Leadership

David J. Kingland

Chief Executive Officer, President, and Board Member
As founder and Chief Executive Officer, David J. Kingland has guided Kingland Systems to leadership in providing software, data, consulting services and solutions to the accounting and financial services industries. Founded in 1992, Kingland Systems was established when national banks began to enter the retail brokerage business and required next generation compliance and trading systems to support their geographically dispersed operations. Prior to founding Kingland Systems, Mr. Kingland founded and was the President and Chief Executive Officer of Kingland Capital. Kingland Capital, an SEC registered Broker/Dealer, pioneered the bank-based full service retail brokerage business model. Mr. Kingland sold his brokerage business and formed Kingland Systems to focus on the technology needs of large bank broker/dealer operations. Prior to Kingland Capital, Mr. Kingland began his career in the brokerage business in 1981 with Edward Jones and Company, a New York Stock Exchange member firm. Mr. Kingland holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Administration from Iowa State University, and holds numerous SEC and FINRA securities brokerage licenses. Mr. Kingland also serves on the Board of Directors of Soleil Securities.

Todd Rognes

Chief Financial Officer, Partner and Board Member
As the Chief Financial Officer, Todd Rognes is responsible for directing and managing Kingland Systems financial, accounting, and legal functions. Mr. Rognes also serves as a strategic financial advisor. Mr. Rognes has more than 22 years of experience working within private and public software and professional services companies. Prior to joining Kingland Systems, Mr. Rognes spent 13 years with DocuCorp International, a Texas-based publicly traded document automation software company now owned by Skywire Software, and DocuCorp's predecessor company, Image Sciences, Inc. Mr. Rognes held several executive and managerial positions while at DocuCorp and was involved in the negotiation and integration of several acquisitions and the Initial Public Offering of DocuCorp. Mr. Rognes holds a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Accounting from Iowa State University and is a Certified Public Accountant. Mr. Rognes also serves on the Board of Directors of Opportunity Village, in addition to certain Economic Development boards and the Iowa State University Accounting Advisory Board.

Phil Birkedal

Partner
Phil Birkedal is currently responsible for the company’s Compliance Solutions teams that provide software tooling, consulting, and managed services meeting compliance and regulation based needs of large, international clients. Mr. Birkedal has been with Kingland Systems and its predecessor company, Kingland Capital, for more than 20 years. He has extensive experience designing and creating complex databases solutions as well as developing, implementing, and operating transaction, commission processing and compliance systems within many different brokerage firms. Prior to Kingland Systems, Mr. Birkedal was the CFO of Kingland Capital a regional broker/dealer and worked extensively with regulators including the NASD, SEC, NYSE, and various state regulators. Mr. Birkedal holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Accounting from the University of Northern Iowa, is a Certified Public Accountant, and holds a number of SEC/FINRA registrations and licenses including General Securities, Financial and Operations Principal, and General Securities Principal.

Deb Blaser

Managing Director
Deb Blaser leads the alignment of Kingland Systems’ Human Resources with the vision and overall strategy of the company. Ms. Blaser specializes in developing and implementing highly effective programs for talent management, team management, motivation, best practice utilization, and strategy execution. Ms. Blaser has been with Kingland Systems since 2000 and has held other management positions including extensive solution team experience with the financial services software and application delivery teams. Prior to joining Kingland Systems, Ms. Blaser had 15 years experience in the financial services industry in various roles in a multi-bank operation including data center management and internal audit. She is currently a Director for the North Iowa Association for Human Resources. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance from Buena Vista University.

Jeff Gorball

Managing Director
Jeff Gorball is the company’s chief security officer and is also currently responsible for company-wide improvements in the area of process management, driving Kingland’s CMMI maturity ratings and process improvement. Mr. Gorball also works with new management consulting and business process outsourcing clients in the government and healthcare sectors. Mr. Gorball has more than 30 years of experience providing mission-critical technical services, including high-availability data and communication centers, systems, and facilities. Prior to joining Kingland Systems, Mr. Gorball retired from the Marine Corps after 24 years of active service in the communications field. He is a member of the Armed Forces Communications Electronics Association (AFCEA). Mr. Gorball is also a member of the academics advisory board for the information technology curriculum for the North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC), and a member of the Iowa CIO Forum. He has served as primary contributor and editor for the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) Service Level Agreement Navigator and is a former member of the CompTIA Rules and Regulations Group. Mr. Gorball holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Management of Information Systems from Park University.

George Marshall

Managing Director
George Marshall leads the Information Technology vision and strategy for Kingland Systems. Mr. Marshall has more than 20 years of experience directing, managing, and implementing high-profile, high-complexity IT projects. Prior to joining Kingland Systems, he served several positions at IBM Global Services in the areas of service delivery management, performance and capacity planning, tools and automation, and system currency and reliability. His broad IT expertise has taken him across various industries including clothing/textiles, transportation and foodservice. Mr. Marshall also has extensive experience in the securities trading and insurance industries as a certified financial planner. Mr. Marshall is a member of the Iowa CIO Forum and Denver Mile High Chapter of the Association of Information Technology Professionals. He holds Bachelor of Arts degrees in both Communication and Business Management from Central College in Iowa.

Tony Brownlee

Managing Director
Tony Brownlee is responsible for the company’s Data Solutions business, which includes Kingland’s 360 Data™ line of reference data and master data management (MDM) software products. Mr. Brownlee specializes in working with firms throughout the financial services industry, leading Kingland’s new solution development and consulting practices involving process engineering, data management, and risk management problems. Mr. Brownlee was instrumental in the creation of Kingland Systems’ Data Solutions business and in the development and management of the Ames, Iowa research operation. Prior to joining Kingland Systems, Mr. Brownlee worked in the financial services industry providing consulting services for a leading national bank and international agri-business company. Mr. Brownlee is an active member of the SIFMA Data Management Division, FISD/SIIA, and other groups in the financial services industry. Mr. Brownlee holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Central College, Iowa. He also holds an MBA from Iowa State University.

Alex Olson

Principal
Alex Olson is currently responsible for business development in the global audit industry, specializing in engineering and managing custom solutions developed for compliance and enterprise software development problems and manages key customer relationships for the company. Mr. Olson has also managed many projects and teams supporting the company’s Data Solutions business. With more than 10 years of Kingland Systems experience, Mr. Olson also has significant expertise in quality assurance, systems engineering, and process engineering and improvement. He has earned the Project Management Institute (PMI) Project Management Professional (PMP) designation. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Iowa State University with specializations in electronic business, economics, and finance.

George Suskalo

Principal
George Suskalo has over 20 years of experience providing technical leadership across multiple IT specialties. Mr. Suskalo has been responsible for the architecture and design of software tooling and production systems to build and manage Kingland Systems’ Data Solutions, and is currently responsible for leadership of programs and software supporting the company’s staff and best practices. Mr. Suskalo also has extensive experience in the securities trading and regulatory compliance fields on issues such as networking, high availability and disaster recovery, systems engineering and performance analysis, database administration, file processing and high volume transaction processing. Mr. Suskalo graduated With Honors from the Master’s Course in Microcomputer and Microprocessor Electronics, National Radio Institute, Washington, D.C. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Theological Studies with High Distinction from Ambassador University, Pasadena, California, earned an Associate of Science in Management Information Systems from Ambassador College, Big Sandy, Texas, and is a member of numerous software and technology industry organizations.

Jason Toyne

Principal
Jason Toyne is responsible for research and development specializing in creating optimized, enterprise-class software that aligns user interface design with best practices in the creation of algorithms designed to facilitate change data capture, data standardization, data matching, data translation, data integrity, data management performance, and advanced searching techniques. Mr. Toyne has been instrumental in architecting and engineering Kingland Systems’ compliance applications, brokerage and financial services applications and industry-leading Independence Compliance Solutions. Mr. Toyne was also responsible for engineering software critical to Kingland’s Data Solutions business, including the complex rules-based contribution engine, data management workflow and data research applications. He is a Sun certified Programmer and Developer, is recognized as an innovator in software engineering, and has been a featured speaker at a number of events.

Trond Gjendem

Principal
Trond Gjendem is responsible for the architecture and design of Kingland solutions and is closely involved with process improvement initiatives, including the pursuit of CMMI Level 5 maturity rating. Mr. Gjendem has over 15 years of experience in software engineering and information technology, with a majority of those years spent in developing solutions for the auditing and regulatory compliance field. Most recently, Mr. Gjendem spent 7 years with PricewaterhouseCoopers, providing technical leadership for large projects and development teams. Mr. Gjendem holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is a Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) and a member of the Scrum Alliance.

James Niemants

Board Member
James Niemants serves on the Board of Directors of Kingland Systems, as well as the Investment Committee. Mr. Niemants has over 14 years of banking experience, including 6 years as the President of Hawkeye Bank & Trust. Upon leaving the banking industry, Mr. Niemants joined Kingland Capital, Kingland Systems’ predecessor company, as an Investment Representative, ultimately becoming President before Kingland Capital merged with SWS Financial. Today he continues to work as an investment professional with SWS Financial Services serving the North Iowa area. Mr. Niemants also serves on the Board of Directors of North Iowa Area Community College (NIACC) and Community National Bank, a regional bank located in Mason City, Iowa. Mr. Niemants graduated from Drake University with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

Steven Ladwig

Board Member
Steven Ladwig serves on the Board of Directors of Kingland Systems, as well as currently serving as the General Manager of Retail Store Solutions for IBM. Previous to this position, Mr. Ladwig has held many other positions with increasing responsibility at IBM in areas including software and server development, planning, marketing and programming. Prior to working for IBM, Mr. Ladwig served as the President and CEO of The Ladwig Companies, Inc., where he provided high-level consulting services to technology companies and investors, including business development and funding strategies. He also founded Ladwig Farms, LLC, which delivered high quality organic food products under the trademark “Best of Health!” Prior to starting those companies, Mr. Ladwig was President, CEO, and Director of Retek, Inc. and prior to Retek, he served as Senior Vice President of Imation and served as the company's President of Data Storage and Information Management. Mr. Ladwig is a graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato.