Alvars is the Managing Partner of IT Capital, a technology and business partner of Altimus Partners, in the areas of Vertical Industry BPO and market sector exchanges, deployment and adoption of emerging technology, and provisioning of Private Equity Advisory Services. Aivars Lode is a senior Business Executive with a successful track record in investing in, and managing the growth of high-tech organizations. In September 2001 Aivars founded Avantcé, a private equity firm which invests in software companies, and IT Capital. a Merchant Bank which invest in mature middle-market software and technology companies. Over the past decade, Aivars led several successful investments in start-up high-tech, (including Robocom Systems, Radcliffe, Revere Inc., Select Business Solutions, ADT, Aviva Solutions) and has been retained by private equity firms (CVC Capital Partners, Golden Gate Capital, Bain Capital and Welsh Carson Anderson & Stowe) to advise on acquisition strategies in Software, He contributed to the development of the market strategy of several companies, including IBM’s EDI business, Inovis, Infor and Mincom. Aivars currently holds board positions and advises companies such as BTrade, Rite Drive, Position Logic, Big, Profit Path Systems and Knowledge4You. Prior to founding Avantcé, Aivars was Group President of Descartes Systems Group, Canada, a publicly traded company providing Internet based solutions for Supply Chain Management, where he led the company’s expansion in the Asia Pacific region and the successful acquisition and consolidation of two EDI businesses. Prior to joining Descartes, Aivars managed the Australasia Applications Software division of Oracle. Aivars first entered the technology industry in 1991 when he joined Dun & Bradstreet Software organization ascending through various management roles and across several divisions. Prior to DBS Aivars held management positions, including COO, CFO and CIO roles in public and private corporations. Aivars has lived in Australia, Canada, Singapore, Hong Kong and is a past member of the Board of Directors at First Bank and Trust of Illinois.