This Maven is a Sr VP of Engineering at a leading content distribution and delivery network. He oversees the development of the core software technologies that drive the company’s global network and service offerings.
He was previously VP of Engineering at a rich media content and advertising company. He has also led Software Development at the leading company building email and network security appliances and spam and malware prevention systems that was acquired by Cisco Systems. He co-founded one of the largest offshore software development companies in Eastern Europe, and was an early participant at a distributed database technology company.
He has both management and research and development experience at NASA’s Ames Research Center in the massively parallel computing and scientific visualization fields. His earlier background includes architecting large-scale software systems at a major independent telephone company; as well as research in robotics, machine vision, and distributed computing in an academic environment.
He studied both Computer Science and Engineering, as well as Biology, at the University of Pennsylvania.
Netskope is a leader in the SASE (Secure Access Service Edge) market. We provide comprehensive security offerings to global customers as one of only three companies "up and to the right" in the Gartner SASE MQ Leaders quadrant. I lead the Platform Architecture team that is responsible for the design of the global platform as well as how individual product components are architected to integrate and run at global scale across both private and (multiple) public cloud platforms. We also carry the responsibility for providing security across all of these environments in a useful, usable, and balanced way. The Platform Architecture team balances broad oversight with the ability to dive deeply and constructively into the design of any Netskope product or platform component. Our process identifies features at appropriate points in their product lifecycle and couples that with broad-spectrum subject-matter expertise. Our global platform is built on OpenStack (I drove the move to OpenStack as the primary fabric control plane) as well as Kubernetes and we are now leading the effort to transform more and more components to run as cloudnative k8s workloads. I have also been personally responsible for building out secrets management and encryption services and driving their successful adoption across our product suite. This includes a determined effort to help engineering teams transform how their components manage secrets, provide security guidance and standards, and drive the operationalization of these systems (including software and hardware key management systems). Our efforts have spanned the spectrum from FedRAMP High certification to designing for adversarial environments such as the PRC. Other areas that we are covering include: high-performance networking, platform and product PKI design, cloud storage, VPP, identity management, FIPS, database systems, global traffic management, capacity planning, cloudnative transformation, service meshes, and building LBaaS.
Collaborate with CEO and executive staff to develop and vett strategies and operational plans that will deliver value for investors and transform the start-up company into a profitable business.
EdgeGravity (formerly VidScale) built a public, edge-compute platform in partnership with, and later as part of, Ericsson. Ericsson is a leading supplier of systems and equipment for telecom and cellular networks which afford it a unique presence at the edge of global networks. Customers in video distribution, IOT, SD-WAN, and other areas were able to capitalize on running applications in these environments. EdgeGravity's cloud was built to run VMs (in OpenStack), containers (in Kubernetes), and serverless functions while providing cloud storage, networking (including a private, global backbone), content delivery, BGP/ Anycast, and other offerings. As a CISO I was responsible for driving the implementation of security controls for the platform. Areas covered included identity (internal humans and machines, as well as customer identity), secure access, network security, malware detection, intrusion detection, secrets management, API and product security, tenant isolation, compliance, and governance. As the VP of Engineering I drove the development and quality of the entire platform as I grew the team from 10 to 70 employees. While I was intimately involved in architecture and product design, my core focus was on process, delivery, and predictability -- including meshing an Agile process with more traditionally-oriented demands. To grow the team at that velocity I drove a total reboot of how the engineering development center was implemented down to legal and tax structures, facilities, recruitment, and engineering HR.
Responsible for the security of Intuit's offerings and systems across the product suite as well as core platform components. This included components running in both internal and public cloud environments. Helped transform the acquisition of a key management system company into a solid, Intuit-wide service that allowed per-transaction and row-level encryption of data at scale. Worked on homomorphic encryption including partnering with originator of the field in search of ways to more broadly apply FHE in practical ways. Intimately involved in ensuring security in Intuit's shift to public cloud. Topics included identity, zero-trust principles, encryption, key management, network and service endpoint protections, networking, resiliency among others. At the same time helped teams move applications to more cloud-native behaviors. Championed a drive to assess and improve Intuit's security and privacy controls for all of its products. This was an architecturally-based assessment of the security practices of individual products and teams that would then lead to changes in practices, processes, and code.
Limelight (NSDQ:LLNW) is a leading, global content creation, management and delivery company. Limelight's run rate at the time was $170MM/yr and it is one of the top 10 largest movers of bits on the Internet. On any given evening Limelight was delivering approximately 15% of US Internet traffic. Upon arrival drove both a 100 day and a 12 month plan that resulted in replacement of directors, upgrading of technical staff, introduction of new functions, new software development methodology, cancellation of underperforming products, and introduction of new products. Responsible for the development of global-scale HTTP delivery, video streaming, data analytics, cloud storage, cloud computing, and web content management platforms. Introduced project dashboards, metrics, and KPIs to give clear visibility to the executive staff. Budget responsibility for engineering and part of operations. I managed resource allocation and capex/opex balancing, and also drove engineering growth based on cost models, sales performance, and the ROI of individual products and cost centers. Responsible for building the products that transformed the business from a content delivery network to value-added and SaaS products. Participated in acquisitions and had lead responsibility for integration of one of the acquired companies. Involved in numerous deal evaluations, deal structures, and due diligence. Started multiple development centers including the Silicon Valley, Ukraine, and Israel. Responsible for legal, tax, payroll, and lease and services negotiations. Owner of large portions of compliance including PCI and SOX.
VideoEgg (now SAY Media) was a pioneer in the monetization of video in online, social environments. Originally a platform for powering usergenerated content in online spaces, VideoEgg created minimally intrusive ad invitations ("tickers") in video players and became a leader in rich-media, brand advertising with 80M monthly uniques. Ran engineering as VideoEgg achieved $1M/month revenue numbers. At various points also supported 25K+/day video uploads, half a billion video views per month, and billions of data points per month being ingested for analysis. Was responsible for all product development including in-browser applications and frameworks, data warehouses, business intelligence and optimization, social network (e.g. Facebook) integration kits, distributed computing systems, and web applications. Steered an engineering team through a number of difficult transitions. Oversaw the roll-out of agile software development lifecycles across the engineering organization. This included Scrum in two areas as we drove to shorter cycle times. Drove the thinking around and development of a data warehouse for analytics and optimization. VideoEgg grew to about 125 people before the 2008 economic downturn and subsequent changes in its mission and plan.
IronPort Systems (now a division of Cisco Systems) is a leader in the Internet gateway security space. IronPort builds enterprise and ISP grade security appliances as well as world-class security applications that block spam, viruses, and spyware. IronPort was a $140MM+ company by the time of my departure. I ran software development for every product area in IronPort as the company grew from 25 to nearly 500 people. This includes making bullet-proof appliances as well as large, collocated network applications that analyze and respond to worldwide network threats in real-time. Participated at the executive level in setting company strategy, product direction, and plan for execution. Initiated and developed all aspects of offshore strategy and direction. Managed engineering team building email security appliance from version 1.0 through mature, leadership position for that product ("Leaders Quadrant" in Gartner Magic Quadrant). Products that I was intimately involved in creating, architecting, and delivering: A-series & C-series Email Security Appliances, Web Security Appliance; IronPort Anti-Spam Engine; SenderBase; BondedSender; Virus Outbreak Filters. Key technologies: SMTP, HTTP proxies and caches, Python, C++, multithreaded, anti-spam, anti-virus, anti-spyware, machine learning, pattern recognition, high-volume partitioned databases, I18N/L10N, web GUIs, encryption.
Took an offshore software development company from an idea over dinner to a funded, growing firm. Did everything that concerned engineering and technology. Saw the company through until it had achieved stability and until a firm framework, workforce, and a project pipeline had been established. Company has continued to grow based on the direction that I put into place. Some key technologies: Windows, Linux, Solaris; Oracle, Sybase; Windows COM, .NET, Registry; video, data compression, MPEG-2/4; ASP, JSP, PHP, J2EE; C/C++, Java, VB; VPNs.
Came into a 10 person start-up with immediate need to grow the engineering team. Participated in hands-on implementation of the product while transitioning into a purely management role as planned while growing teams underneath me. Spent a considerable amount of my time in front of customers and eventually spearheaded a professional services group after running an internal engineering group. Some key technologies used: Postgres, Oracle; query analysis/parsing; partitioned databases; NetBSD; Java, C++; J2EE, ColdFusion; N-tier web apps; persistence; load balancing; globally distributed applications.
Worked briefly as a direct contributor and then stepped into a management role. Hands-on implementation of security features for systems used at a supercomputing center. Then took on a job managing the collaboration between two NASA centers involved in supercomputing for climate and weather modeling. This was both a relationship and people management role and involved a high degree of politics and negotiation. Work was performed under the MRJ Inc. contract to NASA. Some key technologies used: climate modeling; data acquisition; parallel systems; Cray/SGI O2K; OSF DCE/DFS; Kerberos, GSSAPI; schedulers, PBS;
Took on a number of consulting jobs for specialized software and systems development. This included: * Early Bluetooth driver design on Palm OS (for Intel and Ericsson) * Microwave system design (for SES Astra in Europe and Echostar/ DishNetwork in the US) * Web and database development for early ad servers (DoubleClick).
Mathematics
Bachelor of Arts (BA)
Biology
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In today’s competitive business environment, expert interviews are essential for staying ahead in new and existing markets. Simply relying on data isn’t enough. It takes actionable insights from people with real-world experience to shape a successful product strategy. At Maven, we specialize in connecting companies with the right experts who provide the technical expertise needed to make faster, more informed decisions.
The product development landscape is evolving rapidly. According to a 2023 McKinsey report, companies that integrate expert interviews into their decision-making processes experience a 30% faster time-to-market and a 20% improvement in product success rates. However, one of the biggest challenges for product teams is gathering accurate, timely insights that can be trusted. Traditional research methods often lack the depth or specificity needed to understand niche markets, unique customer behaviors, or technical requirements.
A study by Forrester Research further underscores this point, revealing that 72% of companies struggle to gather actionable insights quickly enough to influence their product development cycles. This lag in decision-making can lead to missed opportunities, increased costs, and lost market share.
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Expert interviews are particularly useful for:
For companies exploring new markets or launching innovative products, basic research won’t cut it. In many cases, you need highly specialized technical expertise to answer detailed questions about the market, customer behavior, or product development. According to Harvard Business Review, companies that leverage technical expertise in their product strategy see a 25% increase in market adoption rates compared to those relying solely on internal research.
Maven connects your team with the experts who have walked that path before – those with experience in specific industries, regions, or technologies. This allows you to go beyond theory and gain insights grounded in real-world experience.
Incorporating technical expertise into product strategy is critical for making informed, strategic decisions. By leveraging expert insights, companies can streamline development, reduce risks, and gain a competitive edge in their industries.
Consider the case of a medical device company looking to expand into a new region. They needed to understand regulatory hurdles, hospital procurement processes, and physician adoption rates. By leveraging Maven’s expert network, they conducted targeted expert interviews with healthcare professionals and regulatory specialists, gaining insights that helped them adjust their product strategy. As a result, they reduced market entry time by six months and increased adoption rates by 15% in the first year.
Similarly, a SaaS company developing AI-driven analytics tools used expert interviews to refine their product offering. By engaging data scientists and industry leaders, they identified key usability concerns and feature gaps, leading to a 40% improvement in user satisfaction post-launch.
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Maven’s expert network offers unparalleled access to thousands of professionals across diverse industries, ensuring that product strategy teams can:
Our Simple, Effective Process:
By streamlining the research process, Maven empowers product teams to move faster, reduce risk, and gain a competitive edge in an ever-changing market.
At Maven, we make it easy for product strategy teams to connect with the right experts at the right time. Whether you’re navigating a new market, evaluating product ideas, or trying to understand customer feedback, our network of experts is available to support your needs.
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