Our leadership team is comprised of experienced Big Data and Decision Science professionals.
Gary Gauba
Chairman & CEO
Gary has 17+ years of experience as a senior management executive and advisor. He has played key roles in building sustainable brands and providing direction to organizations around strategic planning, operations, process management, business intelligence, analytics, business development and profitable growth. Prior to founding Cognilytics, Gary founded and successfully built two organizations, Systech Integrators (acquired by ACS) and Softline (acquired by KPMG). Softline was ranked as the second fastest growing company by Entrepreneur Magazine in 1997. Prior to Systech, Gary was a Senior Partner at KPMG and also served in the role of Executive Vice President/COO responsible for the joint venture between KPMG and Qwest – a managed solution provider of ERP, CRM, BI and SCM solutions. He also serves on the board of TiE and selected start ups.
Manav Misra
Chief Knowledge Officer & Chief Scientist
Manav brings a depth of experience in predictive analytics, business intelligence, neural networks, and building large scale systems. Previously, he was a Co-Founder and VP of Strategy for StorePerform Technologies (acq by RedPrairie Corp.). StorePerform served six of the top fifteen US retailers among its customers. Prior to co-founding StorePerform, Manav led the business intelligence team at KBtoys.com and was responsible for building a large data warehouse, decision support system, analytics platform, and operating dashboards. Earlier, he was a professor of computer science at the Colorado School of Mines where he performed research in analytics, and mining large data sets using neural networks. His research was funded by various government and private sources and included the creation of predictive and pattern recognition models for a variety of applications. He has a BS from the Indian Institute of Technology – Kanpur and a Ph.D. from the University of Southern California.
Andrew Clyne
Chief Operations and Data Officer
Andrew Clyne has 25+ years experience delivering large scale transaction systems and Big Data platforms for leading organizations. Prior to Cognilytics, Andrew was Global Head Information Services at Visa responsible for over 150 data systems servicing millions of cardholders, merchants, and banks worldwide. Andrew was key to establishing Visa’s Enterprise Data Platform, including Visa’s first global consolidated Enterprise Data Warehouse, a comprehensive Data Quality Program, and a “Big Data” multi petabyte Central Analytic Environment. Before joining Visa, Andrew was Chief Information Officer at Inttra, which processes nearly 20% world’s shipping transactions. Prior as SVP of Data and Enterprise Architecture, he ran Expedia.com and Hotels.com Enterprise Architecture, Data Base Development, and Offshore Development Centers in China and India as well. Andrew has held executive IT positions at Regions Bank and also MasterCard where he implemented payment industry’s first Data Warehouses and Loyalty Rewards Systems. Andrew has a Bachelor of Science degree from the United States Air Force Academy in 1987, is a Desert Storm veteran, and earned his law degree from Saint Louis University School of Law in 1995.
Avi Gupta
Executive Vice President, Sales & Marketing
Avi has over two decades of solution based selling experience in the enterprise market across multiple industries. His professional career began with Andersen Consulting, and then moving on to PwC, E&Y and finally KPMG where he was a Managing Director in the Management Consulting practice focused on the Financial Services and High Tech industries. For the last 10 years prior to joining Cognilytics, Avi was a member of the executive management team at Systech Integrators, a SAP consulting company, where he was responsible for running sales within North America, focused on managing the overall SAP relationships and driving joint solution based sales with SAP America. He has a BS from the Indian Institute of Technology – Delhi and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad.
Lucas Budman
Chief Technology Officer
Lucas Budman has over 15 years of experience in commercial software development, high-performance computing (HPC), and machine learning in a variety of industries including finance, e-commerce, retail, education, and high-tech. Lucas was formerly Chief Technology Officer of MyCollege Foundation and Portmont College – a Bill & Melinda Gates funded non-profit whose mission is to provide higher education pathways to low-income young adults. Lucas holds a M.S. in Finance, a B.S. in Computer Science, and is a graduate of Computer Science at the University of Colorado.
Jinesh Jain
Senior Managing Director, Delivery & PMO
Jinesh Jain is an accomplished SAP leader with a vast experience of successfully running large delivery/PMO organizations. With strong project management fundamentals and 15+ end to end SAP/BI implementation, Jinesh’s core strength is implementing business requirements using world class methodologies, custom development and packaged software. Jinesh brings 22 years of IT experience across multiple global clients with an unparalleled insight into innovative ways of people, process and technology integration. Jinesh’s SAP portfolio ranges from leading SAP / BI implementation in top Fortune 100 companies to authoring implementation methodologies, Quality and Risk assessment tools and establishing world class delivery organization. Jinesh’s professional career began with Tata Consulting Services in the area of Engineering and CAD/CAM Analysis. Later he joined SAP Inc. and successfully managed large accounts globally in the area of CRM, ECC, BI and SCM. Jinesh has a Masters in Mechanical Engineering from Memorial University, Canada, with international publications in mathematical optimization and robotics.
Keith Schleicher
Managing Director, Decision Science
Keith Schleicher brings 18 years of predictive analytics and credit risk management experience to Cognilytics. Before joining the firm, Keith was Director of Statistical Analysis for Capital One, working on both applied research projects and model risk management initiatives. He has a deep understanding of marketing analytics, consumer credit scoring models, customer satisfaction analytics, and model risk management. Keith is active in the American Statistical Association, and has presented at multiple conferences on the use of statistical tools in credit risk monitoring. Keith earned his B.S. in Mathematics from Lebanon Valley College (PA), and his M.S. in Statistics from Ohio State.
Todd Borchert
Senior Director, Predictive Analysis
Todd has over 20 years of progressive leadership roles in predictive analytics and building large scale databases. Previously he started, built, and led the predictive analytics teams at Sports Authority and Petsmart. In these roles he was responsible for developing and implementing the predictive analytics strategies for the marketing and merchandising organizations as well as developing the databases to support those strategies. In prior roles he has extensive Marketing Analytics experience across Retail, Financial Services, Media/Publishing, and High Tech. Todd has a B.A. in Mathematics from Grinnell College and a M.S. degree in Statistics from Iowa State University.
Steve Paulding
Senior Director, Analytics & Risk Management
Steve has over 20 years of experience in credit risk policy, model risk management, credit scoring and underwriting in the payments and retail banking industries. Prior to Cognilytics, Steve worked at American Express for 15 years where he was Chief Risk Officer of the Japan lending business, and led account management credit risk policy and modeling teams for their international card business. Steve holds a B.A. in Economics and Asian Studies from Hampshire College and an M.S. in Agricultural Economics from the University of Georgia.
Jonathan Cowie
Vice President of Finance
Jon Cowie brings over 25 years of financial and administrative experience in high technology and consulting companies to Cognilytics. He has deep experience as a Vice President and/or CFO for numerous privately held and public companies. Jon has a B.S. degree from Ursinus College in Philadelphia, along with graduate study at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.
Andy Bhatnagar
Vice President, Consulting Operations
Andy has over 18 years of broad Consulting Operations experience including Operations, Processes, Strategic Relationships and Contract Management. He is a results driven Senior Executive with a strong combination of leadership, communication, problem solving and analytical skills and a track record of growing and enabling consulting organizations. Prior to joining Cognilytics Andy was a Senior Director- Consulting at Systech Integrators (earlier part of ACS-A Xerox Company) where he played a key role in the Systech Executive Management Team for over 9 years, while running the company’s Professional Services business. Andy has a Master’s Degree in Business Administration.
Gigi G. Kelly
Vice President, Advanced Analytics Solutions
Gigi has over three decades of professional experience helping organizations solve business problems coupled with understanding and realizing the value of Information Technology. She has consulted with federal and state government agencies as well as with private companies, spanning from Fortune 500 to start-up businesses. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Georgia in Information Technology with a concentration in Organization Change Management. She spent 18 years as a faculty member of top tier business schools, most recently with University of Virginia in Master and Undergraduate level IT, Analytics, and Global commerce programs. As a thought leader, her research interests focus on the intersection of technology, people, process, and data related to delivering strategic business value from global enterprise data and analytic capabilities.
Satish Khosla
Managing Director & Chief Mentor, Global Center of Excellence
Satish has over 4 decades of experience in the IT industry across multiple functional areas. Prior to joining Cognilytics, he was the Head of Central Asia and EMEA at ACS and prior to that was the Chief Operating Officer at Keane, India. He has also held senior executive positions at RPGSatcom, Birla Horizons, Unisys India Ltd, Tata Unisys Ltd. Satish is a very experienced, tech savvy business executive with a deep understanding of state-of-the-art technologies. He has rich experience in transforming businesses into profitable ventures.