About Us

Executive

David A. McInnis - Founder & CEO

David A. McInnis is founder and CEO of Cranberry Venture Partners, LLC, a company providing greater visibility and accessibility for its clientele’s Web content.  

The entrepreneurial McInnis founded PRWeb® in 1997. He is the original innovator of direct to consumer news release distribution and developer of PRWeb’s Online Visibility Engine.   

A graduate of Texas State University, McInnis worked for years as a marketing and database consultant in telecommunication and direct marketing industries. He served as the IT Director for Americall Corporation and CTO for several start-ups throughout the 1990's. 

McInnis developed the PRWeb® platform in 1997 and saw it mature into one of the largest press release newswires on the net. The company offered services common in major newswires, but PRWeb® was the first and only such service focusing on direct to consumer and social media distribution.  

McInnis sold the company in 2006 to pursue other endeavors, including Tangible Express, Cranberry Venture Partners, Peoplepond, CompanyPond.  More recently he has been involved in the creating a marketing company for the Cranberry DiamonDisc, the 1,000 year archival DVD.

Through his innovative use of technology, McInnis remains engaged in assisting business owners, authors, marketers and others to publicize and promote their brands through the placement of content to high-value online properties and major search engines.

In 2005, McInnis joined the efforts of Unitus, a microfinance accelerator. He believes this is one of the few programs that provide a sustainable solution to the world's economic woes. He is fully committed to helping the microfinance industry provide people with a way out of poverty. 

McInnis is a husband, father of four sons, a student pilot and a kite-flying enthusiast.  McInnis is the king of the BBQ pit.

Al Castle - CTO

Al Castle is the chief technology officer at Cranberry Venture Partners.

Al Castle has gained more than 15 years of experience within the technology industry, as a consultant, programmer, system analyst, network/system administrator and in team management.

He previously was the Information Technology Manager for Stargate Group, LLC and its telecommunications subsidiaries, where he worked closely with many Fortune 500 companies on multimillion dollar projects, managed research and software development, and established and maintained international network infrastructures.

Al then spent several years as PRWeb's chief information officer, leading the innovative team that created PRWebPhotowire, PRWebPodcast, RSSPAD, Newspad and 301URL. With a firm grasp of the industry and his ability to envision what's next on the horizon, Al helped establish the company as a leader in online news distribution. PRWeb sold to Vocus in August 2006.

Al is now the chief technology officer of Cranberry Venture Partners, which is working hard to build innovative and market-leading technology, such as WeaveMet, PeoplePond and CompanyPond.

Al is a member of the Bellingham Linux Users Group, a previous speaker for LinuxFest Northwest, and an open source software and Linux enthusiast.

Technical

Barry Skidmore - Senior Programmer & Analyst

Barry Skidmore has been developing enterprise level applications for over a decade and has extensive experience in Telecommunications; client-server; desktop; and web applications from an engineering and operational standpoint.  He is currently focused on web application and embedded system development for Cranberry Venture Partners with CEO David A. McInnis and CTO Al Castle.  CVP current projects include the Cranberry DiamonDisc, PeoplePond and CompanyPond which extend Identity Verification and brand management into a new era of accessibility.

Whether creating solutions for new or old problems, or integrating alternate solutions in interesting ways; Barry strives for better solutions based on open standards and freeing people from the bonds of proprietary and burdened products.  The freedom to own and use personal information without handing over too much control to those who offer solutions is a constant challenge that Cranberry Venture Partners hopes to solve with accessible, innovative, and open products for the world.

Barry is an Open Source advocate, a member of the Bellingham Linux Users Group and a volunteer for LinuxFest Northwest.  He is married with two children.  Family tends to keep him busy when he is not working.

Nate Michael - Programmer & Analyst

» Web developer and social media advocate from Seattle, WA. «

Nate is currently a developer and analyst for Cranberry Venture Partners. He has a wide range of experience both leading and working with software teams in consumer and enterprise markets, and has enjoyed being a part of several successful startups as a developer, technical advisor, and head of engineering.

Although most of his experience lies in Web Development, Nate has been fascinated by computer games from an early age. He grew up fairly certain that he would become a game developer; or possibly a rock star, but eventually came to a number of important realizations:

1. He's probably never going to be a rock star.
2. Game programming is quite cool, though.
3. Badgers are just really big weasels (the exchange rate is approximately 20 weasels to the badger if you're interested).
4. Any attempts to construct a serious calculus of the family Mustelidae are probably best kept to yourself; people think you're strange. (see above)

Prior to Cranberry Venture Partners, Nate was the Lead Developer at Market Update Network, Inc. and assisted with growing the company from day 1 to over 50 employees and helping raise millions in VC financing.

Marketing - Business Development

Administrative