Ray Thackeray
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Raymond John Thackeray known as Ray Thackeray, was one of the founders of OnVantage Inc., (after merger of PlanSoft and seeUthere) which announced a merger with StarCite Inc. [1] in October 2006.
Ray Thackeray is named as "lead inventor" of seeUthere [2] patent application and precursor to the OnVantage technology MeetingView, which is designed to automate the meetings and events management process. This was the first online meeting management system worldwide, the only close equivalent at seeUthere's time of launch in September 1999 being "Evite" [3] which is a party invitations site, but with similar attributes to the more commercial seeUthere system which was targeted at corporate meeting managers, charities and events agencies.
The first version of seeUthere was released in September 1999 after the company received $3.7 million in venture capital funding. In December 1999, seeUthere agreed to an acquisition by MP3.com[4] of San Diego for $243.6 million in stock. This acquisition, though approved by both companies and due to file with California State to close, failed in February 2000 after the RIAA[5] announced a lawsuit with MP3.com and unavailability of pooling of interest accounting for the merger [6].
Thackeray is currently Managing Director of Travent Limited of the United Kingdom. [7] Travent was founded to distribute OnVantage MeetingView technology in Europe and sold to StarCite, Inc. in May 2007 [8].
[9] Meeting Professionals International (MPI) UK awarded Chapter Supplier of the Year to Ray Thackeray of Travent for his work in providing the meetings industry with software to help corporations consolidate their meeting spend. [10] Credited for developing the first meetings technology integration with Corporate Card spend systems such as American Express. [11]
Mentioned by Microsoft for developing applications on Windows Server 2000. [12]
In 1990-1992, Ray Thackeray owned "Thackeray's", a 7 days per week live music bar in Southport, Merseyside, UK - famous in its time as a place for Merseyside bands to find an enthusiastic venue.
1998 Thackeray appeared on "World Business Review" [13] with Caspar Weinberger, Ronald Reagan's Secretary of Defense [14] and Vinton Cerf, credited with inventing a key component of the internet (TCP/IP)[15][16].
2000 Thackeray appeared on BBC TV programme "Inside Dotcoms" about ex-pat Brit in San Francisco who co-founded an internet company.
EDUCATION: Thackeray obtained a Bachelors Degree Electronic Engineering, University College of North Wales, Bangor. Post Graduate research at MIT in Concurrent Engineering, 1990, QFD (“Quality Function Deployment”) and Design of Experiments (see Genichi Taguchi, whom Thackeray met in Massachusetts in 1990).
PUBLICATIONS: Published internationally in Software Engineering Journal and Concurrent Engineering magazine for seminal articles on software development methodology and QFD application “better designs in half the time”. (1) Van Treeck, G. S. and R. Thackeray (1991). "Quality Function Deployment at Digital Equipment Corp." [17] Concurrent Engineering, Vol. 1, No. 1, January/February. (2) R. J. Thackeray, and G. Van Treeck “Applying Quality Function Deployment for Software Product Development” Journal of Engineering Design, 1(4):389-410, 1990 and (3) R. J. Thackeray, and G. Van Treeck "QFD for Embedded Systems and Software Product Development," in GOAL/QPC 6th Annual Conference Proceedings (Boston: GOAL/QPC, 1989).
PERSONAL LIFE: A descendant of the William Makepeace Thackeray family, [18] Ray Thackeray is an accomplished singer, tenor saxophonist and pianist, playing in many rock bands and composing songs such as "The Games we Play" and "New England Light". He has also played many operas including Gilbert & Sullivan productions in Massachusetts (Savoyard Light Opera Company, as Private Willis in "Iolanthe" 1991 [19], Archibald Grosvenor in "Patience" 1988[20]) and The Mikado in "Mikado" 1989 [21]; California Lamplighters of San Francisco, Mr, Thackeray played the drooling warrior Scynthius in the production of Princess Ida that won the international grand prize at the 1995 International Gilbert and Sullivan Festival in Buxton England [22]. In the United Kingdom he played Pooh Bah in "Mikado" by the Maidenhead Operatic Society [23].
He sailed over 22,000 nautical miles (41,000 km) aboard his own ketch "Sea Star", from Boston, Massachusetts, to the Caribbean Sea and Islands, through the Panama Canal to Hawaii, Mexico[24] and California multiple times.
While sailing, Thackeray became involved with marine equipment colossus West Marine [25] and supported then-Vice President and transpac competitive sailor Chuck Hawley [26] in a test of life rafts [27]in the notorious "Potato Patch" [28] a 4 fathom shoal near the entrance to San Francisco's Golden Gate [29].
