Meet Our Team

Has served as our Chairman of the Board of Directors, President and Chief Operating Officer since October 2016 and as our Chief Executive Officer since December 2019. Mr. Katz is the founder of A.V.M. Software, Inc. (d/b/a Paltalk) and served as its Chief Executive Officer and as a member of its Board of Directors from 1998 through the completion of PeerStream’s merger with AVM, pursuant to which SAVM Acquisition Corporation, PeerStream’s wholly owned subsidiary, merged with and into AVM, with AVM surviving as a wholly owned subsidiary of PeerStream (the “AVM Merger”), in October 2016. In his capacity as an executive officer and director of AVM, Mr. Katz oversaw the strategic direction of AVM and its subsidiaries, and also managed its system infrastructure. Mr. Katz is an authority on instant messaging as well as web-based voice and video. Mr. Katz has appeared at numerous industry forums as well as on Bloomberg Radio and CNN Radio. Prior to AVM, Mr. Katz co-founded MJ Capital, a money management firm. Earlier in his career, Mr. Katz was a corporate lawyer at the New York office of Fulbright & Jaworski. Mr. Katz earned a J.D. from the New York University School of Law (1988) and a B.A. in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania (1985).

Was appointed as our Chief Financial Officer in December 2019 and as a member of our Board of Directors in November 2020. Ms. Jenny has over 20 years of senior financial expertise. During her career, Ms. Jenny has created overall corporate strategy and managed financial and accounting operations, including SEC and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance efforts. She has also overseen customer service, operations and legal functions as well as led strategic and annual planning processes and has been a key contributor in facilitating several rounds of equity financing, including preferred stock offerings, private investments in public equity, rights offerings and common stock offerings. From 2014 to 2019, Ms. Jenny was Chief Financial Officer of Walker Innovation, a publicly traded intellectual property company. Previously, she was the Chief Financial Officer of Bluefly, Inc., an online retailer of designer apparel and accessories at a value. Ms. Jenny began her career at Arthur Andersen LLP and is a Certified Public Accountant and a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. She was selected to join the SEC’s Advisory Committee Member on Small and Emerging Companies and served on the Committee from 2011 until 2013.

Barry Sloane has served as NewtekOne, Inc.’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer since 1999, as its President since 2008 and Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of its bank subsidiary, Newtek Bank, N.A., since January 2023. Mr. Sloane founded NewtekOne, Inc. in 1998 and is an executive officer of each of its subsidiaries. From September 1993 through July 1995, Mr. Sloane was a Managing Director of Smith Barney, Inc., where he directed the Commercial and Residential Real Estate Securitization Unit, and was national sales manager for institutional mortgage and asset backed securities sales. From April 1991 through September 1993, Mr. Sloane was founder and President of Aegis Capital Markets, a consumer loan origination and securitization business which was eventually taken public with the name of “Aegis Consumer Funding.” From October 1988 through March 1991, Mr. Sloane was Senior Vice President of Donaldson, Lufkin and Jenrette, where he was responsible for directing sales of mortgage-backed securities. From August 1982 to September 1988, Mr. Sloane was a senior mortgage security salesman and trader for Bear Stearns, L.F. Rothschild, E.F. Hutton and Paine Webber.

Sidney Rabsatt is a seasoned executive with nearly 30 years of experience in technology and over 15 years driving product vision, strategy, and execution in high-profile technology companies and roles. He currently serves as Chief Product Officer at MindsDB, an artificial intelligence company focused on surfacing the knowledge in Enterprise data to power AI apps and agents, where he is responsible for creating and driving product vision and strategy. Previously, Mr. Rabsatt served as Head of Product at Anyscale from April 2023 to January 2024, and as Director of Product Management for Cloud Application & Content Delivery and Media & Entertainment at Google from June 2021 to March 2023. Mr. Rabsatt was Vice President of Product Management for Modern Applications and APIs at F5 Networks from May 2019 to May 2021, and Vice President of Product Management at NGINX from November 2017 to May 2019. He received his B.S. in Computer Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology and his MBA from Baruch College. Mr. Rabsatt has a proven track record of success in leading product teams and delivering innovative solutions in several areas, including AI/ML and Cloud Infrastructure, Modern App/Cloud Infrastructure, Enterprise Networking, Observability/AIOps, and Streaming Media & Gaming.

Mr. Abada previously served as the President of Factory Direct Enterprises, one of the largest licensees of Ashley Furniture HomeStores from March 2015 until March 2016. Most recently, Mr. Abada served as Jennifer Convertibles Inc.’s President, Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer, as well as a member of its board of directors, from September 1999 until 2014. From 1997 until 2003, Mr. Abada served as a member of the board of directors of CCA Industries, Inc., a public company engaged in the manufacture and distribution of health and beauty aid products, and Mr. Abada currently serves as a member of the board of directors of 168 5th Avenue Realty Corp., a privately held real estate corporation. Mr. Abada holds a B.B.A. from the Bernard Baruch College of the City University of New York. Mr. Abada’s background and experience as a lead executive officer and board member of public and private companies provides him with extensive knowledge of, and insights into, financial reporting and oversight, corporate strategy and board functions.

Lance Laifer has served as a member of A.V.M.’s Board of Directors since 1999. Mr. Laifer has also served as the Chief Executive Officer of each of Old Forge Media Management and Old Forge Asset Management (together, “Old Forge”), a network of social media advertising and marketing companies, since 2013 and 2011, respectively, as well as the Chief Executive Officer of Laifer Capital Management, Inc., a hedge fund, since 1992. Prior to his service at Old Forge, Mr. Laifer was the Chief Executive Officer of Wapiti Capital Management, LLC. Mr. Laifer also served on the board of directors of ValueVision from 1992 to 1995. Mr. Laifer’s decades of experience provide him with unique investment and capital market insights, as well as background analyzing the risks and strategies of companies in the social media and online dating industries.

Mr. Silberstein has been a member of A.V.M.’s Board of Directors since 1999 and was General Counsel of A.V.M. from 2000 to 2003. He began his career in October 1986 as a real estate attorney at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, and in April 1989 began working for The Mendik Company, which with its partners, owned and managed a portfolio of twelve million square feet of Class A commercial office buildings in New York City and its suburbs.He is on the Advisory Board of Willpower Labs, Inc., a startup that makes a weight-loss lozenge. Most recently, Mr. Silberstein taught high school English at The Rivers School in Weston, Massachusetts from September 2010 to June 2016. Mr. Silberstein earned a B.A. from Brown University and a J.D. from New York University School of Law. Mr. Silberstein’s experience representing A.V.M. and other companies in complex and sophisticated matters, as well as his expertise in real estate acquisition and management, provides him with unique insights into business strategy and leadership.