Henry Bar-Levav, 45. CEO

Henry Bar-Levav is a pioneer of the commercial Internet in New York. In 1996 he founded the Internet consulting firm OVEN that grew into the largest privately owned company of its kind in the world. From its eleven offices in four continents, OVEN’s 300-plus employees provided advanced technologies including software development and systems analysis for clients including Tiffany & Co., IBM, AT&T, MoMA, and Sullivan & Cromwell.

Bar-Levav began his career as a programmer-analyst in the research division of Nortel in 1980 where he specialized in the design of early voice messaging systems, call centers, and satellite systems. He has been a consultant to over 100 financial and telecommunication firms including Bear Stearns, Ernst and Young, and AT&T. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Michael Tiffany, 27. Chief Software Architect

By the time Michael Tiffany was sixteen, he had already made several recognized advances in network and Unix security. He started his first successful company at eighteen. Most recently, Tiffany led first the Customer Applications department, and then the entire Internet Services division, at Western Integrated Networks. With nearly $900 Million, the Denver-based company was at that time the largest high-tech startup in the U.S, building the first large-scale fiber-to-the-home network in the world. Tiffany worked closely with WINfirst’s contractors, including Accenture, Lucent, HP and Bechtel, as well as investors such as The Blackstone Group and JP Morgan, to design and deploy the innovative service, offering digital cable, video-on-demand, telephony, and Internet service over one wire.