Los Angeles, CA – Los Angeles based Convergence, Inc., announced today the hiring of Erik Van Riper as their new Vice President of Operations. Van Riper’s main responsibilities will be to oversee the day-to-day management of the company as well as develop an aggressive growth strategy for its businesses and affiliates.
“I had too much on my plate and realized that there are people out there with more time who know more than me for this job,” explains Dave Levine, President of Convergence, Inc.
“I’m honored to have the opportunity to bring Erik aboard to join Convergence, Inc. as his knowledge and experience provide an invaluable component to the company as we continue to grow.”
Van Riper joins Convergence, Inc. from Kintera where he successfully guided operations from a private company taking it public obtaining Sarbanes-Oxley compliance and developed a multi-year growth plan. He was also responsible for all aspects of security for the Kintera CRM platform. As a seasoned high-tech veteran with more than 17 years of experience in Internet technology including Streaming Media, ASP infrastructures and Web based CRM, Mr. Van Riper was the obvious choice to keep Convergence, Inc. the leader in adult entertainment.
Mr. Van Riper held positions at Akamai/INTERVU leading a team that built the first globally distributed broadband content delivery network (CDN) for streaming media and developed emerging technologies to generate significant revenue. In addition, Mr. Van Riper developed innovative ways to monitor systems and applications form hundreds of servers deployed all over the world. His eclectic background also includes running Information Technology for Midway Home Entertainment, while also providing voice-overs for their video games; Physical Chemistry research at CUNY York College for Low Temperature/High Resolution Spectroscopy; and Open Source initiatives, being an early adopter of Linux and writing server code so thousands can enjoy the game of “Go.”
Mr. Van Riper is a proud veteran of the United States Marine Corps.