Company





Incorporated in 1996, Line 6 is a music gear manufacturer dedicated to integrating technology with music products to inspire creativity both on the stage and in the studio. Headquartered in Agoura Hills, California, Line 6 currently has a presence in over 60 countries worldwide with offices in California and the United Kingdom. In just under seven years, Line 6 has grown from an original team of 10 to over 230 employees. As the pioneer of digital modeling guitar amplifiers, Line 6 has created award-winning products for guitarists, bass players and engineers, working both on stage and in the studio.

Mike Muench
President and Chief Executive Officer
Mike Muench, president and chief executive officer of Line 6, is an executive who enjoys a comprehensive knowledge of both the technology and music industries. Mr. Muench has been with the company since 1998 and also serves on the Line 6 Board of Directors. Prior to joining Line 6, he served as vice president of the U.S. Consumer Division at Apple Computer. He also held various marketing and sales positions during his 11-year tenure with Apple. From 1981 to 1985, Mr. Muench worked with IBM in mainframe systems sales and marketing.

Mr. Muench received his Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard University and holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration degree from the University of Southern California. He has worked professionally in music, performing and arranging.

Michel Doidic
Co-Founder and Chief Technology Officer
Michel Doidic, Co-founder and CTO of Line 6, is responsible for providing technical vision and leadership for all key line 6 products and technologies. He also serves on the Line 6 Board of Directors. Mr. Doidic co-founded Fast Forward Designs in 1985, which became Line 6, Inc. eleven years later. Prior to Fast Forward Designs, he worked at Oberheim Electronics, Inc. As a senior design engineer, his accomplishments included the development of a number of Oberheim's successful synthesizers. Prior to Oberheim, Mr. Doidic worked in the Technical Services group for keyboards and synthesizers for Piano Center, a distributor of musical instruments in France.

Mr. Doidic's expertise in technology has resulted in numerous successful products and the co-invention of a patent in the field of digital modeling. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering from the University Institute of Technology in Angers, France.

Marcus Ryle
Co-Founder and Senior Vice-President of New Business Development.
Marcus Ryle, co-founder and Senior vice-president, New Business Development, is responsible for the products and technologies in emerging markets, which currently include digital wireless microphones and mobile products. He also serves on the Line 6 Board of Directors. Prior to Line 6, Mr. Ryle co-founded Fast Forward Designs in 1985, which became Line 6 in 1996. From 1980 to 1985, he worked at Oberheim Electronics, Inc. as a senior designer responsible for developing many of the company's successful synthesizers.

Mr. Ryle's long history and expertise in technology and product development have resulted in the co-invention of 17 US patents. He is member of the Audio Engineering Society and has served on many industry standards and advisory committees. A classically trained pianist, Mr. Ryle has been involved playing keyboards and/or creating sounds for several motion picture and television soundtracks, as well as numerous professional recording artists, including Barbra Streisand, Olivia Newton-John, Christopher Cross, Chicago, Chaka Khan and Lee Ritenour.

Susan Wolf
Vice President Administration and Human Resources
Susan Wolf, vice president, human resources and administration, Line 6, is a principal executive responsible for long-term organizational strategy and the direction of two departments. As a founding employee, Ms. Wolf served as the Line 6 Chief Financial Officer from 1996 until 2000. From 1985 to 1996, Ms. Wolf was chief financial officer of Fast Forward Designs. Prior to Fast Forward Designs, Ms. Wolf served as the credit manager for a Los Angeles-based hotel.

As an admirable vocalist, Ms. Wolf has extensive professional music experience. She has recorded and performed for several years in the Los Angeles area. She was also lead singer and keyboard player for a Los Angeles-based band for 15 years.

Joe Bentivegna
Senior Vice President of Engineering, Operations, and Services
Joe Bentivegna, senior vice president of engineering, operations, and services, is responsible for building the teams that manage Line 6’s supply chain, provide outstanding customer service and deliver world-class products. He was most recently executive vice president of operations and services for Equallogic, a company in the high-capacity storage space subsequently acquired by Dell Computer. Prior to Equallogic, Mr. Bentivegna held several positions during his 16-year tenure at Avid Technology, where during that time Avid grew from a small vertically-focused video company to a leader in digital media and audio. His most recent positions included chief operating officer for the Video division, president and general manager of Avid Technology Asia, vice president of worldwide operations and vice president of European Operations and Services. Having been through many of the growth challenges Avid faced, and having held positions in numerous functional roles, Joe brings a unique set of experiences to Line 6 to help lead the company through its continued growth.

Mary Ellen Broganer
Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance
Mary Ellen Broganer, Chief Financial Officer and Senior Vice President of Finance, Line 6, is responsible for leading the company’s worldwide finance, accounting and legal organizations. Prior to joining Line 6, Ms. Broganer was most recently the Vice President of Finance for Business Units and Sales at Nuance Communications Inc., a leading provider of speech and imaging solutions for healthcare, enterprise and consumer markets. Prior to that Ms. Broganer was Vice President of Financial Planning & Analysis at Avid Technology Inc., a world leader in digital media creation tools for film, video, audio and animation. During her career in high technology finance, she also held a series of finance positions at Digital Equipment Corporation in the marketing, manufacturing, engineering and corporate functions. She started her career in the banking industry.

Ms. Broganer holds a Master of Accounting degree from Bentley University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of New York at Albany.

Doug Provisor
Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales and Marketing Communications
Doug Provisor, Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales, Line 6, oversees all aspects of Line 6 sales including the company's operations in Europe. Prior to Line 6, Mr. Provisor held positions as VP Marketing for Harmony Central, the leading musicians' website, and VP Sales and Marketing for Digidesign, Inc., a pioneer in the field of computer based recording and editing.

While attending Cal State Dominguez Hills, Doug received a degree in Recording Engineering from Sound Labs in Los Angeles. As a keyboard player in the 1970's, Doug gigged at all of the major venues and clubs in Los Angeles, including the Troubadour, The Whiskey, and Madam Wongs (East AND West!).

Steve DeFuria
Vice President of Corporate Strategy and Planning
Steve De Furia, vice president of corporate strategy and planning, is responsible for leading strategic planning across the entire Line 6 organization. Steve has a diverse background in music and high technology. He began playing in clubs and progressed to working as a recording engineer, session player and programmer. As synthesist and computer programmer with Frank Zappa, he created several applications for algorithmic composition. For several years, he was a featured columnist for Keyboard magazine. He has taught Electronic Music and Audio Production and Engineering at Berklee College of Music, and authored several books on music technology, performance and computer programming, Prior to joining the Line 6 team in 1999, he was Director of Product Development at Lexicon, Inc.

A transplanted north-easterner, Steve has developed a deep appreciation for southern California’s coastal waters and frequently wades the surf zone at dawn—fly rod in hand.

Paul Foeckler
Senior Vice President of Products
Paul Foeckler, senior vice president of products, is responsible for the team that manages Line 6’s world-class product introductions. He was most recently vice president of creative professional products and solutions for Avid Technology, a company in the media entertainment industry, where he was responsible for development of ProTools® and Media Composer® products. Prior to this, Mr. Foeckler held several positions at Avid, where he held executive roles in Sales and Marketing for Digidesign and M-Audio. With a passion for creative customers, music technology, as well as being a musician himself, he is committed to helping Line 6 bring artists and technology together through inspired product innovations.



Michael Brown (Chairman of the Board) currently serves on three public-company boards: Quantum Corporation, Symantec Corporation, and Nektar Therapeutics. He also serves on the board of privately held Equallogic Corporation.

From 1984 to 2003, Michael worked for Quantum Corporation, a leader in computer storage products. He served as Quantum’s CEO from 1995-2002, and its Chairman from 1988-2003. Earlier in his career with Quantum, he held numerous senior executive positions in general management and marketing.

His leadership created a work environment recognized in Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Places to Work” two years in a row. Michael holds an MBA from Stanford Business School and a BA in Economics from Harvard.

Len Baker has been a partner of Sutter Hill since 1973. He has been an active investor in a number of industries, including entertainment media, semiconductors and semiconductor equipment, biotechnology and medical equipment, and software. Currently, Len serves on the board of one public company, Corcept Therapeutics, and several private companies, including Infomedics, Line 6, Youku and BabyCare, the latter two of which are headquartered in China.

He is also responsible for Sutter Hill's investment in Chengwei Ventures, a Shanghai-based venture capital firm that makes early stage investments in Chinese internet and e-commerce businesses, and was responsible for Sutter Hill's investment in Golden Gate Capital, a private equity firm in San Francisco that Sutter Hill helped found in 2000.

Before joining Sutter Hill Ventures, Len worked for Cummins Engine Company, a manufacturer of diesel engines, and for the Delta Foundation, a community-owned, minority business development firm in Greenville, Mississippi.

Mr. Baker is a trustee of Yale University, where he chairs the Finance Committee and serves on the Investment Committee. In addition, he serves on the Advisory Board of the Yale School of Management. He is a director of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, Special Investments and is also a board member of Environmental Defense Fund. Mr. Baker is a former board member and chair of the finance and academic committees of Sacred Heart School in Atherton, California.

He is a former board member, and chairman of the Finance and Academic Committees of Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton, California.

He earned his BA in mathematics from Yale in 1964 and his MBA from Stanford in 1966. See more on Len at the Sutter Hill Ventures' Website HERE.

Peter Gotcher is an independent investor focusing on investments in digital media technology companies. From 1999 through 2003 he was a Venture Partner with Redpoint Ventures, a Silicon Valley venture capital partnership. From 1997-1999 he held the same position with Institutional Venture Partners. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of Avnera, Pandora, Zing and Dolby Laboratories (NYSE:DLB).

Over the past few years Peter has also served on the Board of Directors of MusicMatch (acquired by Yahoo!), Onebox.com (acquired by Phone.com), iGo Corporation (acquired by Mobility), ViaPhone (acquired by Extended Systems), Avid Technology (NASDAQ:AVID), MyPlay (acquired by the Bertelsmann Music Group), and Pacific Microsonics (acquired by Microsoft).

Peter founded Digidesign Inc. (NASDAQ:DIGI), in 1984 and served as its President, CEO, and Chairman through the company's Initial Public Offering in 1993, and subsequent merger with Avid Technology in 1995.

Peter served as the General Manager of Digidesign and Executive Vice President of Avid through 1996. Previously, he worked for Dolby Laboratories and holds a BA from the University of California at Berkeley.

Mark Rubash serves as chairman of our Audit Committee. Mark is the Chief Financial Officer at Shutterfly, Inc., with responsibility for managing the company's finance, accounting, legal and investor relations functions. Prior to joining Shutterfly, Mark was the Chief Financial Officer of Rearden Commerce and also served as a Senior Vice President at Yahoo! Inc. Prior to joining Yahoo!, Mark held various senior leadership positions at eBay Inc. and managed its finance, accounting, tax, treasury and investor relations functions as it reported record growth from roughly $450 million in net revenues to over $5 billion. In addition, Mark brings nearly 20 years of experience from the public accounting industry, where he served as an audit partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and the global leader of their Internet Industry Practice.

Mark received his Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from California State University Sacramento and later became a Certified Public Accountant in the state of California. Mark is currently a member of the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Audit Committee of Intuitive Surgical, Inc. and a member of the Board of Directors and Audit Committee of Iron Planet, Inc.