Management Team

Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer

Ken Levine

Ken became President and Chief Executive Officer of NitroSecurity in June of 2006 and serves as Chairman of the Board, a position he has held since 2004. Ken is a founder and partner in Brookline Venture Partners, a venture capital firm that specializes in high technology and media investments and is the lead investor in NitroSecurity. Ken's expertise and passion lies in the field of sales and operations. From 1985 to 1998 he was a member of the founding and executive team of Cabletron Systems where he was Executive Vice President of World Wide Sales. Ken, along with his brother Bob Levine, founder and CEO of Cabletron, led the sales efforts that grew the company from less than $1M to nearly $2B in sales and created shareholder value in excess of $10B. Under the leadership of Ken and Bob, Cabletron had a remarkable run of 54 consecutive quarters of growth on the New York Stock Exchange. Ken attended a Masters program in Theology at Boston College and earned his Bachelor of Science in Economics degree from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania in 1985.  back to top

Chief Operations Officer

Brian McDonnell

Brian McDonnell joined NitroSecurity with the acquisition of RippleTech, where he served as the President & CEO. Brian joined RippleTech in 2003, and helped RippleTech achieve record growth as a leading provider of security, compliance and systems management solutions in hundreds of businesses worldwide. Brian's leadership, focus on the customer and keen sense of market requirements have enabled RippleTech to achieve unprecedented customer loyalty and numerous accolades.

Before joining RippleTech, Brian served as a Managing Partner for the Topline Group, LLP. He has successfully launched several early stage software companies and has held senior management roles in the US and abroad for Philadelphia-based Electronic Ink, Wall Data in Seattle, iMediation in Paris, and Constellar in London. Brian has over 25 years experience and a consistent track record of successfully growing leading edge software companies. Brian sits on several boards and is a frequent industry speaker.

Office of the CTO

Michael Leland

Michael serves athe office of the CTO at NitroSecurity where he brings over 17 years of senior leadership to the company. He is responsible for developing and implementing NitroSecurity's overall technology vision and roadmap including next generation network and security management solutions. Michael has held senior management positions at companies such as Eziaz, MediaHeights, Cabletron and Avaya. At Avaya, a global telecommunications equipment and services vendor, he served as CTO where he led the company in its strategic efforts for converged data/voice development initiatives. Michael received a B.S. in Computer and Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology.  back to top

Mehlam Shakir

Mehlam (Mel) Shakir serves the office of the CTO at NitroSecurity where he brings over 15 years of experience in software development & management, information security and database technologies. Mel master-minded development of the database security solution (now NitroGuard DBM) at Incache which he founded in 2004. ÊIn 2006 Incache was acquired by RippleTech where Mel served as the CTO and successfully pulled together a unified security vision which culminated in a purchase of RippleTech by NitroSecurity.

Among other notable places Mel worked for are: Goldman Sachs, where he served as an independent consultant: and sixdegress.com, an online networking community which was acquired by Youthstream Media Networks. Mel received his Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Bombay and Master of Science in Electric Power Engineering from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, NY.

Executive Vice President of Engineering

Howard Stewart

Mr. Stewart is a co-founder of the Company, has served as our Executive Vice President of Engineering since 1999, and has been a member of our Board of Directors since 2004. Mr. Stewart has 25 years of experience in computer systems development, primarily on databases and algorithms. Mr. Stewart has served as an Advisory Engineer with Lockheed-Martin Idaho Technologies Company, as a group manager and a Senior Engineering Specialist with EG&G Idaho, Inc., and as an officer in the United States Air Force specializing in satellite orbital analysis and computer development, where he received the Joint Services Commendation Medal. Mr. Stewart has received awards as the lead developer of Sage-ST (AdaSAGE), a government domain database and software development system used by the Department of Defense, Department of Energy and within industry. Mr. Stewart holds a B.S. degree in Chemistry with an emphasis in Mathematics from Brigham Young University and an MSBA from the University of Northern Colorado.  back to top

Executive Vice President of Operations

Seth McClead

As Executive Vice President of Operations for NitroSecurity, Seth McClead oversees the management of the company's overall operations and its alignment with the company's strategic vision. Prior to his current role, McClead served as NitroSecurity's Managing Director of Engineering Services, where he was responsible for global systems engineering. A ten year information technology veteran with more than seven years of information security experience, McClead combines technical expertise with proven leadership to ensure an efficient operating environment. As a Certified Information Systems Auditor and senior consultant, McClead has previously assisted numerous global financial services institutions and corporate clients in regulated industries with security program assessment, development, and implementation. He most recently served as Chief Operating Officer for NMI, an information security consultancy. An alumnus of Bowdoin College, McClead holds degrees in Computer Science and Philosophy.  back to top

Chief Architect

Paul Whittington

Paul Whittington is a database and embedded systems engineer with over 20 years of experience. He holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the California State Polytechnic University in Pomona. Whittington served as an Advisory Engineer with Lockheed-Martin Idaho Technologies, a Senior Engineer with EG&G Idaho, Inc., a Software Engineer with Intelligent Instrumentation, Inc., and a Staff Engineer with IBM Corporation. Paul holds several design patents.  back to top

Chief Scientist

Ken Russell

Ken Russell is a database and Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) specialist with 25 years experience. He holds a BS in Mathematics from Brigham Young University. His experience includes a broad range of systems from large Super Computers to small microcomputers as well as software development ranging from complex mathematical modeling to data processing and information management systems. Recent experience includes development of highly optimized multithreaded database applications for Web deployment. Russell has served as an Advisory Engineer with Lockheed-Martin Idaho Technologies, a Senior Engineering Specialist with EG&G Idaho, Inc., and an Associate Mathematician with Aerojet Nuclear. Mr. Russell is credited with having developed SAPHIRE, the world's fastest Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) system. He was presented the 1987 top engineer/scientist award at DoE's Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL).  back to top

Vice President of Engineering, Log Products

Venkat Subramanian

As VP of Engineering, Log Products, Venkat Subramanian is responsible for conceiving and executing Nitrosecurity's log management vision. Venkat Subramanian's core responsibility includes design, development and delivery of NitroSecurity's log management solutions. He brings over 10 years of client-server software development experience to NitroSecurity with over 7 years of experience in developing solutions for log collection, monitoring and management for diverse systems, applications and devices. Venkat Subramanian has held technical and management positions at Ripple Technologies, Cognizant Technologies and Solutions and at California Software labs. He holds a bachelors degree in Computer Sciences and Engineering.

Senior Vice President of Marketing

Frank Hayes

Frank brings over 20 years of industry experience to NitroSecurity and has held senior management positions at companies such as Ipsum Networks, Single Digits, Aprisma and Cabletron. Most recently, Frank was CEO of Single Digits, Inc., a provider of managed wireless internet services, where he was instrumental in building the company from a garage start-up to one of the largest and most profitable independent wireless providers in the country. Before joining Single Digits, he served as vice president of marketing and business development for network management software start-up, Ipsum Networks where he was instrumental in securing venture capital funding leading to the worldwide launch of its award-winning management solution. At Cabletron, he served as director of product marketing for Cabletron Systems' LAN Switching business unit which generated over $800 million in yearly revenue. Frank received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Texas A&M University and an M.B.A. from New Hampshire College.  back to top

Vice President of Product Management

Salo Fajer

As Vice President of Product Management, Salo Fajer is responsible for NitroSecurity's overall product vision and technology roadmap. He brings over 18 years of network and security management to NitroSecurity. Salo has held technical and management positions with diverse entities such as Enterasys Networks, Domain Technologies, University of Kentucky, and the University of Maryland. He has developed and managed security solutions for both the commercial and private sector, including Enterasys Networks' where he developed their Dynamic Intrusion Response (DIR) solution. Prior to Enterasys, Salo was Deputy Project Manager of research and development for Domain Technologies. Mr. Fajer received a B.S. in Computer and Information Systems from the University of Maryland. back to top

EVP, Federal Systems Division

John Cummings

John brings over 18 years of Federal experience to NitroSecurity and has held previous positions at companies such as Cisco Systems, Akamai, Tandberg and Motorola. John has worked to grow all facets of the Government sales and has served in various key positions from Lead Engineer to Director of Sales while producing revenues exceeding two hundred million dollars. While at Cisco he contributed to the explosive growth of Federal sales, helping to grow the Federal business from $100M to $1B in the span of 5 years. At Tandberg he helped grow the Federal revenue from $12M to $50M over a 3 year period and was instrumental in winning key programs such as the NMCI, USMC VTC and Intelligence Community efforts to bring video to the desktop. John is a graduate of Saint Francis University of PA.   back to top

Corporate Controller

Danielle Keaney

Danielle has over twelve years of experience in corporate finance. Danielle started her career in public accounting with Coopers & Lybrand LLP. She has also worked as a Senior Financial Analyst for Fisher Scientific International, as a Consulting Manager for a Project Control Companies Inc., providing Sarbanes Oxley consulting and forensic accounting, as an Internal Audit Project Manager for Goss International, and was recently a Controller for Tecnomatix, a publicly traded software company in Portsmouth, NH. Danielle is a CPA and received a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration from Stonehill College and a Master's Degree in Business Administration from Suffolk University.  back to top