Altegrity’s corporate and business leadership team is committed to maintaining the highest principles of integrity, developing successful client relationships, creating an engaged and motivated employee team, and providing a sound return for investors.
Michael G. Cherkasky - Chief Executive Officer
Michael Cherkasky is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) for Altegrity. Mr. Cherkasky provides the leadership, vision, and strategic direction for Altegrity to continue its progressive expansion of security, screening, and information solutions and services for government and commercial customers.
Prior to joining Altegrity in August 2008, Mr. Cherkasky was the president and chief executive officer of Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc. (MMC), the global professional services firm, from October 2004 through January 2008. He was also a member of the firm’s board of directors. Prior to these positions, he was president and CEO of Kroll, Inc., which was acquired by MMC in July 2004.
Mr. Cherkasky joined Kroll in 1994 and held a series of leadership positions with increasing responsibility. He was named chief of Kroll’s New York Office in 1995 and chief of its North American Region in 1996. In 1997, he was promoted to Chief Operating Officer and Executive Managing Director, and later that year he was promoted to President of Kroll Associates. In May 2001, he became President and CEO of Kroll, Inc.
Under his leadership, Kroll achieved a remarkable business turnaround and gained a stronger global brand. Mr. Cherkasky guided Kroll through difficult financial times and achieved the company’s first quarter of profitability in three years within his first year as CEO. He led the firm to record revenues of nearly $500 million with operating income of approximately $80 million. Kroll’s market capitalization rose to more than $1 billion before it was acquired by MMC in 2004 for $1.9 billion, representing a more than 12-fold increase during his tenure as CEO.
During his tenure at Kroll and MMC, Mr. Cherkasky continued to service clients, most notably serving as the court-appointed monitor of the Long Island Carting industry from 1994-2004, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from 1996-1998, and the Los Angeles Police Department from 2001-2009.
Mr. Cherkasky joined Kroll after a 16-year career in the criminal justice system as a trial attorney, administrator, and investigator. Early in his career, he served as a law clerk in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio. He then became an Assistant District Attorney in New York County. While in the District Attorney’s office, Mr. Cherkasky served as a trial attorney, trial bureau chief, Chief of the Rackets Bureau, and Chief of the Investigations Division. In this capacity, he led the division’s investigations on fraud, corruption, money laundering, organized crime figures such as John Gotti, and the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
A frequent speaker and media commentator on national and corporate security issues, Mr. Cherkasky is also the author of Forewarned: Why the Government is Failing to Protect Us and What We Must do to Protect Ourselves.
Mr. Cherkasky earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in History at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1972 and his Juris Doctorate at Case Western Reserve University in 1975.
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Bart G. Witteveen - Chief Financial Officer
Bart Witteveen was appointed Altegrity’s interim Chief Financial Officer in December 2009. Previously, he served as vice president of finance for the corporation since August 2007, where he was responsible for company-wide controllership; corporate financial planning and analysis, including investor relations support; company-wide share services leadership; and treasury operations. Mr. Witteveen also oversees the current SAP ERP initiative.
Mr. Witteveen began his career at Altegrity as vice president of financial planning and analysis in February 2006 and was acting CFO of the corporation’s commercial business during a transitional period in 2007. Prior to joining Altegrity, he served in a series of global financial management roles within the Plastics, Healthcare, and Financial Services divisions of General Electric for 14 years.
Mr. Witteveen has a VWO diploma from Almere College in the Netherlands and a master’s degree equivalent in Business and Economics from Erasmus Universiteit, also in the Netherlands.
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David R. Fontaine - Senior Vice President and General Counsel and Corporate Secretary
David Fontaine serves as Senior Vice President and General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. Mr. Fontaine is responsible for providing legal counsel, managing legal services, directing regulatory compliance, and overseeing professional integrity and business ethics for Altegrity and its affiliates.
Prior to joining the company in January 2009, Mr. Fontaine served as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO), and Corporate Secretary for Ruesch International, Inc., a provider of global payment services, where since January 2005 he was responsible for managing all of the corporation's legal and regulatory affairs. As CAO, he had oversight responsibility for the corporation's administrative functions, including human resources, compliance, internal audit, facilities, and risk management.
Mr. Fontaine joined Ruesch International after serving as Executive Vice President, General Counsel, Chief Risk Officer, and Corporate Secretary of American Management Systems, Inc. (AMS) from July 2002 to June 2004. For more than two years, Mr. Fontaine directed the corporation’s legal affairs, including the sale of the company to CGI and CACI, Inc. He also developed and implemented procedures and policies to mitigate AMS' overall risk exposure.
Before joining AMS, Mr. Fontaine was Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Dimension Data, NA (successor to Proxicom, Inc.) from June 1999 to July 2002, where he built a legal team and centralized the legal affairs of several U.S.-based operating companies. While at Proxicom, he served as Senior Vice President and General Counsel. In this role, Mr. Fontaine managed the company's legal affairs on a global basis, including the sale of the company to Dimension Data.
Mr. Fontaine previously served as a litigation partner at the Washington, D.C. law firm of Miller, Cassidy, Larroca & Lewin, LLP, practicing in the areas of white-collar defense and commercial litigation. Prior to his years in private practice, he served as a law clerk to the Honorable Stanley Sporkin, U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, and later as a law clerk to the Honorable Thomas Meskill, United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Mr. Fontaine earned his law degree at Yale Law School in New Haven, Conn., and is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. He is admitted to the legal practice in Connecticut, the District of Columbia, and Virginia.
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Barbara M. Nieto - Senior Vice President, Human Resources
Barbara Nieto has served as the Senior Vice President of Human Resources since September 2008, transitioning from HireRight. She joined HireRight in February 2005 as Director of Human Resources and became Vice President of Human Resources in April 2006.
From June 2002 to January 2005, Ms. Nieto served as Senior Director of Human Resources for Skyworks Solutions, a wireless semiconductor company that was spun-off from Conexant Systems Inc., and prior to that she served as Executive Director of Human Resources for Conexant Systems from May 2000 to June 2002. She was Human Resources Manager for the Southern California and Nevada divisions of Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. from 1998 to 2000. Her experience prior to that time includes 12 years at McDonnell Douglas Corp. and its successor, Boeing Co., where she held various positions in operations and human resources.
Ms. Nieto earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering at Stanford University and a Juris Doctorate at Loyola Law School. She was a finalist for the 2007 Orange County HR Executive of the Year award and winner of the Customer-Focused Leadership award. Ms. Nieto is also a member of the California Bar.
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Michael W. John - Senior Vice President, Corporate Communication
and Media Relations
Michael John is Senior Vice President of Corporate Communication and Media Relations, reporting to Michael Cherkasky, Altegrity CEO. Mr. John is responsible for the planning and execution of all external and internal public relations activities for the company and its affiliates as well as leading the creative services branch that provides graphic design, marketing collateral, trade show and meeting support, and advertising design and production for the corporation and its three businesses.
Mr. John’s background includes extensive experience in media relations, financial communications, public affairs, internal communications, and community relations-corporate social responsibility activities in both the government and private sectors. He served as a public relations officer for the U.S. Navy and retired from active duty in December 1997 after completing more than 21 years of service and achieving the rank of Captain.
His many high-profile assignments in the Navy included speechwriting for several high-level elected government officials, several members of Congress, and key cabinet members in two administrations; serving as the chief communications counsel and advisor to more than 10 admirals who led major Navy commands; and leading public relations and communications teams at the Naval Air Force, Atlantic Fleet, U.S. Naval Academy, Bureau of Naval Personnel, and the Mediterranean-based U.S. Sixth Fleet. Mr. John also headed up public affairs and communication efforts for naval units on station in the Adriatic Sea during the deployment phases of the NATO-led peace implementation force in Bosnia.
Following his naval career, Mr. John moved into the private sector. For the Entergy Corporation in New Orleans, La., he led overseas public relations activities in China, Australia, and the United Kingdom. At Wisconsin Energy in Milwaukee, Wis., he directed media relations and supported financial-shareholder communications, and later served as the communications lead, public affairs advisor, and local community liaison for the corporation’s power plant citing and construction initiatives. Most recently, he led the external and internal communications function at Menasha Corporation, one of the nation’s oldest private companies and largest privately held manufacturing companies.
Mr. John earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Public Relations at the University of Southern California and a Master of Arts degree in Public Policy at Georgetown University. He is active in community service organizations and serves on the boards of several historic preservation associations.
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William J. Bratton - Chairman, Altegrity Risk International
William J. Bratton is Chairman of Altegrity Risk International (ARI), one of Altegrity, Inc.’s four core businesses. ARI provides high-quality investigative, analytic, consulting, and security services to organizations around the world, creating solutions that help anticipate, prevent, and resolve issues, reduce fraud and loss, and maximize opportunities. Headquartered in New York City, with offices in Chicago, Hong Kong, Houston, London, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., ARI serves a global community of multinational corporations covering each of the major business sectors.
Mr. Bratton joined Altegrity in November 2009, after serving as Chief of the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for seven years. He is known as one of America’s premier police chiefs, the only person to have led the two largest police forces in the United States, the New York City Police Department and the LAPD.
As Chief of the New York City Transit Police, Boston Police Commissioner, New York City Police Commissioner, and Chief of the LAPD, Mr. Bratton revitalized police morale and cut crime in all four posts. In New York, he led the development and deployment of CompStat, which has revolutionized policing all over the world. CompStat employs accurate, real-time intelligence, rapid deployment of resources, and relentless follow-up to focus the work of police on stopping crimes before they happen.
In 1996, before returning to public service in 2002 as Chief of the LAPD, Mr. Bratton formed his own company, The Bratton Group LLC, consulting on safety and security throughout the United States and on four continents, including extensive work in South America.
A frequent lecturer, writer, and commentator in the fields of security, counterterrorism, law enforcement, and rule of law justice systems, Mr. Bratton has also been the recipient of several honors throughout his career. Most recently, he was recognized in 2009 by Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II with the honorary title of Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE).
A U.S. Army veteran who saw service in Vietnam, Mr. Bratton began his police career in 1970 as an officer with the Boston Police Department. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Boston State College, is a graduate of the FBI National Executive Institute, and is a Senior Executive Fellow at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
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Michael A. Beber - President and CEO, Altegrity Risk International and Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategic Development
Michael Beber is President and CEO for Altegrity Risk International and the Senior Vice President of Corporate Strategic Development for Altegrity. Mr. Beber and his leadership team at ARI are dedicated to bringing clarity and integrity—as well as intelligent solutions—to the world of risk management.
Mr. Beber possesses more than 20 years of significant experience in developing market-leading intelligence and risk/data management business opportunities for major corporations. Prior to joining Altegrity, Mr. Beber was a management affiliate with MidOcean Partners, a leading middle market private equity firm, as well as Chief Strategic Development Officer for Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC). From 1998 to 2004, Mr. Beber served in a series of executive-level positions of increasing responsibility with Kroll, Inc., including Corporate Executive Vice President for Strategic Development and President of the Background Screening Group. He was also a member of Kroll’s executive committee and chairman of the expansion committee. In May 2004, Mr. Beber was part of the executive team that led the efforts resulting in the successful acquisition of Kroll by MMC. Prior to 1998, he co-founded Lindquist Avey, a leading forensic and investigative accounting firm, was a partner at BDO, and served as a senior manager at KPMG.
Mr. Beber is a Chartered Accountant from Canada and a graduate of the University of Western Ontario.
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William C. Mixon - President and CEO, USIS
William Mixon is President and CEO of Altegrity’s US Investigations Services, Inc. (USIS). USIS has approximately 7,200 employees, provides solutions and services to a wide range of high-profile customers, has a customer base that spans multiple federal, state, and local government agencies, and produced annual revenues in 2008 of approximately $710 million.
USIS is composed of four divisions: Investigations Services Division, the U.S. government’s largest supplier of background investigations and a provider of diverse investigations, including site visits, to all levels of government and law enforcement agencies; Security Solutions Division, specializing in areas such as physical/personnel/facility security, investigative analytics, and security convergence; Training and Law Enforcement Division, focusing on police training, surveillance detection, international development, and security consulting; and Information Management Division (LABAT), concentrating in litigation support, records management, and information systems and services for the government. USIS is also on the forefront of Criminal Justice Program Support and Antiterrorism Program Support efforts around the world.
Mr. Mixon joined USIS in May 2005 as President of the Investigative Services Division, where he was responsible for all product delivery, quality, and timeliness of background investigations for the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and other administrative and national security support agencies.
Mr. Mixon’s background includes 21 years of experience in both the public and private sectors. Since 1994, Mr. Mixon has held various senior level positions with Philips Healthcare, North America. At Philips Healthcare, Mr. Mixon’s career path focused on customer support and customer service, with increasing responsibilities in key roles as Vice President of Strategic Integration and Vice President of Operations. In his last assignment as Vice President, Customer Services at Philips Medical, Mr. Mixon directed an organization consisting of nine functional business units with 3,500 total field employees and $1.0 billion in revenues. In this role, he developed, implemented, and led multiple strategic initiatives to ensure production efficiencies, customer satisfaction, and business growth, including a benchmark “North America Service Delivery Plan.”
A native of Virginia, Mr. Mixon holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics from Georgetown University, a Master of Business Administration degree from the College of William and Mary, and a Master of Science degree in Healthcare Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University.
Mr. Mixon and his family currently reside in Northern Virginia.
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J. Philip Casey - Chairman, Commercial Services Group and President and CEO, Explore Information Services
J. Philip Casey is Chairman of Altegrity’s Commercial Services Group and President and CEO of Explore Information Services, the leading provider of data solutions to the insurance industry. For more than two decades, property and casualty insurers have relied upon Explore for innovative solutions that effectively identify risk and reduce underwriting costs. Explore is a trusted source of data to more than 150 carriers across the country, including 14 of the top 20 personal lines insurers.
Mr. Casey has served as the leader of Explore since the company was acquired from The Schwan Food Company in late 2005. He was promoted from Vice President and General Manager to President of the business in December 2008, in recognition of the business’s strong performance and its importance to the corporation’s overall growth plans.
Mr. Casey had led Explore since 1998 after starting at the company as the Director of Sales and Marketing in 1995. Before coming to Explore, Mr. Casey served as Vice President of Sales and Marketing with Primenet Data Systems, Inc. from 1994 to 1995 and held a similar position with Jordan Industries, Inc. from 1991 to 1993. He was with Lifetouch, Inc. from 1984 to 1991, starting as Vice President Market Development – Senior Division and advancing to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer – Senior Division in 1987. Prior to 1984, Mr. Casey held senior marketing and sales positions with Official Airline Guidelines, Inc. and American Airlines.
Mr. Casey has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Communications from Bethany College and a Master of Business Administration degree from Northwestern University.
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Michael A. Petrullo - President and CEO, HireRight
Michael A. Petrullo is President and CEO of HireRight, the commercial employment screening business of Altegrity that serves more than 30,000 commercial customers in the U.S. and overseas, including more than 25 percent of the Fortune 500.
Mr. Petrullo assumed the role of President and CEO of HireRight in September 2009. He joined the company in March 2009, initially serving as a senior vice president on the Altegrity corporate leadership team, focusing on organic and inorganic growth initiatives to expand the solutions Altegrity provides to its existing customers and to develop new opportunities in both the government and commercial markets. He is a seasoned finance and operations executive with significant M&A and restructuring experience and an outstanding track record of leadership and accomplishment driving organizational change and development.
Prior to Altegrity, Mr. Petrullo served as the Senior Vice President and Chief Administrative Officer of Marsh & McLennan Companies (MMC). There, he helped design a new business model and led restructuring efforts in 2005 that resulted in $650 million of annual cost savings for the company. He developed the strategy for MMC’s Operational Excellence Program, which resulted in $350 million of annual cost savings from leveraging best practices companywide in the infrastructure and administrative functions. He served on MMC’s executive committee and was the chairman of its operating committee.
Prior to that position, he served as chief financial officer for Marsh-Kroll Risk Consulting. During this period, Mr. Petrullo was responsible for several successful acquisition and merger transition efforts, including the successful integration of Kroll, Inc. with MMC and the combination of Marsh’s Risk Consulting business into Kroll’s operations.
Mr. Petrullo was Chief Operating Officer and Executive Vice President of Kroll from May 2002 to July 2004, where he restructured the management of the operating units from a regional-based management system to a product line system. He was the chairman of the operations committee and a member of both the executive and expansion committees. Prior to that, he held positions of increasing responsibility with the company, beginning with his arrival at Kroll Associates in 1995 as Assistant Controller. From 1990 to 1995, he served as a member of the audit and assurance practice and forensic accounting practice of KPMG, Peat Marwick, LLP.
Mr. Petrullo earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration at Pace University in New York.
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