About Private Communications Corporation

Private Communications Corporation is strongly committed to protecting the privacy and enhancing experiences for mobile users – and we partner with companies to enable them to do the same.

Private Communications Corporation is a privately held company, founded by Kent Lawson in 2010. After reading a series of articles in The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and The New York Times about the security vulnerabilities of WiFi hotspots, Lawson was inspired to come out of retirement to resolve the problem.

Less than a year later, Private Communications was established, launching our flagship product, Private WiFi – an easy-to-use VPN solution. We then developed a video optimization technology that is the basis for our DataCompress, which dramatically reduces the data consumed by videos. Most recently we launched two solutions for SMBs – Remote WorkForce VPN and Remote WorkForce ZTN. 

We offer a variety of partnership opportunities. Several organizations, including AOL / Yahoo, partner with us and distribute the Private WiFi product directly to their members. We also have several private branding partners who market their own versions of our services. In addition, we partner with companies worldwide who integrate our SDK into their applications and platforms.

Private Communications Corporation has evolved into a partnering powerhouse, enabling a wide variety of organization to offer more secure and optimized experiences to their customers.

Management Team

Kent Lawson

President and CEO

Kent Lawson is the President and CEO of Private Communications Corporation and creator of its flagship software Private WiFi.

With over 40 years of computer industry experience, Lawson has launched several highly successful technology ventures. Prior to Private Communications Corporation, Kent founded Magna Software Corporation and ran it for nearly 20 years, before retiring in 1998. Magna specialized in mainframe software, and its products are still being used in businesses and government agencies today. Prior to Magna, he was President of Lupfer and Long, a computer programming company that provided consulting and contract services to government agencies.

In 2010, after 12 years of retirement, Kent became interested in Internet privacy and security issues, and the vulnerability of wireless communications in WiFi hotspots. He created Private Communications Corporation to protect consumers and corporations from privacy and security breaches on the Internet.

Kent holds a BA degree in Economics from Beloit College, an MBA from Washington University, and is a graduate of Harvard Business School’s Owner/President’s Management Course.

Jennifer Praeger

Global VP, Business Development & Partnerships

Jennifer Praeger heads up business development and partnerships for Private Communications Corporation. In this role she is responsible for building sustainable partnerships to scale Private Communications’ business. Her career spans executive-level marketing and online communication strategy positions at a range of non-profit and for-profit organizations. Prior to joining Private Communications in 2011, Jennifer was the Web Marketing Manager at Mount Sinai Medical Center. Ms. Praeger also held senior-level marketing positions at Metropolitan College of New York, ClickandBuy, Mason and Geller Marketing, and Lloyd’s of London Press.

Ms. Praeger holds a Bachelor of Arts from Sarah Lawrence College and a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from NYU’s Stern School of Business.

Lane Liston

Vice President, Technical Operations

As the Vice President of Technology Operations for Private Communications, Lane Franklin Liston oversees the technological infrastructure implementation and administration to streamline transnational developers, servers, and ancillary equipment functions for rapid, secure and effective product delivery.

Lane joined Private Communications with over fifteen years of IT expertise in both an established Fortune 500 company and smaller businesses with distinction in the field of innovation and technology. He worked for Honeybee Robotics for ten years, holding the position of Director of IT/MIS, and provided the overall strategic operational leadership of technological planning, architecture, research and development. Lane has also worked at Proteometrics as a Software Test Analyst and at Texas Instruments (formerly Tartan Laboratories) in different positions, learning multiple machine languages and JTAG emulation for digital signal processors and microprocessor toolsets.

Lane holds a BA, MS and MBA and has studied at the University of Pittsburgh, Juilliard, Fashion Institute of Technology, Marymount, Polytechnic and NYU.

Pat Brill

Vice President of HR & Finance

Pat Brill serves as Private Communications’ Vice President of HR & Finance. In this role she is responsible for all aspects of human resources, business administration and finance for the business.
Pat joined Private Communications in 2010 as its first employee. She has more than 30 years of management experience in finance, human resources, and office management. Her roles as a Business Manager and Director of Human Resources have been with small to medium sized companies in the technology and creative industries. Pat earned a Bachelor of Science is Social Sciences from Adelphi University, New York.

Rima Christie

Vice President, Customer Support Management

Rima Christie is Private Communications’ Director for Customer Support Management. Rima and her team are responsible for the company’s world-class customer support.

Rima brings over 10 years of sales experience in the promotional product industry. She also worked for Xerox in Inventory Management. In addition, she volunteered for 10 years as Knowledge Coach for the United States Pony Club. Rima graduated from William Paterson University with a BS in Psychology with honors, Magna Cum Laude. In her spare time she is an avid equestrian, enjoys African drumming, quilting and volunteers as a foster for dogs in danger.