Leadership Team
Chairman
Founder & CTO
CEO
Founder and COO
Chief Customer Officer
Chief Financial Officer
Chief Scientific Officer
GM and VP, Solutions Delivery
Senior Vice President, Engineering
VP of People
Board of Directors
Chairman
Founder & CTO
CEO
Founder and COO
Norwest Ventures, Senior Managing Partner
Vice President, Intel Capital
Managing Director, The Entrepreneurs Fund
Advisory Board
MANOJ SAXENA
Chairman
Manoj Saxena is the Executive Chairman and a successful serial entrepreneur who founded and sold two venture-backed software companies within a five-year span. He is former Chairman, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, San Antonio branch, and is founding Managing Director of The Entrepreneurs’ Fund IV, a seed fund focused exclusively on B2B AI and cognitive computing with nine active investments.
Most recently, Manoj was General Manager of IBM Watson (2011-14), where his team built the first cognitive systems. Manoj currently serves on the boards of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Communities In Schools, and the Saxena Family Foundation. Holder of six U.S. patents for AI and web services technologies. Saxena holds an MBA from Michigan State University, and a master’s in Management Sciences from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India.
MATT SANCHEZ
Founder and CTO
Matt Sanchez is the Founder and Chief Technology Officer at CognitiveScale where he leads products and technology including the award winning Cortex platform. As the technology visionary at CognitiveScale, Matt has led the development of the world's 4th largest AI patent portfolio and has helped clients realize the business value of Trusted AI across financial services, healthcare, and digital commerce industries. Before starting CognitiveScale, Matt was the leader of IBM Watson Labs and was the first to apply IBM Watson to the financial services and healthcare industries. Before joining IBM, Matt was Chief Architect and employee number three at Webify, which was acquired by IBM in 2006. Matt earned his BS degree in Computer Science from the University of Texas at Austin in 2000.
ROBERT J. PICCIANO
CEO
Robert J. Picciano is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) responsible for overall company growth and strategic direction. A pioneer in the AI, analytics and information management space, Mr. Picciano has 30+ years leading R&D as well as sales across software, hardware, AI and cloud portfolios.
As Senior Vice President of Analytics, Software and Cognitive Systems at IBM, Mr. Picciano delivered award winning, industry leading products in the spaces of Data Science, Machine Learning, Information Management, Analytics, SaaS and Hardware systems. He led several acquisitions and strategic relationships including acquiring The Weather Company in 2016, and the development and delivery of the world's fastest and smartest HPC supercomputers (Summit and Sierra) to the U.S. Department of Energy National Labs in 2018. Mr. Picciano has a BS in Computer Science from Northeastern University.
AKSHAY SABHIKHI
Founder and COO
Akshay (Shay) Sabhikhi is Cofounder and Chief Operating Officer (COO) responsible for Operations, Management and Marketing. Shay has more than 20 years of entrepreneurial leadership, product development and management experience with growth-stage, venture-backed companies and high growth software divisions within Fortune 500 companies.
As cofounder and former CEO of CognitiveScale, Shay has worked tirelessly to create an award-winning company defined by ground-breaking products and an inclusive culture that places people over process every time. His vision and guidance is critical in continuing to drive record-breaking year-over-year growth. He has a BS & MS degree in Electrical & Computer Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and an MBA from the Acton School of Entrepreneurship.
NIJ CHAWLA
Chief Customer Officer
Nij (Neeraj) Chawla serves as the Chief Customer Officer. Nij has held senior leadership positions at Oracle, most recently heading up the Stores and Commerce businesses for Oracle Retail. Nij led vision, strategy, product management, and business development for two suites of enterprise solutions at Oracle. He was a key leader in driving early mobile products coming out of Oracle, and he also led Engineering groups across multiple geographic locations for 8 enterprise products. Before Oracle, Nij founded and led a cross- org Retail technology and architecture group at 360Commerce and helped with the transition of that company into Oracle. Prior to 360Commerce, Nij headed up a consulting practice at Trilogy. Nij holds an Electrical Engineering (with Computers) degree from the University of Texas at Austin.
JENNIFER CROW
Chief Financial Officer
Jennifer served most recently for four and a half years as Chief Financial Officer at WellAware Holdings, Inc., a data and IIOT company that offers a complete, end-to-end solution for oilfield data collection, storage, visualization and decision analysis. Prior to WellAware, she was CFO of Asure Software, a publicly traded SaaS industry leader in providing cloud-based workplace management solutions. Her background also includes numerous senior finance roles at Active Power, Broadwing Communications , ATT, and Public Accounting. Jennifer earned her Bachelor of Business Administration degree at Texas State University and is a Certified Public Accountant.
DR. JOYDEEP GHOSH
Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Joydeep Ghosh (PhD ’88) is the Chief Scientific Officer at CognitiveScale, responsible for shaping corporate vision, influencing technology strategy, overseeing algorithmic science, and positioning the company for growth in the coming months and years. Dr. Ghosh is also the Schlumberger Centennial Chair Professor at the University of Texas (UT), Austin with appointments across multiple colleges involved in the theory, design and application of AI-related technologies and systems. He is the founder-director of UT-MINDS, considered among the top academic groups worldwide researching full-stack Machine Intelligence and Decision Systems. Dr. Ghosh has authored over 500 peer-reviewed publications related to data and knowledge driven insights, won 16 Best Paper awards, chaired or keynoted at top data mining and machine learning conferences, and led numerous successful projects for industry and government over the past 30 years.
DR. JOYDEEP GHOSH
Chief Scientific Officer
Dr. Joydeep Ghosh (PhD ’88) is the Chief Scientific Officer at CognitiveScale, responsible for shaping corporate vision, influencing technology strategy, overseeing algorithmic science, and positioning the company for growth in the coming months and years. Dr. Ghosh is also the Schlumberger Centennial Chair Professor at the University of Texas (UT), Austin with appointments across multiple colleges involved in the theory, design and application of AI-related technologies and systems. He is the founder-director of UT-MINDS, considered among the top academic groups worldwide researching full-stack Machine Intelligence and Decision Systems. Dr. Ghosh has authored over 500 peer-reviewed publications related to data and knowledge driven insights, won 16 Best Paper awards, chaired or keynoted at top data mining and machine learning conferences, and led numerous successful projects for industry and government over the past 30 years.
PANKAJ VAISH
GM and VP, Solutions Delivery
Pankaj Vaish is GM and VP of Solutions Delivery, responsible for delivery excellence and guiding Big Data content lifecycle management operations in India. As Senior Vice President of Perot Systems and later Dell, Pankaj established and scaled Perot Systems India, and later Dell Delivery center, from 5 to more than 8,000 people within a decade. Recently, as CEO of HealthFore Technologies, Pankaj grew a startup focused on delivering Integrated Healthcare Solutions to more than 400 people with clients across 13 countries including the Middle East, Southeast Asia, and Africa. Pankaj is an engineering graduate from BITS Pilani and an MBA.
GOPAL KRISHNAN
Senior Vice President, Engineering
Gopal Krishnan is the SVP of Engineering and Professional Services, leading the product development, solutions delivery, and cloud operations for CognitiveScale. Prior to CognitiveScale, Gopal was the VP of Professional Services and Customer Support for IBM’s $2 billion Security business unit, since its formation in 2012. In this role, with the mission of customer success, he led a worldwide team of cybersecurity professionals in the deployment and support of IBM’s Security products at its customers.
Gopal earned his BS and MS degrees in Computer Science from the University of Ottawa, Canada, and New Mexico Tech respectively. He also completed his BS and MS degrees in Mathematics from University of Madras, India.
KENDALL COLLIER
VP of People
Kendall Collier is the Vice President of People with responsibility for CognitiveScale’s People Team. In this role, she champions the company’s employee experience and supports strategic alignment across the organization. Kendall is passionate about building great cultures and helping companies grow.
Kendall has over 16 years of global people experience across both large enterprises and small companies. Most recently, she led People & Culture for the Americas at Snow, an enterprise software company focused on Software Asset Management. Prior to that, she had tours of duty at Flex, where she was responsible for global HR strategy, and Dell, where she was the HR Program Manager on the Dell and EMC merger responsible for integrating the two businesses. She cut her teeth on all things people over an 8 year period as a Human Capital Management Consultant at Deloitte.
Kendall holds a Master’s in Organizational Psychology from the London School of Economics and a Bachelor’s in Psychology from Hendrix College.
TRINA VAN PELT
Vice President, Intel Capital
MANAGING DIRECTOR, INTERNET OF THINGS & AUTOMATED DRIVING GROUPS
CO-LEAD DIVERSITY FUND
Trina Van Pelt is Vice President of Intel Capital and Managing Director of the Internet of Things and Automated Driving Groups at Intel Corporation. She directs the team of equity investment, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), and strategic business development professionals who identify, evaluate, lead, and negotiate strategic transactions in businesses focused on the Internet of Things (IoT) and autonomous driving segments. She is responsible for fostering strategic thinking and growth initiatives that link Intel’s business strategy with strategic transactions.
Van Pelt also co-leads Intel Capital’s Diversity Fund, which invests in businesses founded and/or managed by women, under-represented minorities, U.S. military veterans, physically disabled, and the LGBTQ community.
Van Pelt has over 20 years of experience in technology M&A, investments, strategic planning and business development. She has led more than 70 technology acquisitions and investments worth >$30B over the course of her career, spanning the computing, communications, software, IoT and mobile industry segments.
She joined Intel Capital in 2004. Before joining Intel, Van Pelt was a director of corporate development at CNET Networks and an investment associate at TA Associates. She began her career in investment banking at Lehman Brothers and Ernst & Young’s financial advisory services group.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration from the University of Michigan and earned a master’s degree in management from the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.
STEPHEN PLUME
Managing Director, The Entrepreneurs Fund
Steve is the Managing Director of The Entrepreneurs Fund, managing a portfolio of high growth tech start-ups. Previously, he was the Vice President of Marketing for conDati in 2017-2018. Prior to conDati, Steve served as Senior Marketing Director for the Dell Software Group, which collected Dell’s multiple enterprise software acquisitions. Before joining Dell, Steve was the founding Vice President of Marketing at Accept Software, where he helped grow the company from zero to acquisition by Artemis International. His many clients included established companies leading the first wave of the internet, including Apple, Adobe, Cisco, HP, IBM, Motorola, PeopleSoft, and Siebel, and a host of smaller companies, including some of the most successful IPOs of the 1990s, such as Aurum, Persistence, Sagent, and CommerceOne.
ROBERT LEBLANC
Managing Director, The Entrepreneurs Fund
Robert J. LeBlanc is a retired IBM Senior Vice President and Executive Officer. Over the course of his 30+ year career at IBM, Mr. LeBlanc led technical organizations, marketing and sales functions, and consulting and services groups. He helped to shape and lead the company’s highly successful software and cloud businesses. Robert was integral to the formation of IBM WebSphere, which continues to be one of the most widely used platforms for building, running and managing web-based applications. He also championed the formation of IBM Design to refocus product development on human experiences. Most recently Robert ran the multi-billion dollar IBM Cloud business and helped establish IBM as a leading enterprise cloud provider.
Robert resides in Austin, and serves on the University of Texas Department of Computer Science Advisory Council. Originally from Toronto, Canada he has a BSC and an MBA from the University of Toronto.
Robert is an avid golfer, car enthusiast, and owner of Standardbred Racing horses.
RICKEY BURKS
Rickey Burks has over 35 years of experience in the Financial Services industry providing technology and business innovation leadership. He held the position of Senior Vice President Chief Technology Officer and Chief Innovation Officer, and was responsible for all aspects of USAA’s information technology architecture, business and technology innovation, and hiring / growing USAA’s top technical resources. In this dual role, Burks reported to the company’s Chief Information Officer with his “Chief Technology Officer hat” on, as well as to the Chief Administration Officer with his “Chief Innovation Officer hat.” He was responsible for bringing together two teams, one of which was tasked with thinking creatively and delivering disruptive solutions that continue to provide exceptional experiences to USAA’s 10+ million members while a companion team was responsible for standards and technology, and how to keep things operationally healthy, secure, and always available. His responsibilities included; directing the activities of USAA’s Architecture, Applied Research, Innovation and Technical Fellow community in providing business focused technology innovation, strategy, design, and governance in support of key goals and future direction of the company. Burks joined USAA in 1985 and held several technical and leadership positions throughout his career. Originally hired to provide technical expertise in the Banking space as USAA expanded their services to include a full service Bank; he later became Chief Architect and Executive responsible for IT Architecture for USAA’s Federal Savings Bank, Investment Management Company, and Life Insurance Company. In early 2000 Burks was given responsibility for all aspects of USAA’s Information Technology Architecture across the enterprise. He was named as USAA’s first Chief Technology Officer and first Chief Innovation Officer and led the company in implementing multiple lab environments, including an innovation and business intelligence lab, which advanced a culture of innovation and continuous learning through deep analytics. In addition to his Executive role, Burks also led or participated in multiple disruptive innovations and is named as an inventor on several key patents. Burks also received several industry recognitions including being one of the 2014 Computerworld Premier 100 recipients. He has been sought out to speak, be interviewed, or quoted by numerous organizations including MIT Sloan Institute, CIO council, Forbes, and InnoTech. Burks is also very active in his community and currently serves as a Board Member of Daily Bread Ministries, Board Member of Cross Mountain Church, Technical Advisor for San Antonio Food Bank, and supporter of Special Olympics.
Robert is an avid golfer, car enthusiast, and owner of Standardbred Racing horses.
THOMAS E. HOGAN
Thomas E. Hogan currently serves as the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Kony. Kony is the market leading company focused on mobile applications for the enterprise. Tom joined Kony in March of 2014. Prior to joining Kony, Tom has served in a variety of executive posts spanning 35 years. Tom served as the Executive Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Hewlett Packard from 2010 to 2011 after serving as the Executive Vice President of Software from 2006 to 2010. Tom began his career in 1982 at IBM. He remained with IBM through 1999 when he joined Siebel Systems as the Senior Vice President of Global Sales. Tom assumed the role of Chief Executive Officer of Vignette (VIGN) from 2001 to 2006, a publicly held company specializing in Web Content Management. Tom is also the founder and Chairman of SmartLeisure.com
Tom has served on three public boards and multiple private company and non-profit boards. He has a Bachelor of Science in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Illinois, and a Masters of Management from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management, where he graduated with Distinction with concentrations in finance, organizational behavior, and international business.
Tom resides in Austin, Texas and enjoys the mountains, the water, chess, golf, and time with his family.
LES RECHAN
Leslie (Les) Rechan joined the CognitiveScale board in 2015 and is Halogen Software’s President & CEO, since July 2015. Les oversees Halogen’s strategic direction and growth as a global talent management leader for the mid-enterprise. Les brings tremendous experience to CognitiveScale, having led fast-growth B2B software and analytics companies for over thirty years. Les is the former General Manager (GM) of the IBM Business Analytics Division within IBM Software Group, where he retired in April 2014. In his GM role, Mr. Rechan led the strategic vision, innovation, growth and day-to-day operations of this key software division. Encompassing a wide range of analytic capabilities, the division focused on Business Intelligence, Predictive Analytics, Financial Analytics and Risk Analytics. Over the course of seven years in the division, Les and his global team integrated the acquisitions of Cognos, SPSS, Applix, Clarity Systems, Varicent, Star Analytics, Open Pages and Algorithmics. Prior to taking on the GM role in late 2011, Mr. Rechan was Vice President of Worldwide Sales, Solutions and Services for IBM Software Group’s Business Analytics division. In this capacity, he oversaw every aspect of the client engagement from solution development to marketing, sales and delivery to channel and client support. During his tenure, IBM’s Business Analytics division achieved double-digit growth further establishing IBM as the industry leader in the field of Big Data, Information and Analytics, a key focus area for IBM with over $20B in revenues. Prior to joining IBM, Les was the Chief Operating Officer (COO) of Cognos and held a variety of global executive roles with Oracle, Siebel Systems, Cadence Designs Systems, Onyx Software and IBM. As COO of Cognos, Les directed the company’s go-to-market strategy and was instrumental in helping Cognos maximize shareowner value and become a global leader in enterprise Business Intelligence and Performance Management solutions. Cognos was acquired by IBM in 2008, and still is IBM’s largest acquisition ever. Les also serves on the Board of Directors for PROS Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: PRO), a publicly traded software and services company, and Halogen Software (TSX:HGN). He is also an Executive Fellow for Mistral Venture Partners, a Venture Capital firm based in Ottawa, Canada. Les holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering and a Bachelor of Arts in Organizational Behavior and Management from Brown University, and a Masters in Management from Northwestern University’s Kellogg Business School. Les lives in Ottawa, Canada with his wife and five teenage children. Les enjoys golf, fitness, yoga , ice hockey, and skiing.
DR. GAIL CROALL
Dr. Gail Borgatti Croall is a seasoned health care executive with over 12 years of experience with population health management, analytics, quality improvement and care management operations and practiced for 17 years as part of an integrated delivery system supporting an value outcomes based clinical model. She most recently served as Senior Vice President and Chief Medical Officer for Anthem commercial Clinical programs including all Utilization Management, Case and Disease Management, Behavioral Health and Integrated Health national account and exchange models, oversight of clinical strategy as well as responsibility for Resolution Health Inc. (RHI). RHI provides clinical rule evaluation, design and production of evidence-based quality care opportunities for members and physicians across Anthem programs as well as for external clients. Dr. Croall was previously with CareSource, the nation’s fourth largest Medicaid managed care plan and was Chief Medical Officer for OptumHealth for United Health Care, where she led overall clinical strategy and innovation for OptumHealth Care solutions, including: population-based initiatives and reporting methodologies; identification of quality and affordability opportunities through their eSync clinical rule platform; major and clinical program design; and clinical content oversight and strategy and operations. She has been involved with several national organizations, including board member for the Care Continuum Alliance, ( now Population Health Alliance) and advisory board member for Women Business Leaders in Health Care and serves on the board of the Ohio Visiting Nurse Association.
JIM OFFERDAHL
Jim Offerdahl has more than 25 years’ experience in CEO, COO, CFO, and board director positions in high-growth technology companies. With significant expertise in both public and private companies, Offerdahl has led three initial public offerings, executed numerous mergers and acquisitions, and is known for his ability to grow revenues and profits both domestically and internationally. Currently, Offerdahl serves on several boards, including Q2 Holdings (NYSE:QTWO), a developer and provider of online banking software and services to community banks and credit unions, and Side by Side Kids, a non-profit that serves underprivileged children in Austin, Texas. Offerdahl is the former chairman of the board for Traq Wireless and a former board member of FuelQuest and Pervasive Software. From January 2013 to February 2018, Offerdahl served as CFO of Bazaarvoice (NASDAQ:BV). He grew annual free cash flow from negative $54 million to a positive run rate of $11 million and EBITDA from negative $18 million to a positive run rate of $31 million. Offerdahl accomplished this while significantly investing in growth opportunities, enabling the company’s revenue growth rate to recently increase. This turnaround occurred despite having to comply with a 2014 settlement agreement resulting from a DOJ antitrust suit filed prior to Offerdahl’s tenure. Bazaarvoice was recently acquired by Marlin Equity Partners for $5.50 per share, an 18% premium to the average closing price over the 30-day period prior to the definitive agreement. From 2005 to 2012, Offerdahl served as CFO of Convio (NASDAQ:CNVO), which he took public in April 2010 at $9 per share. In May 2012, Blackbaud acquired Convio for $16 per share, or $325 million. During his tenure, Offerdahl helped Convio grow from approximately 100 employees and $9 million of revenue in 2004 to over 400 employees and $80 million of revenue in 2011. While there, he completed three strategic acquisitions and raised over $65 million in public, venture and debt financings. From 2001 to 2004, Offerdahl served as CEO and Chairman of the Board of Traq Wireless, growing Traq from $0.7 million to $4.7 million in revenue. He raised $16 million in venture capital, built the executive team, and developed new products to position Traq more broadly in the wireless management market. Traq was sold to Tangoe Corporation in 2007, which went public in 2011 and produced more than 4x cash returns to Traq’s lead venture investor. Prior to Traq, Offerdahl was CFO of Pervasive Software (NASDAQ:PVSW) from 1996 to 2001 and COO from 1998 to 2001, and board director from 2001 to 2002. Pervasive expanded globally from $30 million of revenue in 1997 to $64 million in 1999. Offerdahl led Pervasive’s initial public offering in 1997 and secondary offering in 1999. From 1993 to 1996, Offerdahl was CFO of Tivoli Systems (NASDAQ:TIVS), where he helped grow the company from 100 employees and $13 million of revenue to over 300 employees and $50 million of revenue. He also led Tivoli’s initial public offering in 1995. In 1996, IBM acquired Tivoli for $743 million. Earlier in his career, Offerdahl served in various finance and accounting roles with InterFlo Medical, Kewaunee Scientific, and American Hospital Supply. He began his career with Price Waterhouse in Chicago. Offerdahl earned his MBA at The University of Texas at Austin and his undergraduate degree in accounting from Illinois State University. Jim Offerdahl is the recipient of the 2012 Austin Business Journal Legacy Award. He is married, has a grown son, and resides in Austin, Texas. In his free time, he enjoys golfing, skiing, and spending time with his family.
DR. JAY M. TENEBAUM
Chairman & Founder, CommerceNet
World-renowned Internet commerce pioneer and Artificial Intelligence expert. Former consulting professor of Computer Science, Stanford.
