Management Team

"Follow your passion, not the paycheck. If you work hard at what you believe in - the money will come."

Mitch Free fervently believed in an idea that struck others as crazy, impossible or worse. Why would someone with no college education or funding try to create an online marketplace when all others were crashing and burning and why do it in an industry as slow to adopt and as fractured as manufacturing? The answer – passion, and as Mitch says “a little bit of ignorance.”

Mitch Free has built his career solving problems, eliminating inefficiency and not listening to conventional thinking. Mitch founded and now serves as the Chairman and CEO of MFG.com. Through his vision, creativity and persistence, Mitch has grown MFG.com to a global company that has become the platform by which the world's manufacturing economy does business. Mitch is responsible for leading the strategic direction of the company and overseeing the overall management of MFG.com. Under his leadership, the company has experienced tremendous growth and innovation in a market segment he is continuing to help define.

Prior to founding MFG.com, Mitch was Founder and CEO of 3DATUM, a provider of technology solutions for the manufacturing and engineering communities. Prior to founding 3Datum, Mitch held a variety of senior management positions with Northwest Airlines where he managed aircraft engineering, technical procurement and aircraft acquisition projects. Mitch began his career as a machinist and spent years working on the shop floor.

Mitch holds two U.S. patents (5,167,720 and 5,162,659) and is recognized among his peers for his insatiable curiosity, strategic vision, domain expertise and creative management style. INC. magazine named him an "Entrepreneur of the Year" finalist in 2005, he was an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of Year regional winner in 2008 and under his leadership MFG.com has been consistently ranked as one of the top technology growth companies in the United.States. Mitch is an avid speaker at technology forums and conferences, including presentations to the Kellogg School of Business at Northwestern University, Harvard Business School, Wharton and the Society of Manufacturing Engineers.

Mitch is an active angel investor in disruptive Internet based technologies, online marketplaces and a co-founder of Shotput Ventures. He is a general aviation enthusiast, private pilot, a member of EO (Entrepreneurs Organization) and YPO (Young President’s Organization).

Read about Mitch in Inc. Magazine's - May 2008 Issue   Follow Mitch on Twitter

As Chief Technology Officer, Andy is responsible for overseeing the development, quality assurance, and operations of technology platforms at MFG.com.

Prior to joining MFG.com, Andy was the Senior Vice President of application development for Thomson Financial, a leading financial services company that provides integrated information solutions to business and professional customers. In his role, Andy developed and led strategies in the creation of a common platform for over 40 product development groups. He was also responsible for the support and development of over $1 billion worth of products. Prior to that, Andy served as Chief Technology Officer at CCBN, which was acquired by Thomson in 2004. In his role he led all aspects of technology from start-up to over $65 million in revenue, and holds several patents for products that were developed.

As COO of MFG.com, Steve is responsible for all day-to-day operations of MFG.com including having global responsibility for sales, operations, marketing and the international locations.

 

Prior to joining MFG.com, Steve worked at Dell, Inc. for over 10 years where he held various leadership positions. Most recently Steve served as the Director of Consumer Sales and Site Lead for Dell’s Nashville office where he lead the sales operation, managed P&L and lead the redesign of call centers into “virtual stores”. Additional highlights from Steve’s career at Dell include, implementing Dell’s first production factory to utilize a 100% pull inventory system, re-casting Dell’s supply-chain management strategy and processes and driving a 40% reduction in labor cost per unit. Before joining Dell, Steve worked at ITT Night Vision in Product Development where he managed a multi-company team designing a lower cost power supply to be used in all night vision products.

 

Steve is a graduate of the Leaders for Manufacturing Program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he received a Masters Degree in Business Administration and a Master’s of Science in Electrical Engineering. He also has a Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Academy. Prior to attending MIT, he was a lieutenant in the United States Navy and flew A-6 Intruders from the USS America.

As CFO of MFG.com, Doug is integral in guiding MFG.com’s global strategy and business operations and ensuring that the financial and human resources are appropriately aligned to execute the company’s business objectives. Doug brings with him more than 25 years of successful operations, strategy and finance experience. He has substantial experience starting and developing international operations and raising capital and managing acquisitions in both public and private companies.

 

Prior to joining MFG.com, Doug served as VP Operations and CFO of Multicast Media Technologies, a leading webcast and online video technology company. He also served as CEO and CFO of Marketworks, where he orchestrated the company's merger with ChannelAdvisor Corp and served as CFO at Synchrologic, the pioneer of technology enabling wireless synchronization of email and personal information to mobile devices. Doug has held executive management positions at Premiere Global Services, Netzip and Link2Gov as well as, spent the first nine years of his career with Price Waterhouse.

 

He is an active member of the Atlanta technology community as a frequent speaker and panelist and has also served in mentoring roles with startup companies through the Advanced Technology Development Center ("ATDC") at Georgia Tech.

As the Senior Vice President - General Manger for the Americas, Adam is responsible for leading MFG.com's global sales and operation strategies.

 

Before joining MFG.com, Adam spent 14 years with CMD Group, a worldwide publisher of construction information. Adam held various positions of increasing responsibility with CMD in sales management including having overall responsibility for its flagship product line and was the driving force behind the development of leading-edge products that helped propel the company's revenues over $100 million.

 

Adam received a BBA in Marketing Management from North Georgia College and State University and has also served as an officer in the United States military.

Stefan serves as the General Manager of MFG.com Europe, Middle East and Africa.  He is responsible for directing MFG.com's EMEA operations, which include offices in Munich, Paris and Geneva.
 
Prior to joining MFG.com, Stefan worked at Dell for more than 10 years in various senior sales, marketing and services functions in Europe and Asia. Most recently, he was Director, Service and Solutions for Dell Central Europe, responsible for a server, storage and services business with revenues in excess of $500 million annually.
 
Stefan started his career in software engineering in the industrial space and then managed electronic commerce projects for software development firms and online marketplaces. He studied mathematics and computer science and holds an MBA from City University London Business School.

As Vice President and General Manager of MFG.com APAC, James is responsible for leading MFG.com's Chinese Operations including the day-to-day running of the Shanghai-based office.

 

Prior to joining MFG.com, James served as the Chief Representative for the Service Solutions Segment of SPX Corporation in Shanghai. In this role he helped to establish the Asia Procurement Office and built a sourcing team of over 20 individuals to support multiple business segments within the company. He also developed a database of 400 top commodity suppliers and pioneered reverse auctions in China utilizing an online marketplace platform. Prior to that, James was the General Manager for SPX Air-Xi Gage Company in Wuxi, China. In this role he aided in the restructuring of the organization, its work processes and operating metrics.

 

James holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from East China University in Shanghai and an International MBA from Thunderbird, AGSIM in Phoenix, Arizona. James is fluent in both Chinese and English.

As Managing Director of MFG.com India, Sanjay is responsbile for leading operations and business strategy for India and neighboring countries.

Prior to MFG.com, Sanjay was with Dell for nine years in a variety of executive positions and most recently served as director of sales operations, India.  Earlier, he spent a decade in the food packaging industry in Tennessee and Texas.

Sanjay received a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Tennessee and is Six Sigma Black Belt certified.

Elizabeth Searcy serves as the Vice President of Global Marketing, responsible for developing the MFG.com brand and leading the overall marketing strategy.  

Prior to joining MFG.com, Elizabeth was a director with Zyman Group, an international consulting marketing strategy firm, where she led profitable domestic and global business-to-business engagements that helped  some of the world’s most respected companies identify and capture millions of dollars of growth opportunity.

Elizabeth started her career at Morgan Stanley and has held marketing management positions in various consumer and business-to-business companies, including two Internet start-ups. She received a B.S. degree from Florida State University and holds an MBA from the Goizueta Business School at Emory University.

Heiko Binder is MFG.com’s Senior Vice President of Global Product Management.  Prior to joining MFG.com, Heiko served as Senior Strategist for frog design Europe where he was responsible for guiding multi-disciplinary teams through various projects as well as started the European Strategy practice at frog design, focusing on innovation, business and brand strategies.

 

Before joining frog design, Heiko co-founded and served as Managing Partner for an internet marketplace in Germany where he was responsible for product development and IT operations.