Epik Team

Rob Monster

Chairman and CEO

Rob is Founder, Chairman and CEO of Epik and Managing Director of Monster Venture Partners LLC.

Rob was the Founder of GMI (Global Market Insite, Inc.), a leading provider of technology-enabled services to the global market research industry. Mr. Monster served as Chairman and CEO from 1999-2007, during which time GMI achieved annual revenue growth of 100+% per year and served customers in more than 60 countries. GMI is backed by Technology Crossover Ventures, FT Ventures and Voyager Capital.

Prior to founding GMI, Mr. Monster was a global product development manager with Procter & Gamble. During an eight year technology management career with P&G, Mr. Monster worked and lived in Europe, Asia, and North America. He also traveled extensively in Latin America as part of his global role in leading the development and commercialization of a series of successful new product initiatives.

Mr. Monster, a Dutch-American, is fluent in English, Dutch, and German. Mr. Monster has both a BS and an MBA from Cornell University where he studied Life Sciences and Economics. Mr. Monster is a member of ESOMAR - World Association of Research Professionals. Mr. Monster is co-author of the book “Market Research in the Internet Age”, published by John Wiley & Sons.

Mr. Monster is winner of the 2005 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year award in Technology and Software (Pacific Northwest) and is a Director and advisor to a number of companies, notably in the area of consumer internet.

Cliff Beer

CFO and Chief Counsel

Cliff is an experienced and successful CFO having previously held CFO roles in venture capital and in private industry. These prior roles include CFO and co-founder from 2000 to 2006 of Global Market Insite, Inc. (GMI), one of the Northwest's most successful fast growth venture-backed companies.

While at GMI Cliff raised over $60MM in venture funding and helped lead the company to over $65MM in global sales in the course of executing an aggressive growth strategy including global m&a. More recently, Cliff has consulted with several early and mid-stage fast-growth companies, leading the implementation of world-class accounting, finance, HR and business development capability.

Earlier in his career Cliff was a CPA in public accounting with Deloitte & Touche working extensively with many of the largest Northwest-based companies including Microsoft, Boeing and Amazon. Cliff is also an attorney with deep experience in the areas of commercial contracts, intellectual property, venture capital, mergers & acquisitions, tax and international law and has taught classes in these areas to both CPAs and attorneys.

John Lawler

SVP of Product Management

John Lawler leads product development at Epik.com. He has over 20 years experience managing the development, marketing, and launch of complex technologies. John brings with him a strong technical and business background in security, identity management, multi-service wired and wireless data networks, and IT infrastructure.

Before joining Epik, John was at Microsoft, where he led market positioning and messaging for the Microsoft Forefront family of business security products, helping to build it into one of Microsoft's fastest growing businesses. Prior to that, John held senior positions in a number of security technology companies, including Preview Systems, Concentric Networks, and VPNet Technologies. He received his BS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Notre Dame.

Ala Dadan

Director, Design

With 8 years of experience Ala is in charge of implementing and developing the Epik team‚ as creative ideas into simple easy to understand appealing interfaces.

Ala started his career back in 2001 as New Media Designer, during his career Ala was a member of different design teams in several companies in Jordan - Middle East and as a consultant for a number of design firms abroad. Before joining Epik, Ala founded O2 Alternative, a trend-setting design house in Jordan.

Ala has a passion for creating web-interfaces, posters, and exploring different design tools and colors that would carry his own signature and style.

Ala motto is not to confine the mind, and a person should do what he wants on a daily basis and make it his/her main goal, and each project or idea would present him with ways to express his passion to what he does and wander innovatively in his profession.
Ala is a Jordanian from Circassian roots, he is fluent in Arabic and English, and these days he enjoys living in Amman the capital of Jordan.

When he isn't designing Ala enjoys reading about history, politics, and arts in general, watching a good movie and listening to his favorite music tracks.