Leadership Team

Kevin Pickhardt, CEO
Kevin has led Pharos Systems as CEO since 2001. Prior to joining Pharos, he was Vice President and General Manager of Education Industry Solutions at Xerox Corporation. During his 17 years with Xerox, he held management and leadership positions within Brand Management, Business Strategy, Marketing, Finance, and Information Management functions. Kevin has spoken extensively on the document management, printing, and technology markets at conferences and symposia throughout North America and Europe.

Outside of Pharos, Kevin is a member of the Executive Advisory Council for the Simon School of Business at the University of Rochester, the vice-chair and member of the Board of Directors for Compeer, a member of the Document Management Industries Association, and a past member of the American Pricing Association. He is also a Certified Document Imaging Architect.

Kevin has a Masters in Business Administration from the Simon Graduate School of Business at the University of Rochester, and a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Brown University.

The Simon School featured Kevin in its winter 2010 campaign.

Keith Nickoloff, President, Worldwide Customer Operations
Keith joined Pharos Systems in 2009. He has 30 years of experience in the printing industry, the past seven as President of PathForward, a company he founded in 1997 that was acquired by Standard Register in 2002 and by Pharos Systems in 2009. Keith also spent 16 years with Eastman Kodak Company, where he rose to the position of General Manager and VP of Office Imaging in the US/Canada Region.

In 2000, Keith received the inaugural POD Pioneer of the Millennium Award, recognizing him as one of the ten most influential leaders in digital printing. He has been involved in more than 24 mergers and acquisitions, and has led more than 100 consulting, management, and outsourcing engagements. Keith is an adjunct faculty member at RIT’s School of Print Media where he teaches courses in Marketing and Leadership. He is an honors graduate of Michigan State University.

Leann M. Hicks, Chief Financial Officer
Leann Hicks joined Pharos Systems as Chief Financial Officer in 2004. She has extensive experience in financial reporting, budgeting, forecasting, strategic planning, internal controls, and treasury management.

Leann began her career in public accounting, spending four years working for Coopers & Lybrand LLP. Her primary client base was middle market manufacturing companies located in western New York. Leann spent the next seven years working for Sentry Group, a manufacturer of fireproof safes, chests, and files in Rochester, NY. During her time at Sentry, Leann was responsible for all domestic accounting, budgeting, financial reporting and treasury operations. Prior to joining Pharos, Leann was recruited to a large telecommunications company in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to lead its treasury organization through the initial bankruptcy filings and refinancing.

Leann received a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from Nazareth College and an M.B.A in Finance from Rochester Institute of Technology. Additionally, Leann is a licensed CPA in the state of New York.

Geoff Shaw, Founder and Chief Technology Strategist
Geoff founded Pharos Systems with Paul Reddy in New Zealand in 1992 and led the company during its formative years from 1992 to 2001. Starting in 1994, he took Pharos on a global expansion, establishing partnerships with organizations in Australia, Europe, the U.K., and the U.S. — culminating in the incorporation of Pharos Systems in the U.S. He moved to the U.S. with his family in 2000, and in 2001 he moved Pharos headquarters from Houston, Texas to Rochester, New York. He is now the Chief Technology Strategist, responsible for taking a long view of technology.

Prior to starting Pharos, Geoff ran a technology consultancy practice in New Zealand. He has 15 years of experience in systems technology and 10 years in entrepreneur leadership. With Paul Reddy he designed and developed Uniprint. Following the success of this groundbreaking solution, the founders introduced the Blueprint and Omega products.

Paul Reddy, Founder, Chief Technology Officer, and Managing Director of
Pharos Systems New Zealand, Inc.
Paul Reddy is a co-founder of Pharos Systems. As Chief Technology Officer of Pharos Systems International and Managing Director for Pharos Systems New Zealand, Paul oversees all aspects of product and technology development. Paul has an MSc(hons) with a special interest in computer graphics and modeling systems.

Prior to starting Pharos with Geoff Shaw in New Zealand, Paul worked on a suite of Unix management tools that was eventually purchased by AT&T, and then spent two years in a team researching new development paradigms for Fujitsu. They focused on an integrated, graphical, object oriented 4GL development environment — a revolutionary concept in the early 90s.

As Pharos has grown, Paul has concentrated on creating Pharos technology leadership and listening to the market for future trends. He ensures market feedback and trends become product reality, thereby maintaining Pharos’ reputation as a technology leader. Outside of work, Paul is an accomplished athlete. In his youth he represented Auckland in both badminton and tennis, and at one point, he was chosen to represent NZ Universities against Australia in badminton. He juggles (clubs, balls, knives, firesticks), is a PADI divemaster, and holds a pilot’s license for a variety of small aircraft.