Management Team
Ram Srivastav, Co-founder & CEO
As CEO for Cognika Corporation, Ram Srivastav oversees new business development, marketing and operations. His 25 years of experience includes six years in CEO/Board level positions for international joint ventures of multinational companies. He served as the CEO of Schlumberger Industries India Ltd., CG Schlumberger Electricity Management Ltd. and Dabhol Power Company in India. As an international management consultant, Ram managed business-critical projects and gained valuable exposure to key industries, including: Medical Devices, Healthcare, Power and Energy, Construction, Plastics and Automotive Manufacturing. Within the US market, Ram provided strategic direction and operations improvement to clients like Smith & Nephew Endoscopy, Boston Scientific, St. Gobain, Exelon, ConEd and International Trucks & Engines.
Ram has worked and lived in Brunei, China, Egypt, France, India, Indonesia, the UK, and the US. Ram is an alumnus of Columbia University Graduate School of Business, NY (Columbia Senior Executive Program, 1999) and IIT, Delhi (Directors Gold Medal, 1983). He was elected President of the Indo American Chamber of Commerce (W) in 1998 and was awarded the top employee honor by Schlumberger in 1992.
Martin Willis-Jackson, CFO
A Chartered Accountant (The U.K. designation of a CPA), Martin is originally from a “Big Four” background, who gravitated to commerce after serving with PricewaterhouseCoopers in Bermuda. Martin is an experienced financial director and manager, with expertise in financial and statutory accounting, auditing and regulatory reporting, budget forecasting and control, and investment and technical accounting. He has an extensive track record managing corporate financial transactions both domestically and internationally including acquisitions, mergers, liquidations, and setting up or selling subsidiaries. Martin’s experience includes all aspects of Corporate Governance, including serving on or reporting to boards of directors and sub committees including Audit, Investment, Budget and Corporate Governance. He is familiar with issues created by implementation of Sarbanes Oxley requirements.
Luke Burns, Co-founder & Board-Member
As board-member and co-founder of Cognika Corporation, Luke is closely involved in advising Cognika and provides strategic vision and support.. In his capacity as Partner at Ascent Venture Partners, he has applied his extensive experience advising growth businesses and has been part of the founding team for a number of ventures. Prior to Ascent, Luke was a management consultant with Bain & Company where he focused on the technology and pharmaceutical sectors. Before Bain, he was co-founder and CEO of e-commerce software provider Emercis Corporation which he led from product concept to successful exit. Luke has also held roles with venture firm Navigator Technology Ventures, and served as co-founder of Cognika Corporation, a provider of cognitive computing solutions.
Luke earned his AB degree, magna cum laude, in Chemistry and Physics from Harvard University. He received his MBA from MIT's Sloan School of Management.
Joe Caruso, Management Advisor
Mr. Caruso has been an advisor to CEOs and an advocate for entrepreneurship and professional corporate governance for over twenty years. He currently serves as CEO of Bantam Group, a technology investment firm, where he provides strategic advice to early-stage companies and serves as mentor and/or board member to client companies. Mr. Caruso is currently a director of Boston Micromachines, Nimbit, and Common Angels, and is an advisor to the Boston University Photonics Center.
Jerry Billow, J.D, Legal Advisor
Mr. Billow is a Partner at the law firm of Posternak Blankstein & Lund LLP. He serves as the chair of the firm’s Health Care Group. He represents institutional and individual providers of health care services, including health maintenance organizations and managed care companies, hospitals, nursing homes and assisted living facilities. Mr. Billow also serves the legal needs of home health care companies, clinics and physician group practices.
Shashi Kant, CSA
As Chief Software Architect for Cognika Corporation, Shashi Kant manages product innovation and industry application, having developed the core Cognika technology and implemented it on a variety of data sets over the last six years. While at MIT, Shashi’s graduate research focused on Semantic technologies, Bayesian reasoning and emergent models of data.Prior to his graduate work at MIT, he specialized in complex system engineering and architecture at several major corporations, including: Schlumberger, Thinq.com and Absolute Software. His technology experience has spanned a broad range of innovative development areas. Shashi received Masters Degree in Engineering and Management from the Massachusetts Insitute of Technology (MIT) and MIT's Sloan School of Management. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, and was an ASP Fellow at MIT.