Meet our team
"This is the best startup team I've ever worked with, and I'm having a blast!"
CEO & Co-Founder, data.world
Brett Hurt
CEO & Co-Founder
Matt Laessig
COO & Co-Founder
Jon Loyens
CPO & Co-Founder
Bryon Jacob
CTO & Co-Founder
Ariane Chan
General Counsel
Ryan Cush
Chief Revenue Officer
Brandon Gadoci
Director of Sales Development & Operations
Amy Niemann
Vice President of Client Services
Patrick McGarry
Head of Strategic Partnerships
Shad Reynolds
Vice President of Engineering
Sharon Brener
Director of User Experience
Lisa Novak
Vice President, Human Resources
Tyler Durman
Growth Marketing Lead
James Gray
Manager of Data Marketplace
Dave Griffith
Principal Engineer
Lydia Guarino
Engineering Manager
Shawn Smith
Distinguished Engineer
Caroline Horn
Software Engineer
Lillian Situ
Software Engineer
Adam McElwee
Principal Engineer
Steve Verleye
Director of Engineering Operations
Triti Ahouraei
Office Manager
Noah Rippner
Data Scientist
Andy Katz
Senior Software Engineer
Will Briggs
Senior Software Engineer
Chris Boette
Software Engineer
Kelly Garrett
Data Librarian
Jessica Lin
Design Engineer
Matt Stymacks
Sales Development Representative
Mario Facussé
Sales Development Representative
Rick Liao
Software Engineer
Brent Dunham
Sales Development Representative
Matt Howeth
Strategic Account Executive
Daniel Webb
Strategic Account Executive
Jake Miller
Strategic Sales Researcher
Juan Sequeda
Principal Scientist
Tim Gasper
Vice President of Products
Sean Gajjar
Software Engineer
David Tishgart
Vice President of Marketing
Robert Harris
Solutions Architect
Karli Burghoff
Sales Development Representative
Anish Vaghasia
Software Engineer
Conor Murphy
Sales Development Representative
Jonathan Monette
Senior Site Reliability Engineer
Thaise Skogstad
Director of Product Marketing
Olga Fink
Product Designer
Richard Naranjo
Sales Development Representative
Mo Dodge
Sales Engineer
Aba Lekeaka
Engagement Manager
Hannah Wriston
Strategic Sales Researcher
Haley Daiber
Director of Finance & Business Operations
Elaine Joslin
Senior Human Resources Manager
Neil Nautiyal
Sales Development Representative
Rahul Kumar
Data Engineer
Hannah Amundson
Software Engineer
Brendon Murn
Sales Engineer
Alvaro Benitez
IT Support Services Manager
Tim Rourke
Senior Engineer
Stephanie Fuller
Recruiter
Marc LeBrun
Director, Product Engineering
Andrea Everett
Engagement Manager
Rob Myers
Solutions Architect
Ray Martinez
Technical Program Manager
Kirby Hisler
Client Success Director
Kris Templin
Technical Support Engineer
Cody Dzurisin
Growth Marketing Specialist
John Seals
Marketing Operations Analyst
Brenda Griffith
Senior Technical Writer
Scott Came
Senior Software Engineer
Stewart Coerver
Director, Sales Engineering
Jona Fennochi
Senior Software Engineer
Alvin Kim
Information Security Program Manager
Marie Rivas
Senior Software Engineer
Andrew Hulse
Sr. Finance Associate
Dean Allemang
Principal Solutions Architect
Amber Thomas
Community Lead
Investors
Our investors include some of the most important VC firms in Austin, Chicago, and Silicon Valley, such as Shasta Ventures, Capital Factory, Floodgate, Homebrew, LiveOak Venture Partners, mark vc, and Workday Ventures. We’ve also partnered with some of the most prominent angel investors and entrepreneurs in the country, such as Arthur Patterson, Clayton Christopher, John Mackey, Josh Kopelman, Kip Tindell, Matt O’Hayer, Pat Ryan, Philip Berber, and Scott Booth.
Advisors
data.world is very fortunate to work with so many accomplished professionals providing support in countless ways. These are not advisors in name only – we work closely and actively with them, seeking opinion, knowledge, and guidance on a daily basis.
DJ Patil
Former US Chief Data Scientist, VP of Product at RelateIQ, Data Scientist in Residence at Greylock Partners, Head of Data Products and Chief Scientist of LinkedIn
Adam Grant
Bestselling author of Give and Take, Originals, and Option B with Sheryl Sandberg; Professor of Management and Psychology, Wharton; Co-Director, Wharton People Analytics.
Kirk Dando
Founder & CEO, Dando Advisors; Author, Predictive Leadership; business growth expert
Kelly Wright
Former EVP Sales, Tableau Software; Independent Board Director, Amperity; Advisor, Dropbox; Speaker
Gary Hoover
Entrepreneur-in-Residence, The University of Texas at Austin – Graduate School of Information
Doug Ulman
President & CEO, Pelotonia; former President & CEO, LIVESTRONG Foundation
Dr. David K. Arctur
Research Scientist & Fellow, The University of Texas at Austin – School of Engineering, School of Geosciences, and School of Information
Sarah Laessig
Civil Service Commissioner; Commonwealth Scholarship Commissioner; Executive Advisor, London Business School
Robert Hansen
CEO, OutsideIntel; former VP of Labs, WhiteHat Security; former CEO, SecTheory; former CEO, Falling Rock Networks
Chris Hyams
President, Indeed.com; former SVP of Product, Indeed.com; founder & former CEO, B-Side Entertainment
Peter Fader
Professor of Marketing, Wharton; Co-Director, Wharton Customer Analytics Initiative
Seth Greenberg
CMO & Board Director, Bask; former CMO, LifeLock; former VP of Advertising, Brand & Digital Strategy, Intuit
Melissa Frugé
Chief Legal Officer, Spredfast; former SVP, General Counsel & Secretary, HomeAway
Andy Sernovitz
CEO, GasPedal; CEO, SocialMedia.org; Author, Word of Mouth Marketing: How Smart Companies Get People Talking
Jeff Mosler
Chief Services Officer, HomeAway; former GM, Global Outsourcing, UK & France Services, Amazon
Adam Zeplain
Co Founder + Managing Partner mark vc, Founding Strategic Advisor at Prima, Founding Strategic Advisor RXDefine, Advisory Council Andela
Leigh Dodds
Data Infrastructure Programme Lead, Open Data Institute; former director; Bath: Hacked
Victor Trac
Founder & President, CloudKite.io; former Infrastructure Engineering Lead, Wikibuy; former CTO, ROIKO
Erik Qualman
Author; Motivational Speaker; Founder, Socialnomics and Equalman; Advisory Board, Bazaarvoice
Dr. Steve Kramer
Chief Scientist, KUNGFU.AI; former President & Chief Scientist, Paragon Science; former VP of Education at Trilogy
Devi Ramanan-Stauffer
VP – Global Product Collaborations, Ayasdi; Advisor, Onor; former Senior Director – Product/Customer Success, InVitae
Bob Campbell
Founder & CEO, Campbell Global Services; author; former Vice Chair, Deloitte & Touche; Executive Committee, The East West Institute, Aspen Group, Austin Council of Foreign Affairs
Paul Hurdlow
Senior VP and General Counsel, FloSports; former Co-Chair Emerging Companies, DLA Piper
Davin Potts
Founder, Appliomics; former Chief Data Scientist, Continuum Analytics; former Chief Science Officer, Stipple; former Co-Founder & Director of Life Sciences, KNIME.com
Garrett Eastham
Principal Scientist, Valkyrie Intelligence; Speaker & Industry Blogger; Data Exhaust; Board of Governors, College Merchandise, University of North Texas
Jono Bacon
Founder, Jono Bacon Consulting; Columnist, Forbes; Advisory Board, AlienVault; Columnist, opensource.com; former Director of Community, GitHub; Senior Director of Community, XPRIZE
Craig Fryar
Experienced Chief Data Officer; Enterprise road-mapping strategist (Tableau); Big data SME for GLG, Apex, Emissary.io and Atheneum
Dwight Foster
VP of Sales and Business Development, Nimble CRM; Principal, Cloud@Scale Partners; VP of Sales, Channel and Business Development, Insightly; investor/advisor
Pablos Holman
Inventor, Intellectual Ventures Lab; Faculty, Singularity University; Founder, Bombsheller; Advisor, Glowforge; ex Makerbot; ex Blue Origin
Ajay Gandhi
VP of Marketing, Shape Security; former VP of Product Marketing, Informatica; Former Sr. Director, Platform Product Marketing, saleforce.com and Oracle; former VP of Product Marketing, SAP
William Ballard
CTO, GLG; former EVP of Technology, leaf Group; former VP and CTO of Pluck; former Sr. Software Development Manager, Netsolve (now Cisco)
John Morkes
Founder, Neet UX & Strategy; experienced User Experience executive, trainer and researcher for startups and Fortune 500; former journalist for Wired
Sam Burns
IT Director & doctoral candidate, The University of Texas at Austin – School of Information
Theresa Kushner
Partner, Business Data Leadership; Former executive with Dell, VMware, Cisco Systems and IBM. Co-author, Managing Your Business Dataand B2B Data Driven Marketing.
Len Fishman
Vice President, Brown Brothers Harriman. Former Vice President of Business Development, data.world. Advisor: TIA Ventures, Imagine Easy Solutions (acquired), Slide Network (acquired).
Paul Miller
Managing Director, PMA Digital Solutions; former VP & President, Global eCommerce, Innovation, and Big Data, Grainger; former SVP, Direct Commerce, Sears Holdings Corporation; former VP, eCommerce, Williams-Sonoma; director, Heritage Parts, Flinn Scientific, and Rowmark
Joanne Lipman
Author; Former Editor in Chief, USA Today (Gannett); Former Principal Surrey Lane Media; Founding Editor in Chief, Conde Nast Portfolio, Former Deputy Managing Editor, The Wall Street Journal
Flip Kromer
Founder of Vigilante; Entreprenuer in Residence at Capital Factory; Author of Big Data for Chimps (O’Reilly). Fomerly: Founder & CTO of Infochimps; Distinguished Engineer at CSC.
Mitch Joel
Founder, Six Pixels Group; former President, Mirum Agency; former President, Twist Image; Author; Speaker
Peter Kapur
Managing Partner, True North Data Strategy & Governance; former Head of Data Strategy, AIG; former Director – Data Strategy, Governance, Data Quality & Business Analytics, DTCC
John Burbank
Start up advisor and investor. Former President, Corp Development and Strategy at Nielsen, CMO AOL, VP of Marketing AT&T, P&G. Director at Entergy (NYSE: ETR).
Deborah McGuinness
Professor Computer, Cognitive, and Web Sciences RPI, Semantic Web and Ontology guru, Knowledge Graph consultant, American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow.
Doug Laney
Principal, Data Strategy at Caserta; author of CIO Magazine book-of-the-year, Infonomics; visiting professor at the University of Illinois Gies School of Business.
Bret Boyd
Cofounder & Partner, Grayline Group. Former CEO, Knoema. Former enterprise business lead, Stratfor. Coauthor, Catalyst: Leadership and Strategy in a Changing World.
Peter Boncz
Professor at VU University Amsterdam and CWI. Data systems architecture researcher, who co-founded multiple database startups (Data Distilleries, MonetDB, VectorWise and Celerata).
Rishad Tobaccowala
Senior Advisor to the Publicis Groupe. Author of “Restoring the Soul of Business: Staying Human in The Age of Data. Ad Age Interactive Hall of Fame.
Kurt Cagle
CTO of Semantical LLC, author of 22 books on information technology and #theCagleReport
Harrison Yeager
Head of Operations, Stoplight; former Sr. Director of Operations, YouEarnedIt; former Director of Business Operations, Umbel.
Anoop Lalla
Seasoned data and analytics executive and Industry thought leader. Former VP Enterprise Data and Analytics at Workday, Head Business Intelligence at VMware, Data leadership roles at Genpact, Infosys, and UNICEF.
John Lucker
Former senior Deloitte insurance industry principal and global advanced analytics market leader. Strategic and Executive Advisor to numerous US / global P&C insurance companies and insurtechs. Frequent insurance industry speaker and writer & co-inventor of 5 analytics patents and 2 pending patents.
Pete Freeland
Austin-based B2B investor and entrepreneur; TA Associates and General Catalyst; Started several companies including BuildGroup and Unbundled Capital
Ajay Bhargava
CEO, Analytics Advisory Group and CareeRising. Formerly, Global Director & Practice Head for Advanced Analytics & Big Data at TCS, Adjunct Faculty at University of Texas at Austin & College of Engineering Pune
Stephanie McReynolds
CMO & Start-up Advisor; Former SVP Marketing & Sales Development, Alation; Former VP Marketing, Trifacta.