MANAGEMENT

Marc V. Gross
President & Chief Operating Officer

Marc V. Gross serves as president and chief operating officer of Fireaway LLC, responsible for the day-to-day operations of the company, including marketing, sales, manufacturing, and product development.

Marc has spent the last 25 years in senior management positions for some of the world’s leading fire protection companies, including Sensor Electronics, Wormald International and The Ansul Co. Before joining Fireaway, Gross served as president of Sensor Electronics/Fire Combat where he pioneered the acquisition and development of aerosol suppression technology. He is a founding member of NFPA 2010, Committee on Aerosol Extinguishing technology.

Over the previous 20 years he served in senior positions with The Ansul Co., which was acquired by Wormald International in 1979, and then by Tyco in 1991. He served as president and chief executive officer of Wormald Americas, president of Ansul Fire Protection, president of  Wormald Fire Systems, and such international
assignments as director of  marketing for Wormald Europe.

Throughout his career, Marc has developed and led highly successful, action oriented management teams to achieve dramatic increases in revenue, profitability, and customer satisfaction.

James F. Lavin
Founder & Chief Executive Officer

James F. Lavin is the founder and chief executive officer of Fireaway LLC, responsible for capital formation, recruiting a management team of noted industry professionals and setting the strategic vision for the company.

Over the past decade, Jim has successfully nurtured several technology companies from start-up to maturity and completed several corporate turnarounds. Among his most notable accomplishments include: Switch and Data (SDXC) which he founded and served as CEO and the Vice-Chairman of for 5 years before it's 2007 IPO for $800 MM. He was also instrumental in the early stage reorganization and intellectual property filings of Arbinet (ARBX). He has an extensive background in real estate, having been responsible for in excess of $2 Bn in financing and sales and continues his active involvement in data centers. He consults formally and informally for a number of early stage companies.

He holds an undergraduate degree with honors in Biochemistry from Harvard College and an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business.

George A. Ciottone
Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing

George A. Ciottone is Vice President of Sales for Fireaway LLC, responsible for domestic and international marketing and sales.

George has over 25 years of high level experience in the fire protection industry. He has marketed fire protection systems and products in all major international markets in partnership with Fukada Kogyo Co. Ltd of Japan and KDM Development Company of the U.S. Representing several major manufacturers of fire protection systems and products, George was responsible for negotiating distributorships, license agreements and technology transfers.

As director of international marketing for Walter Kidde Inc. George was responsible for developing and managing one of the strongest sales and distribution systems in the industry and negotiated licensing agreements for Kidde products in markets where direct import was not possible or economically feasible. He has an extensive background in negotiating, closing, and implementing major international projects.

Steve Janzen

Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing

Steve Janzen is Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Fireaway LLC, responsible for domestic and international sales and marketing.

Steve has over 25 years experience building and running sales and marketing organizations in the communications industry representing such companies as AT&T, Cisco and SynOptics. He has extensive experience in both direct and channel sales and distribution models with a focus on customer communications and support.  Steve has spent the last 10 years focusing on early stage companies, designing, implementing and operating sales organizations. Most recently, Steve was Senior Vice President for Sales and Marketing at Switch and Data where he built a sales and marketing team that took Switch and Data from a start up to over $100 million in annual sales and positioned the company for a highly successful IPO.

Steve holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration with honors from Boston University's School of Management.