Board of Directors

Gene Hoffman, Jr., Director, Chairman

Mr Hoffman is the Chairman of The Calguns Foundation. He currently serves as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Vindicia, an integrated payment and fraud management company. Prior to Vindicia Mr. Hoffman co-founded eMusic in January 1998 and served as President, Chief Executive Officer, and a Director. As head of eMusic, Mr. Hoffman was featured on the cover of Forbes Magazine as a member of the July 1999 E-Gang, and named one of the 100 most influential entrepreneurs in technology in Upside Magazine's November 2000 Elite 100. Mr. Hoffman led the acquisition of eMusic by Vivendi/Universal in June 2001.

Before founding eMusic Mr. Hoffman was Director of Business Development and Director of Interactive Marketing of Pretty Good Privacy. Mr. Hoffman joined Pretty Good Privacy after it acquired PrivNet, Inc., an Internet privacy software company, where he was co-founder, Director and Executive Vice President.

Bill Wiese, Director, Vice Chairman

Mr. Wiese is the Vice Chairman of The Calguns Foundation, and an NRA Life Member.  An experienced Silicon Valley firmware engineer, he currently creates firmware for consumer digital video devices.  He's been interested in firearms & shooting for the bulk of his life, and has developed a detailed knowledge of various facets of California firearms laws.

In his spare time outside of both work and firearms-related endeavors, Mr. Wiese enjoys his cats, attending the symphony, and finding new steakhouses.

Ben Cannon, Director, Treasurer

Mr. Cannon is the Treasurer and Director of The Calguns Foundation; his duties include management of the Foundation's Endowment Fund. Mr. Cannon is also the Chairman and CEO of GUNPAL, Inc., which he founded in 2004, and is the co-founder and President of GeoVario, LLC. GeoVario, LLC. is a Content Delivery Network and Web Hosting company whose clients include Fortune 100 Companies and the United States DoD as well as Calguns.net, where he has recently taken a Directorial position.

Previously Mr. Cannon was the founder, President, and CEO of CBC Construction & Engineering, and Cannon Aerospace. As head of Cannon Aerospace Mr. Cannon managed and produced, under government contracts, airborne night vision surveillance systems. He has been recognized by three governmental branches for his achievements in airborne sensor systems integration and real-time recording. At CBC, Mr. Cannon headed a Performance Bonded Prime contractor program and has been influential in several important California infrastructure projects. Prior to Cannon Aerospace Mr. Cannon founded Cartesian Systems Internet, an ISP/NSP, in 1994. Mr. Cannon also serves on the board of directors for Company C Contemporary Ballet, and The Supercomputing Disease Research Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to providing access to supercomputer resources that will ultimately cure diseases like Cancer and Multiple Sclerosis.

In late 2005 Mr. Cannon made history by re-introducing AR-15 and AK type rifles to California in 2005 via his 'Off List Lower' project. His efforts cleared the way for an estimated 300,000 Californians to now have similar rifles.

Kevin L Thomason, Director, Secretary

Kevin L. Thomason has a long career in the legal industry. A 1994 graduate of University of California College of the Law, he founded the first commercial legal website in 1994. Two years later his company designed the website for the largest law firm in the State of California, and later the first German law firm to be on the internet. Mr. Thomason has given over 30 invited presentations on law firm internet marketing, and has authored over 70 published articles on the topic.

In 2002, after a stint as a Marketing Manager for a top 50 law firm, he began practicing law for a small law firm based in San Francisco. In 2008 he founded one of the handful of law firms in California that practice firearms law.

Mr. Thomason is an avid shooter, motorcyclist and car enthusiast. In addition to holding the position of Secretary for the Calguns Foundation, Mr. Thomason is an active member of the National Rifle Association.

James M. Ingram, Director

Jim has been a California attorney for over twenty years, with a California State and Federal Court practice that emphasizes intellectual property, business, real estate and construction law, and is admitted to practice in all the Courts of California as well as various Federal Trial and Appellate Courts, including the U.S. Ninth Circuit and Federal Circuit Courts of Appeal and the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas. With offices in both Northern and Southern California, he serves a clientele of businesses and individuals throughout California and, in Federal matters, nationwide. Jim earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Santa Clara University in 1982 and played center for the Broncos' 1979 and 1980 nationally ranked NCAA Division II football teams. He earned his law degree from Pepperdine University in Malibu, California in 1985 and has been in private practice since then. Jim has served on the board of directors of The Robert Brownlee Foundation and is also an officer and board member of The Let Them Play Foundation, Inc. A member of the Santa Margarita Gun Club, he also serves as counsel to the club's board of directors.

Wesley Morris, Director

Wesley Morris is a World History teacher at Vista West High School in Bakersfield, CA and also owns Ten Percent Firearms in Taft. He is the past chairman of the Taft Friends of NRA committee and current co-chairman. Wes earned a master's in education degree from the University of La Verne and a bachelor of arts in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles. He also writes a regular editorial column in the Bakersfield Independent and Taft Independent Newspapers about civil rights called Uncivil Liberties. Wesley has been married to his wife Kelly for six years.

Paul T. Nordberg, Director

Paul T. Nordberg is the Owner and Primary Administrator of the Calguns.net website and forum as well as a Life Member of the NRA. He has been a vocal proponent of Second Amendment Rights for 25 years, a firearms collector for 20 years and an 03 Curio and Relic FFL for 6 Years. He currently works for a private company specializing in image conversion and data archiving of vital records and real estate records for counties across the country. In addition to Firearms and Second Amendment advocacy his interests include Medieval Recreation and Martial Arts, Motorcycles, Golf and his Faith. His proudest achievement is his first and only marriage of 22 years so far.

Ivan Pena, Director

Ivan is a facilities manager for a fortune 100 pharmaceutical company. He is also owner of Pena consulting a firm that specializes in consulting for the modular furniture industry. A life member of the NRA and an avid hunter and gun collector. My most rewarding achievement has been a marriage of 20 years (so far) and the father of a great son.

Brett Thomas, Director

Mr. Thomas is the Chief Technology officer of Vindicia, an integrated payment and fraud management company. Prior to Vindicia Mr. Thomas was Executive Vice President of Technology for eMusic, joining Mr. Hoffman shortly after the company was founded. While at eMusic, Mr. Thomas led a team of sixty-five employees and oversaw the technical integration of several geographically diverse enterprises utilizing multiple platforms.

Mr. Thomas has been a professional software developer since 1989, and has management, contract and technical experience through roles at Network Associates, PGP, NCR, MCI and IBM. Mr. Thomas has particular expertise in the design and implementation of high transaction volume e-commerce systems, large-payload download infrastructures, conversion of paper documents to electronic formats, encryption and security.