Profiles

David C. O'Kell, Chairman

David C. O'Kell is a graduate of Amherst College, Massachusetts and was a senior marketing and advertising executive for over 16 years. He has held senior management positions with Leo Burnett, J. Walter Thompson, and D.D.B. Needham Worldwide.

From 1991 to 2001, Mr. O'Kell was a director and Executive Vice President of Simmonds Capital Limited, a TSE listed company. With Simmonds, Mr. O'Kell was responsible for corporate strategic planning, shareholder communications, and investment activities including mergers, acquisitions, and business restructuring. Merger and acquisition activity included acquisitions, divestitures, reverse mergers, licensing agreements, and equity financing. The transactions encompassed both private and public companies in Canada, the United States, Europe, and Australia.

Mr. O'Kell is also the former President and was a director of Ventel Inc., a VSE listed venture capital company and the former President and was a director of Wireless Ventures Inc., a NASDAQ OTCBB development stage company.

In 2004, Mr. O'Kell worked with the other founders to form Abilita, Inc., where he serves as chairman of the board of directors.

Stephen B. Zorn, CEO, Abilita, Inc.

Stephen is a long time Abilita Licensee from West Bloomfield, Michigan. He has been one of the driving forces with the Michigan group, helping to develop a successful team-based selling approach within the region and to foster close relationships with local trade associations where Abilita is the preferred supplier of consulting services. He has served on the Abilita Board of Directors since October 2007, and has also been a member of the Audit Committee.

Stephen attended Highland Park Junior College, Walsh College and Wayne State University. Prior to telecommunications consulting, Steve was CEO/President of his own software company, which he sold after 25 years. An active member of his community, Steve also serves as Senior Vice President of B’nai B’rith International, a volunteer service organization.

Taki Remtulla, CTO

Taki Remtulla holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Portsmouth Polytechnic, Hampshire, United Kingdom and is a Chartered Engineer and Fellow of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, UK. He also holds a Certified Diploma in Accounting and Finance from the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants. Taki is a senior member of the IEEE in the USA, is a member of the Canadian Telecom Consultants Association (CTCA) in Canada, and was a Director of Abilita, Inc.

Mr. Remtulla brings over 28 years of experience in planning, design, engineering, and project management of IT and voice networks. He has built large networks for carriers and global enterprises. His Network Design, Analysis and Optimizations have not only improved productivity and reduced exposure to network downtime but have also resulted in millions in savings for clients. He quickly gets to the core issues whether technical, financial or contractual. He has successfully negotiated large contracts with major carriers in North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. As a Chief Technology Officer of a high tech start up, he closely worked with Nortel Networks in the design and funding for an all fiber based community network.

Mr. Remtulla has presented and been published on numerous occasions.  He presented and published a paper on ISDN Migration Strategy and a paper at an IEEE conference in Saudi Arabia on the Evolution of Public Networks Toward Intelligent Networks.  Over the years, Mr. Remtulla has presented updates on Wide Area Network (WAN) design and optimization including, new technology platforms and design protocols to various companies and organizations.

In 2004, Mr. Remtulla was part of the initial group that founded Abilita, Inc.  He now serves as Chief Technology Officer of Abilita.

Mike Ashton, General Manager

Mike Ashton brings over 24 years of experience in the telecom industry as a telecom manager, sales executive and in various management positions within telecom consulting. He has installed and managed large enterprise PBX systems, sold a wide range of telecom products and services and has successfully managed networks of telecom consultants throughout North America.

Before joining Abilita, Inc., Mr. Ashton worked with many Abilita consultants prior to the formation of Abilita, Inc. and in 2005 assumed the role of General Manager for Abilita, Inc.