AWS Select-Tier Tech Partner
Approved Google Ad Technology Provider
Official IAB Member
Soc 1 Type II Certified
James Avery is the founder of Kevel and serves as its CEO. He was the co-founder of TekPub, which helped developers learn from high-quality screencasts. He has been writing code and starting companies for the past 20 years, while also writing books for O'Reilly, Wrox, and Microsoft Press. Additionally, he serves as an advisor to startups including Blockthrough, Lazarus, and more through TechStars MetLife Accelerator.
Chessy West is Kevel's CFO. Prior to Kevel, Chessy was a founding member of United Income, a fintech investment management startup that sold to Capital One. Before that, she was at HelloWallet, a SaaS fintech startup that sold to Morningstar. Chessy holds a Bachelor's in Commerce from the University of Virginia and an MBA From Georgetown University. Outside the office, you can find Chessy spending time with her husband and three kids.
Tim Ewald has spent the last 30 years building distributed software systems to solve problems in a wide range of domains, including image analysis, content management, video processing, databases, and ad tech. He brings his experience as an engineer, architect, and engineering manager to Kevel, where he is responsible for the entire cloud platform. Tim is an author and conference speaker, who holds a Bachelor's in Computer Science from Hampshire College. Outside of the office, he builds furniture using hand tools.
Tushar Kirtane is responsible for leading Kevel's product strategy. Prior to Kevel, Tushar was Director of Revenue for Pocket where he grew revenues through product & partnerships from 0 to over $15M. Tushar holds a Bachelor’s in Biomedical Engineering and an MBA, both from Duke University. Outside of work, Tushar once had the top post on /r/pizza and lives in North Carolina with his wife & two kids.
Sandy Grason has spent her career building lean, agile, high-performing teams. Prior to joining Kevel, Sandy was the Senior Director of Software Development at Charter Communications where she was responsible for the strategic direction and management of the backend video software development. Sandy is a former CEO, business strategist, consultant, published author, serial entrepreneur & mentor, lover of chocolate, movies, skiing & shoes (not necessarily in that order).
Kevel began as Adzerk in 2010 when software engineer James Avery wanted better tech for managing his network’s ads. While initially being JavaScript-based, Kevel quickly focused on server-side API ads as the future of the Internet.
Soon, Kevel offered not just an API ad server, but infrastructure tools for companies to build their own ad products. Now, Kevel's product is a suite of APIs aimed at helping you drive revenue and take back the Internet from the ad tech giants.
Kevel is an inclusive workplace. We are mothers, fathers, veterans, students, LGBTQ, immigrants with one goal in common — we want to help you take back the Internet from the ad tech giants.