Boardroom Media (CEO News)
At CEO (Boardroom Media) we track over 1,000,000 startups and over 5,000,000 people who hold key positions in these companies. We use this directory of startups to highlight top employees, founders and board members we think deserve more appreciation than they are currently getting.
This list showcases the top Chicago based CEO’ operating in the Enterprise Software space. If you think a CEO’ is missing from this list, feel free to contact our editor on [email protected].
The individuals on this list have been included because of exceptional performance in one of the following categories:
- Innovation – Operating as a key part in an extremely innovative business or startup.
- Growth – Operating as a key figure in the growth and upscale of a market leading business or startup.
- Management – Showing exceptional management skills.
- Societal impact – Putting their business on the map for their positive societal or environmental impact.
Our Data – We source our data from OSINT (open source intelligence) and public directories such as Crunchbase, SemRush and many more. The data from these sources should be treated with a degree of caution and verified yourself.
Jett McCandless
Co-Founder and CEO of project44
Jett McCandless is Founder and CEO of project44.
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About project44: Project44 is a logistics technology company that provides a visibility solution to span the entire shipment workflow.
Chad Bronstein
CEO, Founder of Fyllo
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About Fyllo: Fyllo is a software company that provides compliance-first solutions for highly regulated industries.
Mathew Joseph Elenjickal
Founder and Chief Executive Officer of FourKites
Matt is the founder and chief executive officer of FourKites. He founded FourKites in 2014 after recognizing pain points in the logistics industry and designing elegant and effective systems to address them. Prior to founding FourKites, Matt spent 7 years in the enterprise software space working for market leaders such as Oracle Corp and i2 Technologies/JDA Software Group. Matt has led high-impact teams that implemented logistics strategies and systems at P&G, Nestle, Kraft, Anheuser-Busch Inbev, Tyco, Argos and Nokia across North America, Western Europe and Latin America. Matt is passionate about logistics and supply chain management and has a keen sense for how technology can disrupt traditional silo-based planning and execution. Matt holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from College of Engineering, Guindy, an MS in Industrial Engineering and Management Science from Northwestern University, and an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. He lives in Chicago.
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About FourKites: FourKites is a supply chain visibility platform designed for transportation into yards, warehouses, and stores.
Arvind J. Singh
Chairman & CEO of Utopia
Arvind Singh is the Co-founder and CEO of Utopia Global, an industry leader in Enterprise Information Management software and services and long-time SAP Partner organization. Arvind believes true innovation happens when we push ourselves beyond the “good enough” and that 80% effort gets you through life but is not good enough to differentiate yourself and your organization. Arvind is a serial entrepreneur with experience in building global businesses for the last 20 years. Prior to co-founding Utopia in 2003, Arvind was the CEO of Value Communications Corporation (ValuCom), a company he founded in 1996. Under his leadership, ValuCom grew to be one of the most recognized brand names in prepaid telecom in the US. The company was acquired by Rediff.com (NASDAQ: REDF) in 2001.
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About Utopia: Utopia is an enterprise data solutions provider that leverages its proprietary Enterprise Data Lifecycle Management (EDLM) methodology.
Matt Kunkel
Co-Founder & CEO of LogicGate
Matt Kunkel is the CEO and co-founder of LogicGate, Inc. Mr. Kunkel has over a decade of experience delivering cutting edge technology solutions to solve complex business issues related to audits, investigations, risk management, regulatory compliance, and process automation. He is an industry leading expert in solving organizations governance, risk, and compliance issues using technology. He regularly consultants and leads large teams that solve client needs in the areas of Financial Services, Healthcare, Insurance, Pharmaceuticals, Medical Device Manufacturing, and Energy.
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About LogicGate: LogicGate builds technology that allows businesses to automate and track disorganized processes in risk and compliance.
Orazio Buzza
Founder & CEO of Fooda
Orazio Buzza is a Co-Founder at Fooda, Inc. He served as President & Chief Operating Officer of Echo Global Logistics, Inc. (Nasdaq: ECHO), from May 2005 until August 2010. From October 2003 to May 2005, he was the CFO and COO of InnerWorkings, Inc. (Nasdaq: INWK). From July 2001 to September 2003, Orazio was Vice President of Finance and Operations at Bus Bank, an online provider of charter bus services. He received his bachelor’s degree in Accounting and Supply Chain Management from the University of Illinois, and he is also a CPA.
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About Fooda: Fooda is a food technology platform that connects restaurants to people while at work.
Christopher Ainsley
CEO of ShopperTrak
Christopher Ainsley is the chief executive officer of ShopperTrak. Christopher is leading ShopperTrak’s global expansion as the retail industry’s leader in consumer behavior intelligence and information products. Christopher is responsible for overseeing all aspects of the company’s day-to-day operations as they relate to revenue growth and strategic direction. Under his leadership, the company has an increased presence in Europe, Latin America, Asia and Africa. Christopher joined ShopperTrak in 2008 after serving as president and CEO of The Patent Board where he successfully transitioned the company from a consultancy to a business model of online tools and analytical products. Prior to that, he served as senior vice president of global strategy and business development for LexisNexis, New York. Christopher has also served as president and chief executive officer of Wolters Kluwer Health, one of three international divisions of Wolters Kluwer NA. A native of England and now an American citizen, Ainsley earned a Master of Arts degree from Oxford University and graduated from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration with a master of business administration degree
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About ShopperTrak: ShopperTrak is a provider of people counter technology and foot traffic analysis that improve retail profitability.
Andy Yin
CEO APAC of ShopperTrak
Andy Yin is CEO APAC at ShopperTrak.
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About ShopperTrak: ShopperTrak is a provider of people counter technology and foot traffic analysis that improve retail profitability.
Archie Gupta
CEO of Root3 Technologies
CEO at Root3 Technologies.
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About Root3 Technologies: Information Technology and Services
Sean Chou
CEO of Catalytic
Sean Chou is the CEO and Co-founder of Catalytic, a company he founded in 2015 built on his lifelong obsession with working smarter. The company’s people-friendly automation platform frees up people to do more meaningful work, increases the speed of doing business, and improves the quality of outcomes. Prior to Catalytic, he was the founding CTO and EVP of Services at Fieldglass, a software-as-a-service pioneer acquired in 2014 by SAP for approximately $1 billion.
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About Catalytic: Catalytic offers the easiest platform for digital transformation and the automation of knowledge work.
Michael Greenough
Chairman and CEO of SSA Global
Michael Greenough is Chairman and CEO at SSA Global.
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About : SSA Global is a leading global provider of enterprise software applications and related services.
Killian Tobin
CEO & Co-founder of Omega Grid
Killian is an engineer with an MS in computer science and applied knowledge of system optimization using neural networks and genetic algorithms. Killian has consulted or sold software to utilities for over 18 years. He was responsible for energy platform sales at Oracle Utilities and business development at Uptake (the fastest growing startup of 2015 according to Forbes, beating Slack and Uber).
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About Omega Grid: Omega Grid is a blockchain local energy market platform
Steve Kreynin
CEO of Forte Group
Steve Kreynin is a CEO at Forte Group. Steve founded Forte Group two decades ago with the dream of building a bridge between people and technology. What began with a vision in a garage now bridges 500 employees across four global offices together.
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About Forte Group, Forte Knowledge: Forte Group is a full-service software solutions and managed services resource.
Jessica Droste Yagan
CEO & Managing Partner of Impact Engine
Jessica Droste Yagan is CEO of Impact Engine, a venture fund that invests financial and human capital in early-stage, for-profit technology startups that are improving education, health, economic empowerment, and resource efficiency. Prior to Impact Engine, Jessica led the creation of McDonald’s Corporation’s sustainable sourcing strategy, most recently as Director of Sustainable Supply for McDonald’s USA. In that role, she enabled the integration of ethical, environmental, and economic sustainability across all food and packaging sourcing. She also architected numerous specific projects including Marine Stewardship Council-certified fish and a multi-million dollar investment in improving the livelihoods of Guatemalan coffee farmers while simultaneously strengthening the coffee supply chain. Prior to her work with McDonald’s USA, Jessica led strategy and alignment of global sustainable sourcing at McDonald’s and consulted with city, non-profit, and corporate clients in the areas of strategic planning, corporate social responsibility, and inner city economic development. She has co-authored two Harvard University case studies on public-private partnerships and currently serves as a board member for Social Venture Partners Chicago, OneGoal Chicago, The Honeycomb Project, Metropolitan Planning Council, and Piece & Co. Jessica earned recognition on Chicago Crain’s 40-Under-40 list in 2013 and served as a 2014 Leadership Greater Chicago Fellow. Jessica holds a Bachelor of Arts in Public Policy from Haverford College, an MBA from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, and a Master of Public Administration from the Harvard University Kennedy School of Government. She attended the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy in Aurora, IL for high school. Most importantly, Jessica tries to keep up with logistics for her wonderful and active family. She lives in Chicago with her husband Sam and three children.
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About Impact Engine: Impact Engine is a venture capital and private equity firm that invests financial and human capital in early-stage companies.
Wendell Jisa
Chief Executive Officer of Reveal
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About Reveal: Reveal is a global provider of eDiscovery, compliance and risk technology.
Michael Mullarkey
CEO/Chairman of Brickfish
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About Brickfish: Brickfish provide social media software that enables brands to build, manage and monitor social engagement and ROI.
Phil Alexander
Chief Executive Officer, Founder of ConceptDrop
Philip Alexander is the Founder and CEO of Nexus A.I. & ConceptDrop.
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About ConceptDrop, Ernst & Young, Nexus A.I.: ConceptDrop matches brands with an invite-only community of creative professionals.
Igor Fedulov
CEO of Intersog
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About Intersog: We build software and help other companies attack their business goals, solve IT skills shortage issues and embrace innovation.
Carl Nerup
CEO of Cog
Mr. Nerup is the Founder and Chairman at Cog Systems, a private company focused on delivering high assurance ARM based virtualization solutions to the mobile, server, and IoT markets. Prior to this role, Mr. Nerup was the CMO at Cog Systems. Previously, Mr. Nerup was Vice President in Samsung’s Global Enterprise Business, where he had sole accountability for all direct and indirect sales for the industry leading Samsung Knox Secure Mobility platform. Prior to that, he was a member of the Executive Team at General Dynamics Broadband, where he was the Vice President in charge of global business development for their new line of business in the secure mobility industry – GD Protect. He also served as an Executive in Residence at Carnegie Mellon University, where he worked with the Quality of Life Technology Foundry; a National Science Foundation Engineering Resource Center. He was also a vice president in AT&T’ Strategic Business Development organization, where he had responsibility for identifying new business opportunities across all AT&T business units. He also evaluated all Venture opportunities and managed the full Minority Investment Portfolio for AT&T. Prior to AT&T, Mr. Nerup was a Managing Director at Digital Island, a Cable & Wireless Company, a start-up provider of global hosting and content delivery services. Previous to that, Mr. Nerup was on the launch team for Aerial Communications, a start-up provider of GSM services in seven markets across the U.S., where he was the Head of Sales Operations and Distribution Strategy. Additionally, Mr. Nerup continues in his role as a Partner at Skyline Partners, a private equity firm based in Denver that specializes in select investments and specialized management consulting. Mr. Nerup is a frequent speaker at industry forums and conferences. He also provides advisory services to numerous companies in the emerging high technology and telecommunications industries as well as select non-profit organizations and graduate schools. As a fun fact, Mr. Nerup has been part of six ‘exits’ in his career through either acquisitions or mergers. He is also an avid backpacker and lover of the outdoors.
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About Aegis Secure, Cog: We virtualize IoT. Cyber security focused on the connected device marketplace.
Christiaan Burner
Chairman & CEO of Quicket Solutions
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About Quicket Solutions: Quicket provides a flexible low code/no code platform that automates workflows and streamlines payments for the public sector.
Garry Cooper
CEO of Rheaply
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About Rheaply: Rheaply provides procurement management software to buy, sell, trade, donate, and rent resources.
Josh Tolan
Founder and CEO of Spark Hire
Josh Tolan is the Founder & CEO of Spark Hire, a video interviewing platform used by more than 4,000 customers in over 100 countries.
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About Spark Hire: Spark Hire is a video interviewing platform used by more than 4,000 customers in over 100 countries.
Cory Warfield
Co-founder and CEO of ShedWool
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About ShedWool: ShedWool is a free online scheduling platform for shift workers, teams, and contractors.
Scott Woodard
Chief Executive Officer of ShowingTime
Scott Woodard, Chairman & Chief Executive Officer, is an active leader in the Chicago technology community. His previous company, ZyLAB, developed the first PC search engine, which was then sold to a publicly held company. Scott has expertise in voicemail technology, having developed one of the first automated voice delivery and notification systems. He is a founding board member of the Information Technology Association of Illinois and mentor to several emerging technology companies. Scott is actively involved in real estate and serves on the board of directors with Woodard Development Corporation, a real estate development firm. Scott has a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois.
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About ShowingTime: ShowingTime is SaaS technology provider that develops a web-based real estate lead capture, calendaring, and notification engine.
Orlando Saez
CEO & Co-Founder of Aker Technologies
Growth executive with experience in business development, product marketing and operations. Successful planning and launching large-scale product development initiatives from concept to commercial deployment. Highlights: (1) Led companies with two successful exits over $50M valuation. (2) Experience at all stages, including startups, buyouts, and established companies. (3) Managed a $78M state-sponsored early stage venture capital fund.
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About Aker Technologies: Aker is an agriculture data company providing crop intelligence and in-season analytics.
Ravi Bhatt
Chief Executive Officer, Co-Founder of Branchfire
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About Branchfire: Branchfire designs software that enhances productivity and communication.
Anders Norremo
CEO of ThirdPartyTrust
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About ThirdPartyTrust: Allowing companies to manage the ever-growing vendor population.
Canh Tran
Co-founder and CEO of Rippleshot
Canh Tran is Co-Founder and CEO at Rippleshot.
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About Rippleshot: Credit and Debit Card Fraud Detection
Chris Campbell
CEO of ReviewTrackers
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About ReviewTrackers: ReviewTrackers is a customer feedback software that is used to measure and transform the customer experience.
John Stammen
CEO of Revenew
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About Revenew: Revenew is a through-channel marketing automation (TCMA) platform that brings control, transparency, and a holistic view of local marketing.
Melonie Boone
Founder & CEO of Boone Management Group
Melonie Boone has a passion for business and education. She currently holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Human Resources Management from Loyola University of Chicago, a Master of Business Administration in Management from Florida Metropolitan University as well as a Master of Jurisprudence in Business Law and Corporate Governance from Loyola University Law School. Her comprehensive experience in optimizing strategic planning initiatives to achieve organizational goals allows her to work as a trusted adviser to entrepreneurs, business owners and senior management teams. As founder of Boone Management Group Inc and Accelerenium she leads a team of experienced consultants that provide innovative strategic solutions allowing clients to thrive and gain momentum in today’s economy. Her combined business management, human resources, and client services experience bring clients personalized solutions that add value and get results. In addition to her role with Boone Management Group Inc Melonie also serves as Instructor for undergraduate and graduates studies at INSEEC University teaching various courses in Entrepreneurship and Business to international students. She also holds a part-time faculty position at Kendal College where she teaches local and international students in courses on Small Business Management, Business Management, Entrepreneurship and Leadership.
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About Boone Management Group: Boone Management Group is the in-sourced approach, specializing in business strategy, human capital management, and more.
Brandon Burr
CEO of JetWebinar
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About JetWebinar: The Breakthrough Video Conferencing Platform For Monetizing Online Events
Todd Ringleman
President, Founder & CEO of RAY ALLEN INC
Todd Ringleman is the President/CEO at RAY · ALLEN, INC.
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About RAY ALLEN INC: RAY ALLEN is an IT asset management platform that assists companies in obtaining asset information and real time market data.
