At COO (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 COO’ operating in the Software space. If you think a COO’ 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.
Anu George
COO – Technology & Transformation of Morningstar
Anu George is the Head – Morningstar Excellence at Morningstar, Inc., a leading provider of independent investment research. Her responsibilities include providing a strategic direction to the continuous improvement, quality & excellence initiatives at Morningstar. She has successfully led the LEAN transformation at Morningstar & is now focused on institutionalizing an Agile culture in her organization. Anu has more than 20 years of experience in reputable organizations such as Unilever, GE, and Morningstar. She has global experience through her extensive work in Asia, North America, and Europe. Her strengths lie in operations management and LEAN Six Sigma. She is a frequent speaker on topics such as business process excellence and leadership. Anu holds a bachelor’s degree in economics and accounting from the University of Mumbai, India, and a master’s degree in business administration with a specialization in marketing from the University of Mumbai.
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About Morningstar: Morningstar provides independent investment research to investors worldwide.
Chip Hardt
COO of dscout
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About dscout: dscout helps companies better understand the experiences people have with their products and brands in everyday life.
Ian Reither
Founder & COO of Telnyx
Ian Reither is the Founder & COO at Telnyx.
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About Telnyx: Telnyx is a VoIP service provider that offers a cloud-based platform that offers access to carrier grade voice services over the internet.
Joachim Klein
President & COO of ThreeKit
Joachim Klein is the President and COO at ThreeKit. He earned an MBA from Harvard Business School and an MS in Engineering (Diplomingenieur) from the Technical University of Berlin.
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About ThreeKit: ThreeKit is a 3D product configuration and visualization platform that enables brands to create and manage beautiful visuals at scale.
David Letourneau
COO of LiveArt Holdings
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About Basin Logistics, CARGGO, LiveArt Holdings: LiveArt provides a set of tools and real-time data to help be a more informed art collector.
Vivek Kundra
Chief Operating Officer of Sprinklr
Vivek Kundra currently works as COO for Sprinklr.
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About Outcome Health, Sprinklr: Sprinklr provides enterprise software for customer experience management.
Tim Grace
COO of Draftbit
Tim Grace is the COO at Draftbit.
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About Draftbit: Draftbit is a new way to build cross-platform, native iOS and Android apps.
Dan Roarty
President and COO of Arrive
Dan Roarty is the president and COO of ParkWhiz.
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About Arrive: Arrive is a provider of parking and other connected mobility services through apps, websites, voice platforms.
Jason Stulberg
COO / CFO of Fooda
Jason Stulberg joined Lightbank in January 2012.Prior to Lightbank, Jason was on the founding team of Star Studio, a new venture within Coinstar/Redbox. Previously, Jason spent three years at Wind Point Partners, a middle market private equity firm and two years at Bain & Company in Chicago. Jason holds a BS in engineering from the University of Michigan and an MBA from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management.
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About Fooda: Fooda is a food technology platform that connects restaurants to people while at work.
Ujjwal Gupta
Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of BenchPrep
Ujjwal Gupta is one of BenchPrep’s co-founders. Day-to-day, he leads a variety of marketing, product and project management initiatives. Prior to founding BenchPrep, Ujjwal’s started several companies across a variety of industries –including nanotechnology, rural tech, and events management. Long story. His educational background includes a PhD in Chemistry from The Pennsylvania State University and a BS/MS from the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. He has been published 15 times. Ujjwal’s background in science helps keep the BenchPrep team methodological and evidence-based in our decision-making.
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About BenchPrep: BenchPrep offers a learner success platform to improve engagement and outcomes for learners.
Sam McArtor
Co-Founder and COO of Rentgrata
Sam McArtor is a Co-Founder and COO at Rentgrata.
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About Rentgrata: Rentgrata is a messaging platform that connects prospective renters with current residents of apartment communities.
Shaokang Wang
Co-founder and COO, Data Modeler of Infervision
Shaokang Wang is the co-founder,COO, and data modeler. Before starting Tuixiang, he worked as a data scientist in the Anthem Marketing Solutions, responsible for business and market analysis. He got his master degree of statistics at the University of Chicago.
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About Infervision: Infervision is an AI high-tech company that uses deep learning technology and computer vision to help diagnose cancers.
Stephen Yoskowitz
Co-Founder and COO of Nullafi
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About Nullafi: Nullafi Shield is a zero-code add-on to any endpoint that gives admins one-click control over what data that endpoint receives
Milos Srdjevic
COO of ActiveCampaign
I am the COO at ActiveCampaign – a web based marketing platform that helps small businesses improve and automate their marketing.
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About ActiveCampaign: ActiveCampaign specializes in email marketing, marketing automation, and sales automation.
Matt Hamilton
Chief Operating Officer of Wellspring
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About Wellspring: Wellspring provides software to manage tech scouting, licensing, investing, and university tech transfer.
Jessie Essman
Co-Founder & COO of Forager
Jessie Essman is a Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer at Forager.
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About Forager: Forager is a company building technology to automate cross-border logistics.
Dave Pellissier
Chief Operating Officer of Productive Edge
COO at Productive Edge.
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About Productive Edge: Productive Edge is a Chicago-based technology company that implements complex websites for enterprise clients.
Andrew Rachmiel
Chief Operating Officer of Speed Networking Solutions, Inc.
Accomplished senior executive with strong business acumen and extensive experience leading product strategy and development from concept to commercialization. Performance-driven professional with industry know how and deep experience with all phases of the software development lifecycle. Solution’s-oriented innovator that has led high-performing teams to drive productivity.
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About Sixty Four HTM LLC, Speed Networking Solutions, Inc.: Corporate and Professional Networking, SaaS, Event Technology, Video Conferencing, Virtual Networking, Referral Networking
William Repole
COO/CPO of GovQA
Mr. William Repole is co-founder of WebQA and responsible for overall operations, product leadership, development and support. He has more than 20 years of information technology, product management and project management experience with emphasis in the financial, insurance and government marketplaces. Mr. Repole has significant experience building companies. Prior to WebQA, he expanded Project Management Partners, Inc. into a multi-million dollar business process consultancy that assisted Fortune 1000 companies in workflow and business strategies; and, in the 1990′s, he spearheaded the growth of Ameritech Information System’s document imaging business. Early in his career, while working with Subject, Wills & Co, a leading provider of technology solutions to middle market companies, Mr. Repole helped pioneer the development of one of the first commercially available document imaging platforms. Mr. Repole holds a BS from Northwestern University in Industrial Engineering.
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About GovQA, GovQA: WebQA now operates exclusively as GovQA, LLC with SaaS-based tailored customer service to governments.
Paul Sorkin
COO of PeopleVine
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About PeopleVine: PeopleVine was built for private clubs and member-based business looking to provide premier and elevated experiences for their members.
Peter Nabicht
COO/President and Co-Founder of 12Sided Technology
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About 12Sided Technology: 12Sided Technology provides a data capture and analytics platform.
Marla Ballenger
Chief Operating Officer of IData
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About IData: Data Management for Higher Education
Scott Worthem
Chief Operating Officer of Eshots
Scott’s primary responsibilities cover all operational activities, including the launch, management, and ongoing satisfaction of eshots’ clients. Prior to eshots, Scott was with Experian Marketing Services for ten years, most recently as their SVP/GM of addressable media. He also successfully launched two other Internet-based businesses during his tenure. He has past experience as a front office executive with the NFL’s Chicago Bears and as a supervisor at the international consulting firm of Ernst & Young. Scott’s client experience has touched various industries and blue chip companies including General Motors, BMW, Comcast, Chase, American Express, Kraft, Yahoo, Procter & Gamble, Wal-Mart, and Mercedes. During his career, Scott has authored key industry articles and white papers and has served as a speaker at industry conferences. Scott received his MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management and a Bachelor of Science degree from Illinois State University.
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About Eshots: Eshots is a technology platform that offers consumer data capture solutions in Chicago.
Manu Sivanandam
Chief Operating Officer of Envoy Global
Manu Sivanandam is the chief operating officer at Envoy where he oversees all service delivery including managing relationships with Envoy-affiliated legal service providers, growing global service delivery and continuing to evolve Envoy’s offerings for its customers. He is a senior technology executive with over 15 years global experience in the technology sector. He has held senior strategy, general management, operations and marketing roles. His experience ranges from startups to Fortune 500 companies across both B2C and B2B sectors. Most recently he led marketing and strategy at UpRight Law, a leading tech-enabled legal services provider. Previously he held senior strategy, general management, operations and analytics roles at Orbitz Worldwide, which was acquired by Expedia Inc. for $1.6B. Earlier in his career he worked as a strategy consultant at McKinsey & Company. He holds an MBA from Harvard University and a BA in Economics from Cambridge University.
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About Envoy Global: Computer Software, SaaS
David McCarthy
Chief Operating Officer of IMS Software
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About IMS Software: IMS Software is a developers of CNC post processing, verification and simulation solutions.
Soneeka Arora
Chief Operating Officer of BizMerlin
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About BizMerlin: BizMerlinHR is human capital management software used by global MNCs to hire, onboard, manage, allocate and retain their workforce
Will Yan
COO of Incognito Software
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About Incognito Software: Provisioning and Resource Management
Pete Blackwell
COO of TAI
Pete Blackwell is COO of TAI. He is responsible for managing operations, budgeting, approving the company financials as well as providing guidance on system installations, reinsurance conversions and upgrades for TAI clients. Pete graduated with a B.A. from Concordia University Chicago with a major in computer science and a minor in business, after which he worked for a national computer consulting company for 11 years in the pharmaceutical, student loan, radio communications, and insurance industries. Pete joined the company in 1998 for the development of the now sunsetted Windows version of the TAI system, and also was a primary developer of the TAI.Net system. Prior to being in the COO position, Pete served on the management team at TAI as Vice President.
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About TAI: TAI offers a complete software solution for life companies to self-report all their reinsurance information.
Andrew Bochantin
COO of EMPIST
Andrew Bochantin serves as COO at EMPIST.
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About EMPIST: EMPIST is a full-service technology company that covers the spectrum of the digital landscape.
Orazio Pater
COO of GTreasury
Orazio Pater has been a recognized leader in the treasury management industry for over 40 years. As head of GTreasury, he manages one of the leading providers of treasury management systems in the world. Mr. Pater founded Gateway Systems in 1986, initially offering a MS-DOS product that evolved through the MS-Windows® Client-Server architecture to the current cloud-based solution. Prior to founding the Gateway and GTreasury companies, Pater led the National Data Corporation – Cash Management Division from 1974 to 1984. He was instrumental in developing the automated cash and treasury management industry. Under his leadership, the NDC Cash Management Division served over 12,000 corporations and 200 major banks that used NDC to monitor balances and concentrate cash globally. During that period, the NDC Cash Management Division became the leading provider of treasury and funds transfer systems worldwide, with over $40 million in annual revenues and very substantial profits. Prior to NDC, Orazio was a cash manager at Honeywell, Inc., where he designed and implemented one of the first automated treasury management systems in the world.
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About GTreasury: Fully integrated cash and risk management solution to streamline processes and take your treasury functions from operational to strategic
Mark Flaharty
COO of SundaySky
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About SundaySky: SundaySky’s SmartVideo Platform combines the power of video with personalized storytelling at scale
Richard E. Shuman
EVP and COO of RoadDB LLC
Rich Shuman has been second in command at RoadDB since 2014. Mr. Shuman is an accomplished automotive operations and sales executive who has played an integral role in building four companies including the companies that became Convergys and HERE. Before rejoining Ygomi in 2012, Mr. Shuman served as Senior Vice President of Asia-Pacific Sales at Navteq. During his tenure at Navteq, he also led business development efforts in Europe and the U.S. for all business market segments. He was instrumental in global strategy development for key automotive accounts. Mr. Shuman’s responsibilities at Navteq included all aspect of the sales cycle from lead development through contract negotiation. He was personally responsible for establishing the majority of automotive customer relationships worldwide starting from when Navteq’s products were first being conceived and its markets first created. Automotive revenue grew to $900+ million largely because of these relationships. Prior to Navteq, Mr. Shuman served as Vice President of Operations at Cellular Business Systems, Inc. (CBSI, later Convergys, with the billing operation subsequently sold to NEC) and as Regional Manager for SEI Information Technology. Mr. Shuman served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Consumer Electronics Association, Mobile Electronics Division. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers.
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About RoadDB LLC: RoadDB provides an end-to-end solution for road data and localization for highly automated driving and ADAS in series production vehicles.
Frank Garrett
COO & Owner of Garrett Technologies
Frank Garrett has 20 years experience in the consumer products field, particularly in sporting goods products. He has a wide range of experience including product design, product testing, quality, manufacturing and business management. He was Vice President of Research and Development for Wilson Sporting Goods Co. and was the primary developer of highly innovative products in both the golf and tennis fields. Business Week Magazine has named his products as Product of the Year. He has an extensive legal and intellectual property experience. Mr. Garrett has a BA in Mechanical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology.
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About Garrett Technologies: Garrett Technologies is specialize in advanced electrical engineering and embedded software development for both medical & consumer products
Myles Gage
Chief Operating Officer of Rapunzl – Invest. Share. Win.
I am the co-founder of Rapunzl and an advocate for financial education especially for individuals in underserved communities. Attending Ariel Community Academy on Chicago’s south side exposed me to the stock market at a very young age, as financial literacy was the crux of its curriculum. That’s why, subsequent to graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, I developed Rapunzl with my highschool friend, Brian Curcio. Together we designed and developed an app that addresses the three roadblocks that prohibit many from understanding the stock market: fear, exposure, and accessibility. We decided to provide users with a risk-free, $10,000 simulated portfolio in order to eliminate the fear we all first feel when we look at the stock market. We then increased exposure by working with high schools and colleges and providing weekly, monthly, and (soon) annual competitions for cash prizes! Finally we made the stock market accessible by integrating social media into our simulator. Users can connect with their friends, share how they trade, and discuss their investment strategies. People need game-based learning tools which simulate the real world and contexualize their learning if they are ever to learn how to properly invest. Rapunzl provides an incentive to learn, a place to share findings, and a risk-free community to make mistakes along the way. By partnering with UrbanX Learning, I oversee the Financial Pathways initiative in which Rapunzl lends its technology to make an impact in some of the nations most underserved communities. Financial Pathways offers scholarships, mentoring, and financial fluency tools to combat our financial illiteracy crisis and make success obtainable for all students, regardless of their background.
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About Rapunzl – Invest. Share. Win.: Rapunzl is an award-winning app that allows you to earn cash & scholarship prizes while you learn how to invest.
John Martino
COO/CFO of Strata Decision Technology
John serves as Chief Financial Officer for Strata Decision Technology responsible for overseeing their financial model and performance as well as being deeply involved in their company’s operations and strategic direction. With over 25 years in healthcare, John’s experience as an accounting and finance professional spans small and large software and healthcare services companies. Prior to joining Strata, John was the Controller with a 70-person team for Catamaran Corporation, a pharmacy benefit management company that is now part of OptumRx. Catamaran was a publicly-traded company with over $20 billion in revenue. John started his career at an enterprise healthcare IT company, where he helped put the systems, controls, and processes in place to support the company’s growth from $50 million to $300 million in revenue. John has a BS in Accounting from DePaul University and is a Certified Public Accountant.
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About Strata Decision Technology: Strata Decision Technology offers financial analytics, business intelligence, and decision support services for the healthcare industry.
Lynn Fraas
COO of PeopleStrategy
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About PeopleStrategy, Terakeet: PeopleStrategy eHCM is an integrated, enterprise-class Human Capital Management solution.
Sarah Engel
COO of Moe Assist
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About campsix, Moe Assist: Moe Assist is a project management and payment tool for influencers.
Bob Okabe
Chief Operating Officer of Praedictus Climate Solutions
Bob has been involved with fast-growing new companies on almost every level since 1995. He is a co-founder of RPX Group LLC, an advisory firm that works with universities to commercialize research-based technologies. A long-time angel investor, Bob has invested in fourteen startups over 20 years. On an operational level he has served as CFO, interim CEO, and as a board director of the companies he has helped start or invested in. Before his involvement with startups Bob worked in leadership positions at a number of companies including BancAmerica Robertson Stephens, Lehman Brothers, Kidder, Peabody & Co., Moody’s Investors Service, and General Electric. He has been on the adjunct faculty at the University of Illinois, mentored students at The University of Chicago Booth School of Business and lectured at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Bob holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance and Organizational Behavior from Boston University’s School of Management and is a graduate of GE’s Financial Management Program.
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About Praedictus Climate Solutions: Developed software tools to provide real-time crop projections.
Starr Marcello
COO and Director of Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
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About Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation: The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation drives venture creation and technology commercialization at the University of Chicago
John Larry Burns
Partner / COO of Nitrogen.ai
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About Nitrogen.ai: Nitrogen.ai is a data sharing platform that allows to resolve problems in analytics.
Alistair Banerjee
COO of WebCracker Inc.
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About : WebCracker is a software and mobile application development company. It also holds 100% ownership of the card game QETCHUP.
Alistair Banerjee
COO of WebCracker Inc.
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About : WebCracker is a software and mobile application development company. It also holds 100% ownership of the card game QETCHUP.