Strategic Operator Network

Rick Webb

Rick Webb’s role is to apply his knowledge and expertise in the business process automation and retail industry to assist on assessing potential partners and providing advice and introductions to our portfolio companies at both the Board and operational levels.

Webb is the Director of Grit Studios, an entrepreneur advising network located in Rogers, Arkansas.  He is a board level advisor on numerous startups and continues to provide consulting support to selected enterprise businesses across the country. Webb is an active angel investor and participates in several key venture capital funds focused on entrepreneurial funding. He is also serving as an Executive in Residence for the University of Arkansas Walton Business College, where he works along faculty and staff to enhance the entrepreneurship programming.

Webb spent 12 years with Walmart after more than 25 years consulting with retail industry executives.  His terminal position at Walmart was the Senior Vice President of Global Business Processes. After university, Webb formed a consulting firm—Webb & Shirley—that focused on retail operations and worked with many of the nation’s largest retailers. 

In 2009, Webb was named the Sam Walton Entrepreneur of the Year Award, a leadership award selected by the Walton family. In 2013, he was elected into the OSU College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology Hall of Fame. In 2015, Webb was the recipient of the Institute of Industrial Engineering Champion of Industry award, awarded to industry leaders who have had significant impact to their companies and the engineering discipline.  In 2016, he was selected into the Cowboy Academy, a distinguished alumni group of the School of Industrial Engineering and Management at OSU.

Webb graduated from Oklahoma State University with a BS in Architecture, and MS and PhD in Industrial Engineering & Management.

Bryan Boudreaux

Bryan Boudreaux’s role is to apply his knowledge and expertise in the supply chain and logistics industry to assist on assessing potential partners and providing advice and introductions to our portfolio companies at both the Board and operational level. He currently serves as a Board Observer at Natural Partners Fullscript, a Kayne Partners Fund IV company.

Boudreaux is currently the Chief Operations Officer for Smitty’s Supply. Prior to Smitty’s, he was Senior Vice President of Supply Chain supporting distribution center operations in the eastern half of the United States. His role supported 50 distribution centers encompassing roughly 45 million feet of space and over 33 thousand associates. Mr. Boudreaux spent over 10 years in the Wal-Mart Private Fleet. His prior role was Vice President of Eastern Operations. In this role, he was responsible for inbound and outbound transportation from both grocery and general merchandise distribution centers. Boudreaux is an accomplished leader of a large, complex supply chain organization with 14 years of senior executive experience.

Boudreaux graduated from Southeastern Louisiana University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Government and went on to earn his Master’s Degree in Business Administration from Webster University, St. Louis, Missouri. Mr. Boudreaux was commissioned as an Officer in the U.S. Army. During his five years on active duty, he served in various leadership positions and served in Operation Desert Storm.       

Steve Jillings

Steve Jillings role is to apply his knowledge and expertise in the enterprise software and security and compliance industries to assist on assessing potential partners and providing advice and introductions to our portfolio companies at both the Board level and operational level.

Jillings has more than 30 years of business-building experience, specifically in the areas of corporate finance, sales, marketing and technology. He has been responsible for eight start-ups throughout his career, taking them from inception to commercialization and in several cases leading to successful liquidity events. Most recently as CEO at TeleSign, Steve raised $79 million in growth capital and led TeleSign to become the #1 Company in the Two Factor Authentication and Digital Identity category. Starting with 12 employees and single digit millions in revenue, TeleSign grew to 300 employees and more than $100 million in profitable annual revenue. Telesign was acquired by BICS for $350 million in October 2017. Steve is currently the Chairman & CEO of Signal Automotive, a Kayne Partners IV portfolio company in the auto tech market. He is also the Chairman of Evernym, Inc., a Utah-based identity startup.

Brooks Tobey

Brooks Tobey’s role is to apply his knowledge and expertise in the media & telecom industry to assist on assessing potential partners and providing advice and introductions to our portfolio companies at both the Board and operational levels. He most recently served as Chairman of the Board of Kayne Partners III portfolio company, You.i Labs.

Tobey left Warner Media after serving as Head of Technology Strategy and Business Operations for Turner Broadcasting System. As part of Turner’s Global Technology Operations organization for 19 years, Tobey provided strategic technology leadership across audience data and analytics platforms, advertising systems and linear/digital video delivery technologies. He also led Turner’s cloud strategy, the Emerging Technologies groups and all M&A technology diligence and IP portfolio.

Mr. Tobey earned a Bachelor of Science in computer science from Regents College in New York, and a M.B.A. in technology management from the University of Phoenix. He has served on several boards (iStreamPlanet and Freewheel among them) and was a member of the Strategic Digital Video Advisory Committee for Adobe. Mr. Tobey has earned multiple distinctions as a member of the CableFAX Digital Hot List, and led the team responsible for a Technology & Engineering Emmy at Turner.