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Board of Directors

Donald Sperling

Donald Sperling is a founding member of Stein, Sperling, Bennett, De Jong, Driscoll & Greenfeig, P.C. Donald N. Sperling emphasizes the areas of business, employment, e-commerce, technology, real estate and personal injury in his practice. He is experienced with commercial acquisitions, employment relations and disputes, complex civil litigation, and substantial injury claims, including as counsel to national corporations, the handling of computer software and systems agreements, licensing and multi-state litigation matters. He is a frequent speaker on business, employment and technology-related topics.

Hossein Noshirvani

Hossein Noshirvani has been involved with a number of .com companies since joining the workforce in 1996. He was co-founder and COO of barseen.com, a sales and marketing company that broadcast nightlife videos on the internet from 1996 - 2000.

He is currently EVP of KI Software, a software services firm providing solutions to the health and wellness industry. He currently sits on the board of stonelocator.com, SI Technologies, Most Ventures, and Pakenham, Inc.

Hossein graduated in 1996 from Brandeis University with a degree in economics with a concentration in marketing.

Joseph E. Schmitz

Joseph E. Schmitz is Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of The Prince Group, which owns, among other companies, Blackwater USA. Mr. Schmitz recently took over the responsibilities of Chief Operating Officer and General Counsel of The Prince Group after serving for three and a half years as Inspector General of the Department of Defense.

President George W. Bush nominated Joseph E. Schmitz to be the Inspector General of the Department of Defense (DoD) on June 18, 2001. The Senate confirmed him on March 21, 2002.

The Inspector General reports directly to the Secretary of Defense. The statutorily "independent and objective" Office of Inspector General (OIG) employs approximately 1,250 civilian and military officers and employees, primarily auditors, inspectors, and investigators, with an annual budget of approximately $200 million. The DoD OIG includes as major subcomponents the Defense Criminal Investigative Service (DCIS) and the Defense Financial Auditing Service (DFS). Based on post-Enron independence standards, the Inspector General is the only DoD Officer qualified to issue opinions on the financial statements of the Department of Defense, the annual budget for which exceeds $400 billion.

As the sole DoD representative on the President's Council on Integrity & Efficiency (PCIE) and, by law, "the principal adviser to the Secretary of Defense for matters relating to the prevention of fraud, waste, and abuse in the programs and operations of the Department," Inspector General Schmitz chairs the Defense Council on Integrity & Efficiency (DCIE), the members of which include component heads of the Audit, Inspection, and Investigative units of the military departments, and the Inspectors General of the other DoD agencies and major components. The Inspector General also serves as President of "DoD OIG University," established in 2004 to serve the "teach & train" needs of DCIE members, consistent with the Inspector General's statutory duty to "give particular regard to the activities of the internal audit, inspection, and investigative units of the military departments with a view toward avoiding duplication and insuring effective coordination and cooperation."

From 1987 to 2002, Mr. Schmitz' private-sector law practice focused on complex civil litigation, aviation regulatory matters, international trade, administrative law, and constitutional appellate litigation, most recently as a partner at PATTON BOGGS LLP.

His prior public service includes: 27 years of naval service, first on active duty and then as a reserve officer, attaining the rank of Captain; Special Assistant to the Attorney General of the United States, Honorable Edwin Meese III; and law clerk to Honorable James L. Buckley, Circuit Judge, United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

Mr. Schmitz has published numerous articles, presented lectures, and testified as a constitutional expert before the U.S. Senate Governmental Affairs and Judiciary Committees. From 1995 until 2002, he was an Adjunct Professor of Law at the Georgetown University Law Center, where he developed and taught a seminar on advanced Constitutional Law. He has also served on the Steering Committee of the Washington Lawyers Chapter of the Federalist Society for Law and Public Policy Studies.

Mr. Schmitz graduated with distinction from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1978 and received his J.D. degree from Stanford University in 1986. He is a Young Leader Alumnus of the American Council on Germany, and a member of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.