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 United States based CEO’ operating in the Human Computer Interaction 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.
Maneesh Sethi
Founder & CEO of Pavlok
Maneesh Sethi Founder & CEO of Pavlok and Editor-in-Chief of Hack The System I studied at Stanford University, authored 4 books (including an international bestseller, written when I was 14 yrs old), work in Marketing, Psychology, and Information Technology. For the last three years, I’ve run the blog Hack the System — A guide to hacking fame, productivity, travel, languages, exercise, and business. Along the way, I’ve run multiple projects to showcase what I’ve learned and what anyone can do — most spinoffs of HtS.
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About Pavlok: Pavlok is an electronic wristband that helps users create and maintain good habits.
Ramses Alcaide
Co-Founder , CEO & President of Neurable
Ramses Alcaide is an electrical Engineer, neuroscientist, previous CEO of Pharo LLC and current CEO of Neurable. At Pharo, he managed high impact health projects, such as a malaria prediction system, a rehabilitation technology for stroke patients and a health monitoring system. As a researcher, he has worked extensively to develop the brain-computer interface (BCI) technology for people with amputations, children with cerebral palsy and people with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He was also the CTO and CSO at NeuroStride, developing their go to market strategy and technology. Lastly, he is also the inventor and primary developer of Neurable. His honors include the Neuroscience Innovator Award, National Science Foundation Fellowship, and Ford Foundation Fellowship.
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About Neurable: Neurable creates brain-enabled control directed towards virtual and augmented reality.
Shawn Frayne
Co-Founder & CEO of Looking Glass Factory
Shawn Frayne is the CEO and co-founder of Looking Glass Factory, a Brooklyn-based startup that makes the Looking Glass, a desktop holographic display for 3D creators that groups of people can see and touch without VR or AR headgear. His favorite hologram is the shark that tries to swallow Marty outside the Holomax theatre in Back to the Future II. Shawn has his B.S. in Physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
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About Looking Glass Factory: Looking Glass Factory is building the holographic future, starting with the Looking Glass, the world’s best selling holographic display.
Suman Kanuganti
CEO, Founder of Personal AI
I am a creator, entrepreneur, father and husband. I love robots, technology, and humans. I create things that solve meaningful problems, see aira.io and luther.ai (current). I have a desire to learn, college in engineering, a master’s in robotics and a master’s in business.
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About Personal AI: Personal AI is on a mission to organize the human mind and make it interactive and useful.
Jake Rubin
Founder & CEO of HaptX
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About HaptX: HaptX is a leading haptics company that brings realistic touch to virtual reality for the first time with HaptX Gloves.
Shantanu Bala
Co-founder & CEO of Somatic Labs
Co-Founder & CEO at Somatic Labs
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About Somatic Labs: Somatic Labs builds wearable haptic devices that augment human perception.
Charles Ifedi
Co-Founder | CEO of eBanqo
Charles is the co-founder and CEO of eBanqo, Inc. Prior to that, Charles was the pioneer CEO of Verve International, a leading card scheme in Africa, and was a co-founder of Interswitch (valued at $1b in November 2019, following a Visa investment). He also worked in Accenture, PwC, and American Express out of the London office. Charles graduated with First Class Honors in Computer Science from the University of Ilorin, holds an MBA from Cranfield University, and a DBA from Georgia State University.
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About eBanqo: Chatbot and livechat solution for Twitter, Facebook, WhatsApp, webchat, in-app, and other social media channels
Rana el Kaliouby
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer of Affectiva
A pioneer in artificial emotional intelligence (Emotion AI), Rana el Kaliouby, PhD, is co-founder and CEO of MIT spinoff and category-defining company Affectiva, and is the author of Girl Decoded. Rana led the innovation of the company’s award-winning technology, which uses deep learning and massive amounts of data to analyze complex and nuanced emotions and cognitive states from face and voice. She has raised over $50 million in venture and strategic funding for Affectiva, where the company’s technology is used by automotive OEMs and tier 1 suppliers to improve road safety and the in-cabin experience, in addition to 25% of the Fortune Global 500 companies to test content, and in other industries like HR video recruitment and mental health. Rana is now paving the way for Human Perception AI: software that can detect all things human, from nuanced human emotions and complex cognitive states, to behaviors, activities and the objects people use. Prior to founding Affectiva, Rana was a research scientist at MIT Media Lab where she spearheaded the applications of emotion recognition technology in a variety of fields, including mental health and autism research. Rana holds a BSc and MSc in Computer Science from the American University in Cairo, a PhD from the Computer Laboratory at the University of Cambridge and a Post Doctorate at MIT. Rana is one of few women leading a disruptive AI company. A Muslim-American and passionate advocate, she frequently speaks in press and on stage about innovation, women in technology, ethics in AI and leadership. Forbes recently included Rana in their list of America’s Top 50 Women in Tech, Fortune Magazine included her in their 2018 40 under 40 and she was named one of the three Global Business pioneers by Bloomberg in 2017. Rana is a trustee at the American University in Cairo and a senior advisor to the Technology and Public Purpose project at the Harvard Kennedy School. Rana is also a member of the World Economic Forum’s Young Global Leaders and a member of the Partnership on AI, alongside founding companies Amazon, Apple, Google/DeepMind and others.
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About Affectiva, Affectiva, Harvard Business School, The World Economic Forum, The World Economic Forum: Affectiva is a developer of an emotion-recognition software designed to analyze subtle facial and vocal expressions.
Vivian Shen
Co-Founder and CEO of Juni Learning
Vivian Shen is the Co-Founder and CEO at Juni Learning
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About Juni Learning: A learning platform helping every student achieve their best future.
Cristina De la Pena
CEO & Co-Founder of Synapbox
Cristina De la Pena joined Synapbox as Founder & CEO in 2018.Cristina De la Pena has been a technology innovator since the beginning of her professional career. From building algorithms to optimize digital models to rethinking the way we build and interact with the real world. During her latest years, she has been leading the growth of Synapbox and reinventing the way we understand human behavior. By using AI and visual computing to understand facial expressions and attentional engagement, we are able to quantify the experience of consumers while interacting with content on their screens at scale. Everything, without the use of any external hardware or implementation to brands.
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About NeuroCrowd, Synapbox: Synapbox is a startup that uses AI-powered tools to understand consumer engagement towards Ads.
Sheffie Robinson
CEO & Founder of Shamrck Business
Sheffie Robinson is a serial entrepreneur, software engineer, and sociologist that specializes in solving racial and gender equity with technology. She is currently the CEO of Shamrck Software and the creator of Shamrck Education, an artificial intelligence platform designed to bring data mining and predictive analytics to career and technical education programs. She has over 20 years of experience in technology development and over 15 years of experience in retail sales and marketing. She has spent significant time in her career working to impact gender and racial equity to enhance diversity and inclusion. She is a second time founder, her first company being a fintech product that brought banking services to virtual currencies. Sheffie is a graduate of Thomas Edison State University with a degree in Sociology and is currently pursuing her MBA at Georgia Southern University. Sheffie has been named the Top 10 under 40 and a Top CEO by the Mississippi Business Journal In addition to her business, she regularly mentors startups on product development, branding, and project management to help them stay lean as they build a business. Her work with underrepresented founders has helped her to become a steward for diversity, equity, and inclusion. In her personal life, Sheffie is a military spouse and mother of 3 hailing from their current duty station in Vicksburg, MS, but she’s a Georgia native. She also enjoys virtual live-action roleplay and is a huge Anime fan.
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About Bantunium Labs LLC, Bantunium Ventures LLC, Shamrck Business: Shamrck Business is a complete website and business management suite for small businesses powered by human-assisted artificial intelligence.
Russell Ladson
CEO of Drop
Russell Ladson is the CEO of Drop Software Inc. (“Drop”). At Drop, he leads a team of designers, human-computer interaction researchers, and engineers who are obsessed with future of spatial and immersive computing. The team at Drop is currently looking to answer the question, “As our iPhones become ineffective and we move into a post-smartphone world, how will we navigate the immersive web?” Today, Drop provides an immersive internet searching and browsing experience designed for virtual reality and augmented reality users. It is one of the most popular and top downloaded VR titles on the HTC Vive – the leading virtual reality headset. It is commonly referred to as the “Google Chrome for VR.” Drop is venture backed by HTC, one of the world’s leading smartphone makers, Macro Ventures, Autochrome Ventures, Backstage Capital, and Matter Ventures. After a close call with mortality in a near-fatal accident, he finally understood the sanctity of life and doing what one loves so he co-founded Drop. He spent his postgraduate years as an investment banking analyst at two leading Wall Street firms – Bank of America Merrill Lynch and Rice Financial Products Company. Russell lives and works in San Francisco, California. Most of his free time is spent hiking, practicing vinyasa yoga, or playing chess. He graduated from Morehouse College with a B.A. in Economics.
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About Drop: Drop lets people dive into an immersive internet searching and browsing experience designed for virtual reality.
Sarah Hill
CEO & Chief Storyteller of Healium dba StoryUp Studios
Sarah Hill is the CEO of Healium and an interactive media tech professional with 25 years building successful platforms. Healium is the world’s first biometrically powered VR/AR channel controlled by the user’s brain and heart rate via their wearables. Hill is a former interactive TV news journalist for the NBC, ABC, & CBS affiliates in Missouri. A national Edward R. Murrow, NAB Service to America, National Sigma Delta Chi, and 12 time mid-America Emmy award-winning storyteller, she spent decades reporting about the world’s negativity and trauma in 5 continents.
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About Healium dba StoryUp Studios: Healium is an augmented and virtual reality channel powered by consumer wearables for the self-management of anxiety and sleep
Jason Field
CEO of BrainStation
Jason Field is the Founder and CEO of BrainStation, the global leader in digital skills training. Over the years, BrainStation has empowered more than 70,000 professionals around the world through corporate training, diploma programs, and certification courses, both online and at campuses in New York, Toronto, Chicago, Vancouver, and Boston. The company has also worked with over 350 corporations in the process of digital transformation, offering cutting-edge employee skills training and a pipeline of emerging tech talent.
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About BrainStation, BrainStation: BrainStation is a global leader in digital skills training, empowering businesses and brands to succeed in the digital age.
Peter Hartzbech
Founder & CEO of iMotions A/S
Peter Hartzbech passion is global entrepreneurship and building companies. Driven by a desire to make a difference in the world, he embarked upon his entrepreneurial career by starting his first venture at the age of 25. Prior to founding iMotions, he worked in Ernst & Young Denmark and Venture Cup Denmark, where he advised start-up companies on business plans, strategic and financial issues. In December 2006, Peter was appointed by Red Herring Magazine as Top 25 under 35, where the Magazine appoints Notable Entrepreneurs under 35. Peter’s positive attitude and global vision have been the main driving forces behind iMotions’ rapid growth and expansion.
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About iMotions A/S: iMotions A/S develops and provides biometric platforms, neuromarketing, psychology, VR, and engineering solutions.
Brent Oster
Founder and CEO of ORBAI
Brent Oster has 26 years experience in 3D computer graphics, animation, and simulation with Bioware, Electronic Arts, Autodesk, NVIDIA, and 4 years deep learning and AI at NVIDIA. He was the co-founder Bioware and Check Six, and he has completed the Stanford Continuing Studies curriculum of classes in entrepreneurial business, along with his degrees in Aerospace Engineering at University of Toronto and Scientific Computing at UC Santa Barbara.
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About ORBAI: Developing Artificial General Intelligence
Skip Howard
CEO and Founder of Spacee
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About Spacee: Changing the way customers shop and enabling business transformation through AI and Computer Vision.
Khizer Khaderi
Founder & CEO of Vizzario
Founder & CEO, Vizzario. Medical Advisor, Magic Leap. Member of Stanford AI community.
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About CITRIS, Stanford Institute for Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, Stanford University School of Medicine, University of Utah School of Medicine, Vizzario: Using AI to Improve Human Computer Interactions
Ilya Rosenberg
Co-founder, CEO of Sensel
Ilya Rosenberg is the co-founder and CEO of Sensel.
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About Sensel: Building the next wave of touch, force, and haptics technologies to revolutionize interaction with the digital world.
Andrea Thomaz
Co-Founder, CEO of Diligent Robotics
Andrea Thomaz is the CEO and Co-Founder of Diligent Robotics and a renowned social robotics expert. Her accolades include being recognized by the National Academy of Science as a Kavli Fellow, the US President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Tech, MIT Technology Review on its Next Generation of 35 Innovators Under 35 list, Popular Science on its Brilliant 10 list, TEDx as a featured keynote speaker on social robotics and Texas Monthly on its Most Powerful Texans of 2018 list. Andrea’s robots have been featured in the New York Times and on the covers of MIT Technology Review and Popular Science. Her passion for social robotics began during her work at the MIT Media Lab, where she focused on using AI to develop machines that address everyday human needs. Andrea co-founded Diligent Robotics to pursue her vision of creating socially intelligent robot assistants that collaborate with humans by doing their chores so humans can have more time for the work they care most about. She earned her Ph.D. from MIT and B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UT Austin, and was a Robotics Professor at UT Austin and Georgia Tech (where she directed the Socially Intelligent Machines Lab).
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About Diligent Robotics, Georgia Institute of Technology, The University of Texas at Austin: Diligent Robotics develops AI-powered robot assistants to collaborate with and adapt to humans in everyday environments.
Maggie Stys
CEO & Co-Founder of dreyev
I am passionate about Human Centric Computing and delighted to live at a time when bots have finally graduated from being entertaining to becoming useful in people’s lives. Over the last 10 years, AI has experienced incredible growth and wide adoption in everyday applications. Dreyev (“drive”) is a prime example of AI technology integration. Telematics devices have been on the rise within the auto insurance industry. However, in-vehicle driver coaching is only just emerging. Most insurers use in-car sensors to collect driver data to incentivize certain behaviors or curate an insurance product. A system to monitor and correct driver behavior like the one dreyev offers can present carriers with the opportunity to take telematics into the realm of loss prevention and risk mitigation. IoT and sensors go beyond helping insurers reduce claims; they also provide opportunities for new forms of consumer engagement and ways of broadening the insurance product experience beyond covering losses. An entrepreneur at heart, Dr. Styś is interested in disruptive business models and emerging global markets. Over the last two decades, she has been leading high tech initiatives across industry and technology partners. Today she is on a mission to cut the number of preventable crashes. Co-Founder of Dreyev LLC Dreyev is a real-time driver attention monitoring, coaching and management system to prevent distracted and drowsy driving. Safer driving behavior prevents crashes and enables fairer and more accurate risk-based insurance policy pricing. Loss prevention, risk mitigation, driving coaching bot. Co-Founder of TeleLingo LLC Live interactive, remote one-on-one tutoring of foreign languages, English as a Second Language, pronunciation and negotiation skills refinement for business professionals). Smart videoconferencing, blended learning, tools for cadenced practice and automated progress monitoring. Co-Founder and CSO at Heliantus Empowering kids with K-12 education.
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About dreyev: Dreyev is n AI-powered Enterprise Safety Platform to manage attention of drivers and operators, currently offered to fleets and insurers.
Kentaro Miura
Founder and CEO of DouZen
Ken Miura is the Founder and CEO at DouZen. He is a former product manager at Sony Corp.
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About DouZen: DouZen specializes in the creation of highly dynamic, innovative user interaction or interface for any screen size and platform.
Vedran Vukman
CEO of Vyoocam
CEO @ Vyoocam
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About Vyoocam: Mobile apps on the communication wearables
Jan Manon
Founder, CEO of Elf
Founded Elf in 2005. Launched in 2007. Rebranded as agency in 2012. Founded Hayden’s Magazine in 2008.
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About Elf: Elf is a digital creative agency. We help our clients create the future. Designed with Love™
Omer Golan
CoFounder and CEO of Outernets
Entrepreneur, philomath, artist, father, and husband based in NYC. Driven by integration of different disciplines to inspire innovation.
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About Outernets: Redefining Physical Consumer Engagement, creating meaningful, measurable, data-driven, and personalized interactions with consumers OFFLINE.
Sasha Shturma
CEO, Co-founder of Renetec
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About Renetec: Renetec helps other businesses innovate with vibrant, modern, and functional user interfaces for equipment of any scale.
Amy Auton-Smith
CEO of FairFrame – acquired by ARC
Amy Auton-Smith is the Chief Executive Officer at FairFrame. Amy graduated with a degree in Law from the University of Southampton and received her MPA from the NYU Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service. Amy also holds a Diploma in legal practice management and a Certificate in Artificial Intelligence from MIT.
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About FairFrame – acquired by ARC: FairFrame takes D&I to the next level with an easy-to-use text analysis platform combining AI and decades of social science research.
Steven Sanders
CEO & Co-Founder of Tactual Labs
Steven Sanders is the CEO of Tactual and a member of Tactual’s board of directors. From 2009-2016, he helpd to found and served as a Senior Research Analyst & Principal at Sanders Capital, a $20B value-oriented institutional asset manager as an IT industry analyst. From 2006-2009, Mr. Sanders worked as a principal banker and strategist for Merrill Lynch Global Wealth Management and Bank of America.
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About Sanders Capital, LLC, Tactual Labs: Tactual Labs is an innovator in human-computer interaction technology.
Craig Douglass
CEO of Contact CI
A 2015 Whitman School of Management graduate that earned a B.S. in Finance and Accounting. While on campus Craig was a member of leadership in the brotherhood of Sigma Phi Epsilon and stayed active on the SU club lacrosse team. Born and raised in the city of Cincinnati, where he attended Kings High School and honed leadership skills earning the Eagle Scout rank. Passions include skiing, the outdoors, basketball, the stock market, and VR tailored for learning, business, and remarkable experiences.
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About Contact CI: Personal hands-on interaction with the virtual world is achievable with our next generation VR user input, Maestro controller.
Jon Myers
Co-founder & CEO of Earplay
Jonathon Myers is the Co-Founder and CEO of Earplay.
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About Earplay: Voice-First Interactive Audio Publishing Platform
Wei Cheng Chou
CEO and Founder of InnovArt Design
Wei Cheng Chou is the founder of InnovArt who handles all aspects of product design and project management. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Transportation Design from ArtCenter College of Design in the states, and a Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering from National Tsing Hua University in Taiwan. Wei’s main experience is in electric vehicle design with user and automotive interaction, 3D computer graphics, and multimedia communication. He hopes to use these skills to integrate technology and intuitive design into everyone’s life.
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About InnovArt Design: InnovArt Design is a Taiwan and LA based AIoT startup integrating Tech, Design, Business, and UX talents together to create innovative products implementing the user’s lifestyle. And moreover, the company goal is to enhance human connectivity through future mobility realization.
Keith Barker
President & CEO of Questiny Group
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About Questiny Group: Questiny Group specialize on understanding the market space – the key actors and the market dynamics that shapes the products and services.
Ors-Barna Blénessy
CEO & Founder of Erghis
With a passion for technology, an understanding of how people use it and a drive to continually make it better, Örs is the visionary CEO of Erghis.
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About Erghis: Erghis develops a hardware agnostic UI for touchless interaction, enabling full control of any type of computer using airgestures.
