About Pratexo

Anton is an expert in software development and quality assurance. Prior to Pratexo, Anton worked for Dover Fueling Solutions, and before that, he ran his own company where he helped clients with Internet and IT-related projects. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in Information and Communication Technology from Lund University, one of the leading technical universities in Sweden.

Blaine has been a multi-time CEO, CMO and CPO at both public tech giants and private software and IIoT startups. Most recently he led the Startup Advisor Practice at VC Momenta Partners. Prior to that, he was Chief Marketing and Product Officer at Industrial IoT and AI platform startup VANTIQ whose clients included companies like France’s Total, China State Grid, SoftBank Corp, and many others. He is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and has worked extensively across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

Bo is an experienced Sales Manager from the telecom sector. Prior to Pratexo he had a long career as Key Account Manager at Telenor, Telia, Sigma and Merkandildata working with IoT, mobility and data.

Borge is an international executive with a broad history in both the industrial and the consumer goods industries. His most recent role was to head up the US launch of a Private Equity-owned (FSN Capital partners, Oslo) portfolio company. Before that, Borge was a co-founder of the med-tech company ECG247 that developed and launched a revolutionary new device for heart monitoring utilizing wireless technologies and AI.

Borge has also worked with Disruptive Technologies AS, focused on miniaturized wireless IOT sensors during the early phases of commercialization. Previously, he was a senior executive in the Apax partners-funded B2B marketplace, PaperX. His expertise is in launching new international operations. Borge has an MBA from Stanford University and executive courses at IMD, Switzerland. He is now Head of Business Development, EMEA, and Board Advisor at Pratexo.

Bryan Starbuck is an expert in IoT Software Architecture and specializes in Azure IoT, Edge Computing, and Machine Learning. He is now a Senior IoT Architect at Pratexo. Before joining Pratexo, he worked at companies such as Bernhard, SAS, Insight, and First Solar. He has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Arizona State University. He is based in Tempe, Arizona.

Caroline is an expert in running business operations, especially in the context of driving sustainability initiatives. Prior to Pratexo she worked in banking as a Derivative Sales Manager at Nordea Capital Markets, as well as a Business Consultant in Nordea Operations, focusing on strategy implementation, business development and change management. Caroline has also worked extensively with small and medium-sized companies, helping them integrate sustainable development goals (SDGs) into their business strategies. She has a B.Sc.Degree in Corporate Finance from Lund University and AA Degree in Liberal Arts from Santa Monica College/UCLA. She is also a certified change manager in Sustainable Development Goals for Business.

David Ceprano has 30+ years of experience in Dev Ops, Cloud Architecture, Data Center Operations and Software Development. He is Principal Dev Ops Engineer at Pratexo. Prior to that, he worked at companies such as EPAM, Google, Adometry, and Click Forensics. David has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering from the University of Rhode Island. He is based in Austin, TX.

Diana is an experienced marketing executive who has worked as a consultant specializing in early-stage start-ups for two decades and has held executive marketing positions in large, public companies before that. Since 2002, Diana has been a marketing partner to some of the most successful serial entrepreneurs in high tech, having worked with more than 60 start-ups, all of which have had substantial growth or lucrative exits. Examples include Equifax, Intuit, Xerox, ettain, Rolta, and JP Morgan.

Gerald has over 30 years of experience in design, analysis, and implementation of complex, multi-tier, distributed computing applications, service oriented architecture (SOA), enterprise integration and cloud computing. In addition, he has substantial experience from project and delivery management as well as conducting training for firms such as Nike, Pfizer and Red Hat. Prior to joining Pratexo, he worked for Cisco as a Technology Leader, as well as an independent consultant for a variety of Fortune 500 companies. Gerald has worked in a diverse set of industries such as Education, Pharmaceutical, Manufacturing, HealthCare IT, Telecommunications, Insurance, Financial Services, Energy Trading, Defense & DoD. Gerald has a B.A. in Computer Science from Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas and is based in Cedar Park, Texas.

Negishi is an expert in Business Development for image sensing and processing solutions. He has 25 years of experience as an Application Engineer and General Manager at Tokyo Electron Limited (TEL) and Itochu Techno-Solutions Corporation (CTC). After six years as CEO at a subsidiary company to the CTC Group, providing IT solutions for the Pharmaceutical Industry, he is now focused on Business Development for VR/AR solutions, including Digital Twin implementation.

Jay is an experienced Dev Ops and Software Engineer with 20+ years in the field. Before joining Pratexo, he held several leadership positions and worked at companies such as Campus Management, Anthology, Google, Dell, and HP. Jay has a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering, PUCMM, and a Master of Science in Management. Purdue University, Krannert School of Management. He is based in Austin, TX.

Jörgen is an expert in software development and project management. Prior to Pratexo he had a long career as software developer at Dover Fueling Solutions and Codab AB.

Krzysztof is a self-taught Software Engineer with expertise in architecture design and serverless computing in AWS. Before Pratexo, he worked as a consultant in the Identity and Financial Industries. Before starting his career in IT, Krzysztof worked as an English teacher for ten years. He has an M.A. degree in Linguistics from Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań and is based in Poland.

Mats is an expert in technology development, and recognized for his ability bridge the gap between the technical and commercial side of business. Prior to Pratexo, Mats has had a long and distinguished career as CTO, President and Director at industry giants such as Dresser, Halliburton and General Electric. He has a M.Sc. Degree in Electrical Engineering from Lund University.

Peter is an experienced executive (CEO, COO, Senior Vice President) at early-stage high tech startups as well as large, public high technology giants. He’s a serial entrepreneur with a history of growing early-stage startups to successful sales and acquisitions as well as IPO’s – having driven 4 successful exits from seed funding to IPO and Acquisition to the likes of Google, Symantec, IBM, and Compuware. Before joining Pratexo, Peter was Site Lead for Google’s Austin, TX site.

Petter started his career working for Dresser industries building large distributed real-time systems. After a few years as Director of Technology for Icon Computing, he went on to create a set of companies including InferData, SciSpike and VappusNet.

Petter has also been a teacher, consultant, and mentor for many of the Fortune 500 companies (including COSTCO, NASA, Northwestern Mutual, Panasonic, PayPal, etc). Over the last 20 years, he has specialized in areas of extreme scalability and best practices building web-scale software. He is an O’Reilly author and a frequent speaker at various conferences and universities both in the US and around the world.

Roksolana is a seasoned Software Engineer with 10+ years experience from developing end to end systems. She has designed, development, tested and delivered multiple systems for the Financial Technology, Legal and Transportation industry. She has worked for large global companies such as Thomson Reuters and Cargil. Roksolana has M.Sc. in Computer Science from Minnesota State University, Mankato and is based in Hopkins, Minnesota.”

Sigrid has had a long and successful career as tech-industry sales executive, focused on the world’s second-largest software market: the GAS region made up of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein. Over the last 20+ years she has built up a large ecosystem of system integrator and consulting partners as well as end customers across a wide range of industries. Her particular expertise is in successfully bringing international software solutions to German-speaking markets.

Sten is an expert in software architecture. Prior to Pratexo he worked 30+ years at Dresser Fueling Systems as a systems architect. He has a M.Sc. Degree in Electrical Engineering from Lund University.

Stuart is an accomplished leader in technology bringing decades of experience as a systems engineer, pre and post-sales engineer, and as a solutions architect for a range of leading cloud and tech companies. Stuart has designed and sold deployments of highly complex automation and provisioning platforms enabling large enterprises and telcos to digitally transform their existing lines of business through cloud computing. Prior to Pratexo he has worked at Fortune 100 companies such as Ingram Micro and Citigroup as well as for several startups in the managed services, healthcare and financial verticals. Stuart is based in Dallas, TX.

In his early career, Takashi Sawai worked for leading IT companies, including Fujitsu, Oracle, Cisco, and SAP specializing in SI solutions, ERP, and emerging market development, primarily for enterprise businesses. Later, he launched startups in Japan that provide elemental technologies with the support of investment banks and venture capital firms. Today, leveraging his vast business and technology experience, he focuses on the integration of cyber (IT) and physical (OT) technologies and specializes in the Japanese business opportunities for Edge- and Distributed Computing.

Yanagihara is an experienced incubator for startups and early-stage IT companies. He has vast business development experience and specializes in Japan’s international IT companies. Until recently, he was the Country Manager for IoT and AI startup VANTIQ in Japan. Before that, he worked for the Mitsubishi Corporation for 20 years, developing various business models as head of the IT Business of Mitsubishi in China.

As a data scientist, author, speaker, engineer, podcaster, entrepreneur, and inventor, Angelo has served in a variety of executive positions (CTO, COO, CEO) in health IT, consulting, and fintech before founding the consulting firm Carrera Group. Angelo received his graduate degree from Harvard University where he studied high-performance computing and artificial intelligence. His research in the Harvard Data Systems Laboratory focused on methods of artificial intelligence that enable self-tuning data systems, resulting in patents and published research.

Angelo is currently CEO of Ballista Technology Group (a high-performance computing consulting firm and next-generation operational VC) and host of the popular Counting Sand podcast.

Eddie is a results-driven sales and business leader with extensive experience in building and maintaining high-performance sales organizations. Successful track record in formulating growth strategies with maximum revenue growth as the goal. Specialized in complex business dealings with Global 500 organizations. Focused on infrastructure appliance and software solution sales.

Harald holds a M.Sc. in Business from the Norwegian School of Economics and BA (NHH), Bergen 1971. He was President and CEO of Statoil Group 1988-99. Before this he was Member of Aker’s Executive Board as CFO (1981-86) and CEO of Astrup Høyer (1986-87). He has been Personal Secretary to the Prime Minister and State Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy.

He has served on boards in a number of international and Norwegian companies, and has been Chairman of the Board of Imatis, Deep Ocean, SAS, Telenor, Oslo Stock Exchange and Aschehoug. Harald has also been Member of the Board of ConocoPhillips, PGS, Orkla, EON Ruhrgas and Chairman of the Advisory Board of DNB. From 2002 to 2010 he was strategic advisor of ECON Pöyry. Harald is today a Board Member of Umoe. He is Chairman of the Board of Barratt Due, NRC (Norwegian Refugee Council), Kraft Bank and BOS Power (Bertel O. Steen Power Solutions).

Mr. Baksaas has had a long and highly successful career as a senior executive and board member in numerous multinational corporations. From 2002 to 2015 he was the President and Chief Executive Officer at Telenor ASA. During this time he was also Chair of the GSM Association. In 2015, Mr. Baksaas was named by Harvard Business Review as #7 on the list of top 25 Best-Performing CEOs in the World.

Since retiring from Telenor, Mr. Baksaas is now Chairman of the Board at Statnett SA (transmission systems operator in Norway); Chairman of the Board at DNV (global classification society); Board Member at Ericsson; and Board Member at Svenska Handelsbanken. He has a Master of Science in Economics from the NHH Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration.

Marianne is an Independent Director at Scana ASA, an Independent Director at WALLENIUS WILHELMSEN ASA, a Chairman at Arendals Fossekompani Pensjonskasse, Chief Executive Officer at Fajoma Consulting AS, Chief Executive Officer at Forum for Miljøteknologi and a Partner at Vox Politica AS.

She is on the Board of Directors at R8 Property ASA, Scana ASA, Treasure ASA, GNP Energy AS, WALLENIUS WILHELMSEN ASA, Hermitage Offshore Services Ltd., Norwegian Energy Co. ASA and Wallenius Wilhelmsen Ocean AS, Germany, and was previously Chief Executive Officer of the Norwegian Shipowners’ Association.

Marianne received her graduate degree in Law and Political Science studies from the University of Oslo.

Supreet is a Founding Partner at Raiven Capital and a Silicon Valley veteran CEO/CTO/CIO. Held roles at IBM, SGI, Altera and CA Technologies. KPMG Partner, built two global practices in e-commerce and supply chain management, ran numerous technology ventures, managed $500M corporate venture fund. Working with Fred Adler, a key founder of Silicon Valley Venture Capital, Supreet delivered 66% IRR in their tech fund.

Trond is Norway’s most prolific early stage tech investor with a portfolio of 80 companies through his TRK Group vehicle. His focus areas are IoT, enterprise software and health tech as well as promoting entrepreneurship and job creation in East Africa. Trond is a Board member of NASDAQ listed Opera Software, as well as Laredal Medical and The North Alliance (NoA). He has co-founded Katapult Social Impact Accelerator as well as the global talent incubator Antler, now present in 11 countries.

Before founding TRK Group, Trond was global senior partner with McKinsey & Company, where he held a number of global leadership positions. Trond holds an M.Sc. from NTNU as well as an MBA from Harvard Business School where he was a Fulbright Scholar. Trond lives in Oslo Norway with his wife, Monica, and their three children.

Borge is an international executive with a broad history in both the industrial and the consumer goods industries. His most recent role was to head up the US launch of a Private Equity-owned (FSN Capital partners, Oslo) portfolio company. Before that, Borge was a co-founder of the med-tech company ECG247 that developed and launched a revolutionary new device for heart monitoring utilizing wireless technologies and AI.

Borge has also worked with Disruptive Technologies AS, focused on miniaturized wireless IOT sensors during the early phases of commercialization. Previously, he was a senior executive in the Apax partners-funded B2B marketplace, PaperX. His expertise is in launching new international operations. Borge has an MBA from Stanford University and executive courses at IMD, Switzerland.

Jim brings more than 30 years of experience in the Enterprise Software marketplace and is a results-oriented sales, services, marketing, and business development professional. Jim is a proven leader with a track record managing dynamic, growing organizations in multiple markets around the world, including IBM (technology/consulting), PTC (CAD/CAM), MedSource (Medical Devices), IMLogic (Security), Imperva (Cyber Security), BMC (IT Automation), and Lithium (Social Engagement). Jim’s efforts have resulted in 2 IPOs and 2 acquisitions. He holds a BS in Industrial Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Blaine has been a multi-time CEO, CMO and CPO at both public tech giants and private software and IIoT startups. Most recently he led the Startup Advisor Practice at VC Momenta Partners. Prior to that, he was Chief Marketing and Product Officer at Industrial IoT and AI platform startup VANTIQ whose clients included companies like France’s Total, China State Grid, SoftBank Corp, and many others. He is based in the San Francisco Bay Area and has worked extensively across the Americas, Europe, and Asia.

Brian has been an entrepreneur, consultant, and executive for more than 20 years across many market sectors. Under his leadership, companies have experienced exceptional growth and value creation. AEM became a leading systems integrator for the Fortune 500 in energy, finance, security, and healthcare, with clients such as Charles Schwab, Nike, Hewlett Packard, PayPal, the NSA, and the FBI. As CEO of Genesis, a multi-billion-dollar corporation, he led 900 employees across 50 countries with major clients like AT&T, Shell, Google, Verizon, NTT, Fujitsu, and FedEx.

Brian has a global network of relationships with corporate executives, government, and political leaders and is a partner and director in several companies and is currently CEO of solution provider luxML. Brian has vast experience in software, science, and engineering and is a former civilian flight test engineer for the US Navy. He attended University of Texas at Austin, University of Southern California, and University of Denver with degrees in engineering and systems.

Brynne Kennedy is Founding Partner at BCP Blitz, the Smart Society Venture Capital Fund that invests across the US and Europe.  Kennedy led BCP’s investment in Pratexo and represents the BCP on Pratexo’s Board of Directors.  Kennedy currently sits on the Boards of five technology companies operating across food/agtech, sustainability and wellness.  Prior to founding BCP, Kennedy ran for United States Congress and founded enterprise software company, Topia, which she led as CEO from an idea to global scale.  Kennedy has won numerous awards for her entrepreneurial leadership including “Entrepreneur of the Year” in the Women in IT Awards, CloudNOW Awards, Stevie Awards and Women of the Future Awards.  She is also the recipient of London Business School’s Distinguished Alumna Award. Kennedy holds a B.A. from Yale University and an MBA from London Business School.  Growing up, she was a national gymnast in the United States.

Gaute is an international executive with expertise in business development and sales, go-to-market, technology and transformational leadership. His foremost skill is to build companies larger, grow teams and realign the business with the proper strategy.

He is a technologist by education – with a Master of Science in Computer Science from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). More recently, he has added financial and leadership educational programs from e.g. London Business School.

His last company build-up was Techstep – a buy & build where eight companies were merged according to a common strategy for growth and had their business strategies transformed to one of solutions selling. The company was subsequently listed on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Gaute sits on the board of directors in several companies and has a passion for helping technology companies achieve commercial scale.

Petter started his career working for Dresser industries building large distributed real-time systems. After a few years as Director of Technology for Icon Computing, he went on to create a set of companies including InferData, SciSpike and VappusNet.

Petter has also been a teacher, consultant, and mentor for many of the Fortune 500 companies (including COSTCO, NASA, Northwestern Mutual, Panasonic, PayPal, etc). Over the last 20 years, he has specialized in areas of extreme scalability and best practices building web-scale software. He is an O’Reilly author and a frequent speaker at various conferences and universities both in the US and around the world.

Thomas has been an active investor, entrepreneur, and Business advisor for almost 20 years. He is the business architect that connects the dots between companies, markets, people, and capital. He invests in “deep tech”, disruptive technologies and “do good” companies and help them scale and implement sound global strategies.

Most recently, he took the Norwegian deep tech “computer vision” company Huddly Inc. from four people and a promising idea to global player established in Oslo, Palo Alto, London, Austin Texas, Washington and Bangalore.

He has also worked with Amazon, Intel, Microsoft, and Zoom, as well as with leading law firms and investment banks across Europe and the US. Thomas has his BS, MBA, and European CFA from Germany, the United States, and Norway. He started his professional career as a Management Consultant with A.T. Kearney, before becoming a partner at Orkla Finance and subsequently joining the Norwegian private equity company Reiten & Co as a partner.