Our Team

Fulton Breen / Chief Executive Officer
Fulton Breen is Chief Executive Officer and founder of XS, Inc. Prior to founding XS, Breen held numerous general management, marketing and financial positions during his 30-year career in the agricultural industry with Union Carbide and Rhone-Poulenc Ag Company. Additionally, he has managed numerous international businesses for Rhone-Poulenc in the Middle East, North Africa, Turkey and the central Asian republics.

Breen holds a bachelor's degree in economic biology from Clemson University and an M.B.A. from Duke University.

Bill Barton / Chief Operating Officer
Bill Barton is Chief Operating Officer and co-founder of XS, Inc. Prior to co-founding XS, he was a consultant with Booz Allen & Hamilton, where he consulted to the world's leading energy and chemical companies on issues of strategy, process improvement, cost-restructuring and organizational effectiveness.

Before joining Booz Allen & Hamilton, he was a design engineer with Bechtel Power Corporation. Barton holds a B.S. in mechanical engineering from Vanderbilt University and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago.

Thad Armbruster / Chief Financial Officer
Thad Armbruster is responsible for operations and finance at XS, Inc. Thad brings a wealth of experience in leading growth-stage companies, including fundraising, mergers and acquisitions, establishment of financial policies and controls, and advising on public offerings.

Before joining XS, Thad served as the controller of Volumetrics Medical Imaging and LastAvailable.com. Prior to that, he was employed with Ernst & Young in the firm's Entrepreneurial Services group and later worked in the Corporate Finance group, specializing in emerging and growth-stage companies in the high-tech and biotech industries.
Armbruster holds a bachelor's degree in accounting from the University of Dayton. He is a Certified Public Accountant.

Harry Albert / Vice President, Business Development
Harry Albert is XS, Inc.'s vice president of business development. Prior to joining XS, Albert held several sales and marketing positions in his 22-year tenure with Rhone-Poulenc and Union Carbide (now incorporated within Bayer CropScience). His sales, marketing, product management and business management positions included responsibilities in both the agricultural and non-crop specialty markets. While at Rhone-Poulenc, Albert conceived, formed and led the lucrative Consumer Home and Garden business unit.

Albert holds a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Cincinnati and an M.B.A. from the University of North Florida. He also is a Certified Purchasing Manager..

Management Team

The XS Management team is comprised of highly-skilled individuals with deep technical and software development experience and expertise. They bring to the industries we serve an unprecedented combination of technical knowledge, direct hands-on experience and a commitment to helping bring better solutions to our clients. We have assembled an experienced team of technology leaders who understand the market place, our customers, and what it takes to successfully operate a successful software company.

Jay Blanchfield / Director of Business Development
Jay Blanchfield is the Director of Business Development at XS, Inc. Prior to joining XS, Jay held numerous sales and management positions with in his 21 years with Monsanto Company. Most recently Jay was the South East Area Sales Manager with responsibility for Dekalb, Asgrow, Deltapine and Roundup brands. During his tenure, both Roundup and Monsanto branded seed & traits became the market leaders with in their respective categories. Blanchfield has extensive experience in account management and agriculture retail /wholesale business development.

Blanchfield holds a bachelor’s of science degree in Agronomy from Iowa State University, Ames IA and an M.B.A. from the University of ST. Thomas, St. Paul, MN. He also is a certified professional agronomist (CPAg) and crop consultant (CCA).

Dale Fenimore / Director of Technology
Dale Fenimore joined XS, Inc. in early 2000 and is a Director of Technology. His primary role is managing software development projects. Prior to joining XS, Dale worked for 16 years in software development with AT&T/Lucent Technologies.

Dale graduated from North Carolina State University with a BA in Business Management.

Kyle Johnston / IT Manager
Kyle Johnston joined XS in December of 2004. Kyle's primary responsibilities are managing the technical and operational team of our non-profit initiative. Prior to the non-profit project, Kyle led the R&D team and headed up our Ecommerce Platform. Kyle has worked in software development for 15 years.

Kyle graduated from NC State with a BS in Computer Science.

Beth Mullenberg / PMP / Operations Manager
Beth Mullenberg, operations manager at XS, Inc., has been with the company since 1998, during which time she has provided support to many projects. She is currently the operational lead for the market research team.

Beth graduated from North Carolina State University with a bachelor's degree in floriculture science. She is a certified project management professional (PMP) with the Project Management Institute.

Darren Patterson / PMP / CSM / Director of Technology
Darren Patterson, XS, Inc.’s Director of Technology has worked with the company since 1999. During that time, Darren has applied PMI’s best practices and has also implemented the SCRUM AGILE Methodology as a standard framework that is applied to all software development at XS. Prior to working at XS, Darren held technology positions with Lucent Technologies, Parke-Davis and GlaxoSmithKline.

Darren holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Systems (MIS) from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. Darren is a Microsoft Certified Applications Developer in .NET, a certified Project Management Professional with the Project Management Institute, a certified SCRUM Master with the Scrum-Alliance and a certified ITIL practitioner.

Sam Phillips / IT Manager
Sam Phillips, IT manager at XS, Inc., is responsible for the technical arm of the market research team. His primary responsibilities include leading the technical teams and creating technology innovations that support XS products. Phillips' work includes the development of websites for EZTrak, SPCexpress, amisPOS and Farmlinks. Prior to working with XS, Phillips worked as an IT consultant with CACI, where he did software development for the Department of Defense.

Phillips holds a bachelor's degree in computer science from Purdue University.

Jeff Stow / General Manager, XSAg.com
Jeff Stow began his career in the software consulting industry, and in 2000 he joined XSAg in a sales capacity. Jeff's intensity and drive along with being a quick study in the agricultural chemical sector earned him a promotion to manager of sales, marketing and operations.

Jeff holds a bachelor's degree in business administration with a concentration in marketing from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte and an M.B.A. from Campbell University.