Elon Gasper

Elon Gasper
Director, Advisory Board

Corum's "rocket scientist" founded pioneering animation and speech software company Bright Star Technology in the 1980s. With Corum's assistance he closed venture funding, expanded and then sold Bright Star to a public company in the early 90s. He holds 9 patents for his software innovations and was a finalist for the Fleugelman, the only personal achievement award given by the Software Publishers Association. He has also won a Traditional Game of the Year, a Best Practices for Product Innovation, a COMDEX Envision and a Codie, the retail software 'Oscar'.

After Bright Star, Elon went on to drive development, business and marketing strategies in a variety of companies and roles, including Chief Technologist in entertainment giant Vivendi Universal's Sierra Online division; Senior VP at VizX Labs, a pioneering SaaS business delivering DNA analysis tools to scientists; and participant in a number of other start-ups, notably in the medical device, geoweb and telecommunications spaces. His background also includes faculty and staff positions at UCLA, Cal State and other universities; systems programming at a Fortune 500 company's Advanced Technology Center; and biomedical research.

Corum's Advisory Board is a "Council of Angels" centered on former clients such as Elon who enjoy continued participation with The Corum Group, rendering business, technical and other advice and assistance pertinent to particular transactions. Elon's other interests also include design and development related to Corum's and other Web sites, domain strategies and search engine marketing. He earned his MS in Computer Science and BS in Biochemistry from Michigan State University.

Follow Elon's gaze into the future of software and business on various blogs, including his Gasp! at Fast Company and the Software M&A Blog, as well as in the archives of Corum's Expert Articles section.