Rick Gruenhagen is a CTO with $2.2B+ in successful exits, specializing in AI-powered SaaS platforms and critical infrastructure software across water, energy, and industrial operations. He advises growth-stage, middle-market companies on platform architecture, AI strategy, and exit readiness.

His AI/ML experience spans nearly two decades, and he specializes in AI governance, including how enterprises establish data foundations that make AI outputs defensible, auditable, and trustworthy in regulated and high-stakes contexts. He has published on AI governance and data foundation architecture, including semantic layer design, data lineage, and the organizational prerequisites for defensible AI deployment in regulated industries.

During his distinguished career, Rick was CTO at Innovyze, where he led the digital transformation that drove a 4x increase in company value, culminating in Autodesk’s largest-ever acquisition at $1B. He built Info360, a cloud-native SaaS platform, from the ground up in under twelve months—transforming legacy water infrastructure software into a modern operational analytics platform serving utilities globally. He also led data science in addition to engineering and product, building the ML Ops platform in close partnership with Amazon SageMaker’s product team, and integrated the Emagin team’s ML surrogate modeling capability that reduced hydraulic simulation from days to seconds.

At Spireon, he scaled the connected vehicle IoT platform from 500,000 to 4 million vehicles across four business verticals, driving a $530M exit to Greenbriar Equity Group. At Impinj, Rick built the software engineering function from the ground up, developing the technical vision for ItemSense—an enterprise IoT platform that was instrumental in the company’s $750M IPO.

Rick’s foundation includes senior leadership at Microsoft and Amazon Web Services. At Microsoft, he led global teams across Azure SQL DB, Office 365, and Bing cloud infrastructure—including early applied AI work during the Live Search-to-Bing transition, one of the first enterprise-scale applications of machine learning to search relevance and personalization. At AWS, he was a second-level report to Andy Jassy and led the Amazon Payments Billing transformation.

Rick is a former Lieutenant Commander in the U.S. Navy, where he was an F-14 Naval Flight Officer (Air Medal). He is also a former MIT Assistant Professor of Naval Science and serves as Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Chapman University’s Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship.

He received his M.S. in Computer Systems Engineering from Boston University and his B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and Mechanics from the University of Minnesota.

 

Richard Rothschild is a transformational CIO who leads large, complex change programs, modernizes platforms in-flight, aligns technology to measurable business outcomes, and restores operational discipline and delivery cadence.

As a technology executive, Richard led global cloud operations for Cisco’s $100M+ flagship SaaS platform, WebEx, and executed a $2B infrastructure strategy to improve resilience and reduce costs. At TiVo, he directed global operations and built the first Netflix streaming integration, scaling the product to 25 million users. He also architected Ariba’s B2B commerce platform, where more than $200B was transacted annually, and led global IT operations and enterprise platforms for Pandora during the company’s rapid growth stage.

More recently, Richard has served clients including Adobe, Bloomberg, Veritas, and Santa Clara County as a portfolio CIO, leading transformations across enterprise, public-sector, and growth environments.

Early in his career, he launched Apple’s first internet service (eWorld) and worked for NASA.

Richard holds a B.A. and M.A. in Psychology from San Jose State University and has completed AI executive education programs at UC Berkeley and Northwestern University.

Dr. Jeff Hutchinson is a board-level executive with deep experience in technology governance, enterprise risk, cybersecurity oversight, digital transformation, and M&A diligence. He leads organizations through complex business and technology transformations and leverages innovative solutions to drive measurable outcomes.

As a former Global CIO and consulting partner with a proven record of advising boards and executive teams, he presents strategic and operational solutions to boards and senior management teams on technology risk, cyber posture, capital investments, outsourcing, and transformation outcomes across global, regulated, and complex operating environments.

During his distinguished career, Jeff served as Global Chief Information Officer for Bombardier, Inc., the world’s leading manufacturer of both planes and trains, where he led continuous improvement, operational cost reductions, lean/agile process enablement, enterprise intelligence, cloud adoption, and solution modernizations.

He also served as

• VP, Global Enterprises Services Leader for Honeywell;
• SVP, Strategic Engagements Global Leader for SAP;
• Chief Information Officer – Global CIO & Digital Transformation Lead for Maple Foods, Inc.
• CIO for The Dannon Company.

In addition, Jeff has been a faculty member for the University of Rhode Island’s College of Business Administration MBA program in Strategic Innovation, and Bryant University’s MBA Graduate School.

He is a Board member of The Uncas Health District in Connecticut and is a former Board member of ASUG – Americas’ SAP Users’ Group. He began his career with Accenture.

Jeff holds a Research Doctorate, Computer Science from Pace University. He also has an Masters degree in Software Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; an MBA from the University of New Haven, and BS in BA, Computer Science from Bryant University.

Alejandro Mainetto is a technology executive with over 20 years of experience leading public and private companies through digital and AI transformations. He has a proven track record of success in aligning business strategy with technology solutions, optimizing operations, and delivering substantial revenue growth.

As a fractional and interim Chief AI Officer, CIO and CTO, Alejandro brings expertise across various industries, including hospitality, travel, education, public sector and consumer goods. Alejandro helps companies turn AI ideas into real business results. With over 25 years of experience leading technology teams, he specializes in enabling and incorporating AI into everyday functions.

He is adept at leading high-performing global teams, managing large-scale technology programs, and overseeing complex IT portfolios. Alejandro is also passionate about leveraging emerging technologies like AI and GenAI to create cutting-edge solutions that address business challenges and drive customer value.

As a Chief AI Officer, Alejandro helps companies:

• Define and execute enterprise AI strategies.
• Develop prioritized roadmaps tied to P&L levers.
• Build AI solutions and platforms that solve critical business problems.
• Establish AI Centers of Excellence and governance programs.
• Ensure AI pilots become scalable products that drive revenue lift, margin expansion, and cycle-time reduction.

Alejandro’s deep experience comes from his leadership roles at Microsoft (Global Strategy & Innovation), Ernst & Young (Digital Partner), and The Walt Disney Company (global systems and emerging technologies). He currently serves as a Partner at CXO Partners, advising on four key fronts: getting AI-ready, defining AI strategy, building AI solutions, and driving adoption.

Based in Boca Raton, FL, he partners closely with CEOs, CFOs, CIOs, and CHROs to drive value creation and accelerate digital and AI transformations. He holds an MS in Management of Technology and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from NYU Tandon School of Engineering.

 

Alan Eddie is a global financial services technology executive who leads organizations through major transformative events such as mergers, business expansion, and regulatory change as an interim Chief Technology Officer, Chief Information Officer, and information security executive. He also advises multiple corporations on technology strategy and a major university on AI and Data.

He delivers innovative and scalable solutions for the financial services, energy, and transportation sectors that enhance customer experience, optimize operational efficiency, and ensure regulatory compliance.

Most recently he served as EVP and CTO for AST/Equiniti, a PE-owned financial services firm (Siris Capital) offering shareholder engagement, proxy solicitation, and ownership management services to private and public companies. Alan was responsible for all technology, including the development of new SAAS products, blockchain use, digitization, and robotics.

As CIO for Nordea, Alan was responsible for all technology for Nordea’s Capital Markets, Wholesale Banking, Wealth Management, Asset Management, Investment Solutions, and Life & Pensions businesses.  He managed more than 1,600 people in the Nordics, Poland, India, and all international markets served by Nordea.

Alan also served as Technology Managing director for JP Morgan Chase where he was responsible for all Equities Regulatory Reporting and Employee Compliance. At RBS, his roles included Chief Technology Architect; Head of Technology for Latin America, Global Head of Compliance IT; and Head of US Front Office Technology (Equities, Prime Brokerage, FX, FXO). He began his career with UBS Investment Bank, where he led several trading and compliance functions.

Alan has a Bachelor of Science (Honors) degree from the University of Aberdeen and a DBA in Management Administration from Lancaster University.