Team - LifeOmic

Don Brown

Founder & Chief Executive Officer

Don is the most successful serial software entrepreneur in the Midwest. His first company was acquired by EDS in 1986. He founded Software Artistry in 1988 which became the first software company in Indiana ever to go public and was later acquired by IBM for $200 million. Don then founded and served as CEO of Interactive Intelligence which went public in 1999 and was acquired by Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories in 2016 for $1.4 billion.

He is also an active technology and business advisor, investor, and philanthropist. In 2016, Don donated $30 million for the establishment of the Brown Immunotherapy Center at the Indiana University School of Medicine.

Don received a bachelor’s in physics from Indiana University in 1978, a master’s in computer science from IU in 1982, an MD from the Indiana University School of Medicine in 1985, and a master’s in biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University in 2017.

Don is an avid outdoorsman who loves hiking, rock climbing, skiing, and snowshoeing with his eight children – especially in and around Park City, Utah. He was named Sagamore of the Wabash by Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels in 2012.

Chris Hemp

Chief Technology Officer

Chris started coding in high school and built web pages for a local web hosting firm. While Chris was studying at North Carolina State University he joined IBM’s Tivoli Security group as a software engineer, and he continued working at IBM after earning a BS in Computer Science from NCSU in 2003. Chris then moved on to more challenging software development roles at SAS and RSA Security (part of EMC).

In 2013 Chris joined OrgSpan and owned the web client experience. When OrgSpan was acquired by Interactive Intelligence, Chris forged small independent teams and leveraged WebRTC at the core of ININ’s PureCloud initiative. Chris champions software development process improvements that decrease defects and improve update cycles. Chris lives in Raleigh, NC with his wife and three sons.

Matt Lavin

VP of Engineering

Matt has known he was going to be a software engineer for as long as he can remember. He earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science from North Carolina State University in 2001 and immediately joined a small company called OTI. OTI was soon acquired by IBM and Matt stayed for the next 12 years building software development tools and providing a foundation for IBM’s SaaS cloud offerings.

Looking for a return to a small company, Matt joined OrgSpan in 2014 just before it was acquired by Interactive Intelligence, and he re-engineered PureCloud’s chat services to scale from tens of users to thousands in multiple regions. He also has a special place in his heart for automating software tests and deployments. Matt is active in the local DevOps and Node.js Meetups, has created and contributed to numerous open source projects and is thinking about computers almost all the time. He keeps a balance in his life by staying active and is usually training for a half or full marathon.

Steve Bray

VP of Translational Science

In over 15 years of research experience Steve has gained broad expertise in applying genomics to better understand disease. Steve received a BS in biochemistry from Brigham Young University in 2000 and a PhD in genetics from Duke University in 2006. His doctoral research at Duke University and subsequent post-doctoral training at Emory University focused on the genetic control of neurological function including studies of chemosensory function, fragile X syndrome and Alzheimer’s disease.

Additionally, his population genetic analyses uncovered unique genetic characteristics of founder populations. In 2011, Steve joined Eli Lilly and Company as a genetics research scientist utilizing DNA sequencing of tumor samples to better understand the genomic landscape of cancer and associated drug response. In these efforts he helped uncover cancer mutations that predict positive treatment responses or resistance to therapies.

Krisanna Bohall

VP of Operations

Krisanna has over 10 years of experience in the facility management field and is an active member of the International Facility Management Association. Prior to joining LifeOmic she served as Physical Security and MAC Manager for Interactive Intelligence and excelled at providing a safe and secure environment as well as delivering excellent customer service. Krisanna also enjoys spending time outside and exploring new places.

Chad Jarreau

Software Engineer

Chad has a deep interest in the intersection of life sciences and technology. He received a master’s degree in bioengineering in 2010 and bachelor’s degree in Computer Science in 2015 from Louisiana State University. During his undergraduate degree in Computer Science, Chad interned at OrgSpan working on the quality assurance team. Upon graduation, he was hired as a software developer on the Purecloud search team at Interactive Intelligence.

Chad enjoys many outdoor activities including cycling, running, swimming, and skiing. On weekends he can often be found spending time with his family.

Doryan Algarra

VP of Design

Doryan’s love and talent for art was evident at a very early age. Growing up he was constantly drawing and designing, winning awards in middle and high school. After college Doryan combined his interest in technology and art while serving in the United States Marine Corps. It was during that time that he dove into digital design and web design.

After his tour in the Marines Doryan went to work for companies such as Duke Medicine, ReverbNation and Interactive Intelligence where he was constantly expanding his knowledge from web design into product and experience design. Previous to LifeOmic, Doryan was Creative Director for Genesys. In his spare time Doryan enjoys drawing and traveling.

Mark DeLaVergne

Software Architect

Mark earned his bachelor’s degree in Music Business at Anderson University in 2007 while also taking Computer Science courses on the side and building professional web apps throughout college. He then worked as a software engineer at companies in the staffing and learning management spaces and completed various technical certifications along the way. This led to being hired at Interactive Intelligence in 2011 where he built an enterprise iOS app from scratch, earned AWS certifications while working on the PureCloud platform, and generally crafted his skills in a wide range of technologies.

Mark enjoys any outdoor activity, woodworking and spending time with his wife and two children. If asked he’ll also try to melt your face off with a guitar.

Jesse Kinser

CISO

Jesse graduated from the School of Informatics at Indiana University Bloomington with a passion for security and set off to Washington D.C. to work in the Intelligence Community. During her 5 year term in the government sector working on various National Security research and development projects, she also completed her Master’s in Computer Science.

After her tenure in the US Government, Jesse returned to Indiana to take on a role at a global energy company in which she focused on building out modern cloud applications. Her interest in cloud technology led to her next role at Salesforce where she was in charge of hacking the product ecosystem. Jesse has presented her offensive security research and tools at leading conferences around the globe, and has been featured as one of the World’s Top 100 Hackers on NBC News.

Casey Dexter

Principal Product Designer

Growing up Casey always enjoyed art and technology. He has been labeled as a “learner”, or someone who enjoys the learning process. Web design has complemented this trait as it continues to provide him with fresh material.

After graduating with a B.S. in Computer Graphics from Purdue University in 2001, he went to work for Purdue full-time as a graphic designer in the marketing communications office and then later as a web designer in the housing and food services division. While working at Purdue, Casey was introduced to CSS, and that’s when his passion for web design began to blossom. He moved on from Purdue to work for Interactive Intelligence as a designer and spent seven years there working on CaaS Quick Spin and PureCloud products.

When not pushing pixels, Casey enjoys longboarding, playing basketball, hanging out by a campfire, and spending time with his wife and three kids.

Simon Silitonga

Senior Software Engineer

Simon graduated from Stevens in Hoboken, NJ in 2001 with a BS degree in Computer Science. He began his software development career working in the NASDAQ market maker and trading industry for six years.

He and his family moved to Indiana in 2006 and he ultimately ended up at Interactive Intelligence, where he worked for almost 9 years in the analytics team for both the CIC and PureCloud divisions.

In his free time, Simon loves being with his wife and four children, serving at church or on mission trips.

Melissa Webb

Product Director

Melissa brings a customer-centric approach to product management, which ensures she’s always building products people love to use. She excels at uncovering problems, solving them through delightful software solutions, and then maintaining a continuous feedback loop post-delivery to ensure successful adoption.

Before joining LifeOmic, Melissa led products in the spend analytics, sales, procurement, and healthcare spaces. Melissa’s varied background allows her to bring a fresh perspective to the ever-evolving world of health and wellness. Her ability to empathize and uncover patterns across an entire customer base allows the team to provide value to end users at scale.

Melissa earned a BA in Economics and Spanish at DePauw University, and she completed her MBA at Indiana Wesleyan University. She has also received the Pragmatic Marketing certification (PMC-VI). When she’s not working, Melissa enjoys running, listening to music, and traveling the world with her husband and son.

Aymane Nadi

Principal Software Engineer

Aymane graduated in 2013 with two Master degrees, which he obtained from IMT Atlantique (France) in Telecommunications and Computer Sciences, and from Ball State University in Information and Communication Sciences. Aymane started his career at Interactive Intelligence, where he worked on various teams for both the CIC and PureCloud platforms. He then joined PactSafe and led the development of their new customer-facing web application.

In his free time, Aymane enjoys soccer, playing with his son Ilyas, and working on personal projects.

Rob Snyder

Principal Software Engineer

Rob first became interested in programming as a teenager. He started off writing text-based adventure games in Visual Studio and found it fueled both the creative and logical parts of his mind. He went on to graduate from DePauw University with a degree in computer science and has worked at Kaplan Compliance, Aprimo, and Bluelock.

When not in front of a computer screen, Rob enjoys hiking in the mountains and playing ultimate frisbee. He is always looking to learn new things.

Josh Dowdle

Senior Mobile Software Engineer

Several years ago when Josh was living in Texas, he was looking for a job that would get him back to Utah, provide tuition money for the pursuit of a planned degree in Economics, and (most importantly) needed cash for an engagement ring. Through his software developer older brother, Josh found that opportunity in the IT department where his brother worked, and Josh gained experience building internal web applications. That internship, in a field Josh had never considered before, made it clear that software development should be the focus of his career plans.

Prior to LifeOmic, Josh developed various software; his most recent job was coding applications for emergency dispatch (i.e. 911) centers.

Josh loves spending free time with his wife (the target of the aforementioned engagement ring) and their two young boys. Together they enjoy exploring nearby parks, playing games, and reading books.

Adam Cole

Technical Director of Security Operations

Adam graduated with his Bachelor’s in Information Assurance and Security in 2016, and since then he’s become more and more passionate about stopping adversaries. Starting out as a systems administrator for a small local business, Adam quickly rose to be a cybersecurity engineer for a national software company. He also believes in the information security community and is involved in multiple open projects — the most recent being an ongoing threat aggregation and monitoring project surrounding COVID-19.

Adam spends most of his time with his wife and son. He enjoys reading, hiking the hills of Indiana’s Brown County, building furniture, and traveling whenever possible.

Elaine Algarra

Customer Experience Manager

Elaine helps craft user-centered experiences and enjoys collaborating with customers. She has an undergraduate degree in Three Dimensional Design and a graduate degree in Art and Design Education. She joined LifeOmic in 2020 after a 24-year career in K-12 education, where she worked in England, The Netherlands, and the USA.

Elaine has been awarded two National Silver Medals at the Scholastic Art Awards, with some of her student’s work on display in the U.S. Capitol. In her spare time, Elaine enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, learning new skills online, and creating art in various media.

Swain Molster

Senior Software Engineer

Swain is a software engineer with a passion for building products focused on people. After graduating from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with a B.S. in Computer Science in 2017, he went to work building iOS apps on behalf of CapTech Consulting.

After his time at CapTech, he spent nine months backpacking solo across the west coast of South America. After returning, he moved back to North Carolina, and joined the team at LifeOmic.

When Swain’s not working, he’s probably playing guitar!

Alejandro Corredor

Senior Software Engineer

Alejandro has always been passionate about designing and building things. He also has always been passionate about tech, extending from his love of games. So, after studying Architecture for a year, he decided to switch majors to combine all three of them. He majored in Computer Science and received a Bachelor’s degree from Florida International University in 2017. Shortly after, he joined Xevo, a Seattle based company that built software for the automotive and cruise industry. During his time there, he worked as a full-stack engineer building web and mobile apps. Later on, he started working at Univision Communications. He worked on the company’s tech team, which was in charge of developing the company’s digital experience. After two years there, he joined the team at LifeOmic as the first remote engineer on the SkillSpring team. He is based in Miami, FL.

Alejandro is originally from Venezuela, so in his free time you’ll definitely find him watching or playing soccer. He also loves gaming and snowboarding; he tries to find colder places than Miami for the latter, so he is always up for recommendations.

Richard Neidermyer

Software Architect

Richard has been coding since high school, self-taught, creating DOS programs through trial and error. This interest lead to the opportunity to take his high school’s first programming course offerings. Set onto a path that cumulated in completing a Computer Science BS degree at East Stroudsburg University and his master’s from Purdue University (@IUPUI campus).

Still an undergrad, Richard joined Interactive Intelligence as an intern creating business communications solutions eventually specializing in telephony and media processing. He enjoyed a 20 year journey with Interactive and Genesys covering a full spectrum of engineering roles. Richard’s last role before joining LifeOmic was as an Architect and Senior Development Director leading a group in developing a highly scalable cloud architecture for business communications.

Richard lives in Pennsylvania with his wife, three kids and an unruly dog. He enjoys coaching youth baseball and staying busy with his family and a variety of outdoor activities.

Bruce Glazier

Senior Mobile Software Engineer

Bruce is a Senior Mobile Infrastructure Engineer with a unique career trajectory beginning as an Associate Electrical Engineer after graduating from New Hampshire Technical Institute in 2011 with an A.S. Degree in Electronic Engineering Technology.

Soon after starting his first job, he noticed that much of the tooling and equipment was very dated and there was a lot of capacity for innovation. This is where his passion for streamlining and automation began. Bruce spent the next 8 years with Exacom improving the efficiency of development, staging, installation, and customer support. He eventually realized that he wanted to work with modern platforms and tooling which led him to WillowTree and several years later, LifeOmic.

Outside of work you will find Bruce hanging with his family, working on DIY projects, watching tv and playing PC games. He also enjoys cooking, eating, hiking, camping, and sitting around a fire.

Teddy Sterne

Senior Software Engineer

Teddy joined LifeOmic in early 2021 as a fullstack developer. He is enthusiastic about software development and is always looking for new ways to learn and to enhance his skills. He is a frequent contributor on Stack Overflow and enjoys giving presentations on software technologies and concepts.

Teddy graduated from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology in 2015 with a B.S. in Computer Science and Software Engineering.

After college, Teddy worked as a software consultant specializing in the development of user-centered web applications. As a consultant, Teddy learned how to quickly switch between new technologies and paradigms giving him a broad set of skills he uses to create reliable solutions.

In his free time, Teddy enjoys spending time with his wife Sarah and their border collie Nic, playing videogames, doing jigsaw puzzles, watching movies, working on side projects, and socializing with friends.

Schaffer Stewart

Software Engineer

Schaffer first started coding when he joined a robotics team as a kid. Before joining LifeOmic, he worked for an Electric Cooperative and IBM. At IBM he worked on blockchain applications and cloud infrastructure, specializing in the development of cloud capacity management software.

Schaffer is very passionate about Civic Tech and improving his community through technology. He was a Code for America Brigade Captain at Code for Greensboro before leading an open-source NC campaign finance project at the Open Raleigh Brigade.

In his free time he enjoys collecting and listening to vinyl, cooking, baking and hiking.

Jenna Dahl

Senior Growth Marketing Manager

Jenna is a Florida native who earned her Bachelor’s in Materials Science & Engineering at the University of Florida. While applying for PhD programs in biomedical engineering, she took a hard pivot and instead decided to explore a Master’s in Business Administration through a partnership with UF’s College of Engineering. Jenna completed her MBA in 2014 with concentrations in Marketing, Social Entrepreneurship, and Strategy.

Shortly after, Jenna migrated north to Raleigh, NC where she spent 7 years at ROI Revolution, a premier digital marketing agency in the Triangle. She worked as a Senior Advertising Analyst supporting clients across dozens of industries before shifting into an Operations Manager role, where she orchestrated client success programs and special projects for the agency.

Jenna has dedicated the better part of the past decade to coaching and competing in the sport of ultimate frisbee at youth, college, club, and semi-professional levels. She currently serves on the steering committee for the Raleigh Radiance, North Carolina’s Premier Ultimate League team.

Jenna shares her life with her partner TJ and their two rescue hounds. She enjoys visiting friends in cities across the US, traveling to National Parks, listening to podcasts, curating her pollinator garden, playing pickleball, and adopting new obsessions (most recently, Formula 1 racing).

Matt Nicolls

Software Engineer

Matt graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2014 with a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering and a Minor in Computer Science. Since then, he’s been the first employee at 3 different SaaS startups with domains in ASR, computer vision, and law. His responsibilities focused on the full development and creation of the product including frontend, backend, devops, product management, and anything else needed to make great products. These companies also allowed him to see the world and live in Los Angeles, California; Darmstadt, Germany; and Vienna, Austria.

In his free time, Matt likes to run, lift weights, play ultimate frisbee, play board games, play computer games, learn new things, and spend time with family and friends.

Shawn Zhu

Principal Software Engineer

Shawn is enthusiastic about Linux, databases and distributed systems starting from resolving material manufacturing problems by computer simulation. After graduating from Tsinghua University in 2007, he joined IBM as a software engineer to work on software development including application runtimes, cloud computing infrastructures and SaaS tools.

Prior to LifeOmic, Shawn’s passion on data drives his focus to open source data analytics from running large scale applications. He’s active in open source communities, Stack Overflow and enjoys collaborating with developers all over the world.

In his spare time, Shawn loves exploring state parks with his family.

Evan Peterson

Machine Learning Engineer

Evan is a machine learning engineer with a background in software development, data science, and analytics. He began his education studying data analytics in a business context, completing a bachelor’s in information systems from Utah State University. After time in the industry as a data scientist and full stack software developer, he completed a master’s in computer science at Brigham Young University where he emphasized in machine learning. He loves applied mathematics, statistics, machine learning, and deep learning, and has built productized machine learning applications in the natural language processing and conversational AI domains.

When he is not working, Evan loves to learn, hike, eat, talk to his neighbors, and spend time with his wife and son.

Ronnie Nelson

Senior Visual Designer

Ronnie is a creative professional with a passion for all things design and marketing. After graduating Portland State University with a degree in Communications she put her love of design and content creation to work in several industries including fintech, sports, and most recently at a tech startup that offered conversational AI platforms. Prior to joining LifeOmic she had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects in both marketing and UX design. A life-long learner, she recently completed a Google UX design certification.

When she’s not behind a computer screen she enjoys getting outside on a skateboard, snowboard, or paddle board and bouldering in one of the many gyms Portland has to offer. She also loves traveling to sunny locations and spending time at the Oregon coast with her family and goofy lab.

Ryan Mee

Software Engineer

Ryan is a builder who enjoys the process of working through problems and creating something that can be used by others to improve their lives. His career began with an internship at the Bronx Zoo which led him into a Zoology program at North Carolina State University. After graduating he pivoted to software development and returned to NCSU where he completed his Master of Computer Science program in 2018.

When Ryan is looking to have some fun or relax he tries to get out on trips (Hiking, Snowboarding, Road Trips, etc.), catch a game with some friends (Wolfpack, Mets, Knicks, Jets, Rangers…its built character), or just kick back and watch some TV or get in some gaming.

Samantha Aran

Software Engineer

Sam has always had a dual passion for visual arts and math/science. She’s thrilled to have built a career that makes use of both halves of her brain, and loves being the bridge between technical and design teams.

Starting her career as a slot game artist in Las Vegas, Sam transitioned to UI/UX design when she moved to Seattle, and now works as a front end developer.

When Sam isn’t programming, you can find her doing a variety of handicrafts at home, playing with her dog Daisy, or getting outside to enjoy a run, rain or shine.

Nick Gabry

Bioinformatics Engineer

Nick is a broad range bioinformatician, data scientist, and software developer fascinated by the information we can gain about dynamic biological processes from computational workflows.

After receiving a BS in biopsychology from the University of Michigan in 2017, he went on to earn an MS in bioinformatics and PhD in biology/ecology from Indiana State University in 2023. During his graduate career Nick developed a next-generation sequencing metabardocing workflow and python-based processing toolkit to increase experimental efficacy and efficiency. He then utilized this to perform dietary profiling and habitat resource gauging for research on polymorphic reproductive phenotypes in a species of bird. Aside from his personal interest in avian models, Nick played a key role in the design, execution, and analysis of other NGS projects ranging in both scope (ChIP-seq, RNAseq, metabarcoding) and instrumentation (Ion Torrent, Illumina, PacBio). Passionate about health, science, and all-things sequencing, his main focus now lies in developing tools and transforming data to facilitate research and generate positive impact in a human oriented fashion.

Nick lives in Indianapolis with his wife Courtney and dog Frankie, and can most likely be found outside birding, running, or hiking in his free time.

Tom Callis

Principal Scientist

Tom is a geneticist who is passionate about improving healthcare. He has worked in the clinical genomics industry for over a decade in scientific and commercial roles focused on making genetic information broadly available to clinicians for hundreds of thousands of patients.

Tom received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he studied the regulation of gene expression in the heart during development and disease. His later research has primarily focused on improving variant interpretation and demonstrating the utility of clinical genetic testing.

Tom lives with his wife and two children in the mountains of North Carolina and enjoys hiking, kiteboarding, and running.

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