Setting a new security agenda

Ever since I can remember, I got excited about building new things. When I was 12, it was go-carts. My focus changed to cars through my more formative years (that one hasn’t gone away yet). After getting a physics degree from Colgate University, I got into the business side of high tech. I still love building new things, but truly enjoy working with a great team that’s applying advanced technology to solve hard problems.

Some things have to be believed to be seen! I’ve spent the last 20+ years in startup environments, where everyone has a chance to contribute to a common vision, puts both hands on an oar and pulls in the same direction. There’s nothing more exciting or satisfying than seeing a “eureka moment” transformed into a living, working thing that actually fulfills the original vision.

For twenty years, I have been at the intersection of technology and business. I’ve focused on the business need, pain point or strategy, then utilized technology to help realize the opportunity. As a management consultant, I’ve done this with global companies in the United States and Europe, and at software companies, I’ve helped global customers in different industries use software to improve their competitive position.

Now, I’m humbled by the opportunity to apply sensors, software and data to help make the world a safer place. I’m focused on bringing a collaborative approach to our customers, our team and an ecosystem of innovators to achieve our mission. Software may be eating the world, but sensors will make it safer.

For the past 20+ years, I’ve been involved with building world-class finance, administration, and operational organizations. By holding various leadership roles within these organizations, I have helped to grow businesses from emerging start-up to worldwide multi-million dollar corporations. Although I’ve worked for both small private and large public companies, my passion is building the small companies into larger successful companies. Some people build world changing technology; I build strategic initiatives, capitalization structures, and business models to take those technologies to market and turn them into reality. Today, I’m thrilled to be part of a team working together for the common goal of making the world a safer place.

In the past I’ve been involved in the development of physical security equipment that enabled and drove the screening of checked baggage throughout the aviation industry. This included everything from installing to writing software applications for to leading the development of sophisticated X-Ray based products.

Today I’m working with customers and regulators to understand and define concepts of operations and requirements for personnel screening products that must shape as well as adhere and scale to the ever evolving security environment.

Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to work in the most challenging interface between a business and its customers, technical services. My career path has taken me from junior depot technician to field service engineer to where I am today, services management. I got my start in the security industry working for a well-known trace detection company, first in the UK and then in the U.S. My first day in the U.S. office was January 1, 2002; driven by the events of September the previous year, 2002 became the most focused and hardworking year of my life, and forever left me with a passion to protect as many people as possible around the world. Working with the exceptional team at Evolv, I look forward to redefining the worldwide customer support paradigm and to help build the next generation of a global services team.

All 12 years of my professional career, I’ve worked in the airport security sector and it’s become my passion. I was a part of multiple teams that successfully designed and certified numerous X-ray baggage scanners. My responsibilities have ranged from SQA, SW Development to Technical Lead. At Evolv, as a System Engineer, I am working on diagnostic tools to analyze performance and limits for our products.

For the past 25 years, I have been fortunate enough to pursue a profession that is also a passion of mine: the security of our nation and our allies around the globe. At the Central Intelligence Agency, I was responsible for a wide range of missions from counterterrorism to counterintelligence to counterproliferation, with a sharp focus on identifying and preempting threats to our livelihood and advancing stability in fragile regions of the world. It was exciting to then translate my passion to a new challenge at Palantir, where colleagues shared the same commitment to strengthening our nation and core institutions through innovative technology while placing a high premium on protection of privacy and civil liberties.

My exposure to the highly adaptive and iterative nature of cutting edge technologies has strengthened my belief that we can preserve a world where people thrive and operate freely while remaining safe and secure. I am very excited to now be working with the Evolv team of people who are pushing the envelope with game-changing technologies aimed precisely at the artful integration of security capabilities into our everyday pace of life in a way that helps preserve our core freedoms.

I spent my childhood taking a lot of stuff apart to figure out how it worked. I have spent my career engineering products that are novel and challenging. Prior to arriving at Evolv, I helped connect the virtual globe. First, I developed systems to connect computers in our workplaces. Then, I participated in the grand idea of making the internet fast enough to do all of the things we all now take for granted. Recently, I worked to roll out the latest wireless technology to make the internet accessible everywhere.

I’ve been fortunate enough to work with many excellent folk throughout my life and I can already tell my streak will continue at Evolv. I am excited and eager to help build products that are, well, novel and challenging. It is my privilege to contribute to the design of systems that will make this physical world of ours safer.

Twenty years ago I began my career writing technical documentation for a broadband access router. At the time, I had no idea what access routing was or how broadband access worked but quickly came up to speed and developed a unique method for communicating complex technologies to a common audience. From that point forward, I involved myself in multiple aspects of designing and supporting broadband technologies including chipset solutions, broadband access systems and service assurance platforms, all with a keen ability to work closely with customers and end-users and successfully deliver products.

It is my pleasure to take that experience and apply it to the great products being designed at Evolv Technology. I take pride in the contributions I have made to enabling rapid communications and envision the same for enabling our clients to provide safe environments.

For more than 16 years, I’ve helped market and grow startups and emerging technology and services companies from launch to acquisition or IPO. Building a company is a passion of mine, and I'm known for strategic thinking and planning, asking direct questions to solve business challenges, and helping teams operate at a quick pace. I've developed strategic marketing campaigns and business initiatives that yield high-value results, outshine competitors and win customers.

The most successful companies have the right team in place to collaborate effectively and truly produce the best results for the business. Evolv has that team in place to deliver on this important vision and mission: provide a light at the end of the tunnel for a safer world where communities can exist freely without worry.

My passion is to design mechanical systems from early stage concept to the final product in customer hands. I’ve helped design and engineered a wide array of complex systems from nuclear submarines to 3D printers to CT x-ray scanners. I focus on making complex products work all day, every day in a wide range of environments.

Taking ideas that start as a sketch on dry erase board and engineering a path to a cost effective final product has been a wonderful career for the past 22 years. Today at Evolv, I am part of a talented team designing another great product making the world a safer place.

Over the course of my career, I’ve been involved with several start-up companies that have developed and commercialized new, innovative products. I have played engineering and operations roles in the biotech, semi-conductor, automation, security, and medical device industries. This broad industry and product experience has enabled me to bring technical practices to start-up companies, making commercialization easier and faster.

I have always been fascinated with how things work, how they are made, and what can I do to improve them. I love being part of high-tech companies that are ready to commercialize their first products. There’s nothing more fulfilling than helping them become fully functioning, profitable product companies. I enjoy working in an exciting culture that promotes innovation to provide the best possible products and processes, resulting in a great customer experience. Evolv has such a culture and I am excited to be part of a company that is producing a portfolio of innovative products that will make life safer for all of us.

Having previously worked with one of the founders and some of the team, joining Evolv was like coming home after a long absence. Familiar faces, people I trust and admire and the reassuring feeling that the incredible talent, teamwork and commitment, will make this journey an incredible one!

I love boating on Lake Geneva and every time I go out, it’s never the same feeling. The weather can change rapidly and it’s all about constantly adapting to the environment. It’s a lot of fun and sometimes challenging in stormy weather but it’s always a great satisfaction to bring the boat and passengers back to safe shores. Selling, like sailing: understand your environment, have a unique product and a great team behind you and you’ll always find your way through troubled waters!

Having previously worked with a few members of Evolv’s team… it’s great to be back-in-the-saddle riding with Mike (Ellenbogen) and his new team.

My background in the security space includes working with small entrepreneurial companies to large multi-national organizations. The technologies at these companies encompassed X-ray and CT X-ray based baggage scanning systems, explosive trace detection systems, networked radiation sensors, and now, multi-sensor personnel screening equipment.

I am a student and follower of quality guru Philip Crosby and a passionate believer who enthusiastically embraces his zero defects, quality is free, and quality is conformance to requirements philosophies.

In this ever changing threat landscape, I’m here to help Evolv deliver on our commitment “to make the world a safer place.”

Having been involved in security technology for the past thirty-five years, I never forget the scope and importance of our work. I am thrilled to share this passion with the rest of the Evolv team. In the end, whatever we do, we must help improve protection of people, their belongings and their freedom. This passion is only second to my family and my Alfa Romeo!

I have always enjoyed developing control systems for machine automation. I have been developing control systems for 30 years and have had the opportunity to work on some very impressive equipment. From robotic assembly systems to high speed CT baggage scanners.

Today, I find myself developing a control system which involves advanced technologies and the fusion of multiple streams of data. It is a new and challenging type of control system. Bring it on!

For the past 20 years I have focused on the intersection of Sales, Technology, and Operations to enable global customer facing teams to drive more business, with high levels of customer intimacy and operational efficiency across multiple industries and markets. I am passionate about building high performing teams that deliver breakthrough results, while developing skills and experience to take their careers to the next level.

Evolv has developed revolutionary technology that is transforming the security industry. I am excited to be part of the Evolv team to grow sales, support customers, and ensure a superior customer experience as they adopt the new cutting edge security solutions.

For almost 6 years, I applied image processing techniques and advanced mathematical methods to x-ray detection problems, in order to develop high-performance automated threat detection (ATD) algorithms. I contributed to the prototyping, migration and testing of these algorithms at various levels. Several x-ray systems using my contributions in their ATD software have been successfully certified in Europe and US.

Today, I am leveraging my expertise in x-ray ATD to achieve similar results in a new domain: millimeter-wave personnel screening. As a part of a great team, I face and solve extremely challenging technical problems on a daily basis. I believe world will be a safer place with Evolv products in use, and this gives me strength in overcoming all the obstacles I encounter.

Helping companies define their marketing strategy and launch products has been my area of expertise for over 15 years. I find understanding customers’ needs and markets and creating and delivering solutions that help them thrive both exciting and rewarding. From start-ups to Fortune 100 companies – I have enjoyed working for innovative companies that are “doing good.” Here at Evolv, I’m proud to be part of a collaborative, passionate team that’s harnessing cutting-edge technology to ward off threats and keep people safe.

From investment banking to consulting to nonprofit management, the common thread woven throughout my career has been people. Attracting, engaging and working with talented people is the one constant that has kept me coming back for more.

I’m so excited to be able to play a role in shaping the future of Evolv. From defining roles to identifying the very best people to fill them, I love what we are doing to build a strong corporate culture here at Evolv. Together, our team is working to make the world a safer place, and there isn’t much that’s more rewarding than that.

My passion in work is to apply image processing and automatic detection algorithms in a meaningful way to make a positive impact in the world. This is how I came to work in the aviation security industry for the past 17 years, and why I’m continuing the mission at Evolv, where the scope broadens to physical security in general. Finding ways to capture the human decision-making process in numbers is a fascinating challenge, and proving that an algorithm works on a full database, not just the easy cases, is also a compelling challenge. In the past I’ve been part of the team that did exactly this for multiple X-ray baggage scanners, helping systems achieve tough US and foreign certification standards.

Now I’m excited to be adapting the same strategy to Evolv’s new multi-sensor personnel scanner using novel image formation and classification algorithms to produce a new meaningful product that helps make the world a safer place.

Devoid of a higher education but blessed with technical propensity and an insatiable desire to construct equipment that works, I have worked with some exceedingly talented engineers in my 30 + year career. Some of our projects included: constructing equipment that measures continental plate drift via very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI), augmenting the airline industry’s cockpit digital messaging system with a global reach over HF radio, leveraging the existing infrastructure of copper telephone wires, and bringing the internet to the home in a meaningful way via DSL. Once again, I have the privilege and honor to work with a unique set of individuals with whom I share the mission of making the world a safer place. Let’s get to work!

During my career I have achieved the greatest personal satisfaction from working in organizations that have applied the latest technologies to produce truly innovative products and help make the world a safer place for us all. These applications have included x-ray security systems, explosive trace detection, EDS (CT) and lightning test systems designed to keep commercial airliners safe. At Evolv I love to come to work every day to work with a team that brings passion, experience, and deep expertise to this meaningful endeavor. We live in an unprecedented era where technology is impacting our day to day lives for the better, everywhere we look. Evolv is bringing this change to security for us all.

When I am not working, I enjoy skiing, water sports with my family, and reading history.

All my life, I've only ever had one speed: full throttle. When I get involved in something, I commit 100% - it consumes my time, energy and creativity. This is a useful trait, but it means that I need to be very careful to invest myself in things that are worthwhile.

When I first read Evolv's mission statement, I knew immediately that this is where I wanted to be. With a degree in electrical engineering and a background in security-related electromagnetic detection systems, I recognized this as a place where my passion and experience could be used to make a real difference in people's lives. If we succeed in our mission, Evolv systems will fundamentally reshape the way we think about security, potentially affecting millions of people along the way. Causes don't come much worthier than that.

So if the road to success is paved with long hours and elbow grease, I say "bring it on!". A little hard work is a small price to pay for the chance to do something that matters.”

Prior to joining Evolv as the Senior Sales Operations Analyst, I was in the renewable energy and IT industries. Having most recently been at Solectria Renewables and at Oracle, it was at Solectria where I developed a deep passion for the manufacturing and start-up space.

Bringing together many moving pieces of a sales organization so our processes are streamlined and our sales team is armed with the most up to date information and tools is what energizes me each day (not to mention, the rockin’ snacks @Evolv!). I’m looking forward to sky rocketing the Evolv sales team to the next level!

When I’m not at the office, I enjoy jet setting, cooking, and spending time with my two rescue pups, Isabelle and Tank.

Most of my career has been spent working with emerging start-up technology companies, helping them to develop the best-in-class accounting functions and providing them with the critical support needed to grow a successful business. For me, the process is its own reward and I enjoy every minute of it. It has been my privilege to work for companies inventing groundbreaking technology, which is why I am thrilled to be part of the Evolv Technology team, and be part of an amazing journey to advance security technologies and provide us all with a safer and more secure future.

"Making the world a safer place" is something I have been committed to my entire adult life and being part of the Evolv Team affords me an opportunity to continue serving others and providing security solutions that address current threats. I recently retired after serving over twenty-eight years in law enforcement where I strived to help people and provide a safe and secure environment in the communities I served. By joining Evolv I can draw upon my years of experience in public safety and share with others the benefits of technology as it relates to providing a safe and secure environment for all. The threats we face are ever evolving, and staying ahead of those who wish to cause harm to others is key in preventing future attacks. Here at Evolv our solutions are innovative, non-intrusive, and forward thinking, which are critical in today’s ever-changing environment.

When not at work I enjoy traveling, golf (although I’m not very good), outdoor activities, and spending time with family and our two-year-old Labrador retriever.

September 11 th changed our sense of freedom. As a leader in the airline industry, I stood by as the security checkpoint morphed from gateway to barrier; I became convinced that the single biggest threat to our way of life was the paradox between freedom and security. Committed to change this, I joined the Transportation Security Administration with a passion to help restore the balance between FREEDOM and SECURITY and had the opportunity to help advance TSA’s current philosophy of Risked Based Security. As threats continue to shift, I am grateful to now be part of Evolv, where I can contribute to the deployment of technology that advances freedom in an insecure world.

I come from a robust background of quality assurance and testing. Evolv has provided me with an opportunity to leverage my software testing skills, but also to spread my wings and learn how to test hardware too. I have a passion for understanding and verifying the correct behavior of every product we deliver, whether it be software or hardware. In stressed and dense environments, that correct behavior is critical to success of the product and the company. I love that I get to play such an important role in making our surroundings more safe and secure.

I’ve spent over 25 years working with imaging systems and their applications including high resolution special effects, image archiving, computer tomography and magnetic resonance, plus electron and light microscopy.

One of the things I enjoy most is being in the field and interacting with our customers – real people. With years of experience in manufacturing and engineering, and plenty of time in the ‘real world’, I have the unique ability to take what I learn outside of the lab and contribute practical application in the design of our products. The ultimate reward for me is being part of creating a solution that is meaningful and helps protect people, and save lives.

I have worked in manufacturing for ten plus years, from purchasing raw materials, to paying suppliers and shipping the final product. Being part of a team that brings an idea or design to fruition is what drives me. As the daughter of a machinist, I was always fascinated when my father would bring home some new tool he created. If he couldn’t buy what he needed, he would make it and sometimes use two-part epoxy to hold it together! Being part of Evolv and making something MEANINGFUL is a highlight in my career.

Working with organizations that make our world a safer place to live is my passion. Having translated this into a professional career, I’ve developed niche expertise in cargo and human scanning working with law enforcement agencies in the Middle East and India.

Excited about being part of Evolv, I’m responsible for Sales & Marketing in the Middle East and the Indian subcontinent, leveraging my experience in all facets of business operations: business development, technical and project management. Outside of work, I train in Martial Arts and am currently graded Second Dan Black Belt in Shorin Ryu Seibukan Karate.

My two second natures – visual thinking and problem solving – have pushed me to learn about the magic of image processing. Throughout my undergraduate studies in computer science and PhD in computational science and engineering, I have worked on projects involving algorithm design and software development for image enhancement, feature detection, tracking, and multi‐sensor image registration.

As a computer vision engineer at Evolv, I’m shifting gears from medical to security applications. It is the utmost fun to work with a team of talented engineers, developers, and business professionals, and to be involved in the creation of innovative products, going from ideation to delivery.

Finding beautiful software solutions to tough problems is my passion. I have had the joy to do exactly that for the last 30 years, in many fields gravitating around computer vision and imaging. For example, I created the core algorithms for the first explosive detection system ever deployed in airports worldwide.

Today, luck smiled on me again: I am hard at work creating algorithms and software architecture with a great team. We are applying amazing new technologies to the old problem of finding a needle in a haystack or rather, the bad guy in a crowd.

I learned all the important stuff from LEGOs. Before joining Evolv, I was fortunate enough to receive my PhD under the guidance of David R. Smith at Duke University, considered one of the founders of metamaterials research. I’ve come to appreciate metamaterials as a general set of rules for designing electromagnetic building blocks from scratch.

At Evolv, I’ve been able to build off this foundation in electromagnetics, working to develop novel numeric and analytic tools to complement the many diverse aspects of our physical security systems. It is through these tools that I am able to really impact the next generation of physical security devices, since, in the end, the difference between the complex and the routine is just having the right building blocks.

I have dedicated the past 18 years to making the world safer. By leveraging my U.S. Navy background and private sector experience, I am able to help customers achieve technical and operational solutions that are scalable, balanced, and layered. At Evolv, we are putting our customers’ operational and security needs first as we develop technology that is innovative, thoroughly tested, and disrupts the traditional physical security market. I love working with Evolv’s talented team of subject matter experts, scientists, engineers, developers, and technicians, all of whom share the same passion for improving security and the patron experience.

When I am not working, I enjoy traveling, skiing, and water sports with my family. I also enjoy losing Xbox Madden games to my son, exploring music and theatre with my daughter, and enjoying conversations and great food with my wife.

I have always been part of a team whose duty or mission it was to defend our citizens and keep people safe in all environments, both military and civilian. I began my career as a US Air Force Electronic Countermeasures Systems Technician, then worked with military and law enforcement agencies to build robots designed to detect hidden explosives, and finally, maintained and repaired x-ray machines and metal detectors at Logan Airport. These roles brought me to Evolv, where many people share similar backgrounds but also share a passion for keeping people safe and out of harm’s way.

For fun, I have always played, as well as enjoyed watching, multiple sports. A Boston homer, for sure! I was fortunate enough to play college football at the University of New Haven (CT), before making the best decision of my life to join the US Air Force. It has been an interesting journey, and I feel fortunate that it has landed me here, at Evolv!

For the past 20 years, I have been involved in installing and supporting a variety of explosive detection systems throughout Europe and Asia Pacific. My greatest satisfaction comes from interacting with customers to help them achieve their goals. With years of technical experience in the field, the ultimate reward is being part of the Evolv team, creating a solution that is meaningful and helps protect people. Away from the office, my interests include cycling and flying radio controlled scale models.

I have known many members of the exceptional Evolv team for fifteen years and it’s great to be working with them again. I am thrilled to bring my experience in the Aviation and Security sectors, especially EDS, cargo inspection and radiation detection, and Evolv’s innovative new technology to clients across southeast Asia. Being based in Singapore, 50% of the world’s population is within a 7 hour flight – and Changi Airport is often voted best in the world, so traveling to the many destinations in the region is easy.

I learned at an early age that I love to take things apart, figure out how they work and put them back together. With a degree in Computer Science from RPI, I’ve had the pleasure of doing this for 16+ years at companies in the consumer, mobile and defense industries.

I have architected patented mobile event reporting systems and crowdsourced decision support platforms for USSTRATCOM while at The MITRE Corporation, combining machine-to-machine data feeds with human judgment. As the Software Architect at Gadget Software, I developed a feature-rich mobile app ecosystem for real-time content distribution.

At Evolv I'm working to bring AI and Human Intelligence together to support security challenges that can't be solved by computers alone. When not working in bits and bytes, I can be found writing music or tearing into home renovation projects.

I am a veteran, hands-on on executive and board member with over 25 years of experience working with technology companies. My areas of expertise include category creation, marketing and winning against incumbents, and operational growth.

I have helped build companies that have successfully created new multi-billion-dollar disruptive technologies and share the same passion as the other Evolv Board and Advisors for applying technology to help solve important challenges. Most recently, I was a Board Member and Chief Commercial Officer at Illumio, where I led the company’s go-to-market and customer engagement lifecycle organizations, including marketing, support, people, and IT.

I have spent my entire career working with great founders. Early on, my focus was scaling revenue for early-stage software companies. As those companies grew and went public, I rose with them to lead sales or the entire company. Now I get to work with entrepreneurs as a co-founder of General Catalyst, but my playbook is similar.

Before co-founding General Catalyst, I led Allaire Corporation from 1997 to 2000 as president, CEO and member of the Board of Directors. During my tenure, Allaire grew from a venture-backed start-up to a $119M public corporation trading on the NASDAQ.

I work best with great product founders, like ones at Evolv Technology, who are looking for a trustworthy partner to help them scale up revenue, further become strong operators, and build a high-growth company. I still love to see teams come together, forge bonds of trust and commitment, and then go out and change the world with high integrity.

I've spent the last 15 years working to make our nation more secure and resilient. As Massachusetts' Homeland Security chief and then Assistant Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security, I managed the response to crises as varied as the H1N1 virus and the BP Oil Spill and issues as far-ranging as immigration reform to interoperability. Again and again, I've learned that at the end of the day, a safe homeland is one where ordinary citizens like you and I are informed and prepared and engaged.

Resilience is about managing risks, and adapting to change with evolving ideas, and new technologies. But innovation is just a buzzword until you hit the pavement with thoughtful products that engage the realities of the modern security space. I'm excited and proud to be part of a team working to protect people and places across the world.

As a leader at the Central Intelligence Agency and then the New York City Police Department soon after 9/11, I have had the honor of being surrounded with men and women dedicated to protecting America's national security interests and the security of Americans at home and abroad. At each step of the way during these nearly 50 years in the intelligence and law enforcement communities, it was the mission, the team and the people I worked with that defined what was accomplished.

Evolv embodies these same qualities. A mission to provide security and safety to as many people as possible via the creative application of new technologies. A team spirit that ignites the imagination and creativity needed to find, develop and apply new technologies to the mission at hand. And an assemblage of people who thrive on rising to technological challenges that are tied to protecting people from those who would do them harm.

Since March 2015, I have served as President of my alma mater, Anderson University. Prior to that, I was Administrator of the Transportation Security Administration for 4 ½ years, where I worked with a great team to help transform the TSA from a one-size fits all agency, to a risk-based, intelligence-driven agency focused on its core national security mission of keeping air travelers safe.

For nearly 27 years prior to TSA, I was an FBI agent. After 9/11, I led the Counterterrorism Division and later was put in charge of all national security matters for the FBI. As Deputy Director, I helped transform the FBI into the national security agency it is today. My passion, whether in government or now in academia, is to inspire and empower people to do their absolute best in transforming, adding value and making a difference in the lives of others.

My journey started in Karachi and has taken me through small towns in Ohio to Boston and now Palo Alto. After finishing my PhD at MIT I became an entrepreneur by co-founding an advanced materials company, and then a venture investor. As an investor, I have worked with entrepreneurs ranging from those who are barely in college to those with Nobel prizes. The excitement and challenges remain the same. And entrepreneurs choose to bring me on as a partner because I have been in their shoes before, and I help them navigate through the unknowns before it starts to feel like an overnight success.

Entrepreneurs I back are best described as missionaries, not mercenaries. They are rebels in their own mind, imagining and then building the world they want to live in. It is an honor to work alongside great teams that dare to solve society's biggest challenges and have no fear. Evolv's team represents the best of them. Evolv's mission is to protect people around the world by harnessing the potential of new hardware, software and data-centric technologies. We unfortunately live in a world with people willing to go to any length to harm innocent people. Evolv gives me hope they won't succeed and goodness will always eventually prevail.