The #1 most deployed ePaper digital signage solution in the U.S.

Rick Wood

Founder & Strategic Adviser

Rick Wood founded CHK America, Inc. in 2000 to meet the growing demand in public transportation for clear, concise, and consistent customer wayfinding solutions. In response to evolving industry trends, he launched CHK’s digital division, Connectpoint^®, in 2014. As demand for its solar-powered digital signage surged, the division was spun off into a standalone entity, Connectpoint, Inc., in 2018.

Connectpoint^® leads the market with the first solar-powered ePaper digital signage solutions in the U.S. Its cutting-edge digital products include a suite of solar-powered products including the Digital Bus Stop^®, the Falcon, an ADA text-to-speech device, and lighting, as well as AC powered high-resolution LED displays. The tools provide real-time rider alerts, schedule updates, and live departure information.

Connectpoint now serves over 40 leading transit agencies, reaching 2 billion public transportation customers—20% of all U.S. riders. Through customized digital solutions and purpose-built hardware, Connectpoint partners with major transit agencies including some of the largest US transit agencies in the U.S. including Pittsburgh Regional Transit, Pittsburgh, PA; King County Metro, Seattle; TriMet, Portland; VIA, San Antonio, TX; SEPTA, Philadelphia, Virginia; GCRTA, Greater Cleveland, OH; SMART, SE Michigan; RTCSN, Las Vegas, NV; FWTA, Ft. Worth, TX; GRTC, Richmond, VA; Seattle Streetcar, Seattle, WA;, Seattle, WA; and Portland Streetcar, Portland, OR.

In July 2025, after leading Connectpoint through a period of significant growth and innovation, Rick transitioned to the role of Executive Vice President. In this capacity, he continues to work closely with President and CEO Patton Gregg and the leadership team, overseeing sales in existing markets and spearheading strategic initiatives and long-term growth. He is also focused on business development in new markets, identifying opportunities aligned with the company’s mission to enhance the company’s vertical markets.

Rick is a regular contributor to industry-leading publications such as Mass Transit, Passenger Transport, and Metro Magazine.

Brian Beynon

Vice President of Field Operations and Customer Success

Brian oversees all projects for the company, serving as a primary point of contact for customers and internal teams to ensure customer success. He interfaces with transit agencies and stakeholders, coordinating necessary actions to implement customers' job specifications. Brian manages and coordinates deployments across the country working with our agency clients, our installation teams and our fabrication partners. He authorizes any necessary actions to address customer concerns, participates in new project scope meetings, and collaborates closely with both internal and external teams to ensure smooth project structuring, implementation, and completion.

Brian is a seasoned project manager with over a decade of experience leading complex initiatives with a proven track record of driving successful outcomes for businesses across multiple industries.

Stefan Marks AICP

Vice President of Sales

Stefan Marks AICP is Connectpoint’s Vice President of Sales, joining Connectpoint in October 2017 after working as a consultant to transit agencies and previously serving in senior planning positions at the New Orleans Regional Transit Authority and North County Transit District in San Diego. Stefan approaches working with clients from their perspective, having worked as a planner and in Operations within US transit agencies for 30 years. Stefan cares deeply about how we create tools to make public services like transit better and more equitable. Stefan Marks earned a Master's degree in Community Systems Planning and Development at Penn State University.

Rahul Kumar

Business Development Strategy

Kumar is responsible for developing new customer relationships, supporting strategic accounts, and market expansion opportunities. He brings more than 25 years of public transportation experience spanning transit planning, operations, technology, business development and emerging mobility. He has contributed to transit-network redesign and modernization efforts in more than 25 cities and has held senior leadership roles focused on developing innovative, passenger-centered transportation solutions. His experience includes leading Innovate Mobility, a public-transit consultancy that helps agencies use data, technology and operational analysis to improve service. Kumar has also held senior positions with transportation and mobility organizations, supporting initiatives involving bus-network planning, bus rapid transit, microtransit, autonomous mobility, Mobility as a Service and digital transportation solutions. He has been recognized as one of Mass Transit magazine’s “Top 40 Under 40.”

John O’Conner

Director of Engineering

John is the Director of Engineering at Connectpoint. In this role, he manages the software development team and deliverables. John’s responsibilities include feature development, team management, incident resolution, backend development, and software infrastructure management. John has over 30 years of experience developing software and leading teams. He has had successful roles at Sun Microsystems, Yahoo, and Intuit.

Gabriel Flores

Full Stack Software Engineer

Gabriel Flores is a Full Stack Software Engineer at Connectpoint. In this role, he builds and maintains the company's cloud infrastructure, device platforms, and internal tooling. Gabriel's responsibilities include backend service development, infrastructure automation, AWS architecture and deployment, and support for the platforms used across development and production environments. Gabe began his career as a part-time web developer while completing his undergraduate degree in computer science. He has since held roles at Amazon, where he worked as an AWS Solutions Architect, and at Appstem as a full stack engineer.

Amelia Rychlick

Project Coordinator & Technical Support Specialist

Amelia is a Project Coordinator & Technical Support Specialist at Connectpoint. She supports the successful delivery, deployment, and ongoing operation of Connectpoint’s technology solutions. This position coordinates customer projects and internal activities while providing technical support for Connectpoint’s IoT devices, digital signage, and associated software platforms.

Amelia joined the team bringing a strong background in project coordination and complex technical systems, along with experience working across customer, technical, and operational teams.

Rob Deacon

Software Support Technician

Rob provides technical support to customers using our industry-leading cloud-based software CPAM™, working closely with our development and quality assurance teams to identify and resolve customer issues promptly. He also prepares pre-delivery solar site assessments, and organizes deployment efforts between Connectpoint, transit agencies, and installation teams. He provides asset monitoring services for thousands of deployed smart devices.

Oran Viriyincy

Project Manager

Oran Viriyincy leads the original design effort for Connectpoint® and CHK America’s new clients. As a well-respected designer in the transportation industry, Oran develops design fundamentals that apply across multiple products, strengthening each client’s brand identity while affirming Connectpoint® and CHK America’s uniquely integrated approach to customer information.

Rudy Vargas

Electronics Manufacturing Specialist

Rudy’s day-to-day responsibilities include programming, assembly configuration, product assembly, device repair and maintenance, and general device evaluation for various digital display technologies and solar packages. He also assists the engineering team in testing and qualifying new parts, products, and prototype builds.