Smart Holdings Godwin served as General Counsel for Los Angeles-based MyMedicalRecords.com Inc., a provider of online medical and vital records storage solutions since 2005.
Mr. Godwin is a member of the State Bars of Georgia and Illinois, the District of Columbia Bar, and is admitted to practice before the District of Columbia Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Georgia. He served on the City of Evanston, Illinois Board of Ethics and currently serves on the Education Committee of the Encino Neighborhood Council. He holds a Juris Doctor degree from Cornell Law School, with a specialization in International Legal Affairs, and served on the Cornell International Law Journal. He earned his M.A. in Social Science and B.A. in Economics from the University of Chicago in 1989.
Jeremy Westburg - Chief Technology Officer
Jeremy Westburg has over thirteen years of experience in the Information Technology industry. Mr. Westburg was a Co-founder of Mercury Workstations in San Diego, California. Mr. Westburg designed, sold and supported high-end workstation and server products specifically developed for the Computer-Aided Design, Print and Video Production industries. While at Mercury Workstations, Mr. Westburg was responsible for growing profit (as a percentage of sales) from 9.4% for the first seven months, to 15.6% for the first full year and to 23.7% for the second full year.
Mr. Westburg also has over six years of computer consulting under his belt; from building personal computers, to troubleshooting hardware and software issues, to networking systems. Mr. Westburg served in the U.S. Navy for six years as an Aviation Electronics Technician and received his degree from the Navy’s Advanced Electronics Engineering School. Mr. Westburg has also attended classes at San Diego Mesa College and the University of California, San Diego.