GridGain Systems Leadership
Our management team and board of directors includes seasoned executives, leading investors and technologists
Management Team
Abe Kleinfeld
President & CEO
Abe Kleinfeld
Abe Kleinfeld
Abe Kleinfeld serves as GridGain’s president & CEO and has transformed the company into the leading in-memory computing platform provider. Since joining in 2013, Abe has led the company through five years of triple-digit average annual growth, $29M in Series B venture financing and numerous awards, including being named to the Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest growing private companies for the past two years. GridGain is also known for founding and producing the annual In-Memory Computing Summit, the world’s first and only in-memory computing conference.
Prior to joining GridGain, Abe was president & CEO of network security leader nCircle, a company he led from its early stage with a handful of customers through ten consecutive years of revenue growth, five consecutive years of profitability, two acquisitions and over 6,500 enterprise customers worldwide. In April, 2013, nCircle was acquired by Tripwire.
Before nCircle, Abe was president & CEO of Eloquent, a leading provider of rich media communications solutions. While at Eloquent he attracted an experienced management team, implemented a high-growth strategy and guided the company through its successful $83 million IPO in February 2000.
Prior to Eloquent, Abe co-founded document management leader Odesta Systems Corporation. He played a key role in building the company, from startup in 1991 through its merger with Open Text Corporation in 1995 and subsequent IPO in 1996 (NASDAQ:OTEX), where he led the company’s sales and later marketing through 1998.
Abe’s career spans four decades, dating back to his start as a software engineer at Raytheon Data Systems, and marketing and sales management roles at Oracle Corporation and Wang Laboratories. Abe holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from State University of NY at Oswego, and is an avid photographer and science fiction fan.
Nikita Ivanov
Founder & CTO
Nikita Ivanov
Nikita Ivanov
Nikita Ivanov is founder and CTO of GridGain Systems, started in 2007 and funded by RTP Ventures and Almaz Capital. Nikita provides the vision and leadership at GridGain to develop the world’s top in-memory computing platform, now used by thousands of organizations around the globe to power business-critical systems and enable digital transformation initiatives.
Nikita has over 20 years of experience in software application development, building HPC and middleware platforms, and contributing to the efforts of other startups and notable companies including Adaptec, Visa and BEA Systems. Nikita was one of the pioneers in using Java technology for server side middleware development while working for one of Europe’s largest system integrators in 1996.
He is an active member of Java middleware community, contributor to the Java specification, and holds a Master’s degree in Electro Mechanics from the Baltic State Technical University, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Eoin O’Connor
COO & CFO
Eoin O’Connor
Eoin O’Connor
Eoin O’Connor is the COO and CFO of GridGain. He is responsible for overseeing finance & accounting, sales operations, legal, human resources, corporate compliance, and IT. Since joining GridGain, Eoin has helped the company achieve rapid sales growth and raise more than $50M in venture financing.
Eoin has held leadership positions in finance and operations at enterprise software companies varying in size from startup to Fortune 500, including KPMG, Oracle, and Siebel Systems.
Prior to joining GridGain, Eoin was instrumental in enabling rapid revenue growth in a very short period at Zuora, ON24 and Space-Time Insight. His rich experience in structuring, negotiating, and closing deals led to Space-Time Insight’s raising more than $30M in venture financing.
He holds a Bachelor of Commerce from University College Cork, Ireland, and is a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. Eoin is an avid golfer and enjoys attending concerts.
Mark Mszanski
EVP of Sales
Mark Mszanski
Mark Mszanski
Mark Mszanski has more than 25 years of executive management experience in sales and operations at both startups and large-scale software companies. Mark specializes in recruiting, developing and leading geographically dispersed sales teams and developing highly effective go-to-market strategies.
Prior to GridGain Systems, he was Vice President of Sales Financial Services and Eastern Region at Akana Software Inc., a leader in the API Management and Application Services Governance space that was purchased by Rogue Wave Software. At Akana, Mark transformed the sales organization for growth and quota attainment, securing Fortune 500 accounts. Before Akana, Mark was Vice President of Financial Services for Kony America’s Solutions Inc., where he built and managed a team focused on Financial Services in the U.S and Latin America. His sales team accounted for 50 percent of Kony’s total revenue. Prior to Kony, Mark held executive management positions at Evolven Software Inc., Hewlett Packard Company, DataSynapse Inc., BEA Systems, Inc., and more.
Mark holds a BS degree in Business from Springfield College.
Lalit Ahuja
SVP, Customer Services
Lalit Ahuja
Lalit Ahuja
Lalit is responsible for ensuring customers gain the most value from their GridGain investments. He oversees delivery of vertically-aligned solutions in collaboration with GridGain’s strategic partners and leads a global team of solution architects focused on customer success.
In his career spanning over 20 years, Lalit has led various IT functions including enterprise architecture, product management, large scale program management, IT operations and served as a digital strategy advisor to executives at Fortune 500 enterprises.
Prior to GridGain, Lalit led the global Customer Success team at Akana, a leader in API Management and Application Services Governance space, where he was responsible for increased customer retention and more than 300% growth in Akana’s consulting services business.
Lalit holds a Master’s degree in Engineering and an MBA from UCLA.
Board of Directors
Geoffrey Baehr
Partner, Almaz Capital
Geoffrey Baehr
Geoffrey Baehr
Geoffrey Baehr is a Partner at Almaz Capital, investing in diverse areas ranging from security, to networking, analytics and big data problems.
From 2000-2012, Geoffrey was a General Partner and later Venture Partner at US Venture Partners in Menlo Park CA. He remains an Advisor to USVP.
From 1988-2000, Geoffrey Baehr served as Chief Network Officer for Sun Microsystems responsible for technical and strategic network directions. During his tenure at Sun, he developed advanced technical products and, with his team, obtained more than one dozen patents. Over the past several years, Mr. Baehr has worked as an advisor to the Skolkovo Foundation and is on the panel of reviewers for Computer science related proposal reviews.
Mr. Baehr earned a BA in Biochemistry and Natural Sciences from Fordham University.
Andrew Jackson
CEO, Talos Investments Limited
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson, Ph.D. has more than 20 years’ experience within artificial intelligence and data analytics. Most recently was the CEO of a leading artificial intelligence company within the Middle East.
Wide experience in organically growing commercial businesses to scale and identifying acquisition opportunities for inorganic growth.
Prior experience within research commercialization within a network of top EU Universities, partnering with multinational technology leaders.
Academic background in ubiquitous computing, software engineering and machine learning.
Abe Kleinfeld
President & CEO, GridGain Systems
Abe Kleinfeld
Abe Kleinfeld
Abe Kleinfeld serves as GridGain’s president & CEO and has transformed the company into the leading in-memory computing platform provider. Since joining in 2013, Abe has led the company through five years of triple-digit average annual growth, $29M in Series B venture financing and numerous awards, including being named to the Inc. 500 list of America’s fastest growing private companies for the past two years. GridGain is also known for founding and producing the annual In-Memory Computing Summit, the world’s first and only in-memory computing conference.
Prior to joining GridGain, Abe was president & CEO of network security leader nCircle, a company he led from its early stage with a handful of customers through ten consecutive years of revenue growth, five consecutive years of profitability, two acquisitions and over 6,500 enterprise customers worldwide. In April, 2013, nCircle was acquired by Tripwire.
Before nCircle, Abe was president & CEO of Eloquent, a leading provider of rich media communications solutions. While at Eloquent he attracted an experienced management team, implemented a high-growth strategy and guided the company through its successful $83 million IPO in February 2000.
Prior to Eloquent, Abe co-founded document management leader Odesta Systems Corporation. He played a key role in building the company, from startup in 1991 through its merger with Open Text Corporation in 1995 and subsequent IPO in 1996 (NASDAQ:OTEX), where he led the company’s sales and later marketing through 1998.
Abe’s career spans four decades, dating back to his start as a software engineer at Raytheon Data Systems, and marketing and sales management roles at Oracle Corporation and Wang Laboratories. Abe holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from State University of NY at Oswego, and is an avid photographer and science fiction fan.
Nikita Ivanov
Founder & CTO, GridGain Systems
Nikita Ivanov
Nikita Ivanov
Nikita Ivanov is founder and CTO of GridGain Systems, started in 2007 and funded by RTP Ventures and Almaz Capital. Nikita provides the vision and leadership at GridGain to develop the world’s top in-memory computing platform, now used by thousands of organizations around the globe to power business-critical systems and enable digital transformation initiatives.
Nikita has over 20 years of experience in software application development, building HPC and middleware platforms, and contributing to the efforts of other startups and notable companies including Adaptec, Visa and BEA Systems. Nikita was one of the pioneers in using Java technology for server side middleware development while working for one of Europe’s largest system integrators in 1996.
He is an active member of Java middleware community, contributor to the Java specification, and holds a Master’s degree in Electro Mechanics from the Baltic State Technical University, Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Sundi Sundaresh
President & CEO, Cinarra Systems, Inc.
Sundi Sundaresh
Sundi Sundaresh
Sundi Sundaresh is currently the President & CEO of Cinarra Systems, Inc., a private, Softbank Corp/venture-funded startup focused on enabling location-based campaigns and measurement for marketeers while monetizing data for telco carriers. A former president, CEO and board member of Adaptec, Sundi brings a wealth of industry experience to GridGain Systems.
Sundi has more than 20 years of experience in managing high-growth companies in the tech industry. Before becoming a board member of GridGain, SandForce (sold to LSI) and Sureline Systems, Sundi was the president and CEO of Adaptec, Inc [Nasdaq: ADPT, sold to PMC-Sierra]. During the course of his career, Sundi has also led multiple startups as President & CEO, including Xangati, Inc. (IT Operations Analytics, sold to Virtual Instruments), Candera Inc. (the industry’s first network storage controller) and Jetstream Communications (market-leading voice over broadband solution). During a previous tenure at Adaptec, Sundi served in a number of positions, including corporate Vice-President and General Manager for the Personal I/O division and corporate Vice President of worldwide marketing. He has also held various positions at Hewlett-Packard and National Semiconductor.
Mr. Sundaresh holds a
Bachelor of
Technology degree in
Electrical
Engineering from the
Indian Institute of
Technology, Madras,
a Master of
Engineering degree
in Electrical
Engineering from
Cornell University,
and an MBA from The
Wharton School at
the University of
Pennsylvania.
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