Laurence A. Baiada Institute for Entrepreneurship

The Baiada Institute's Eye of the Entrepreneur provides an inside look into the featured entrepreneur and the entrepreneurial ecosystem in which they practice, providing lessons learned, guiding principles, philosophies and practical advice.

March 8, 2012

"The Brothers Baiada: 4 Faces of Entrepreneurship"

Featuring four of Laurence A. Baiada's sons:

• J. Mark Baiada, President of Bayada Home Health Care
• R. Michael Baiada, President of ATH Group, Inc.
• L. Matthew Baiada, Founder and CEO of SolidSurface Designs, Inc.
• P. Mel Baiada, President and Founder of Basecamp Business, Basecamp Ventures and Founder of Bluestone Software

J. Mark Baiada founded Bayada Nurses in 1975 with the mission to help people have a safe home life with comfort, independence, and dignity. More than three decades later, Bayada Nurses has grown from its humble beginnings to provide home health care to clients in 20 states from more than 200 offices. The values he learned from studying such role models as Benjamin Franklin, Andrew Carnegie, and St. Francis of Assisi, guided him to success as a family man, businessman, and philanthropist.

Honored as an Ernst & Young "Entrepreneur of the Year" for the Philadelphia region, Mark credited much of his success to his belief: "Think big. Work hard. Show love." He also credits his company's consistent growth to his belief in people-hiring people who share in his vision and providing them with the inspiration and tools to achieve great things.

As an advocate for improving patient outcomes and advancing health care, Mark annually co-sponsors the Drexel University "Bayada Award for Technological Innovation in Nursing Education and Practice," which rewards nurses who innovatively use technology to advance their profession.

Mark's work as a humanitarian has been recognized with various honors, including the "Golden Lion Award" from the Sons of Italy Foundation in 2008, the "75 Greatest Living Philadelphians" from the Philadelphia Eagles in 2007, the "Work of Mercy Award" from Mercy Vocational High School in 2006, the "Cradle of Liberty Award" from Boy Scouts of America in 2006, the "Light of Hope Award" from Catholic Charities in 2005, and the "Helms Award" from Goodwill Industries in 2005.

Mark also sponsors the Bayada Regatta-a competitive rowing event for athletes with disabilities. For over a quarter of a century, athletes from around the globe have gathered at the banks of the Schuylkill River in Philadelphia for this annual event. In addition, he sponsored various relief efforts that helped people injured in the Kosovo War, Hurricane Katrina, and the tsunami disaster of 2004, and is currently sponsoring nurses to help rebuild Haiti.

Mark has been actively involved in the following organizations: Gatti-Morrison Construction Services, King of Prussia, PA, 1980 to present; Cornerstone Bank, Moorestown, NJ, 1999 to present; Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations' Home Care Advisory Board, Oak Park Terrace, IL, 1999 to 2008; Loyola College in Maryland, Baltimore, MD, 2000 to present; University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing's Board of Overseers, Philadelphia, PA, 2000 to present; and the School of Business, Rutgers University's Executive Advisory Council, Camden, NJ, 2001 to present; Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 2002 to 2006; and University of the Arts Parents Council (co-chairperson), Philadelphia, PA, 2006.

Mark received his MBA degree from Rutgers Graduate School of Business in 1970 and his BA from Rutgers College in 1969. Prior to founding Bayada Nurses, he was a market researcher for Avon Products, NY, NY and the American Thread Company, Stamford, CT.

R. Michael Baiada is President of ATH Group, Inc. ATH's vision is to bring Lean Six Sigma to the airline curb-to-curb, tactical supply chain so as to fundamentally alter the airline operating environment. ATH Group's products include its patented and award winning Attila Process™, a tactical aircraft/asset/airline flow management solution. ATH's unique Attila™ solution (six patents awarded to date) is currently operational for Delta Air Lines at Atlanta, Minneapolis and Detroit, and for US Airways at Charlotte, reducing delays, improving product quality and saving Delta over $20,000 per day in fuel alone (www.athgrp.com). Based on Attila™, within three years, airlines can move to increase on time zero arrival performance (A0) to greater than 75%, and reduce scheduled block time (cycle time) by an average of five minutes per flight.

The Attila™ aircraft arrival tool, now operational for Delta, represents only the cornerstone of the complete Attila Process™. The ultimate Attila™ goal is to tactically drive all of an airline's processes to a common goal - smiling passenger at the destination curb on time, bag in hand (i.e., just in time) faster, better and more profitably. In other words, right part, right place, right time.

Over the last 30 years, Captain Baiada has worked extensively on airline operational productivity and ATC/airspace capacity issues. In collaboration with Michael Boyd, they authored the 1994 Free Flight analysis. This three-volume study was the first to address Free Flight concepts, economics and implementation issues. Based on these studies, Capt. Baiada and Michael Boyd testified at the Congressional hearing on Free Flight and ATC issues (8/94). These studies and the Baiada/Boyd Congressional testimony was the primary catalyst for the RTCA Free Flight Select Committee that pushed FAA to accept Free Flight as their end state goal for the future ATC system.

In addition to briefing three FAA Administrators and providing Congressional testimony on ATC/airline issues, Captain Baiada is currently a B747-400 Captain at United Airlines and was the Manager of Products at Allied/Bendix Avionics Division, Assistant VP - Operations/Maintenance at Ransome Airlines and a USAF officer/pilot. Baiada has 35 years and over 20,000 hours of flying experience and holds BS degrees in Aeronautical Engineering and Business Administration from Rutgers University.

L. Matthew Baiada is the founder and driving energy behind SolidSurface Designs, Inc. a leading manufacturer of custom countertops, wall systems and store fixtures. SolidSurface Designs fabricates surfaces for kitchens, bathrooms, restaurants and national store displays, utilizing various products such as granite, quartz, solid surface and numerous cutting-edge green materials.

After attending Trenton State College, Matthew started a remodeling company as a carpenter/cabinet maker. This first company taught him his most valuable life lesson - understanding the difference between a carpenter owning a business to a businessman running a company. After making a personal business/life transition, he decided to change direction. Baiada created a company that was more manufacturing based, applying his skills and understanding of process and lean manufacturing principals.

SolidSurface Designs was started in 1989 in Matthew's garage with two employees and no real funding. It now operates in a 20,000 square foot, state of the art manufacturing facility with 25 employees. Matthew is always striving to improve the operation by making it better, quicker and safer. Along the way the company has won numerous awards from product suppliers as well as awards from the design community for quality and creativity. Most notably he walked away with Best of Show when his company created a dress completely fabricated of Corian.

Matthew is also the owner and manager of Cambridge Properties, LLC a property Investment Business. Cambridge Properties owns both commercial and residential rental properties.

Although Baiada founded and operates two successful companies, he is always the dreamer, from looking at better, quicker ways to get the job done to his next new business venture.

P. Mel Baiada is managing partner at BaseCamp Ventures, an early stage venture fund; president of Basecamp Business; and a partner of Grapevine Development, a smart-growth NJ based real estate development firm. Operating and investing in successful product and service-based companies has given him a broad and seasoned perspective of business.

From the start-up of Bluestone in 1989, through its IPO in 1999, and the eventual sale to Hewlett Packard in 2001 for over $350M, Mel has demonstrated an ability to recognize business opportunities, attract capital and talented employees, and profitably exit an information technology company investment.

Mel has made a number of contributions to the Greater Delaware Valley area to promote technological growth in the community. As an alumnus of Drexel University, Mel has made a generous donation to Drexel University for the establishment of The Laurence A. Baiada Institute for Entrepreneurship in Technology. He is the recipient of the Greater Philadelphia Venture Group's "Year 2000 Entrepreneur of the Year" Award. In addition, Mel was recognized in 2001 by the New Jersey Technology Council with its "High Tech Hero Award" and was an Ernst & Young "Entrepreneur of the Year" finalist.

Mel's road to success began when he founded Bluestone, Inc. in 1989 to provide information technology expertise to Fortune 1000 companies. Bluestone rapidly grew to a multi-million dollar company, earning Bluestone inclusion in the Inc. 500 list of the fastest growing privately held companies in the U.S. for three straight years, from 1994 to 1996. Bluestone was also a member of the Philadelphia 100 for five consecutive years, earning a place in the Philadelphia 100 Hall of Fame. In 1997, Bluestone split into two separate entities - Bluestone Software, Inc. and Bluestone Consulting, Inc. Bluestone Software accomplished a successful IPO in 1999 and has achieved industry recognition in the Web application server marketplace. In 2001, Hewlett Packard acquired Bluestone Software.

In 2000, the IT and Internet services division of Bluestone Consulting, Inc. began "Doing Business As" Sengen and specialized in streamlining business processes through the use of technology. Sengen was sold in December of 2003.

Mel serves on the boards of Drexel University, New Jersey Technology Council (former board chair), Bayada Home Health Care and several boards of Basecamp Ventures portfolio companies. Former Boards that Mel has served on have included Moorestown Friends School, Innovation Philadelphia and South Jersey Technology Park at Rowan University.

November 17, 2011

Featuring: Bob Moul, GM at Dell and former President and CEO of the cloud computing company Boomi (acquired by Dell in 2010) with a cameo appearance from Boomi founder, Rick Nucci.

Bob Moul is a Philadelphia tech CEO / entrepreneur with 30 years experience in the hi-tech industry ranging from start-ups to Fortune 50 companies. As president and CEO of Boomi, he raised the company's first venture capital and led its transformation to a leading cloud computing provider culminating in a highly successful exit to Dell in November 2010. At Systems and Computer Technology, Bob ran the company's $100mm outsourcing business and later the $300mm education solutions business where he led the company to 10 consecutive record quarters of growth prior to being acquired by SunGard. He held senior management positions at EDS including director of operations for EDS Hong Kong and China, and executive director of federal government operations for EDS Australia.

Bob graduated from the University of Maryland, University College, with a Master of Science degree in technology management. He also completed executive programs at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan and the Center for Organizational Learning at MIT. Bob is an active advocate for driving tech innovation and entrepreneurship in Philadelphia. He serves on the board of directors of Bluenog Software and the advisory boards of Mid-Atlantic Diamond Ventures and the Philadelphia Alliance of Capital and Technology. Bob is a 2007 alumnus of DC-based Mindshare and was recently named a 2011 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalist in Philadelphia.

Rick Nucci, CTO Dell Boomi
Rick is the CTO of Dell Boomi where he is responsible for product management and engineering. He is considered an industry expert on SaaS & Cloud integration, multi-tenant architecture, and API design and best practices. Dell Boomi has a patent pending for Rick's innovative Atom technology that powers Boomi AtomSphere, the company's software-as-a-service offering. In his role at Boomi, Rick is constantly engaged with customers and partners to ensure alignment between business needs and Boomi's product strategy.

Rick frequently speaks on these topics at industry and business events nationwide including Cloud Expo, Dreamforce, All About the Cloud, and Gartner AADI.