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Leadership

John MorrisChief Executive Officer

John has spent his career building and deploying technology that solves big challenges at big enterprises worldwide, from hardware/software to quantum computing. At IBM he led billion-dollar divisions in the US and Asia and later as a Juniper Networks c-level executive. He was director/CEO for startups including Cleversafe, following Chris Gladwin as CEO. He led its growth stage and ultimately negotiated its $1.4 billion sale to IBM. He serves on the Dean’s Council for Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, his alma mater and where he met his wife, with whom he raised four children.

Chris GladwinFounder & Executive Chairman

In 2004, Chris founded Cleversafe, which became the largest and most strategic object storage vendor in the world and generated over 1,000 patents granted or filed. After raising over $100M, Chris led the company to a $1.4B exit in 2015 when IBM acquired the company. Prior to Cleversafe, Chris founded startups MusicNow and Cruise Technologies and led product strategy for Zenith Data Systems. He started his career at Martin Marietta as a database developer and holds an engineering degree from MIT.

Joe JablonskiCo-Founder & Chief Solutions Officer

Joe is a serial entrepreneur and founder of manufacturing software provider Acumence and online volunteering and fundraising platform WeGather. Joe serves on the board of directors of LPI and is an angel investor in several Chicago startups. He holds an MBA from Northwestern University and an electrical and computer engineering degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he judges the Cozad business plan competition.

Ian DruryChief Technology Officer

Over the past 30 years, Ian has led companies through everything from the Internet bubble burst to the Great Recession. After starting his career as a DB2 Database Administrator at Accenture, Ian took on roles like CTO at MVP.com and CIO for TransUnion, where he supported two sales of the $1billion+ revenue company. Ian holds an electrical engineering degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he was a two-time varsity letter winner in wrestling.

Kumar AbhijeetCo-Founder & Chief Revenue Officer

Kumar holds over 30 patents and has deep experience selling cloud, software, systems, and services into the world’s largest and most complex enterprises. After growing Cleversafe from the pre-revenue stage to its successful acquisition, Kumar spent three years leading cloud object storage business for IBM. He holds a degree in electrical and computer engineering with a minor in entrepreneurship from Illinois Institute of Technology. Kumar lives in Chicago with his wife, Jenna, and three sons.

Henry MarshallChief Financial Officer

Henry has a broad range of experience in finance, including roles in private equity, investment banking, consulting, and operational finance. Prior to joining Ocient, he was the SVP of Finance at Loft Orbital, where he supported over $300M in equity raises, closed more than $70M in new debt, and scaled global accounting, FP&A, treasury, and tax functions. Earlier in his career, he advised startups at Accordion Partners, executed M&A, debt, and equity transactions at Morgan Stanley, and drove portfolio value creation at The Riverside Company, a private equity firm.

Jason ArnoldCo-Founder & Distinguished Engineer

Jason has worked with databases since 2006 and has a background with DB2 z/OS, Netezza, ETL/ELT, data replication, performance tuning, and database application development. After 10 years at IBM and working on a PhD on scaling high performance analytics databases, he joined Ocient in 2016. Jason has bachelor’s degrees in computer science and mathematics and a master’s degree in computer science. He loves enjoying Belgian beers and programming in assembler, sometimes at the same time.

Jenna BollerVice President of Marketing

Jenna started her career working with early-stage enterprise technology startups at Page One PR before leading digital and social media activations for Ogilvy’s largest tech clients, including Adobe, Intel, Lenovo, and VMware. Prior to joining Ocient, she led a high-performing campaign management team for YouTube’s in-house creator marketing platform at Google. Jenna holds a bachelor’s degree in cultural history from Stanford University.

Brian BrownSenior Vice President, Ocient National Security Solutions

With over two decades of experience, Brian excels in forging strategic partnerships and identifying new market opportunities, leveraging his global experience to deliver value across diverse industries. He has extensive experience across both the Commercial and Public Sector markets, helping some of the most discerning organizations solve complex problems. Prior to joining Ocient, Brian held key leadership roles at Flashpoint, NinjaJobs, Verizon, and others focusing on enabling intelligence to solve complex challenges.

Shantan KethireddyCo-Founder & Senior Vice President of Data Providers & AdTech

Shantan started his career as a lead Db2 SQL query engine developer and IBM Master Inventor. He was subsequently named North America Chief Data Officer for IBM Systems Group, architecting emerging mainframe solutions that leveraged hybrid transactional and analytics processing, BI, ETL, and bi-directional replication. He joined Ocient in 2018 and has authored numerous technical publications and owned the course of study at many Db2 conferences.

George KondilesCo-Founder & Chief Architect

George has been building software technology from the ground up his entire career. As a software architect and systems designer, he has extensive experience with low latency distributed systems, parallel programming, and database design. He has co-founded several companies including Acumence and WeGather, and holds a computer science and mathematics degree from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Michael MarchantChief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary

Before joining Ocient, Michael held senior global legal leadership roles at IBM, where he supported cloud and AI strategy, international operations, and regulatory compliance across the U.S., Europe, and Asia-Pacific, and lived and worked in Asia. Prior to IBM, Michael was Chief Legal Officer and Corporate Secretary at Cleversafe, where he advised the CEO and Board during a period of rapid global growth, helped lead complex enterprise negotiations, shaped legal and business strategy, and played a key role in Cleversafe’s $1.3 billion acquisition by IBM. He has also held leadership roles at Accenture and Dell in London, driving technology transactions and intellectual property strategy. Michael is passionate about travel and exploring cultures around the world with his wife and two children.

Dylan MurphySenior Vice President of Product

Dylan has spent over 15 years helping customers solve their most complex data analytics challenges. At IBM, Dylan supported technical sales of data products on the mainframe and became worldwide product manager of IBM’s data replication portfolio. Prior to joining Ocient, he was the CEO of a SaaS startup. Dylan holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science and business from Pepperdine University and a master’s degree in software systems from the University of British Columbia.

Greg PapadopoulosCo-Founder & VP of Customer Success & Quality

Over the past 15 years in telecommunications, storage and databases, Greg has worked with top enterprise companies around the globe. He was a Level 2 and 3 Support Manager at Cleversafe/IBM, where he helped grow teams to meet the support challenges of over 100 on-premises solution customers and the IBM Cloud. Greg is a graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is deeply passionate about collaborating with deeply technical customers on large-scale distributed deployments.

Laura TroutmanCo-Founder & Vice President of Accounting, Controller

Laura has over 15 years of experience working with startup and multinational technology companies. She started her career at Ernst & Young’s audit practice. Before joining Ocient, Laura was the assistant controller of Cleversafe and led the integration efforts of the company’s accounting function into IBM. Laura is a licensed CPA in the state of Illinois and holds bachelor’s degrees in finance and accounting from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Mats WahlstromSenior Vice President of Communication & Service Providers

Mats Wahlstrom is a global senior executive with 25+ years of experience driving growth, innovation, and transformation in the Communications Service Providers and technology sectors. He has guided organizations through disruption and complex change, delivering measurable business outcomes worldwide. With a technical foundation in Computer Science from Linköping University, a Telecom MBA, and executive certifications from Wharton, Mats combines deep technology expertise with strategic business insight. He has lead global initiatives at IBM, NetApp, EMC/Dell, VMware, and Ab Initio, and holds multiple patents and several publications. Mats is recognized for setting vision, aligning strategies with customer needs, shaping global strategy, and enabling high-performing teams to deliver results at scale.

Board of Directors

Chris GladwinFounder & Executive Chairman

In 2004, Chris founded Cleversafe, which became the largest and most strategic object storage vendor in the world and generated over 1,000 patents granted or filed. After raising over $100M, Chris led the company to a $1.4B exit in 2015 when IBM acquired the company. Prior to Cleversafe, Chris founded startups MusicNow and Cruise Technologies and led product strategy for Zenith Data Systems. He started his career at Martin Marietta as a database developer and holds an engineering degree from MIT.

John MorrisChief Executive Officer & Board Director

John has spent his career building and deploying technology that solves big challenges at big enterprises worldwide, from hardware/software to quantum computing. At IBM he led billion-dollar divisions in the US and Asia and later as a Juniper Networks c-level executive. He was director/CEO for startups including Cleversafe, following Chris Gladwin as CEO. He led its growth stage and ultimately negotiated its $1.4 billion sale to IBM. He serves on the Dean’s Council for Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business, his alma mater and where he met his wife, with whom he raised four children.

Jim DuganBoard Director

Jim has over 25 years of corporate finance, capital markets, and venture capital investment experience. He is the Founding Managing Partner of OCA Ventures. Prior to forming OCA Ventures, Jim traded derivatives at the Chicago Board of Trade and worked in corporate finance with Continental Bank. He received a BA in Economics from the University of Rochester and earned his MBA from the JL Kellogg Graduate School of Management, where he is a frequent guest lecturer and panelist.

Michael SeedmanBoard Director

Michael has been involved in the tech industry since the early 1980’s. He has operated everything from small startups to high-growth public companies, served on numerous private and public boards, and served as Senior VP and GM for U.S. Robotics. For the past two decades, Michael has been an active technology investor and in private equity as an executive partner for several firms working on projects with revenues ranging from 100 million to more than two billion.

Mark TerbeekBoard Director

Mark co-leads the enterprise software team and target investments in intelligent enterprise applications at Greycroft. Previously, Mark was a partner with MK Capital and co-founder of Jamcracker, an early SaaS pioneer. His investment and board experience includes Bladelogic (acquired by BMC), Kontiki (acquired by Verisign), and VPNet Technologies (acquired by Avaya). Mark holds a BA in Economics from DePauw University and an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business.

Brentt BaltimoreBoard Observer

Brentt invests in early stage software companies at Greycroft. Some of his active investments include 1build, Craft, Enkasa, Mapped, and Trullion. Previously, Brentt was a co-founder of TernPro, maker of the Slope tool, which was acquired by Smartsheet. He also led business development at Operator Inc. and worked on technology commercialization at Numenta. Brentt holds a BA in economics from Claremont McKenna College and an MBA from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.

Steve BowsherBoard Observer

Steve serves as President of IQT. Previously, he served as Managing General Partner and Executive Vice President at In-Q-Tel, where he led the company’s investment strategy. Steve joined In-Q-Tel from InterWest Partners, where he served as General Partner for eight years. Prior to that, he worked at E*TRADE, where he helped launch Destination E*TRADE, the company’s award-winning website. Steve graduated magna cum laude from Harvard and received his MBA from Stanford.

Amy Francetic Board Observer

Amy, co-founder of Buoyant Ventures, manages a Chicago-based female-owned venture fund with $81M AUM, focusing on digital climate solutions. With over 20 years in high-tech entrepreneurship, private equity, and research, Amy founded Energize Ventures and Evergreen Climate Innovations. She's led investments in 45+ clean energy startups in the Midwest. Amy serves on Evergreen Climate's board and the WISER Institute's Advisory Board at Illinois Institute of Technology. Recognized by Crain’s as a Top 50 Technology Leader in Chicago three times, she's also a lecturer at Northwestern University and the University of Chicago.

Chris GirgentiBoard Observer

Chris has served as Managing Partner at Pritzker since 1998. He has led the organization and capital formation of nine technology venture funds and has led or overseen investments in more than 200 companies. Chris currently serves on the boards of Apprentice, Plus One Robotics, and Specright and is a board observer of Ocient, Freightwaves, and Augmentir. He received a ScB. degree in applied math-economics from Brown University and an MBA from Columbia Business School.

Brian HandBoard Observer

Brian is a serial entrepreneur and seasoned venture and angel investor. He co-founded FireStarter Fund, an early-stage venture fund focused on web/social/mobile investments, and is a co-owner of industrial packaging manufacturer Skolnik Industries. Brian was co-founder & CEO of social media company Timelines and founder & CEO of ShopLocal. He received his BS and MS degrees in mechanical engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and an MBA from Northwestern University.

Momei QuBoard Observer

Momei is a Managing Director of PSP Growth, the venture and growth equity arm of PSP Partners. Prior to joining PSP, she was a venture capital investor at Baird Capital and Independence Equity. Before that, she worked as an investment banker at Merrill Lynch. Momei earned a Bachelor of Science in computer engineering and a Bachelor of Science in finance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Industry Advisors

Tim Mahlman

Tim started his digital career in 1995 as a founding member of CLIQNOW!, one of the first online advertising networks. He went on to be part of the leadership team at AOL in the $4.4B acquisition to Verizon and then part of the leadership team on Verizon’s $4.48B acquisition of Yahoo! With more than 20 years of entrepreneurial leadership experience throughout Asia, Europe, and the United States, Tim specializes in software management platforms, data analytics, and digital advertising platforms.

Iván Markman

Iván Markman is a seasoned c-suite operator, investor, and advisor with over 20 years of experience driving growth in technology businesses. He specializes in transforming organizations through mission-driven, customer-centric strategies and has worked with private, non-profit, and board roles, focusing on growth, M&A, and strategic partnerships. Iván has led turnarounds at Yahoo and comscore, held leadership roles at Neustar and MarketShare, and began his career at Procter & Gamble in Argentina. He serves on boards supporting innovation and impact, holds advanced degrees from UCLA and Universidad de San Andrés, and enjoys hiking, traveling, and DJing in his free time.

Marc Price

Marc is the CTO for MATRIXX Software. He is an industry leading subject matter expert in telecommunications systems, with nearly 30 years of experience helping customers define strategies and deploy world-class solutions for high volume processing of events. Marc has contributed to leading technology standards organizations and communities including 3GPP, Linux Foundation, and CableLabs. He holds honors degrees in engineering and international relations from the University of Pennsylvania.

Wilfried Schobeiri

Wil is the Chief Technology Officer at Banyan, overseeing product development for the world's first global interchange for SKU-level receipt data. With over 15 years of experience in technology, product management, data science, and leadership, he’s spent the better part of the last decade building large-scale distributed systems and data products. Before joining Banyan, Will helped build the global real estate data platform that supports Blackstone’s real estate portfolio as CPO at Revantage.

Fred Stringer

Fred Stringer is a cybersecurity and network infrastructure expert who advises communication service providers and governments on data-driven cybersecurity and large-scale Internet operations. Previously a senior technical leader at AT&T’s Chief Security Office, Juniper Networks, AT&T Internet Services—where he helped create AT&T’s Internet—and Bell Laboratories, he brings decades of hands-on experience building and securing global networks. He is a frequent keynote speaker and trusted advisor on network resilience, reliability, and cybersecurity.

Anudit Vikram

Anudit is a business and tech leader in the advertising and marketing technologies space. As the CPO and GM, Digital for Intentsify, he is responsible for the strategy and roadmap of the entire suite of Intentsify’s product capabilities and also the execution of Intentsify’s Digital vision. Prior to Intentsify, he has worked at MediaMath, Dun & Bradstreet, Merkle, Yahoo!, Microsoft and other noteworthy organizations leading teams and – in his words – “building cool stuff, changing the world one release at a time!” Anudit holds a Masters in Technology Management from Columbia University and a BS in Engineering from the University of Pune(India).

National Security Advisors

William P. Crowell

William P. Crowell served as Deputy Director of the National Security Agency (NSA) from February 1994 to September 1997—the highest civilian position within the agency. Appointed by President Bill Clinton, he acted as the agency's chief operating officer overseeing all operations, strategy, and policy development, and led the NSA's landmark transformation from analog to digital operations. Crowell began his NSA career in 1962, holding wide-ranging leadership roles over nearly four decades, including Deputy Director for Operations (1991–1994) and Chief of Staff (1990–1991), a post he assumed just days before the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. After retiring from the NSA in 1997, he became CEO of Cylink Corporation, a publicly traded e-business security company, and is currently an Operating Partner at Brave Capital. He served as Chairman of the DNI Senior Advisory Group (2007–2014) and has been recognized with the National Security Medal and the Distinguished Executive Presidential Rank Award.

Michael Groen

Lieutenant General Michael S. Groen completed a distinguished 36-year Marine Corps career, culminating as the Director of the Pentagon's Joint Artificial Intelligence Center (JAIC) from October 2020 to May 2022—the senior executive for artificial intelligence in the Department of Defense, leading the transformation of U.S. joint warfighting through AI integration. Prior to the JAIC, Lt. Gen. Groen served at the National Security Agency as Deputy Chief of Computer Network Operations, and as Director for Intelligence for the Joint Staff (J-2), working directly with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of Defense. He served as Director of Marine Corps Intelligence and was a principal architect in the redesign of Marine Intelligence during the Iraq War. Lt. Gen. Groen is a multi-tour combat veteran with experience in Iraq, the Philippines, and the Balkans. He is a 1986 graduate of Calvin University with a B.S. in Engineering, holds Master's degrees from the Naval Postgraduate School and the University of Southern California, and is a Naval War College graduate. He currently serves as a Nonresident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council.

Scott Howell

Lieutenant General Scott A. Howell retired from the United States Air Force in August 2021 after a 34-year career. His final assignment was as the 15th Commander of the Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) from July 2018 to June 2021, overseeing military operations across multiple theaters and the readiness of specialized forces across all military branches. Prior to JSOC, Lt. Gen. Howell served as Vice Commander of U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM), responsible for organizing, training, and equipping more than 70,000 U.S. Special Operations personnel in more than 85 countries. He also commanded all Coalition and NATO special operations forces in Afghanistan as Commanding General, NATO Special Operations Component Command. A career helicopter pilot with over 2,600 flight hours across six air platforms, Lt. Gen. Howell was the first Air Force officer to command JSOC. He is a 1987 graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and holds Master's degrees from Air Command & Staff College and the National War College.

Constantine "Costa" Saab

Constantine "Costa" Saab spent 18 years at the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), rising to senior executive roles including Chief Strategy Officer, Corporate Board Member, Acting Assistant Director, and Center Chief of Operations. He joined the CIA in 2001 and served until November 2018, leading initiatives with multi-billion dollar budgets and thousands of employees. During his tenure, Saab developed deep expertise in strategy, innovation, and the application of emerging technologies—particularly artificial intelligence—within the intelligence community, with extensive operational experience across North Africa, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. Following his government career, Saab joined Valor Equity Partners as Managing Director and CTO and co-founded Foundation Stack AI. He is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council and serves on the Board of Directors of Redacted, Inc. He holds degrees from the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, and Harvard Business School.

Laura Taylor-Kale

Dr. Laura Taylor-Kale served from 2023 to 2025 as the first presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy—the inaugural occupant of this Senate-confirmed role at the Department of Defense. She authored the DOD's first-ever National Defense Industrial Strategy, led a record $3.3 billion in defense industrial grants, and launched the DoD's largest other transaction contracting vehicle, the Defense Industrial Base Consortium. Earlier in her career, Dr. Taylor-Kale served as a U.S. Department of State Foreign Service Officer (2003–2012) with postings in India, Côte d'Ivoire, Afghanistan, and the World Bank. She subsequently served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Manufacturing and Senior Advisor at the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation (now Development Finance Corporation). She is now a Senior Fellow for Geoeconomics and Defense at the Council on Foreign Relations and founder of Catalytic Capital Strategies LLC. She holds a B.A. from Smith College, M.P.A. from Princeton, M.B.A. from NYU Stern, and a Ph.D. in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University.