Planet Data Solutions, Inc.
The Planet Data Management Team
The Planet Data Management Team
Howard J. Reissner, Esq. - CEO
Howard J. Reissner, Esq. has provided service/technology solutions to the legal industry for the past decade. Since co-founding Planet Data in 2001, he has been involved in all aspects of organization, strategic planning, technology development and implementation, and client relations.
Mr. Reissner has spearheaded Planet Data¹s emergence as a global data management services provider, with the company¹s current retention by several multi-national entities. He is frequently requested to speak on these issues.
Education: B.A. Government, Cornell University; J.D. George Washington University; M.B.A. Columbia University. He is an active member of the New York Bar.
The Planet Data Management Team
Zoltan Horvath - President
Zoltan Horvath co-founded Planet Data in 2001. Mr. Horvath has been a document management expert in the commercial and legal industries since 1990. Mr. Horvath was previously a Document Management Consultant for the Merrill Corporation.
Mr. Horvath has utilized "cutting edge" technology to support a number of complex and highly publicized litigations. In addition, Mr. Horvath has been an industry leader in developing document management systems for many professional services organizations. Mr. Horvath actively participates in the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM).
He has served as New Jersey¹s AIIM Charter President. Mr. Horvath earned his B.B.A. in Marketing from Ohio University.
The Planet Data Management Team
Dave Cochran - Executive Vice President - Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Cochran got his start in the litigation support industry in 1985 as a project manager, consultant and executive with three litigation top tier support companies and most recently as President of Cerulean, LLC. Mr. Cochran has managed the largest intellectual property, product liability and environmental cases in recent history utilizing state of the art ESI technology and best practices for his corporate law department clients.
He has been involved in litigation support in the EU, Asia and the US and has applicable experience dealing with different litigation practices in those parts of the world. As a consultant, he developed virtual deal rooms for M&A clients as well as strategic plans for law firms and corporate legal departments. Mr. Cochran has been a speaker at conferences in the US and UK on litigation technology management.
Education: BA in Political Science from The Pennsylvania State University.
The Planet Data Management Team
Michael R. Wade - Executive Vice President - Chief Technology Officer
After graduating from Virginia Tech, Mr. Wade managed the Spatial Data Analysis Laboratory at Virginia Tech and worked on an NSF Foundation grant to improve the capabilities of the labs signature tool, GIPSY (General Image Processing System) that was used by image processing researchers at the University.
Since then, Mr. Wade has been leading technology development efforts in the Information, Knowledge and Document Management areas. Starting in 1988 Mr. Wade was the Chief Technology Officer and a principal for Tecomac AG based in Switzerland that focused on developing Knowledge Management solutions for large European corporations and Private Banks. During that time, he received several patents for data compression technologies that were used to accelerate communications over satellite links.
Mr. Wade got involved in the Litigation support industry in the late 90’s through the development of concept based search technology, auto-coding technologies and other meta-data and text extraction tools. Since that time he has managed the development of a complete end-to-end ESI processing system. Additionally, he has acted as a consultant for Private Equity groups to evaluate technologies and businesses.
Education: BS Accounting from Virginia Tech, Minor in Computer Science.
The Planet Data Management Team
Mark Mitchell - Chief Marketing Officer
Mark Mitchell is an award-winning marketing and business development executive with 25 years of multi-industry, major corporation experience. He has a broad background in marketing including 17 years as president and creative director of Millenium, Inc., an advertising, sales promotion and direct marketing agency on Madison Avenue with Fortune 100 and 500 clients.
Mr. Mitchell's clients have included: American Airlines, American Express, AT&T, BASF, CBS Radio, Citigroup, Cunard, Deloitte Touche, DuPont, Forbes Magazine, Hertz Corporation, Interior Design magazine, Oxford Health Plans, MasterCard, Scitex, and Smithsonian Magazine. Mark has received over 30 major awards from industry and professional organizations and publications.
Education: BFA Industrial Design, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R.I.
The Planet Data Management Team
Jeffery Zink - Vice President - Sales
Jeffrey Zink has over 25 years of experience in launching companies, products and services. He has also acted as a turnaround specialist. His latest endeavor was as a Vice President of YAHOO! Jeffrey started with YAHOO! in 1995 shortly after its IPO launch. He was responsible for east coast operations including sales, strategic alliances and business development. During his tenure revenue grew in the eastern region to over $300 million dollars. Jeffrey successfully launched a multitude of revenue streams for large and independent organizations. These included, software programs, trade shows, interactive services, consumer exhibits, seminars ,lecture series and marketing services.
The Planet Data Management Team
Anthony Dobson - Vice President of Client Services
Anthony J. Dobson comes to Planet Data from Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP where he served as National Director of Litigation Technology.
Mr. Dobson has managed the automation of many large litigations in the areas of securities, insurance sales practice, reinsurance and bankruptcy. He has overseen vendor processing of millions of pages of documents and has worked extensively with vendors in the area of electronic discovery, computer forensics and repository solutions.
Mr. Dobson previously served as a Litigation Support Specialist in Milbank’s New York office from 1998 – 2003 and as West Coast Manager of Litigation Support, based in Los Angeles, from 2004 - 2006. From 2003 – 2004, Anthony served as Manager of Litigation Support at Cooley Godward Kronish LLP in New York, where - serving as the firm’s first litigation support manager - he implemented their use of litigation support technology. Mr. Dobson began his career in the litigation support industry in the mid 1990’s while working as a Legal Support Analyst at Chadbourne and Parke LLP in New York, working exclusively on the firm’s tobacco products liability cases.
Education – B.A. Political Science, Ohio State University.
The Planet Data Management Team
Lori Schafer - Vice President of Operations
Lori Schafer has over twenty years of experience in litigation support, project management, and as a litigation paralegal. She has managed many large, complex projects and is an expert in project management, paper and electronic data processing and operational workflow.
Ms. Schafer started her career as a Litigation Paralegal working for two top New York law firms before moving on to the Corporate Environment as a Senior Litigation Paralegal for Union Carbide Corporation. During her 5 years with Union Carbide, she was instrumental in developing Union Carbide’s law department document management system. Ms. Schafer then joined Merrill Corporation as a Senior Project and Account Manager. She was with Merrill Corporation for 4 years prior to joining Planet Data.
Ms. Schafer joined Planet Data as a Senior Project Manager, was promoted to Director of Client Services and now holds the position of Vice President of Operations. During her tenure with Planet Data, Ms. Schafer has managed many projects for major corporations and global law firms.
Ms. Schafer earned her BS in Paralegal Studies from Mercy College, in N.Y.
The Planet Data Management Team
Nicholas Russo – Vice President of Repository Services
Mr. Russo has five years of experience in litigation support, project management, and technical consultation for numerous Fortune 100 companies and global law firms. He joined Planet Data in 2007 as the Director of Repository Services and was tasked with developing the repository services offering.
Prior to joining Planet Data, Mr. Russo was a senior project manager at ZANTAZ, Inc. where he standardized support practices and developed an extensive training program. Mr. Russo’s programming and technical skills have enabled him to aid in the development of review platforms to satisfy the needs of a large client base as well as create specialized tools to meet the demands of individual clients.
Education: B.S. in Education and M.A. in Computer Science from Boston University
The Planet Data Management Team
Dan Roose - Vice President of International Operations
Dan has worked in the litigation support industry in multiple capacities including project and operational management since 2001. He has extensive experience in large-scale litigation project management services including both traditional coding and electronic data discovery.
Dan began his career at an Ohio based distribution company where he worked for 10 years, eventually assuming full responsibility for the operations sector of the business. He is experienced in executive decision-making and managing complex programs to deliver improved processes and solutions. Dan has proven expertise in:
• Complex Program Management
• Business Performance Improvement
• Strategic Outsourcing
Education: Bachelor of Business Administration - Kent State University
- Howard J. Reissner, Esq. - Chief Executive Officer
- Zoltan Horvath - President
- Dave Cochran - Executive Vice President - Chief Operating Officer
- Michael R. Wade - Executive Vice President - Chief Technology Officer
- Mark Mitchell - Chief Marketing Officer
- Jeffery Zink - Vice President - Sales
- Lori Schafer - Vice President of Operations
- Anthony Dobson - Vice President of Client Services
- Nicholas Russo – Vice President of Repository Services
- Dan Roose – Vice President of International Operations
The Planet Data Management Team
Howard J. Reissner, Esq. - CEO
Howard J. Reissner, Esq. has provided service/technology solutions to the legal industry for the past decade. Since co-founding Planet Data in 2001, he has been involved in all aspects of organization, strategic planning, technology development and implementation, and client relations.
Mr. Reissner has spearheaded Planet Data¹s emergence as a global data management services provider, with the company¹s current retention by several multi-national entities. He is frequently requested to speak on these issues.
Education: B.A. Government, Cornell University; J.D. George Washington University; M.B.A. Columbia University. He is an active member of the New York Bar.
The Planet Data Management Team
Zoltan Horvath - President
Zoltan Horvath co-founded Planet Data in 2001. Mr. Horvath has been a document management expert in the commercial and legal industries since 1990. Mr. Horvath was previously a Document Management Consultant for the Merrill Corporation.
Mr. Horvath has utilized "cutting edge" technology to support a number of complex and highly publicized litigations. In addition, Mr. Horvath has been an industry leader in developing document management systems for many professional services organizations. Mr. Horvath actively participates in the Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM).
He has served as New Jersey¹s AIIM Charter President. Mr. Horvath earned his B.B.A. in Marketing from Ohio University.
The Planet Data Management Team
Dave Cochran - Executive Vice President - Chief Operating Officer
Mr. Cochran got his start in the litigation support industry in 1985 as a project manager, consultant and executive with three litigation top tier support companies and most recently as President of Cerulean, LLC. Mr. Cochran has managed the largest intellectual property, product liability and environmental cases in recent history utilizing state of the art ESI technology and best practices for his corporate law department clients.
He has been involved in litigation support in the EU, Asia and the US and has applicable experience dealing with different litigation practices in those parts of the world. As a consultant, he developed virtual deal rooms for M&A clients as well as strategic plans for law firms and corporate legal departments. Mr. Cochran has been a speaker at conferences in the US and UK on litigation technology management.
Education: BA in Political Science from The Pennsylvania State University.
The Planet Data Management Team
Michael R. Wade - Executive Vice President - Chief Technology Officer
After graduating from Virginia Tech, Mr. Wade managed the Spatial Data Analysis Laboratory at Virginia Tech and worked on an NSF Foundation grant to improve the capabilities of the labs signature tool, GIPSY (General Image Processing System) that was used by image processing researchers at the University.
Since then, Mr. Wade has been leading technology development efforts in the Information, Knowledge and Document Management areas. Starting in 1988 Mr. Wade was the Chief Technology Officer and a principal for Tecomac AG based in Switzerland that focused on developing Knowledge Management solutions for large European corporations and Private Banks. During that time, he received several patents for data compression technologies that were used to accelerate communications over satellite links.
Mr. Wade got involved in the Litigation support industry in the late 90’s through the development of concept based search technology, auto-coding technologies and other meta-data and text extraction tools. Since that time he has managed the development of a complete end-to-end ESI processing system. Additionally, he has acted as a consultant for Private Equity groups to evaluate technologies and businesses.
Education: BS Accounting from Virginia Tech, Minor in Computer Science.
The Planet Data Management Team
Mark Mitchell - Chief Marketing Officer
Mark Mitchell is an award-winning marketing and business development executive with 25 years of multi-industry, major corporation experience. He has a broad background in marketing including 17 years as president and creative director of Millenium, Inc., an advertising, sales promotion and direct marketing agency on Madison Avenue with Fortune 100 and 500 clients.
Mr. Mitchell's clients have included: American Airlines, American Express, AT&T, BASF, CBS Radio, Citigroup, Cunard, Deloitte Touche, DuPont, Forbes Magazine, Hertz Corporation, Interior Design magazine, Oxford Health Plans, MasterCard, Scitex, and Smithsonian Magazine. Mark has received over 30 major awards from industry and professional organizations and publications.
Education: BFA Industrial Design, Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, R.I.
The Planet Data Management Team
Jeffery Zink - Vice President - Sales
Jeffrey Zink has over 25 years of experience in launching companies, products and services. He has also acted as a turnaround specialist. His latest endeavor was as a Vice President of YAHOO! Jeffrey started with YAHOO! in 1995 shortly after its IPO launch. He was responsible for east coast operations including sales, strategic alliances and business development. During his tenure revenue grew in the eastern region to over $300 million dollars. Jeffrey successfully launched a multitude of revenue streams for large and independent organizations. These included, software programs, trade shows, interactive services, consumer exhibits, seminars ,lecture series and marketing services.
The Planet Data Management Team
Anthony Dobson - Vice President of Client Services
Anthony J. Dobson comes to Planet Data from Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP where he served as National Director of Litigation Technology.
Mr. Dobson has managed the automation of many large litigations in the areas of securities, insurance sales practice, reinsurance and bankruptcy. He has overseen vendor processing of millions of pages of documents and has worked extensively with vendors in the area of electronic discovery, computer forensics and repository solutions.
Mr. Dobson previously served as a Litigation Support Specialist in Milbank’s New York office from 1998 – 2003 and as West Coast Manager of Litigation Support, based in Los Angeles, from 2004 - 2006. From 2003 – 2004, Anthony served as Manager of Litigation Support at Cooley Godward Kronish LLP in New York, where - serving as the firm’s first litigation support manager - he implemented their use of litigation support technology. Mr. Dobson began his career in the litigation support industry in the mid 1990’s while working as a Legal Support Analyst at Chadbourne and Parke LLP in New York, working exclusively on the firm’s tobacco products liability cases.
Education – B.A. Political Science, Ohio State University.
The Planet Data Management Team
Lori Schafer - Vice President of Operations
Lori Schafer has over twenty years of experience in litigation support, project management, and as a litigation paralegal. She has managed many large, complex projects and is an expert in project management, paper and electronic data processing and operational workflow.
Ms. Schafer started her career as a Litigation Paralegal working for two top New York law firms before moving on to the Corporate Environment as a Senior Litigation Paralegal for Union Carbide Corporation. During her 5 years with Union Carbide, she was instrumental in developing Union Carbide’s law department document management system. Ms. Schafer then joined Merrill Corporation as a Senior Project and Account Manager. She was with Merrill Corporation for 4 years prior to joining Planet Data.
Ms. Schafer joined Planet Data as a Senior Project Manager, was promoted to Director of Client Services and now holds the position of Vice President of Operations. During her tenure with Planet Data, Ms. Schafer has managed many projects for major corporations and global law firms.
Ms. Schafer earned her BS in Paralegal Studies from Mercy College, in N.Y.
The Planet Data Management Team
Nicholas Russo – Vice President of Repository Services
Mr. Russo has five years of experience in litigation support, project management, and technical consultation for numerous Fortune 100 companies and global law firms. He joined Planet Data in 2007 as the Director of Repository Services and was tasked with developing the repository services offering.
Prior to joining Planet Data, Mr. Russo was a senior project manager at ZANTAZ, Inc. where he standardized support practices and developed an extensive training program. Mr. Russo’s programming and technical skills have enabled him to aid in the development of review platforms to satisfy the needs of a large client base as well as create specialized tools to meet the demands of individual clients.
Education: B.S. in Education and M.A. in Computer Science from Boston University
The Planet Data Management Team
Dan Roose - Vice President of International Operations
Dan has worked in the litigation support industry in multiple capacities including project and operational management since 2001. He has extensive experience in large-scale litigation project management services including both traditional coding and electronic data discovery.
Dan began his career at an Ohio based distribution company where he worked for 10 years, eventually assuming full responsibility for the operations sector of the business. He is experienced in executive decision-making and managing complex programs to deliver improved processes and solutions. Dan has proven expertise in:
• Complex Program Management
• Business Performance Improvement
• Strategic Outsourcing
Education: Bachelor of Business Administration - Kent State University
Planet Data Solutions, Inc. 555 Taxter Rd Elmsford, NY 10523
1.800.688.2812
