New company’s management team boasts Apple alumni

There’s a new company on the scene: Fotiva, a digital photography firm whose products will be announced early in 2002. And the new kid in town includes former employees of Apple, Intuit, Hewlett-Packard and Sun.

Jim Heeger, former senior vice president and general manager of Intuit’s small business group, is CEO. Other management members include Michael Slater, technology analyst and founder of Microprocessor Report newsletter and Microprocessor Forum conference; Ken Rothmuller, senior technologist at Hewlett Packard, Oracle Apple and Motorola; Bernard Peuto, former Sun Microsystems vice president, and president and founder of ViewTech; Tanya Roberts, former Intuit vice president of direct marketing and sales; Andrew Osmak, former PhotoPoint vice president of business development; and Cary Masatsugu, former vice president at Intuit and Excite.

The company’s executive advisory board includes: Alexis Gerard, editor and publisher of the FutureImage newsletter; Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies; Rick Smolan, photographer and creator of the Day in the Life series of books; John Moon, former vice president of Apple’s imaging division; and Laurie Vertelney, consumer testing and interaction designer from Apple, Interval and Mattel.

So far Fotiva — headquartered in Santa Rosa, CA, with offices in Menlo Park, CA — has raised US$4 million in funding led by the venture firm New Enterprise Associates (NEA). Exactly what products and/or services the company will be releasing isn’t clear. Fotiva has been created with the goal of “making digital memories a fun and valuable part of everyone’s life.” The company says its products will feature a “breakthrough approach fully integrating client software and Internet resources.”

“Today’s digital photography solutions are too complex and time-consuming for mass consumers, but Fotiva is dedicated to making the digital switch easy for everyone,” said Heeger. “A massive shift is taking place in the photo industry. Consumers are switching to digital cameras, and they are searching for new and easier ways to meet their photo needs.”