Francesca B. Close
Chief Executive Officer

Francesca Close serves as principal and Chief Executive Officer of The Orbis Group LLC (TOG) providing the vision/strategy of the company to the media, the international audience, corporate America, government agencies, employees and customers. She brings 25 years of business experience, SME development and support, and networking with global organizations and company executives to create the roadmap for public-private sector investor participation - identifying economic development and revenue generating projects for developing countries and underserved communities. Her successes in these areas have been recognized not only in the United States but also in various other countries such as England, Ireland, Mexico, Canada, Philippines, China, Greece, Bosnia, and Australia. More ...

Bill Seeley
Executive Vice President

Bill Seeley serves as Executive Vice President for The Orbis Group LLC (TOG) with direct responsibility for directing the efforts of the company's e-Education and e-Health divisions in the execution of various initiatives which interface with other areas within the group. He brings more than 25 years of management experience within the retail industry and manufacturing sectors, where he helped to better align and efficiently manage production, inventory and distribution processes.

Prior to joining TOG, he founded a consulting firm dedicated to selling Learning Content Management Systems, and to implementing and teaching online curriculum delivery systems across the United States and Canada. In a hands-on approach, he interacted daily with educators, program trainers and users as well as corporate managers and decision makers.

In addition he has served as a regional vice president of sales, member of the five-year corporate planning staff, and participant in the product design and marketing plans for targeted launches in the marketplace. He has also directed R&D teams of engineers and designers who evaluated, approved and implemented the use of advanced manufacturing methods Ð thus earning a patent award for the design of the most successful pricing label ever introduced into the grocery industry.

Other entrepreneurial activities have included working as a national sales manager for a start-up company and growing sales revenues from $0 to $5 million in just one year; founding and operating an import company that led him to work with several major Asian consumer goods manufacturers; working as an instrument flight instructor and licensing the first deaf woman in the state of Ohio for a private pilot's license; and participating in technological research for radio frequency identification (RFID), which is used today to track many different types of assets including humans, animals, products in the manufacturing distribution, tracking and selling of goods.

Jeanne L. Griffin
Vice President New Business Development

Jeanne Griffin has over 20 years of business and technology experience, and has been working in the field of eEducation since 1997. Ms. Griffin joined a software sales and development organization as Director of Business Development. In this role she designed an online sales process that reduced the cost of sale while improving sales success of the organization's eLearning software to organizations around the world. She has also worked closely as a strategic partner with Microsoft Corporation since 1998.

As Director of Business Development, Ms. Griffin performed direct sales activities and managed eLearning resellers in North America, Europe, Australia, Asia, and South America.

One of her clients, a major telecommunications company, delivered blended learning to 25,000+ individuals worldwide. Of the 25,000 there were 10,000 sales representatives who received product and sales training via online learning. Another client, a Fortune 100 company, successfully delivered eLearning to 42,000 individuals worldwide.

By establishing strategic partnerships with custom content developers, technology hosting organizations, and off-the-shelf content providers, Ms. Griffin worked hard to ensure that her clients received an eLearning solution that was customized to their unique needs. She also ensured all components of each solution were fully implemented into a successful eLearning program for each client.

Jeanne has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Marketing from the University of Tennessee.

Bob Nagengast
Communications Director

Bob Nagengast has over 25 years business experience in production, sales and marketing of entertainment, sports, and news media across a wide array of platforms including network television, radio, print, and the Internet. Creative business solutions and a passion for working with organizations to generate new business, strengthen existing relationships, and foster more effective communications are in his business toolbox to ensure his client's sustained growth and profitability. During his tenures at Saatchi & Saatchi, Anheuser Busch and ABC Network TV, he marketed many global events including several Olympics, The Academy Awards, World Cup Soccer, the Superbowl and World Series.

As an entrepreneur, known by his clients as “Bob The Media Guy”, he has been a key executive in creating and marketing two new media Internet ad companies: SmarTouch Media and Hiwire. Spanning his career, client responsibilities have included The Walt Disney Company, Fox, Honda Motors, Nissan, Nike, Intel, Microsoft, and Proctor & Gamble. Most recently, his marketing consultancy created American Hero Outdoorsman, fishing and hunting show featuring disabled veterans on the water and in the field showcasing courage and positive uplifting stories about those whom have sacrificed so much for their country.

A graduate of Rutgers University majoring in Philosophy and Economics, Bob currently resides in Savannah GA and Palm Springs CA, when not spanning the globe on behalf of The Orbis Group, LLC.

David Nidel
Chief Information Officer

David Nidel is a multimedia publisher and consultant in hospitality and tourism management and high technology. An entrepreneur since 1991, Mr. Nidel is President of DSN Enterprises, Inc. dba Digital 1 Presentations. His multimedia publishing services bureau provides clients with digital photography, software, microfilm and image archiving, image and text management, electronic resource reserves, and video production, print, and web services. Digital 1 Presentations manages reproduction and sales distribution of custom course material and archives academic and professional journals in print onto CD-ROM, and online for several colleges and universities as well as commercial clients.

Recent projects include digitizing the entire County Clerk's Office of Sandoval County NM; digitized 200 assessor maps of Dona Ana County, NM, and providing the University of New Mexico a CD-ROM of the Edward S. Curtis North American Indian publication. Digital 1 Presentations has published new offerings including: Survival Through Laughter — Shiera vs Breast Cancer in Limerick Form; Kitchen's Opera House — Gallup, New Mexico; Berlin Rules; and Memories — a poetry and photography computer screensaver with audio on CD-ROM.

In 1987, at the University of New Mexico, Mr. Nidel completed doctoral level course work on interactive video which became the pre-cursor to the State of New Mexico's interactive video kiosk system on tourism. Mr. Nidel graduated from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas with a Bachelor of Science in Hotel Administration in 1983. In 1980, as an undergraduate at the University of New Mexico, he completed a graduate level Directed Study under the guidance of Sociology Professor George Huaco entitled Descendents of Conversos in New Mexico — 500 Years of Faith. An abstract of this work was published in Western States Jewish History Spring 1984 edition. Mr. Nidel resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico.