Alumni Spotlight is pleased to announce The Top 50 University Alumni in Information Technology of 2022. Whether leading a specialized IT services firm or a well-established global player, this year’s awardees are the movers and shakers of the industry. This award is given to those who have been educated at some of the top universities across the country and later went on to contribute to the vast field of information technology. Their expertise and vision have led to measurable and notable success to the organizations they serve.
Among this year’s awardees is Al Hamid, Global Chief Technology Officer for IBM, who has spent the past two decades with the company leading in the development of emerging technologies; Andrew Gilman, Chief Marketing Officer of NWN Carousel, who over the past 3 years has transformed and positioned the national technology company into a powerhouse doubling revenue in 2021; and Dwayne Allen, Chief Technology Officer and Senior Vice President of Unisys, an innovation catalyst, and transformation specialist who is dedicated to reimagining the future of disruptive digital and IT strategies.
We applaud this group of individuals for their achievements and success. Please join us in celebrating the accomplishments of The Top 50 University Alumni in Information Technology of 2022.
2. Alex Veytsman
Chief Technology Officer, Dell Technologies
Brandeis University
Alex Veytsman is a global emerging tech Chief Technology Officer at Dell Technologies. He has been a consultant, investment banker, startup founder, and now an evangelist of cognitive technologies. Veytsman brings over 15 years of experience in developing high-tech organizations, business accelerators, and technology incubators. Additionally, he is a co-founder of multiple startups in AI, IoT, and Online Platforms. In his career, he has focused on developing organizations, leadership, strategic/tactical planning, operations, and innovative solutions for cutting edge initiatives in intelligent automation, IoT, AR/VR, 5G, quantum computing, synthetic data, and other leading-edge tech.
Previously, Veytsman was a head of AI and a practice partner at Wipro Limited and before that, an intelligent automation executive and startup advisor at Cognizant. Earlier in his career he worked with Morgan Stanley as an investment banker. Veytsman earned an undergraduate degree in economics and international business from Brandeis University.
3. Jack Forestell
Chief Product Officer, Visa
Western University
Jack Forestell is the Chief Product Officer of Visa Products & Solutions globally. As CPO, he is a driving force for innovation and conduit for the 6 truths to make sure all of Visa’s innovations start with what people and economies need to succeed. Forestell makes sure his organizations innovate with both the seller and consumer in mind. He first joined Visa in 2014 as global head of Merchant & Acquirer Solutions, responsible for developing merchant-focused products and solutions that not only create operational efficiencies but also help them meet their business goals.
Prior to Visa, he spent 12 years at Capital One, most recently as head of Capital One Digital. Before that, he spent five years as head of Capital One’s U.S. card customer portfolio. Earlier, he was a senior partner and member of the Board of Directors of Mercer Management Consulting, where he advised retail clients throughout Europe and the U.S. on brand strategy, network optimization, pricing, and promotion. Forestell earned an undergraduate degree in business administration with Honors from the Ivey School at the University of Western Ontario, Canada.
5. Al Hamid
Global Chief Technology Officer, IBM
The Ohio State University
Al Hamid began his professional career over 23 years ago. Today, he is the Global Chief Technology Officer of IBM. As a Global Technology Executive and Business Transformation Leader, Hamid has consulted with individuals and led organizations in the development of emerging technologies, enterprise end-to-end architecture, and product/service alignment globally, across many countries, economies, and cultures.
Hamid has spent the past two decades with IBM in various roles including director of corporate technology, global head of client technical success and as a distinguished engineer. He graduated from Capital University with an MBA and from The Ohio State University
with an MS in computer science.
7. Sylvan Morley
SVP & Chief Data Officer, Lumen
Princeton University
Sylvan Morley is the SVP and Chief Data Officer of Lumen. Driven by the challenges and opportunities of the 4th Industrial Revolution, Lumen is changing how people interact and how companies acquire, analyze, and act on data with flexible, intelligent, secure, and collaborative solutions built for the next generation of business. As Lumen’s Chief Data Officer, Morley leverages deep technology expertise every day to drive innovation and efficiency through business partnerships and collaboration. Together with his team, they lead Lumen’s digital transformation through evolutionary architectures, data democratization, artificial intelligence, and application modernization. These streamlined and cost-effective architectures not only deliver application performance and data insights to their business partners, they ensure that the right data is provided to the right person at the right time.
In addition to his roles with Lumen, Morley serves on a number of advisory boards including as the board chairman for the Latino Leadership Institute, whose mission is to change the face of leadership so that it reflects a diverse populace and unlocks the full potential of people, organizations, and communities. Morley earned a JD from Brigham Young University and an undergraduate degree in politics and Latin American studies from Princeton University.
8. Andreea Roberts
CMO of Digital Business Operations & VP of Marketing Strategy, Cognizant
Duke University
Andreea Roberts is the Chief Marketing Officer of Digital Business Operations and Vice President of Marketing Strategy of Cognizant. Cognizant is a professional services company, transforming clients' business, operating and technology models for the digital era. Their unique industry-based, consultative approach helps clients envision, build, and run more innovative and efficient businesses. Roberts is a global C-level executive enabling profitable growth in Fortune 200 environments and lean startup cultures. She is championing STEM education, the ethical use of automation & AI, and a tech-driven economy that benefits everyone.
Throughout her career, Roberts has built high-performing, empowered teams and worked collaboratively across functions to eliminate silos and deliver results. She has managed global teams in marketing and sales, devised strategy and leaned into the details of execution achieving margin improvement and double-digit growth in revenue, client retention, new business win rates, and brand awareness. Before joining Cognizant, Roberts was a VP of global sales center of excellence at Unisys and before that, a consultant and managing partner with Cuesta Consulting. Roberts graduated from Duke University with an MBA and from the University of Pennsylvania with an undergraduate degree in law.
9. Andrew Gilman
Chief Marketing Officer, NWN Carousel
Boston University
Andrew Gilman is the Chief Marketing Officer of NWN Carousel, the leading Cloud Communications Service Provider powering hybrid work for more than 7,000 customers across North America. Over the past 3 years, Gilman has transformed and positioned NWN Carousel into a national technology powerhouse with 1200 employees delivering over $1B in sales bookings while doubling revenue in 2021. The company has consistently been recognized as a 'Best Place to Work' and a 'Fastest Growing Company in Boston" and the 25th largest private company in Massachusetts.
Gilman is responsible for transforming NWN Carousel’s Company Branding and Storytelling, Corporate Communications, Press and Analyst Relations, Demand-Generation, Strategic Alliances, Field and Digital Marketing functions. He brings over 17 years leading successful go-to-market organizations for venture-backed, and publicly traded (B2B) technology companies, most recently as the Chief Marketing and Revenue Officer for Immuta – a pioneer in data governance – where he led global sales and marketing resulting in their $20M series B, now recognized at a $1B unicorn valuation in 2022. Prior to Immuta, he held several executive positions at Actifio, acquired by Google, including GM for their SaaS and Software portfolio, and as a founding member of the marketing team where he built and operated the demand generation, inside sales, corporate and channel marketing teams globally. Before Actifio, Gilman led solutions marketing for EqualLogic (acquired by Dell for $1.4B). Prior to Dell, he held a variety of product marketing leadership roles at EMC including leading marketing for the mid-range storage software portfolio, after graduating from EMC’s Marketing Leadership Development Program. He frequently contributes articles to industry publications, can be found speaking at industry events and has served as an advisor to emerging technology startups. Andrew earned an undergraduate degree in business administration from the Boston University School of Management.
11. Todd Steitle
Chief Information Officer, Cyxtera
The University of Texas at Austin
Todd Steitle is the Chief Information Officer of Cyxtera. He first joined the company in 2021. Cyxtera Technologies combines a worldwide footprint of best-in-class data centers with a portfolio of modern, cloud- and hybrid-ready security and analytics offerings, providing more than 3,500 enterprises, government agencies, and service providers an integrated, secure, and resilient infrastructure platform for critical applications and systems. Steitle is an executive leader who specializes in helping companies scale through simplification of business processes and software development.
Previously, Steitle was a COO at Brainspace where he led the company during seven consecutive record setting bookings quarters, and before that he served as the president of NTR Bullion Group. Earlier in his career he worked with Data Return Corporation as an SVP of product management where he restructured the company to achieve cash flow profitability, developed digitalOps (a proprietary service delivery platform) and pioneered virtualized cloud infrastructure to become recognized by Gartner Group as a quadrant leader. Steitle earned an undergraduate degree in marketing from The University of Texas at Austin.
View the complete list of awardees.
14. Dwayne Allen
Chief Technology Officer & SVP, Unisys
University of Virginia
Dwayne Allen began his professional career over 26 years ago. Today, he is the Chief Technology Officer & Senior Vice President of Unisys. Unisys is a worldwide information technology company providing a portfolio of IT services, software, and technology that solves critical problems for clients. They specialize in helping clients secure their operations, increase the efficiency and utilization of their data centers, enhance support to their end users and constituents, and modernize their enterprise applications.
Allen is a digital and IT executive, innovation catalyst, and transformation specialist with extensive leadership experience in multiple global industries. He has executed over 25 acquisitions and divestitures and has a strong track record in developing the architecture to deliver solutions to drive business priorities. Allen first got his start in 1996 as an IT director strategy and planning at Marriott International. From there, he went on to Wells Fargo, before eventually rising to become a global digital strategist at Microsoft, his most recent position prior to joining Unisys. Allen graduated from George Washington University with an MBA and from the University of Virginia with an undergraduate degree.
17. Kurt Steege
Chief Technology Officer, ThunderCat Technology
Hofstra University
Kurt Steege is the Chief Technology Officer of ThunderCat Technology. ThunderCat Technology is a Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Small Business that delivers technology services and solutions to government organizations, educational institutions, and commercial companies. Specifically, ThunderCat brings an innovative approach to solving customer problems in and around the datacenter by providing strategies for data storage, applications, networking, security, and analytics. ThunderCat represents, distributes, integrates, and provides technologies from best of breed manufacturers. Steege is a technology leader and enterprise architect with close to 20 years of experience in designing, deploying, and administering networked systems.
Before joining ThunderCat Technology, Steege was a CIO and VP of IT at MacAndrews & Forbes, and before that a chief enterprise architect with the FBI. Earlier in his career he worked with Immedient as a lead exchange consultant. Steege graduated from Hofstra University with an MS in biology and from the University of Michigan with an undergraduate degree in biology.
18. David Landreman
Chief Technology Officer, Olive
The Ohio State University
David Landreman began his professional career over 22 years ago. Today, he is the Chief Technology Officer of Olive. Olive deploys the AI workforce built specifically for healthcare, delivering hospitals and health systems increased revenue, reduced costs, and increased capacity. Olive automates repetitive, high-volume tasks and workflows, monitoring their performance, identifying improvements, and finding opportunities for new work. Landreman is passionate in pushing the bounds of possibility to solve some of today's toughest challenges. He is focused on bringing the latest in artificial intelligence, machine learning, semantic technologies, process automation and beyond to drive revolutionary change in healthcare. Since joining in 2013, Landreman has overseen the release and evolution of Olive's market-leading healthcare automation platform.
Prior to Olive, Landreman spent time in the media industry leading the engineering efforts for a conglomerate of newspapers, TV, and radio stations. He was responsible for building their web and mobile presence and helping companies embrace the rapidly changing media consumption landscape. Landreman graduated from The Ohio State University with an undergraduate degree in computer information science.
21. Eric Carter
Chief Technology Officer, New Era Technology
University of Michigan
Eric Carter is the Chief Technology Officer of New Era Technology, a global managed technology solutions provider. New Era serves as a trusted adviser to more than 12,000 customers worldwide. Customers rely on New Era’s seamless blend of solutions that securely connect people, places, and information in a rapidly changing digital world. They have offices in the Americas, the United Kingdom, APAC, and Europe. Carter is known as a versatile technology leader with a strong focus on process.
Before joining New Era Technology, Carter was a managing director and SVP of IT & security at NorthMarq, and before that a realtor at Keller Williams. Earlier in his career he worked with Northern States Power as a software developer. Carter graduated from the University of Michigan with an MS in computer science and from the University of Minnesota-Morris with an undergraduate degree in computer science and mathematics.
23. Doug Mow
Chief Marketing Officer, Net at Work
Cornell University
Doug Mow is the Chief Marketing Officer of Net at Work. Net at Work sells, implements, and supports next generation technologies to the mid-market to help their customers compete in today’s digital economy. It aims to help customers leverage advanced technologies to digitally transform themselves to be competitive in today’s fast paced business environment. Mow has over 30 years’ experience in the IT, software, services, internet, cloud, and telecom industries.
Starting as a systems programmer, Mow has held positions in technology, strategy, sales and marketing, and product management. Before joining Net at Work, Mow was CMO at QuEST Global Services, a global engineering services company with customers in aerospace, defense, automotive, and health care. Prior to that, Mow was the SVP of Corporate Strategy and CMO for Ness Digital Engineering. He also worked at Qwest Digital Media as an SVP of Product Management, was VP of product strategy and marketing for Qwest Communications, and was on the Board of Directors of the ASP Industry Consortium. Mow graduated from Cornell University with an undergraduate degree in economics.
27. Duri Chitayat
Chief Technology Officer, Safeguard Global
The Johns Hopkins University
Duri Chitayat is the Chief Technology Officer of Safeguard Global. Safeguard Global builds adaptive solutions for organizations seeking to thrive in the global economy. Through a combination of workforce management data, technologies, services and market expertise, Safeguard Global enables success through smarter, more efficient global employee management, recruitment, payroll, onboarding, expense management, and more. Safeguard Global builds adaptive solutions for organizations seeking to thrive in the global economy. Through a combination of workforce management data, technologies, services, and local market expertise, Safeguard Global enables success through smarter, more efficient global employee management, recruitment, payroll, onboarding, expense management and more. Chitayat has over 18 years of experience. He began his career in 2004.
Before joining Safeguard Global, Chitayat was a head of software engineering at Wipro Digital, and before that a director of agile development at Optimatic Media (acquired by Matomy). Earlier in his career he worked with Font & Form as a web developer. Chitayat graduated from NYU Stern School of Business with an MBA in finance and innovation, from Johns Hopkins University with a master's degree in computer science, and from Boston College with an undergraduate degree.
28. Rashmi Chaturvedi
Co-Founder & President, Kaygen
University of California, Los Angeles
Rashmi Chaturvedi is the Co-Founder and President of Kaygen. She has over 25 years of technology industry experience assisting multinationals with their business transformation initiatives. She co-founded KAYGEN in 2003 to assist businesses with their digital transformation initiatives by providing data-driven solutions to customers globally. Kaygen’s business purpose is to meet the critical technology talent shortages its global clients face and provide them with the opportunity to create a sustainable competitive advantage through Kaizen. The inspiration for the Kaygen name came from Kaizen which stands for continuous improvement, and she embodies this business philosophy in all processes to create efficiencies in company operations and employee productivity. Kaygen’s compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) is 48.36% over the last 5 years, including 2020 during the peak of COVID. The company grew 57% in 2021, and it expects an 80% growth in 2022. Expansion has followed this growth with the opening of two more offices in the Asia Pacific region in India. Year-over-year talent growth from 2020 to 2021 has increased by more than 200% from 60 to 250 talented employees.
An advocate for economic equity, Chaturvedi is passionate about helping women-owned and diverse businesses get equal opportunities for growth and success. She serves on the Board for Women’s Business Enterprise Council West (WBEC-WEST), Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC), and the Transportation Business Advisory Council at Los Angeles Metro. Chaturvedi’s honors and awards include “2020 Outstanding CEOs by WE USA magazine, “2020 Women Business Enterprise STAR”, “2018 Enterprising Woman of the Year Champion”, “Women Who Rock” and “2022 Top 50 Women Leaders of Los Angeles”. Chaturvedi is a graduate of the UCLA Anderson School of Management.
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30. Paul Giedraitis
Founder & President, Orgaimi
The Johns Hopkins University
Paul Giedraitis is the Founder and President of Orgaimi. He founded the company in 2020. Orgaimi is the world's most powerful client intelligence platform for law and accounting firms. They help firms turbo charge their data insights through AI that analyzes millions of data points about clients, services, and people across the full enterprise data ecosystem. Orgaimi's mission is to enable customers to build stronger client relationships, achieve greater revenues, and rapidly accelerate their growth potential. Giedraitis is a technology entrepreneur, data analytics product expert, and quantitative engineer based in Chicago.
Previously, Giedraitis was a co-founder and COO at Neurensic and before that, a co-founder and quantitative engineer at PeopleHedge Corporation. Earlier in his career he worked with Northrop Grumman as an electronic systems engineer. Giedraitis earned an MS and an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Johns Hopkins University.
31. Aaron Myers
Chief Technology Officer, Suited
University of Texas at Austin
Dr. Aaron Myers is the CTO of Suited, an A.I. powered, assessment-driven recruiting network used by professional services firms to accurately, confidentially, and equitably discover and place early career candidates from all backgrounds into competitive early-stage career opportunities.
Prior to Suited, Myers was the co-founder of another AI-based recruiting start-up, dedicated to removing bias from the recruiting process. During this time, he built products that were able to source and evaluate talent in ways that were predictive of future performance while not unfairly measuring candidates on attributes that cause adverse impact. Myers received his PhD in computational science, engineering, and mathematics from the University of Texas with a focus on building machine learning models.
32. Kevin Eison
Chief Intelligence Officer & Director of Digital Innovation, The Bureau
University of California, Berkeley
Kevin Eison is the Chief Intelligence Officer and Director of Digital Innovation of The Bureau. Bureau is a no-code identity and risk orchestration platform that tackles friction and fraud. Theyu secure mobile-first enterprises against new age cyber fraud, enabling growth. Eison is an innovative business and technology executive with extensive operations and business development experience with Fortune 500 companies within highly competitive markets. Through the implementation of sales, technology, and business strategies he is recognized as a collaborative communicator focused on building relationships and promoting harmony across business lines and global units.
Before joining The Bureau, Eison was a flight director at Rocket Science Consulting and before that a regional CTO at Synoptek. Earlier in his career he worked with Track N Trail as a regional manager. Eison graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with an undergraduate degree in chemical engineering.
33. M Brett Jaffee
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer, Caddy Time
Florida State University
M Brett Jaffee is the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Caddy Time, an app that connects golfers to qualified caddies across North America and the world. Caddy Time is for golf savvy Americans and Canadians to have access to a high paying ($30 - $50 an hour), on demand, job, or side hustle. Jaffee and longtime friend David Rider, conceived the idea, launched in 2021, and very soon became a thriving business.
Jaffee has been a lifelong entrepreneur. A graduate of Florida State University in 1988, Jaffee’s career took off in Orlando working for Electronic Selection Systems. With Electronic Selection Systems, later AlignMark, Jaffee traveled the country and Canada working with the Fortune 1000 creating and deploying selection and development processes. After AlignMark, Jaffee began leading start up organizations and co-founded the production company, Blue Dolphin Films with Kurt Bauerle. Blue Dolphin Films would go on to develop many local and national projects including the internationally award-winning short film, “Stuck” starring Ken Howard and Wendie Malick. In 1992 he co-founded the McJAFF Invitational golf tournament with Patrick McClananhan, now in its 31st year and the subject of the 2022 documentary “McJAFF: Golf’s Unknown Major”. Jaffee also previously co-founded and managed The Orlando Film Festival. He earned an undergraduate degree in communications and psychology.
36. Parham Eftekhari
EVP of CISO Community, CyberRisk Alliance
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Parham Eftekhari is a recognized business executive in the information security sector with a lifelong passion for leadership and community engagement. His expertise spans critical infrastructure technology and policy, business strategy and operations, executive advising, and thought leadership content initiatives. He currently serves as the Executive Vice President of CISO Community for CyberRisk Alliance (CRA). CRA is a business intelligence platform which leverages a unique network of journalists, analysts and influencers, policymakers, and practitioners to serve the cybersecurity community. CRA Community is home to CRA's CISO businesses, with a mission of helping cybersecurity leaders defend their organizations from digital threats and strengthen national security through peer-driven collaboration, technology education, tools, and decision support. The platform consists of The Cybersecurity Collaboration Forums (a network of CISO events) and The Cybersecurity Collaborative (a subscription service for CISOs).
Eftekhari has published over a dozen information security reports, regularly engages with the media, and has contributed to countless briefings and events at institutions including TEDx, Congress, the World Bank, RSA, IFA+, (ISC)2, C-SPAN, and the Institute for Critical Infrastructure Technology (ICIT). He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with an undergraduate degree in marketing and international business.
39. Emilio Galan
Chief Executive Officer, Robin Healthcare
University of California, Berkeley
Emilio Galan began his professional career over 13 years ago. Today, he is the Chief Executive Officer of Robin Healthcare. Since 2017, Robin Healthcare has been on a mission to remove barriers to health. Using a combination of cutting-edge technology and human expertise, they’re creating a more direct path to care. Robin takes on the administrative burdens of medicine so doctors can reclaim their time and control over their practice. They are a team of smart, driven, problem-solving people on a mission to change the future of healthcare. Galan has 10 years of experience in the health care field with a focus on health care data, analytics, provider workflow, and system measurement.
In 2009 Galan served as the chief executive officer of HonestHealth, Inc. He is currently an advisory board member for Amino, the data-driven healthcare guidance platform that saves money and improves care outcomes for plan sponsors and members. Galan graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a master’s degree in health and medical administrative services, and from Arizona State with an undergraduate degree in biology and society.
42. Brian McLaughlin
Chief Executive Officer, Alula
Miami University
Brian McLaughlin is the Chief Executive Officer of Alula. He first joined the company in 2018. Alula Holdings is a smart security company offering a completely integrated smart security platform. The platform delivers security simplified for independent security dealers and installers and the customers who rely on their service and expertise. The company is dedicated to making smart security simple for dealers. It was founded in 2018 and is based in Hudson, Wisconsin.
Previously, McLaughlin was a president at Trimble Navagation Ltd and before that, a president at PeopleNet. Earlier in his career he worked with Deluxe Corporation as a director of eCommerce. McLaughlin earned an MBA in business, management, marketing, and related support services from the University of St. Thomas and an undergraduate degree in marketing and management from Miami University.
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45. Nick Chakalos
Chief Strategy Officer, VideoAmp
Dartmouth College
Nick Chakalos began his professional career over 33 years ago. Today, he is the Chief Strategy Officer of VideoAmp. VideoAmp is a software and data company creating a more sophisticated data-driven advertising ecosystem that redefines how media is valued, bought, and sold. The VideoAmp platform provides measurement and optimization tools that unify audiences across the disparate systems of traditional TV, streaming video, and digital media. Chakalos is an experienced leader with strong success in start-up and innovative environments delivering solutions for enterprise, consumer, and B-B-C markets.
Chakalos first got his start in 1989 as an electrical design engineer at Texas Instruments. From there, he went on to Philips Electronics before eventually moving onto IAB Tech Lab, his most recent position prior to joining VideoAmp. Chakalos graduated from Babson F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business with an MBA and from Dartmouth College with an undergraduate degree in engineering sciences and electrical engineering.
46. James Chester
Chief Executive Officer, Assured Products Group
Florida State University
James Chester began his professional career over 39 years ago. Today, he is the Chief Executive Officer of Assured Products Group. Assured Products Group delivers critical services and systems to protect, grow, and differentiate their client brands and product integrity worldwide. They fuse the best people, methodologies, and technologies to fine-tune customer organization and supply-chain alignment and deliver enhanced brand value while countering counterfeit, diversion, and theft at their source and by systemic improvement to controls. They were the first to invent and invest in solutions that bring the power of embedded product awareness to their customers, the consumers of brand and products, and regulators worldwide.
Chester first got his start in 1983 as a subsystem acquisition manager at IBM. From there, he went on to Ford Motor Company, before eventually rising to become a director at Hughes Aircraft Company, his most recent position prior to joining Assured Products Group. Chester graduated from Florida State University with an undergraduate degree.
47. Douglas Neff
Chief Information Officer, Cognosante
Northwestern University
Douglas Neff is the Chief Information Officer of Cognosante. He first joined the company in 2019. Cognosante was founded to address a critical gap in the health IT market, the need for a smart, nimble company, unencumbered by legacy systems and unafraid to challenge accepted wisdom. They have been able to extend their impact beyond health and into security and social services. Their continued success is the result of their expertise and insights, combined with their actively fostering a culture that encourages diversity of people and ideas. They are ensuring health professionals have accurate, secure, and timely health data so Americans get the healthcare they need.
Previously, Neff was a chief information officer at MicroStrategy and before that, a chief information officer at ePlus. Earlier in his career he worked with Eastman Kodak as an industrial engineer, systems analyst, and project manager. Neff earned an MBA in finance and competitive and organizational strategy from the University of Rochester - Simon Business School and an undergraduate degree in industrial engineering and management science from Northwestern University.
50. Paul Woods
Chief Solutions Officer, Synapse Wireless
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Paul Woods is the Chief Solutions Officer of Synapse Wireless. He first joined the company in 2019. Synapse Wireless is an Internet of Things (IoT) company, focused on customer profitability through sustainability. Their team of craftsmen seeks to make environments smarter, more connected, and more controllable with solutions like SimplySnap. Their performance optimization approach with sophisticated insights and intuitive controls provides a reliable, scalable, and simple platform to reduce energy consumption and drive smart business decisions. They sense, analyze, and control, by revealing waste and risk.
Previously, Woods was a VP at McIntire Solutions, LLC, and before that an associate partner at IBM. Earlier in his career he worked with Exxon Chemical Company as an environmental engineer. Woods earned an MBA in management from Stanford University, and a master’s in civil engineering and undergraduate degree in mechanical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
View the complete list of awardees.