Management Team

Len Kawell, CEO, defines the vision and long-term strategy for Pepper. His noteworthy career includes designing and developing applications that enhance communication and collaboration among groups of people.

Len was co-founder and president of Glassbook, Inc., the leading developer of PDF-based e-book reading software. The company was acquired by Adobe, who sought out the company's appealing user interface to bring an enjoyable reading experience to the consumer e-book market.

As one of the three visionary founders of Iris Associates, Len co-designed Lotus Notes, the first commercial groupware product. This innovative, collaboration and messaging software is used by more than 100 million people worldwide.

Len was one of the original designers and managers of the DEC VAX/VMS, MicroVAX and DECnet products. While at DEC, he built a mail program modeled after PLATO pnotes, one of the first real-time communication systems back in the 1970s.

He earned a bachelor's degree in computer science from the University of Illinois.

Mary Ellen Heinen, President, drives corporate strategy, oversees the company's daily operations and manages market research. She provides vision to the product design, focusing on the end-user experience.

As co-founder and VP of marketing for Glassbook, Mary Ellen pioneered the sale of e-books to the consumer market. She developed marketing strategies and played an integral role in the product design and development of Glassbook client and server products. By establishing relationships with leading publishers, Mary Ellen helped drive the proliferation of e-books to consumers.

Formerly the director of marketing for NELINET, Mary Ellen was responsible for developing regional marketing, sales and service programs for New England libraries. Previously, as head of the reference department, she created a user-friendly reference environment for students and faculty at the University of Wisconsin Parkside Library.

She earned her masters of library and information science from the University of Oklahoma.