About Optibrand | Management Team | Board of Managers | Careers
The Optibrand management team combines extensive experience in science, the livestock and meat industries, business and technology with a passion for solutions that meet the needs of livestock producers around the world.
Dr. Ritter joined Optibrand as CEO in April, 2008. He comes to Optibrand following almost six years at Heska Corporation where he was most recently Executive Vice President of Global Business Operations. Prior to Heska, Dr. Ritter was Director of the Asian Animal Health Business unit for Schering-Plough, and Director of the Global Poultry Business unit for Fort Dodge Animal Health. At Pitman-Moore/Mallinckrodt Veterinary, Inc., he spent several years as Group Vice President, Americas and Asia and as Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific.
Dr. Ritter graduated from the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine with a D.V.M. degree and from the American Graduate School of International Management with a Masters of International Management degree. He was a veterinarian in private practice before entering into the commercial side of the animal health industry where he has spent over 25 years.
Ralph Switzer is a founding member of the company and currently serves as Chief Financial Officer and as Secretary of the Board of Directors. Ralph is a professor of finance and an adjunct professor in the College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at Colorado State University.
Ralph has extensive experience in starting and developing database management companies. He started three successful database companies prior to co-founding Optibrand, including one traded on NASDAQ and two sold to large public companies. Ralph holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Finance and a Juris Doctorate degree in Law from the University of Illinois. He is a licensed CPA.
As VP of Research and Development, Dave and his team are responsible for all aspects of Optibrand's software and hardware development. In his current role, Dave plays an active part in Optibrand's software development, being personally responsible for the retinal imaging analysis software, as well as the firmware that runs on Optibrand's hand held device.
He joined Optibrand in 2001.
Dave graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Central Michigan University in 1989. Prior to graduation, he accepted a job with Electronic Data Systems, where he worked for five years, eventually leading a team of software engineers that were responsible for developing numerical measurement and analysis software used by General Motors to improve the safety of their vehicles. After leaving Electronic Data Systems in 1994, Dave relocated to the front range area where he worked as an independent software contractor for the next seven years. Immediately before beginning his work with Optibrand, Dave spent five years working as a contractor for Avert, Inc. of Fort Collins where in 1996 he developed the industry's first internet based system for conducting pre-employment background checks. This internet based system was fully deployed years before most companies contemplated developing internet based customer facing systems.
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