eCoast Management Team

Allen Tait, Co-CEO, Chief Financial and Operating Officer
Allen Tait is the co-CEO of eCoast and oversees all Finance and Operations activities within the company. An experienced senior executive with twenty years of results-oriented financial and operational success, Allen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Bethany College and a Master of Science in Corporate Finance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Prior to graduate school, Allen worked as an associate for Goldman Sachs & Co. in New York. He began his post-graduate school career in the Specialty Consulting Division of Arthur Andersen & Co. in Chicago, where he assumed interim executive management positions in performance challenged companies to coordinate the development and execution of strategic financial and operational initiatives.

Most recently, Allen served as president, director and founding partner of Sierra Novo LLC, in Columbus, OH, where he co-founded one of the largest independent online retailers of home gaming and entertainment products, as well as growing regional retail chain of home furnishings.

Prior to starting Sierra, Allen was a senior member of Sterling Capital Ltd.’s portfolio management team, responsible for the strategic development and execution of portfolio company operations while serving as the CEO of several Sterling portfolio companies.

Chris Montgomery, Co-CEO, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer
Chris Montgomery joined eCoast in 2009 as co-CEO and oversees Marketing, Sales and Business Development at eCoast. With over twenty years of senior executive experience, Chris has deep operational, sales, marketing and business development expertise, and has led growth and turn-around initiatives in retail technology, healthcare, online learning and federal and state government software solutions.

Prior to joining eCoast, Chris served as President and CEO of Intermedia Kiosks, Inc. a retail software firm. While at Intermedia, Chris rationalized product lines, built a management and software development team, mapped and benchmarked business processes and executed an in-depth strategic plan which brought the company to a number one market share position.

From 2002-2005 , Chris led all federal government strategic alliance activities for American Management Systems, a $1billion NASDAQ listed, enterprise software provider, and was the federal practice leader for Performance Assessment Network, a privately-held HR software solution provider.

Chris has also held the title of CEO for a state government solutions provider and Andy Frain Services, a national business process outsourcer, and served as the Executive Vice President of iLearning, Inc., a Sylvan Ventures portfolio company. In addition to his senior executive experience, Chris has eight years of sales experience with Baxter Healthcare.

Chris holds a B.A. in Finance and Marketing from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, and resides in Baltimore County, Maryland. In his spare time he enjoys skiing, tennis, golf, and other outdoor activities.

Will Gibney, Vice President
Will Gibney joined eCoast in 2000 as the seventh eCoast employee.  Will brings over 10 years of sales, marketing and call center management experience to eCoast.  Prior to joining eCoast Will held roles at Sprint Business, Network Plus, and Ecora software.  Over the past 8 years, Will has fostered relationships with technology manufacturers, distributors, telecom providers and national and regional channel partners.  

Today, Will oversees eCoast's new business and marketing team while managing strategic clients.   Will also focuses on new client offerings such as web marketing, Google Adwords,  pay-for-performance appointment setting, email marketing, and partner alliances.  In an effort to position eCoast as a "thought leader" in technology marketing specifically via channel partners Will has created a VAR Marketing Blog that gets updated twice a month offering advice, tips and best practices for generating net new business.  Read the blog: http://blog.ecoastsales.com/

Will holds a B.S. in Marketing from University of South Florida where he completed advanced marketing management studies.

Bechir BenSaid, Vice President of Operations
Prior to joining eCoast Bechir spent three years at Pannaway Technologies as Vice President of Operations. Before that, Bechir was with Cabletron Systems for six years, both in Rochester, NH and Beijing, China. In the home office Bechir served in several management positions in Finance and Operations, most recently as Director of Operations and Planning for Enterasys Networks, one of Cabletron's spin-off companies. While in Beijing, Bechir was the Managing Director for Cabletron, China.

Before joining Cabletron, Bechir spent five years in Software Engineering and led the design of the Vermont State Lottery database and security systems. After that, Bechir spent two years as IT Director overseeing the lottery's system development, network management, and real-time transaction systems.

Bechir holds a MBA with honors from Thunderbird and a MS in Computer Science from UVM. Bechir received his BE in Computer Engineering from Tsinghua University in Beijing, China. He also holds a Diploma in Advanced Chinese Studies from the Beijing Foreign Studies Institute and is fluent in Chinese, French, and Arabic.

Kim Gibney, Vice President of Human Resources
As Vice President of Human Resources, Kim has been leading eCoast's human capital expansion since 2001. She oversees the hiring, training, and professional growth strategies for all the employees and coordinates the company's close relationship with the community. She also manages eCoast's relationship with benefit providers and legal compliance agencies. Before joining eCoast, Kim held various positions at MacIntosh Personnel with consultant engagements at Cabletron Systems and Brewster Academy. Kim's career also included teaching positions in NH, MA, and Hawaii. Kim holds a Bachelor's degree in Sociology from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She also holds a HR Management Certificate from the University of New Hampshire and has achieved the Professional in Human Resources Certification from the Society of Human Resource Management.

Carol Gasses, Director of Business and Product Development
Carol joins eCoast with over twenty years of sales and marketing experience. Having worked in multiple industry verticals, she brings a breadth of business expertise and insight to her role.

Prior to eCoast, Carol was responsible for Microsoft go-to-market initiatives with Aspect Software, a leading global software integrator and unified communications company. During a previous tenure with eCoast that began in 2003, Carol served as director of business development and played a vital part in establishing and developing top revenue producing accounts.

As a member of the executive team focusing on strategy to execution, Carol is accountable for new business and development of product and service offerings and is instrumental in the future direction of the organization.

Carol attends Southern New Hampshire University where she is completing her B.S. in Business Studies.

Channie Gilbert, Business Unit Director
Channie Gilbert, Director of Sales, joined eCoast  in 2002. Channie is responsible for developing and growing strategic programs that result in eCoast's valued clients achieving their long-term sales and marketing goals. Since joining eCoast, Channie has been an integral part in the success of all facets of the company from Sales and Sales Management to Client Relations and Program Management.

Channie brings over 13 years of Sales and Management experience to eCoast. Before joining eCoast, Channie established and managed the North American Inside Sales Team at BlueCoat Systems (formerly CacheFlow) where she was responsible for developing all inside sales processes, driving team pipeline growth, and managing team resources. Prior to BlueCoat, Channie developed her skills while rapidly progressing from Sales Development to Inside Sales Manager at Cabletron Systems.

Channie holds a B.S in Marketing from Gannon University.

Kevin Lynn, Business Unit Director
Kevin joined eCoast in 2001. He provides leadership to the client account management team by establishing and ensuring a value delivery focus and a commitment to satisfied clients. Kevin and his team play an important role in ensuring that eCoast's clients understand how our services can help them brand their business, grow revenue and develop relationships with net new customers. Kevin emphatically believes that delivering results and exceeding all client expectations is the only way to effectively grow client relationships.

Kevin has 10 years of Sales, Client Relations and Program Management experience. After receiving his degree, Kevin joined the sales organization at Cabletron Systems where he was responsible for creating and developing net new business opportunities within the New York City Financial and Healthcare vertical markets. After successfully driving his team to a multi-million dollar quota, Kevin went on to work as an inside/outside account manager for Visual Networks, where he helped establish a commercial sales/client relations team for North America.

Kevin holds a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration from the Whittemore School of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire.

Deb Tasker, Director of Program Management
Deb Tasker joined eCoast in 2005, and brings over 22 years of sales and marketing experience to the eCoast Program Management Team. As the Director of Program Management, Deb oversees the program management teams for several business units, and is responsible for the development and implementation of sales and marketing initiatives for various eCoast partners and Manufacturers. Throughout her tenure at eCoast, Deb has successfully managed over one thousand telemarketing and demand generation campaigns for a diverse network of clients throughout North America, and has played a key role in acquiring new business for the company.

Deb resides in her childhood hometown of Farmington, New Hampshire with her husband and daughter. She is an avid sports fan, and enjoys cheering on her daughter, a three-season athlete, at basketball, softball, and soccer games.

Rohn Martino, Director of Strategic Programs
Rohn joined eCoast in 2005. In this position Rohn is responsible for day-to-day communication with a group of strategic clients and supports technology manufacturer's go-to-market demand creation in the SMB Marketplace via the channel. Since joining eCoast, Rohn has been a key contributor to eCoast's consistent growth.

Rohn brings over 13 years of technology sales and management experience to eCoast. Prior to joining eCoast, Rohn spent two years as a Technical Sales Manager at GHA Technologies where he developed and maintained a multimillion dollar territory and managed key partner relationships including Kingston and Equallogic. Before that, Rohn was with Amherst Technologies for five years. While at Amherst, Rohn built a five million dollar territory and within one year was promoted to Senior Account Executive. Rohn earned several awards and recognition for top sales performance and his leadership and mentoring skills. During his time in technology sales he held several sales and technical certifications with HP, Microsoft, and Cisco.

Lori Robinson, Director of Marketing
Lori joined eCoast in March of 2006. Lori is responsible for overseeing the creative marketing programs for eCoast including email and direct mail creative, custom presentations, Web 2.0 campaigns and website optimization/design, program microsites, and campaign landing pages. Lori brings a unique blend of simplistic creativity focused on delivering a clear message and call-to-action that impacts our client's bottom line.

Lori's creative expertise comes from over 27 years in Marketing and Graphic Design. Lori started her career working with Microsoft designing the first templates and clipart for PowerPoint. She expanded her skills as a web designer and in 1994 became the Webmaster for Infocus Systems, a projector company in the Pacific Northwest. In 1997 Lori held the position of Web Marketing Manager for Extensis, a plug-in software company for Adobe. In 2000, Lori started her own company called CustomPins, a very successful lapel pin company, which she sold prior to her employment with eCoast.

Lori holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design and Advertising from the University of Connecticut.