The members of our Advisory Board apply years of executive experience and insight to ensure Xavient  makes the right business decisions for the company and our shareholders.

Dr. Sirjang (Jugi) Lal Tandon
Founder of Tandon Corporation and Celetronix International

Dr. Tandon was one of the earliest immigrants from India to Silicon Valley and was one of the pioneers in establishing India as global hi-tech manufacturing hub.

In 1975 he founded the Tandon Corporation, where he invented and patented the first double sided floppy disk drive. This was one of the key factors in the acceptance of the Personal Computer. Tandon disk drives were used in the first IBM Personal computer launched in 1978.

At Tandon Corporation, he set up the first hard disk drive manufacturing plant in Singapore thus creating an Industry hub for technology manufacturing in Singapore. Tandon Corporation was later merged with the chip controller company Western Digital (NYSE WDC) which continues to be a leader in the Disk Drive Industry with annual sales of USD 3.6 Billion.

Dr. Tandon also founded Celetronix International which was the largest electronic manufacturing service provider in India and Southeast Asia. Celetronix was acquired by Jabil Circuits (NYSE JBL) in January of 2006. Prior to 1975, Dr. Tandon had worked at IBM, Memorex and Pertec. For his achievements in technology and business, he has been awarded an honorary doctorate degree from Howard University. Xavient is proud to have Dr. Tandon as one of the esteemed advisory board members.


Michael T. Dugan
Former President, CTO and COO of  Echostar Technologies

Michael Dugan currently serves on the Board of Directors and is the Senior Technical Advisor of EchoStar Communications Corporation (EchoStar). He assumed this role after 16 years with EchoStar, most recently as Chief Technical Officer (CTO), a position he held since November 2005. As CTO he was responsible for all technical development and operations within EchoStar. Michael has also served as Senior Advisor to EchoStar’s Executive Management Team. Michael also serves on the board of Citizen Communications.

Michael joined EchoStar in January 1990 as Vice President of Engineering, and progressed to positions of increasing responsibility, including Senior Vice President, Communications Product Division; President, EchoStar Technologies; and President and Chief Operating Officer. His technical expertise and contributions resulted in EchoStar acknowledging Michael as chief architect of the technological foundation upon which the success of DISH Network was founded. Michael’s career also includes positions at Xerox Corporation, Tandon Corporation, Eastman Kodak and Award Software.

Xavient considers Michael an invaluable member of the advisory board, helping Xavient successfully navigate the increasingly complex waters of the IT industry.


Mel Lavitt
Advisory Director of Xavient Information Systems

Mel Lavitt joined Xavient as an Advisory Director in June 2010.  Mel’s professional career in investment banking has included hundreds of capital market transactions accounting for several billion dollars of equity and debt financing. 

In July of 2007, Mel was Vice Chairman and Managing Director of C.E. Unterberg, Towbin, when it was purchased by Collins Stewart, LLC.  Upon completion of the transaction, he formed Lavitt Group, LLC to advise private and public companies in finding and securing financing, structuring and negotiating investment terms and advising on investor marketing strategy.  As of January 2009, Mel became a Senior Advisor with Needham and Company, LLC.  His focus is on investment banking and M&A opportunities with various companies and entrepreneurs primarily, but not exclusively, in Utah.

Mel started his career in investment banking in 1959 at Bear Stearns and then joined C.E. Unterberg, Towbin in 1962.   In 1977, C.E. Unterberg, Towbin merged with L.F. Rothschild to form L.F. Rothschild, Unterberg, Towbin Inc.  From 1977 to 1986, Mel was a general partner and administrative managing director of that firm.  From June 1987 to August 1992, he had a financial advisory business, Lavitt Management Inc, after which he became a managing director for Unterberg, Harris, which later became C.E. Unterberg, Towbin, until purchased by Collins Stewart, LLC in 2007.   Mel’s current roles as Advisory Director to Xavient, Senior Advisor to Needham & Company LLC, member of the Board of Directors at Jabil Circuit and member of the Board of Directors of the Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development provide him with the opportunity to be active, knowledgeable and up to date regarding current business trends.