Dr. Alexander Cavalli
Executive Director

Alexander Cavalli has been in the Austin high-tech community since 1984. He is the former Deputy Director of the IC2 Institute at The University of Texas at Austin; Co-Director of E-Learning and Training Labs.; and the founder and president of Face to Face Communications, a consulting firm dedicated to helping professionals and organizations become better communicators. The practice specializes in individual and corporate communications, presentation work, vocal training, and long-term strategic planning.

In the early nineties, while leading architectural design of MCC's Enterprise Integration Project, Dr. Cavalli and his staff created the foundation for much of what is now recognized as the Internet. Working with leading universities and corporations and supported by US government funding, the EINet project was designed to demonstrate how electronic commerce would work and what network infrastructure was necessary to support it.

This seminal work included the creation of the first Internet search engine, introduced in January 1994. Called EINet Galaxy, it became the model for every search engine (Yahoo, Excite, etc.) that followed. Dr. Cavalli's team also developed the first commercial quality web browsers that introduced many of the features found today in Netscape and Microsoft browsers. The team also developed the first Virtual Private Network and operated as the Internet's first Certification Authority, a function now embodied in companies such as VeriSign and GTE CyberTrust. In addition, Dr. Cavalli and his team, in collaboration with CitiCorp, devised new electronic payment mechanisms for use by businesses engaged in Electronic Commerce.

Dr. Cavalli has spoken widely on Electronic Commerce, as a keynoter and panelist at a number of conferences, including Gartner Group's Electronic Commerce Expo and IDCs Internet Commerce Expo. His topics have ranged from Internet basics to Internet security and how ecommerce will evolve as an important addition to the existing business landscape. He has also spoken on a wide variety of other topics at APS and IEEE meetings, as well as Rotary Clubs.

Along with his role as a technologist and presenter, Dr. Cavalli has served as a strategic thinker for client organizations. In this capacity, he has frequently led the analysis of emerging market trends, product launch timing and business development strategy, and creation of key communications.

Dr. Cavalli holds a PhD in Physics from Dartmouth College and a BS from Dickinson College.