Management team

J.R. Smith

Chief Executive Officer
J.R. Smith joined AVG as CEO in early 2007 after three years at the helm of UK-based dot mobile, a Mobile Network Operator (MVNO) he co-founded that partnered with Vodafone to provide mobile services (voice/text/picture messaging/data, etc.) to students in the United Kingdom. J.R.’s first European venture was TSG, a pan-European network deployment and telecommunications software development company he founded in 1997 whose clients included Vodafone, Nextel, Orange, T-Mobile, Telefonica, Nokia, and Ericsson. J.R. began his career as a serial entrepreneur in Seattle, WA with PNC, later VoiceStream; after six years, the company was sold to T-Mobile.

Mike Hedger

Chairman of the Board
Mike Hedger has been active in both publicly-traded and investor-backed IT companies for 30 years. His most recent leadership role was as CEO of KVS Inc, which he built into the #1 email archiving business and successfully sold on to Veritas/Symantec in 2004. Prior to founding KVS, Mike was EVP Worldwide Operations and Officer of Forte, based in California and acquired by Sun Micro Systems in 1999. His early background was in hardware and software sales with IBM, Wang, Ingres, and Oracle. The net result is extensive experience of executing on a range of unique business models, together with powerful marketing and brand building success stories of truly global perspective. Mike currently splits his time between the UK and the Czech Republic.

Karel Obluk

Chief Technology Officer
As CTO, Karel Obluk is responsible for the strategic and technical development of the AVG product line, as well as developing key partnerships within the industry and identifying technologies offering potential for acquisition. Before becoming CTO, Karel led the development department, where he supervised and managed the release of several versions and editions of the AVG Anti-Virus. Prior to joining AVG in 2003, Karel managed the development team at VEMA, a Brno-based database software company that focused on relational and object-oriented database systems, and led development of the company's V3 thin-client technology.

Roger Thompson

Chief Research Officer
As Chief Research Officer for AVG, Roger leads a global team of security researchers. He moved into his current position when his previous venture, Exploit Prevention Labs, was acquired by AVG in late 2007. Prior to co-founding Exploit Prevention Labs in 2005, Roger headed the malware research operations for security industry leaders ISCA, PestPatrol and Computer Associates (CA). He moved to the United States from his native Australia in the early 1990s, where he founded Thompson Network Software and earlier, co-founded the first Australian anti-virus company, Leprechaun Software. Roger speaks widely on computer security and forensics issues.

Larry Bridwell

Vice President of Global Security Strategies
As VP of Global Security Strategies, Larry works closely with the AVG research group to determine current and future malware trends and then develop and promote best practices and protection strategies using AVG security products. Prior to joining AVG, Larry was Program Manager for Content Security Programs at ICSA Labs, an independent testing company and division of Cybertrust, Inc. He is an active member of several national and international information security working groups, has participated in the White House Cyber Incidents Roundtable and is a member of the US CyberSecurity Technical Standards and Common Criteria Task Force.

David Ferguson

Chief Marketing Officer
David joined AVG as Chief Marketing Officer in March 2008, with responsibility for global marketing and online activities, from a similar position with dot mobile, a UK-based Mobile Virtual Network Operator partnered with Vodafone. He previously spent eight years in the Internet Service Provider business, first as Group Director with cable operator Telewest, where his responsibilities included building and running their broadband operations, and then as co-founder and Marketing Director of pioneering DSL operator Bulldog Broadband, which he helped sell to Cable & Wireless. David’s early career was in management consultancy, working on assignments worldwide with firms including Ernst & Young and CACI Inc.

Erik Siegler

Vice President of Web Marketing
A career online marketer, Erik is responsible for maximizing AVG’s revenue from online activities. He joined AVG in late 2007 as a result of the Exploit Prevention Labs acquisition where, as Vice President for Consumer Business, he drove online sales and marketing for the LinkScanner product line. Prior to Exploit Prevention Labs, Erik was Director of Online Sales at Tenebril, an antispyware startup, and Marketing Manager at Zone Labs both before and after that company’s acquisition by Check Point. At Zone Labs, he played a significant role in migrating the company's consumer business model from freeware distribution to world-wide electronic commerce. Erik holds a BA in Economics from Northwestern University.

Petter Lautin

Vice President of Sales, EMEA & ROW, and Global Sales Operations
Petter joined AVG in January 2008 and is responsible for sales and market/business development in all markets except the UK and US, as well as for global sales operations. He came to AVG from Trend Micro, the world's third largest Internet security vendor, where he was in charge of developing routes to market for the consumer segment in EMEA. Petter's first venture into information security was as MD of Symantec in the Nordics; prior to Symantec, he held senior regional management positions with Filemaker, Claris, and Ashton-Tate. Petter is a Norwegian national who now splits his time between the Czech Republic and his home in the UK.

Rick Carlson

Managing Director, North America
As Managing Director of AVG Inc, the company’s North American Operations, and Executive Vice President of the global company, Rick is responsible for all AVG business in the United States and Canada. Prior to joining AVG, he was CEO of SurfSecret, a software company specializing in privacy and security software in the consumer and SMB sectors. His first venture in the information security arena came with Aluria Software, a leading anti-spyware company acquired by EarthLink in 2005 in one of the largest security acquisitions by an ISP in the United States, and Rick remained with EarthLink for a year after the acquisition as VP Sales & Marketing.

Michael Foreman

Managing Director, UK & Ireland
Michael is responsible for all AVG's business in the UK and Ireland, a role he took on when his company, AVG UK, was acquired by AVG Technologies in August 2007. AVG UK had been the company’s official business partner for the UK and Ireland since 2002, during which time the number of AVG users in the territory grew to several million. Before founding AVG UK, Michael, a serial entrepreneur, was Managing Partner of F1 Services, which combined a PC retail business with repair services and aerial/network installations. He holds a BSc (Hons) degree in Management from Coventry University.