Advisory Board

Kenneth N. Chakiris

Advisory Board Member

Ken taught at the University of Iowa and Harvard. He has spent more than 30 years helping make organizations and people more effective.

He has worked successfully with the full range of organization types and sizes, from Fortune 500 companies such as Motorola and Harley Davidson to medium and small businesses. Ken started his career as a research scientist in Mathematics. He has learned to design, teach and implement programs to develop business acumen.

He applies a unique blend of practical business savvy, excellent people skills and a scientific mindset to help solve the challenges confronting organizations. He co-authored the book: Change Management: A Model for Effective Organizational Performance.

Ken’s interests include Computer Algorithms, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. He received his Ph.D. in Mathematics from Columbia University in New York.

Vladan Ognjenovic

Advisory Board Member

Vladan has many years of experience as a Trader, Portfolio Manager and Executive Director at investment banks and hedge funds. He is highly skilled at managing complex trading strategies in multiple asset classes.

He was a Portfolio Manager with Amundi / Pioneer managing a book of $1.6 Billion in high yield and emerging market assets. Prior to that, Vladan was an Executive Director with Nomura / Lehman Brothers in the Debt & Convertibles division.

Vladan was Director of Equity Derivatives with KBC in London. He was a trader with Pendragon Capital Management managing a book of $1 Billion in convertibles. He was also a trader with Paloma Partners managing a book of $500 million in convertible arbitrage.

Vladan holds a Masters of Science in Shipping, Trade and Finance from City University Business School London. He also has a Bachelor of Science in Economics from City University London.

Dejan Matic

Advisory Board Member

Dejan has over 20 years of experience in mathematical modeling, computational fluid dynamics and thermodynamics, and Formula One style racecar engineering. For the past ten years, Dejan has been employed as a Senior Engineering Analyst and a Research Engineer.

Previously, Dejan worked as a Data Acquisition Engineer in a Champ Car racing team where he conducted real-time data analysis and mathematical modeling for the purpose of maximization of racecar performance. In general, his professional interests are related to large data set analysis, time-series data analysis, signal detection, mean-reversion studies and volume-weighted moving average studies with a focus on stock market indices and futures. His professional engagements have been with Siemens AG, Philips Research and General Motors.

Dejan holds a Master of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington where he specialized in computational aerodynamics and a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mechanics from the University of Belgrade, College of Mathematics.

Bijon Pani

Advisory Board Member

Bijon has more than 20 years of experience in the fields of Asset Management, Hedge Funds and Private Equity. His professional engagements have been with prominent investment firms in London including Coller Capital, Eden Financial (now Canaccord) and Barclays Capital.

Bijon is also Visiting Professor of Finance at XLRI Xavier School of Management (Top 3 MBA School in India) where he spends his time in research and teaching with focus in area of portfolio management and investments.

He has extensive experience designing and testing investment strategies, and his research papers have been published in the International Journal of Economics and Finance and CFO (India) Magazine.

Bijon received his Ph.D. in Finance from EDHEC Business School in France. He also holds a Masters in Finance from London Business School, Masters of Science in Computer Science from University of Oxford and an undergraduate in Engineering First Class from Utkal University.

Caslav Miladinovic

Advisory Board Member

Caslav has more than 20 years of professional experience working at the strategic level with software developers, consulting firms and investment companies.

He specializes in designing research projects and building systematic trading strategies, with an emphasis on signal detection and machine learning. Caslav has extensive experience trading global equities, currencies and futures.

As a Data Scientist, Caslav is regularly testing algorithms and strategies. He is proficient with big data sets and deep learning. His more than two decades of trading experience combined with his solid academic background produce high quality and practical results.

He lived and worked in the US and Europe, and speaks four languages fluently.

Caslav holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology from the University of Belgrade and a Master of Science in Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of Amsterdam.

Peter Mazzarese

Advisory Board Member

Peter has more than 20 years of professional experience in capital markets, investment banking, working with technology firms and education companies. Presently, he trains M&A and Capital Markets bankers at the world’s top investment banks.

He has was worked and lived on three continents. Peter has been the Finance Director for a technology firm, the founder of an education startup, in addition to working with major firms such as Charles Schwab and Barclays Capital.

Peter is considered an expert in valuation, modeling, deal structuring and investing. He has delivered global training programs in corporate finance valuations, mergers and acquisitions (M&A) analysis, and created pitchbooks for M&A deals including buy and sell side transactions, leveraged buyouts (LBOs) and equity and debt issuances.

He holds a Masters in Finance from the London Business School and a Bachelor of Science in Finance from Arizona State University. Peter has held Series 7, 63, 66, 9, and 10 US security licenses.

Gaurav Singh

Advisory Board Member

Gaurav has over 20 years of diverse work experience across a successful start-up, a national trade association, a global financial services advisory firm and a global multi-billion-dollar software major.

He has worked with clients from global corporations, consulting firms, private equity funds and investment banks, providing research and analytics for business/investment decisions.

He has engaged extensively with players in the global technology and outsourcing services industry on exploring new markets and services. He has also advised several firms seeking to raise venture/growth capital as well as investors seeking corporate investment and M&A opportunities.

Gaurav has a Masters in Finance from London Business School, UK, and an MBA from Management Development Institute, India.

Jaime Pinto

Advisory Board Member

Jaime has more than 20 years of technology experience. He spent 7 years in the semiconductors industry, and then 13 years in the mobile and internet industries as a serial entrepreneur.

Prior to founding two successful technology start-ups in France and India, Jaime designed integrated circuits for the mobile telecoms, VLSI Technologies, Philips Semiconductors and STMicroelectronics.

Jaime speaks five languages and has lived in six different countries. He feels at ease in multicultural and complex environments. Innovation, entrepreneurship, strategy and competition analysis are his main interests.

Jaime holds an Electronic Engineering degree from Polytecnico Di Torino (Italy), a Micro-Electronics Engineering degree from the Institute of Sciences of Montpellier (France) and an MBA from EDHEC Business School (France).