Summary

                      Steve Kruse is a writer/author and retired general manager of Blue Wave Baseball, a highly regarded and successful youth club baseball organization he founded in Orange County, California. Since 1996, his teams have played more than 10,000 games, won more than 150 tournaments, 12 national championships, and been ranked on multiple occasions over the years. More than 450 of his players have gone on to collegiate baseball at some of the top programs in the country as well as nearly three dozen professional (MLB) teams. Kruse is also a PC Software industry pioneer with more than 20 years of successful experience as a CEO, CMO, President and Vice President level with small and large software ventures with operations, resellers, and customers throughout the world. He started his career as a successful Journalist, newspaper Editor and Publisher in the Pacific Northwest, where he garnered 16 national awards for writing, editing, and Journalistic excellence He is the former founder and first Chairman of the Software Council of Southern California and the Washington Software Association in Bellevue, Washington. PC Magazine named him one of the “Top Marketing Executives” in the computer industry in 1984. Since retiring to the Pacific Northwest, he has authored numerous articles ranging from environmental issues, climate change, and health.

CAREER HISTORY

                      Founder/General Manager Blue Wave Baseball | Irvine, CA 1996-Present Founded and served as President & General of Blue Wave Baseball, one of California’s oldest and most respected non-profit youth baseball organizations. Blue Wave teams have played more than 10,000 games, won more than 150 tournaments, 12 national championships, and ranked on multiple occasions over the years. More than 450 Blue Wave alumni played or playing collegiate baseball at some of the top programs in the country, including UCI, USC, UCLA, Oregon, Cal State University Fullerton, Stanford, PENN, Gonzaga, USF, University of Miami, Pepperdine, Long Beach State, Fresno State, Nebraska, Indiana, Kansas, Sacramento State, UCSB, Santa Clara, Clemson and more. Another three dozen Blue Wave alumni have played in the MLB, including the Mariners, Angels, Athletics, Royals, Diamondbacks, Yankees, Reds, Giants, and Braves. More importantly, nearly a dozen Blue Wave alumni are now high school coaches, college coaches, and coach in Major League Baseball as well. In peak, managed ten teams (150-200 students) with 18 coaches and multiple training sites in Southern California with revenue close to $500,000+ per year as a non-profit. Though retired, presently serves as chairman of the board and manages all marketing communications and website. Also develops all content for website, Facebook, Twitter social media activities in recruiting players and coaches. Executive VP Marketing & Sales VERSATA, INC. | Oakland, CA 1994-1996 Authored initial business plans and supporting documents used to raise $50M in funding prior to public offering. Hired, trained, and managed initial sales and marketing staff. Also managed all public relations, advertising, and branding materials and programs. Recruited early bird customers and investors, including Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and top Venture Capital firms, including Draper Fisher, Mayfield, and Bay Partners. Versata provides a software development platform that allows customers to build and deploy business rules-driven applications quickly, faster, and more efficiently.Vice President/President/General Manager PICK SYSTEMS | Irvine, CA Executive Vice President/President/General Manager 1987-1993 Started as President of PC Software Division, later EVP for all Sales & Marketing, later General Manager for all operations. Managed day-to-day operations, sales and marketing in support of more than 3,500 VARs (Value Added Resellers) and 400,000+ installed mid-range (minicomputer) systems and 4-million users worldwide predominately by large corporations and governments throughout the world. In its day, PICK was one of the top three Relational Database Systems (RDBMS) and Operating Systems (OS) for Computers and licensed and sold by major mid-range and mini-computer manufacturers, including Prime Computer, Ultimate, Microdata (McDonnel Douglas), IBM, General Automation, and more. As an independent software development company based in Irvine, CA, PICK produced close to $60M in annual revenue at peak with an aftermarket valued at close to $3B worldwide. At one time, 87 of the top Fortune 100 had a PICK-based computer solution installed and in 40% of most government agencies in the U.S., France, Australia, and Russia. Also managed remote offices in New York, London, Germany, France, Spain, Singapore, Hong Kong, Australia, Brazil, and Russia. Spearheaded the company’s sales efforts in the former Soviet Union and established the first U.S. offshore software development operation there. Was the first American company to advertise in Pravda, the largest newspaper in Russia. Vice President Sales & Marketing/CEO COSMOS, INC | Seattle, WA 1983-1987 A founding executive member of a successful software startup during the launch of the IBM PC in the early 1980s. Cosmos produced a high-end Relational Database Application Development system (Revelation) used to develop business applications for Personal Computers. Started as Vice President of Sales and Marketing, served as CEO the past year through acquisition in 1987. The company started with $500 in the bank and bootstrapped to $10M in sales with 60 employees at peak before acquisition. Revelation was named as the most powerful PC RDBMS in its time by PC Magazine, PC Week, Computerworld, and more. Managed all marketing, public relations, and advertising campaigns that were featured award-winning and recognized by Advertising Age, Ad Week and other trade publications for exceptional ads featured in almost all major computer publications and Forbes. Also elected as the first chairman and board of directors for the Washington Software Association (WSA), with more than 300 software companies including Microsoft. This was the first non-profit computer association of its kind at the time and worked with Bill Gates, Paul Allen and more. Named by Gov. Booth Gardner as a member of the Washington State Economic Development Partnership and worked on the King County United Way Campaign with Mary Gates, and Bill Gates at the time. Spoke on numerous occasions at major computer conventions, including Comdex, on various subjects ranging from advanced technology to “Guerilla Marketing.”   Reporter/Editor/Publisher PUYALLUP PUBLISHING | Puyallup, WA 1977-1982 Joined Pierce County Herald (Puyallup, WA) as a reporter and promoted to Editor in 1979. Doubled circulation and frequency each year. Honored with 14 regional and national journalism/communications awards from the Washington Newspaper Association (WPA) and Sigma Delta Chi (SDX) for “Best Reporting,” “Best News Story,” “Best Feature Story,” “Best Editorial,” “Best Series,” and “General Excellence.” The newspaper earned 87 individual awards in three years I was Managing Editor, including “Best Small Newspaper in Pacific Northwest” for two consecutive years. During this time, also served as editor and co-publisher of the Knoxville, TN, 1982 World’s Fair official program and guide, which sold more than a million copies during its run and produced $6M in revenue with 50% profit. Also named by then-Pierce County Executive Booth Gardner to serve as chairman of the election committee for the 911 Emergency Telephone Number measure to be put on the ballot in the 1982 election. The measure had failed four years before. After gaining support of local fire departments, emergency services groups, and funding, the measure passed with 70 percent approval. While attending college, also worked part-time at the Tacoma News Tribune from 1975 to 1977 in the sports department on weekends and as a full-time summer news intern and wrote several front-page stories. Have also written for the Associated Press and the Daily Interlake in Kalispell Montana