Leadership
Meet the leaders of the fourth industrial revolution
Brandon Cooper
Co-Founder & Chief Executive Officer
Brandon has over 15 years of experience in Information Technology and software/hardware support. Brandon is a specialist in Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain technology. He studied Marketing and Merchandising Management at Michigan State University. Prior to Aphid, Brandon was a Senior Technology Advisor with Apple. Commonly known as "Machine Man", Brandon has been featured on Forbes, CBS, NBC, and more.
Shashank Pandya
Chief Technology Officer
Shashank Pandya is an entrepreneur and technologist who has co-founded multiple early-stage startups and served as CTO, raising substantial funding. With dual masters and two patents, he specializes in distributed systems, AI, computer vision, and machine learning. Shashank builds high-performing teams that deliver innovative solutions for startups and enterprises through rapid prototyping and digital transformation.
Charles Sanchez
Chief Operating Officer
Charles holds an Economics degree from Princeton University and was a Riordan Fellow MBA at UCLA Anderson. He has deep operations experience, implementing policies and streamlining operations for businesses ranging from tech startups to Fortune 100 companies enabling them to grow at a rapid pace. In his most recent role, Charles led a business transformation for an ad tech company enabling them to develop the infrastructure to onboard several noteworthy clients such as Facebook, Uber, and Tesla.
Sofia Esteves Carvalho
Chief Financial Officer
Sofia holds a degree in Biochemistry from Loyola Marymount University and holds graduate degrees in Biomedical Engineering and Finance (MBA) from Pepperdine University. Sofia is an accomplished finance officer, with a comprehensive background in leading complex healthcare and technology projects and strategic financial management. Sofia excels in financial modeling and cost analysis to drive informed decision-making and fiscal prudence.
Shri Ramani
Co-Founder & Business Development Executive
Shri is a co-founder of Aphid. Shri is primarily responsible for overseeing the growth of the Aphid ecosystem by facilitating strategic partnerships with enterprise companies and onboarding developers. He was previously with Krossover Inc, a NY based sports analytics company, before their acquisition, as part of the Head of Operations in India, where he helped scale the company from a team of 20 to over 250, and implemented policies and procedures for streamlining operations required for rapid growth. Shri holds a B.A. in Finance and an M.S. in Accounting from Michigan State University.
Sean Ross
Co-Founder & Systems Administrator
Sean Ross manages the systems for mobile and desktop application development. With approximately 8 different programming languages under his belt, he has 6 years of software development experience and over five years of technical chat support experience. Prior to his role at Aphid, Sean was a programmer and technical support agent at Apple for six years.
Evan Gottschalk
Web3 Engineering Lead
Evan is a blockchain architect and machine learning engineer. He graduated with a degree in Mathematics at SUNY Binghamton in 2012. Prior to joining Aphid, he worked as Blockchain Architect at EcoVerse, leading their developer team and building their wallet-less NFT marketplace for fan collectibles.
Mike Gamburian
Sr. Enterprise Systems Engineer
Mike oversees Aphid’s Enterprise platform and infrastructure, addressing continuous improvement of SAAS products, ML models, IoT, and business metrics while executing technical management of engineers to ensure Aphid’s architecture is well maintained. Mike has over 7 years of enterprise experience in management, software development, IoT, machine learning, python, networking, workflow automation, and IT. He has earned his Bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from Cal State Northridge.
Aditya Parikh
Project Management Officer
A graduate from Arizona State University, Aditya Parikh is an MBA/ MSBA data driven professional with 3+ years of successful executive management and technical project management experience. Aditya has been an integral part in the development of 2 fast paced growth startups within the Aviation and ecommerce sectors building system processes and strategic planning initiatives which led to the procurement of large accounts including American Airlines and SpaceX.
Kaila Thompson
Content Marketing Manager
Kaila attended Marshall University, where she majored in Sports Management and Marketing. Her marketing endeavors have served her well as she’s worked for the late Congressman Elijah Cummings on Capitol Hill, Senator Chris Van Hollen's campaign, and the late Michael E. Busch as Speaker of the Maryland General Assembly.Kaila continues to use her marketing skills to help corporations such as the Baltimore Ravens, Verdi Sparkletini Wine, MVMT Jewelry Collection, and countless small business owners.
Argishti Ghadimi
UI Designer
Argishti earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art from California State University, Northridge where he focused on graphic and UX/UI design. With a demonstrated history of working in visual communications and UX/UI, Argishti wants to help design a more user-focused future. Argishti is also an award-winning artist in the LA area and specializes in Murals, Pop Art, and Abstract Art.
Marcus Banks
Client Success Manager
Marcus holds a BA in Mass Communications from Paine College and MFA in Creative Writing from Full Sail University.
Kenneth Goodwin
Advisor
Kenneth is a widely sought-after executive with global banking and capital markets experience – achieving results in venture capital, digital transformation, big data, innovation, and technology and risk management. He advises large multinationals and mid-level capital firms and executives in executing multi-billion (USD) business development and institutional partnerships agreements in Asia, Europe, North American.
Amit Joshi
Web3 Advisor
Amit is a serial entrepreneur with 14 years of professional experience in business strategy & product management. He has been in the blockchain and crypto space for 8+ years. During this time not only has he co-founded 3 projects building on use cases in payments, healthcare, DeFi, RWA, supply chain on multiple blockchains but he has also contributed to product & ecosystem strategy for numerous Web3 projects such as Polkadot, Kusama, among others.