Directors

John M. Brannigan

Jack Brannigan is the former Executive Vice President of Hanley Wood LLC, a leading business-to-business media company serving the residential and commercial construction industry with 40 trade and consumer magazines, 30 events, 15 trade shows, custom publishing, research and 15 websites. Under his leadership, Hanley Wood successfully launched many of these innovative publishing entities and further-developed existing initiatives, all of which were instrumental in Hanley Wood’s explosive growth and dominance of the market.

Prior to his 16-year role as a partner in Hanley Wood, Jack has a long history in the publishing business. Beginning in 1978, he has experienced success with industry-leaders such as Cahners (now Reed Business) and Penton Media.

A life-long resident of the Chicago area, Brannigan earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Western Illinois University, where he is currently on the Advisory Board to the Business and Technological school, as well as the President’s Advisory Committee. He also received his MBA from Keller Graduate School of Management.

Craig Weston

In October 2000, Craig Weston founded BuilderFusion, Inc., an innovative company committed to a singular vision: helping builders associations leverage the Internet to automate day-to-day administration, strengthen relationships with association members and drive down operating costs. As company president, Mr. Weston has drawn on a unique blend of hands-on construction experience and an entrepreneurial drive to direct BuilderFusion from initial start-up to a recognized solution provider serving dozens of home builders associations and building industry associations around the nation.

In addition to defining the BuilderFusion business model and strategic direction, Mr. Weston has been instrumental in garnering BuilderFusion’s first round of successful venture funding and in the launch and subsequent revisions of the company’s flagship product, BuilderFusion. A gifted presenter, he has met with building industry audiences around the country, helping them recognize the potential of the Internet in the building process.

Prior to his work with BuilderFusion, Mr. Weston co-founded two other construction-related software ventures: ConstructionSoft Inc. specialized in software designed to help residential contractors and remodelers create fast and accurate estimates; and Estimate.com, in similar fashion, took the construction estimate process to the Web. Both ventures met with marked success, and Estimate.com was later sold to Timberline Inc., a provider of software and services for the construction and real estate markets.

Before founding ConstructionSoft, Mr. Weston served as a construction project manager for Novell, a Fortune 1000 software company, and worked as a residential home builder.

Mr. Weston holds a bachelor’s degree in construction and facilities management from Brigham Young University.

Jim Zielinski
Financial Advisor

Jim Zielinski has bought and sold many businesses over his career, the most recent being that of Hanley Wood LLC in 1999 to Veronis Suhler Stevenson, followed by the sale of Hanley Wood LLC again in 2005 to JP Morgan Partners.

Before becoming Chief Financial Officer for Hanley Wood in 1997, Jim had a long career in investment banking and commercial banking with Chase Manhattan Bank, N.A. and Bankers Trust Company. He built a banking business for Bankers Trust in Atlanta during the 1980s, growing from profits of less than $1 million and a small staff to profits of almost $20 million and a staff of 40 professionals in 1989. He has been involved in many acquisition financings, helping companies achieve their growth objectives.

During the 1990s, Jim worked in the equity business at Bankers Trust, making equity investments and mezzanine financings available to growth companies, and also assisting companies with ownership transition, as owner entrepreneurs moved to other activities or elected to retire.

Zielinski is a graduate of The Ohio State University and has an MBA from Columbia University.

Kent Colton
Chairman, Corporate Advisory Board

Mr. Colton has more than 30 years of experience as an expert in the housing industry. From 1984 to 1999, he served as Executive Vice President and CEO of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Mr. Colton also was an Executive Vice President at Freddie Mac and Staff Director of President Reagan’s Commission on Housing.

A widely published author and noted academic, he currently is a Senior Scholar at the Harvard University and MIT Joint Center for Housing Studies. Mr. Colton graduated with a Bachelors Degree from Utah State University, a Masters of Public Administration from Syracuse University and a Ph.D. in Urban Studies from MIT.