The Zeer team is a passionate group of dedicated professionals with combined expertise and talent in the fields of eCommerce, engineering, marketing, technology, web design, research, and community. Using the latest technology and business practices, we work together in an innovative atmosphere to build a food information resource that makes it easier for people to discover safe food, stay safe & live and learn their special diet.
Michael Putnam President and Founder
As CEO and Founder of Zeer, Mike Putnam drives the company's strategy and product development. With a passion for consumer empowerment and technology, he founded Zeer with a vision of helping people get the product information they want, when they need it most. Mike came to entrepreneurship from MARKEM Corporation, now the world's largest product identification and traceability solutions company, which works with thousands of food companies around the world to help make safer food. At MARKEM, Mike led several new product development and marketing efforts, along with web and eCommerce projects. Earlier in his career Mike was an eCommerce analyst at Forrester Research, where he wrote award winning research on global eCommerce, digital distribution, services on the Net, and Internet regulation. In this role Mike was broadly quoted in publications including The New York Times, Business Week, and USA Today, and he has since been quoted on innovation and entrepreneurship by the Wall Street Journal and NPR. Mike holds an MBA from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth, an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard, and a BS in Engineering from Stanford.
Mark Sutton Vice President of Marketing & Business Development
Mark Sutton brings 20 years of experience in building businesses at the convergence of online services, consumers and data. Prior to joining Zeer, Mark established and led Justgiving's US operation, Firstgiving, where he served as CEO. During his tenure with the company, Mark developed and marketed the Firstgiving social fundraising platform that has raised over $70 million from more than one million donors. Previously, Sutton was Director of Business Development and Marketing for FairMarket, Inc., an e-commerce company acquired by eBay. Mark holds a MBA from Babson and a BS from Connecticut College.
Shannon Bullard Sweetser Community Manager
At the heart of the Zeer Community is Shannon Bullard Sweetser, who voraciously studies and incorporates all aspects of Social Media in her professional career. Prior to her work at Zeer, she worked a Smart Destinations, a web-based travel and tourism company, where she was responsible for leveraging, creating and maintaining online relationships with potential (and current) customers via blogs, forums, and online communities. A consumer advocate and supporter of business transparency, Shannon believes that customers are the schoolbooks from which we learn. As Community Manager of Zeer, Shannon enthusiastically facilitates affective communication between Zeer members and the Zeer team, writes creative copy, and helps deliver exceptional customer service for all Zeer members. Hailing from the South and educated in the North, she graduated magna cum laude with a B.F.A. in Writing, Literature, and Publishing and minor in Marketing Communications from Emerson College.
Michael Manning Web Designer
Responsible for the front-end of Zeer is Mike Manning, a powerhouse web designer known for his modern designs, clean standards-based mark-up and scalable css. Prior to joining Zeer in 2007, Mike founded his own one-man design & development company in Atlanta, GA, Organic Identity. Mike brings a broad range of identity, branding & creative marketing experience to the Zeer team and has a management & marketing degree from Babson College.
Matt McMahon Software Engineer
Matt McMahon brings 10 years of significant experience and talent to his Software Engineering role at Zeer. Prior to joining Zeer, Matt worked with BEA Systems (aquired by Oracle in 2008) where he utilized his Java programming experience on large scale enterprise web applications. Before leaving to work with BEA, Matt was the Technical Lead at Mullen Advertising, leading the Interactive Development department. While there he participated in new business pursuits and helped to develop the technical solutions for Mullen's clients. In part due to a desire to get back to a startup environment, Matt joined Zeer in 2008 and has added much to the atmosphere of continuous innovation. Matt holds Master's degree in Computer Science from Boston College
Jon Oakes Software Architect
Jon brings deep experience in large-scale distributed software systems to the Zeer team. He worked at MARKEM Corporation for twenty-five years, bringing many product identification systems to market. Most recently Jon was a business development manager responsible for finding and implementing new technologies at MARKEM. In this role, Jon single-handedly wrote key enterprise-level software systems for the MARKEM RFID initiative, including a patented system for allocating Electronic Product Codes enterprise-wide that was used by SUN Microsystems.
Keith Wright Software Engineer
With 10 years of hands-on experience developing and supporting large enterprise systems, Keith Wright is a brilliant addition to the Zeer team. Prior to Zeer, he worked as a customization support engineer for PTC focusing on their enterprise product development web system named Windchill where he handled large corporate accounts and escalations. His programming experience (particularly in Java) combined with his talent for customizing and supporting large database and web systems gives him a unique understanding of complex issues and their solutions. Keith's undergraduate degree is from Northeastern University in Mechanical Engineering but he has since adapted his skillset to focus on Software Engineering and has received a Masters in Computer Science from the University of Massachusetts.
Gillian O'Callaghan Food Research Associate
Gillian O'Callaghan brings deep personal experience and passion to the subject of celiac disease and gluten free diets, as her son was diagnosed with celiac disease six years ago. In an effort to help other individuals with Celiac Disease be successful at following the gluten free diet, Gillian began sharing her knowledge by teaching cooking classes. Gillian has also been a volunteer for the National Foundation for Celiac Awareness, and helped to found the Celiac Support Group at Massachusetts General Hospital for Children. Gillian brings a strong research background as well as strong skills developed during a 14-year career in market research, the last 10 of which have been at The Boston Globe. Gillian holds a BA from Haverford College and an MBA with High Distinction from Babson College.
Sara Frain Public Relations Associate
Responsible for communicating and sharing the Zeer message with the world is Sara Frain, who brings much enthusiasm to the Zeer marketing team. Prior to joining Zeer, Sara volunteered in Boston, New Orleans and Florence, Italy, where she was introduced to a wide range of people, cultures and ways of communicating. By joining Zeer, she hopes to raise awareness about the Zeer Select service for people with food allergies. Food in tolerances and allergies hits close to home for Sara, whose younger cousin has extreme food allergies. With her combined passion for communication and helping others, Sara makes an excellent addition to the Zeer team. She holds a B.A. in Communications and a minor in History from Loyola University New Orleans.