Board of Directors

Mr. Deutschman has specialized in investment and merchant banking activities for more than 30 years, with a particular emphasis on the provision of strategic advice, mergers and acquisitions, and private placements of institutional capital for growing public and private companies on a global basis. He currently serves as Managing Director at FocalPoint Partners, LLC.

Prior to joining FocalPoint, Mr. Deutschman served as the Vice Chairman of Cappello Global, where he focused on providing both capital markets and M&A advisory services to middle market companies across a variety of industries. Mr. Deutschman has extensive experience in working through complex and troubled situations. Most notably, from 2004-2015, Mr. Deutschman served as the Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of Enron Creditors Recovery Corp. (formerly Enron Corp.), a position he assumed upon Enron’s 2004 emergence from bankruptcy; through his tenure, the creditors of Enron received in excess of $25 billion in proceeds from the liquidation of the Enron estate. Mr. Deutschman also formerly served as the Chairman of the Board of First Bank of Beverly Hills, F.S.B., as a board member of MPG Office Trust (NYSE), as a board member of Brookfield DTLA Fund Office Trust Investor Inc., and as a board member of Beverly Hills Bancorp Inc. (NASDAQ). Currently, Mr. Deutschman serves as the Chairman of Digital Turbine (NASDAQ: APPS), as a member of the board of Poseidon Water, as a member of the Executive Committee of the Water Buffalo Club, as a member of the Young Presidents’ Organization (Santa Monica Bay), and on the Advisory Board of the RAND Center for Corporate Governance. An active speaker on accessing capital, corporate governance, and distressed opportunities, Mr. Deutschman began his professional career in 1982 as a practicing attorney with Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher in Los Angeles.

Mr. Deutschman earned his undergraduate degree, with honors, in political science at Haverford College, and a law degree from Columbia University School of Law, where he was a Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar.

Roy has more than 30 years of direct telecommunications experience.  Most recently he was Executive Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer for Verizon Communications and has held leadership positions with other leading firms including Motorola, Grande Communications, Sprint-Nextel and AirTouch.  Roy’s last six years with Verizon included almost five as head of strategy responsible for the development and implementation of Verizon’s overall corporate strategy, including business development, joint ventures, strategic investments, acquisitions and divestitures.

Roy has been a Director for international industry association GSMA and is a former chair of the Chief Strategy Officers Group including 25 global strategists from the world’s leading wireless carriers. Roy has also held directorships and appointments as Director at Telstra, and Intelsat . Board of Advisors, Accenture Luminary. Former – Director, Saudi Telecom and Boingo Wireless, Inc. and Non-executive Partner, FTI Consulting Group/Delta Partners. Senior advisor Tillman Global Holdings LLC. Board Advisor, LotusFlare. He earned an MBA from the University of San Francisco, and a B.S. in Business Administration from San Jose State University.

Holly Hess Groos has extensive experience as a key advisor and influencer on corporate and non-profit boards as well as a senior financial executive and a trusted business partner focused on growth, operational excellence, competitive advantage, and strong team culture.

Ms. Groos currently serves as a Senior Advisor for AlixPartners’ Performance Improvement, Telecommunications, and Media practices and previously held a similar role as an External Advisor for Bain & Company’s Performance Improvement, Telecommunication, and Media practices.

Holly spent 30 years with Verizon, providing executive leadership across various businesses and operational and financial objectives.  Most recently, serving as SVP of Business Excellence and Zero Based Budgeting, she led and accelerated Verizon’s $10B Business Excellence cash cost reduction initiative by identifying areas to become more efficient and effective, including leveraging opportunities for scale, driving process improvement initiatives and implementing best practices.  Her career at Verizon also included serving as SVP & CFO of Verizon Media (AOL & Yahoo!), SVP & Head of Internal Audit, SVP & CFO of Verizon Wireless, SVP & Treasurer, SVP & CFO of Verizon Global Enterprise Business and VP & CFO of Verizon Shared Services.  She also created and ran an Operational Excellence organization, Verizon Lean Six Sigma, to implement process improvement, transform cost structure and redefine standards of operational excellence.

Ms. Groos currently serves as a Board member and Vice Chair of the Board for Guiding Eyes for the Blind and Board member for Shy Wolf Sanctuary. Previously, she was Board Member and Treasurer for Council for Economic Education.

Ms. Groos holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Miami University, with a major in Accounting.  She is a Certified Public Accountant in the State of Ohio. She is also a Lean Six Sigma blackbelt.

Mr. Gyani is a private investor and an advisor at Primera Capital, a venture capital firm that helps build sustainable, successful companies that focus on innovative products, services and technologies. His career includes serving as the President and Chief Executive Officer of AT&T Wireless Mobility Services from 2000 until his retirement from that company in 2003, and as a senior advisor to the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of AT&T Wireless through December 2004. From 1995 through 1999, he was the Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of AirTouch Communications, a wireless telephone services provider. Upon the acquisition of AirTouch by Vodafone, Mr. Gyani served as executive Director on the board of Vodafone AirTouch and as its head of strategy and M&A until July 1999. Prior to AirTouch Communications, Mr. Gyani spent 15 years with Pacific Telesis Group, Inc., parent of Pacific Bell, a telecommunications company, where he held various financial and operational positions.

Mr. Gyani currently serves as Vice Chairman of Mobileum, Inc., which designs and develops roaming services and telco big data analytics solutions to mobile network operators in the United States and internationally, and is currently a member of the boards of Ruckus Wireless, Inc., a Wi-Fi technology company; Blackhawk Network Holdings, Inc., a provider of prepaid payments products; IDEA Cellular, a wireless service provider; and MUFG Union Bank, N.A and its financial holding company, MUFG Americas Holdings Corporation, as well as the boards of other private companies that are in the wireless mobile space. Mr. Gyani has also held board positions at Mobile Telesystems (MTS), a cell phone operator, from June 2007 to June 2010. From March 2002 to August 2013, he served on the board of directors of Keynote Systems, Inc., a mobile and web cloud testing and monitoring company, and from October 2004 to February 2015, he served on the board of directors of Safeway, Inc., a retail food and drug company. Mr. Gyani holds a Bachelor of Arts in Business and a Masters in Business Administration in Finance from San Francisco State University.

Mr. Karish joined our Board of Directors on May 23, 2013.

Mr. Karish currently works at the Heritage Group – a healthcare and technology innovation focused holding company. Mr. Karish manages a broad portfolio of operating business lines in the United States and Europe. Mr. Karish also leads development and investment programs in Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning applications in Healthcare.

Previously, Mr. Karish was the President of Windsor Media, Inc. Windsor Media's principal lines of business included a private equity fund, a venture capital fund, and fixed income management, Prior to Windsor, Mr. Karish was the Head of Media Strategy and Corporate Development at Yahoo!, Inc. Before Yahoo, he was a management consultant at McKinsey & Company, and a key member of McKinsey's West Coast Media and Technology practice. Mr. Karish also has many years of experience serving on public company, private company, and charitable boards.

Mr. Karish holds a Juris Doctor from Harvard University, a Masters of Philosophy in International Economics from Cambridge University and a Bachelor of Arts in History from the University of California Berkeley. The board appointed Mr. Karish to serve as a director based on the entirety of his experience and skills, although the Board specifically noted his extensive strategic and managerial expertise, and extensive background in media and corporate development.

Michelle Sterling served as the Executive Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at Qualcomm, Inc., a semiconductor, software, and services company serving the wireless communications industry, from February 2015 to March 2020; Senior Vice President, Human Resources, from September 2007 to January 2015; and served in various capacities from July 1994 to September 2007. Throughout her tenure with Qualcomm, Ms. Sterling supported Qualcomm’s strategies in complex transactions including acquisitions, joint ventures, divestitures, integration, human capital management, and real estate and facilities. Ms. Sterling had direct responsibility for Qualcomm’s human resources global employees and served as a member of Qualcomm’s executive committee. 

Ms. Sterling is currently a member of the Boards of Coherent, a global leader in Materials, Networking and Lasers; LeddarTech, a sensing and perception technology solutions company for ADAS/AD, as well as a board member for Meals on Wheels, San Diego. Ms. Sterling holds a B.S. in Business Management from the University of Redlands.

Ms. Spilman joined Oracle in 2019 and is currently the Chief Revenue Officer of its Advertising and Marketing Cloud businesses. Mollie has responsibility for all revenue and operations functions for these businesses and has direct responsibility for more than 1,200 Oracle employees worldwide.

Previously Mollie held the role of Chief Operating Officer at Criteo, leading all commercial functions globally including sales, publisher development, operations, marketing, and business development. She joined Criteo in 2014, and in her tenure was instrumental in growing Criteo to a $2+ billion business with a 90% client retention rate. Prior to Criteo, her career in advertising included executive roles at AOL, Yahoo, Discovery and Time Warner.

Mollie has won many awards over the years including the IAB Service Excellence Award and was ranked the fifth most powerful woman in mobile advertising by Business Insider. Spilman holds a bachelor's degree in English Literature from Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut.

Bill Stone is Digital Turbine’s chief visionary, tasked with guiding the company as it seeks to redefine media experiences for operators, OEMs, app developers and end customers. He joined Digital Turbine in September 2012, and was elevated to CEO and Board Member in Oct. 2014. Prior to joining Digital Turbine, Bill served as Senior Vice President of Qualcomm, Inc. and as President of its subsidiary, FLO TV and MediaFLO Technologies Inc., from 2009 to 2011. From 2007 to 2009, he served as CEO and President of Handango (acquired by Appia Inc.), a smartphone application storefront provider. Bill brings over 30 years of experience in telco, mobile applications, content, technology, marketing, and distribution to Digital Turbine. He has held executive positions at several mobile operators, including Verizon, Vodafone, and AirTouch. Bill is a Board Member at Sift Media, where Digital Turbine has an equity position. He received his BA and MBA from Rice University.