Our Team
Robert Gardos, CEO
Robert Gardos is the President and founder of GridApp Systems. Over the past nine years, Mr. Gardos has held numerous senior management positions in technology driven organizations. He has a wealth of experience developing efficient and cost effective technology solutions to meet the demands of customers.
Mr. Gardos was formerly the Chief Technology Officer and General Manager of Register.com (RCOM), an Internet organization specializing in domain name registration. Mr. Gardos joined RCOM as the ninth employee in June 1998 and helped grow the company to a publicly traded and profitable entity, increasing annual revenues from $1 million to $125 million. He maintained full control of all aspects of technology operations and was integrally involved with the overall strategic planning of the company. This was highlighted by a successful and relentless lobbying effort to shift the business' focus from Web hosting to domain name registration, a decision that was critical to Register.com's success. Mr. Gardos authored RCOM's response to the original request for proposal put out by The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers' (ICANN) , which served to deregulate the domain name industry. Based on this application, the company was selected out of more than 100 applicants to compete against Network Solutions, the existing domain name registration monopoly. Robert Gardos pioneered a new standard in the domain industry, shifting name management to the customer through an easy to use Web–based application. This served to improve consumer satisfaction and reduce maintenance costs, an approach that was subsequently adopted by the entire industry.
Robert Gardos was co-founder and CFO of TouchLink Communications (TLC), a startup company specializing in public Internet kiosks. The organization maintained installations at key travel centers throughout New England including Logan Airport, South Street Station and T.F. Green Airport. At TLC, Mr. Gardos guided the overall direction of the company negotiating partnerships with travel centers, sponsors and suppliers.
Mr. Gardos worked as a Senior Consultant at Ernst & Young, focusing on system selection and implementation projects. His clients included a major insurance company, a large sporting association and a trade union. He managed several initiatives for these clients, including gathering requirements, selecting software applications and integrating system components into existing infrastructures.
Mr. Gardos graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in December 1993 with a Bachelor of Science in Economics and concentration in Finance.
Contact
rgardos@gridapp.com