Andre Angel, Co-Founder and Chairman

Andre brings more than 18 years of global executive management and leadership experience. Since 2005, Andre has been serving as the President and CEO of NTRglobal, a successful Remote Support and Access software company. Prior to NTRglobal, Andre turned around and transformed Expertcity into a profitable Enterprise solution provider, which was acquired by Citrix. Prior to Expertcity, Andre Angel served as CEO of ElasticEdge – a content delivery company that solved last mile problems and simultaneous distribution of large content to millions of users, which was acquired by BackWeb. From 1999 to 2000, Andre was Global Vice President of Sales, Marketing and e-Business at Nortel Networks, prior to which he started and led Nortel’s electronic commerce $9.6 billion business. Andre also served as the CIO of Nortel’s Service Providers, $17 billion division. Earlier, he started and managed Nortel’s Professional Services organization that grew to over $1 billion and the Alternate Software Delivery program, which grew to $450 million. Andre holds an Electrical Engineering degree from the University of Toronto and is also a concert pianist.

James Bethmann, Director

Jim Bethmann’s counsel is sought after worldwide as a result of both his hands-on operational leadership experience and his executive recruiting expertise. He is an industry specialist in technology, industrial, aerospace and defense.  Jim is frequently quoted in business and industry publications including Forbes and The Wall Street Journal.  He is also a sought-after speaker and moderator at industry events, most notably the annual CEO Summit in Pebble Beach and the Staffing Industry Executive Forum.

He joined Caldwell Partners in March, 2009.  Before Caldwell, Jim was with Heidrick & Struggles as the Global Managing Partner for the firm’s Hardware & Systems Sector.  He was also an active member of the Aerospace/Defense and Aviation Practice, Board of Directors Practice as well as the Marketing and CIO functional practices.  Jim Bethmann was previously a vice chairman of Highland Partners, and Managing Director at Korn/Ferry International.

Jim served as a corporate officer and a president of Recognition International having built and led businesses in the Americas, Tokyo, Singapore, London.  Jim sits on a number of corporate and nonprofit boards to include Telecommunications Systems, and The Lumen Institute.

He is also currently the president of the U.S. Naval Academy Alumni Association in North Texas and a national board trustee. He is a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and former Navy Lieutenant Commander.

Benjamin Trowbridge, Director

Ben is a proven leader in all areas of IT Outsourcing and Business Process Outsourcing with over 20 years of diversified global experience as a Senior Executive, Managing Partner, and CEO.  He is a respected advisor to corporate clients seeking to restructure their organization with the use of strategic outsourcing, offshore and shared services plans and resources. He is an innovator in the evolution of Outsourcing. Ben proudly serves on the Sourcing Interest Group Advisory Board.

He is renowned for his forward thinking and collaborative approaches to deal structuring and sourcing techniques that have redefined the development, negotiation and implementation process. He is an aggressive negotiator with a reputation for win/win results and innovative business solutions. He has led and supervised sourcing transactions ranging from $150 million to $2.2 billion for a variety of activities such as F&A, HR, and IT across multiple industries to include: transportation, consumer products, telecommunication, manufacturing, retail, technology, entertainment, and energy/utility industries.

Prior to Alsbridge, Ben served as Managing Partner for Ernst & Young’s Outsourcing Services Business and COO for their Global Outsourcing Business. Ben personally led and directed two of the firm’s largest outsourcing relationships, with a total contract value of over $4 billion. Ben has also served in a variety of executive roles at Electronic Data Systems (NYSE: EDS), including Industry Vice President. During his tenure at EDS, Ben successfully grew several vertical businesses from start-up to maturity.

Ben served in the U.S. Marine Corps attaining the rank of Captain and as Company Commander on four separate occasions to include the Marine Corp’s first Special Operations Capable Raid Company.

Lewis Wilks, Director

Mr. Wilks is a proven business manager, with over 20 years of upper management and ownership experience.  He currently serves as a management consultant and advisor for many companies, as well as owning several small businesses in the agriculture and hospitality industries. Prior to becoming a management consultant, Mr. Wilks served as the Chief Strategy Officer, President of Internet Markets, Business Markets, Business Development, and subsidiary operations for QWEST Communications.  Under his leadership, the company developed worldwide operations from startup to over 20,000 employees in a three-year period. 

From 1993-1997 Mr. Wilks held several positions at GTE Corporation (currently Verizon). He served as President of GTE Communications Corporation, where he led the US operations holding company for all deregulated products and services.  Mr. Wilks also served as the GTE Northwest General Manager Branch Operations, GTE West (California, Northwest and Hawaiian Tel) VP/GM Business Markets, and President of US Business Markets.  Prior to joining GTE, Mr. Wilks served as Director at MCI Corporation, where he was responsible for all National Accounts and State and Federal Markets for a 14 state region.  Mr. Wilks also held several management positions with Wang Laboratories from 1983-1989.  He began his career at Datapoint Corporation, where he served as a Systems Engineer supporting advanced communications products.

Mr. Wilks has held board seats with PMC Sierra and Portal Software, both public companies. In addition, he has served as the Chairman of the State of Colorado Science and Technology Commission and as Chairman of Special Olympics in Colorado.  He currently holds a board seat with Western Sustainability Exchange and is a member of the Planning and Zoning Board for Park County in Montana.

Mr. Wilks graduated from Central Missouri State University where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree, Public Relations, with a cognate minor in Computer Science.