Helping brands take back the Internet since 2010

James Avery is the founder and CEO of Kevel. Prior to Kevel, he co-founded TekPub, a platform that delivered high-quality screencasts for developers. Over the past 20 years, James has built multiple startups, written code across tech stacks, and authored books for O’Reilly, Wrox, and Microsoft Press. He is also an investor and advisor to multiple startups and serves on the board of MuukTest.

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 is Kevel’s CTO, and 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.

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).

Dylan Hulser is Kevel’s Vice President of Retail Media, bringing over nine years of experience on the company’s commercial team. His journey at Kevel has spanned roles across Sales, Solutions, and Customer Success, including the creation of the Solutions Architecture team. Today, Dylan leads Kevel’s retail media charge, connecting brands and retailers with consumers through innovative ad serving solutions. He holds a degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Ithaca College and began his career in digital media buying for Procter & Gamble brands at MediaVest (now Spark). Dylan later joined Reddit where he played a key role in advertising strategy, operations, and monetization. Outside of work, Dylan enjoys exploring new restaurants, traveling, and spending quality time with his family.

As Vice President of Global Sales at Kevel, Oscar leads the company’s global sales strategies, focusing on driving revenue growth and expanding market presence. With over a decade of experience in sales leadership, he has held key positions at Intercom, Facebook, and CareerBuilder, consistently surpassing targets and building strong client relationships. Outside of his professional life, Oscar enjoys staying active through gym workouts, running, and Peloton sessions. He is also an avid golfer and recently became a father, enjoying quality time with his newborn daughter and wife, Ashley, at their home in Chicago.

Pierrick Joliveau is Kevel’s Vice President of Customer Success, bringing 20 years of expertise in solutions architecture and customer success within global B2B tech startups and scaleups. As one of CRITEO’s earliest employees, Pierrick played a key role in its 2013 IPO and the launch of its $300M Retail Media platform. With a diverse skill set spanning cloud architecture, retail media, generative AI, machine learning, and operational excellence, Pierrick has also made his mark as an entrepreneur, founding multiple companies, including a successful digital marketing agency for small businesses.

Martin Jensen is the VP of Partnerships at Kevel and the founder of Nexta, an AI-driven ad platform acquired by Kevel in 2025. Since founding Nexta in 2017, he has consistently focused on helping media companies, marketplaces, and retailers drive revenue growth. At Nexta, Jensen championed a strategic partnership model, working with publishers and marketplaces around the world to create tailored omnichannel advertising solutions with proven impact. Before his time at Nexta, Jensen built up his expertise in programmatic advertising at Adform. Today at Kevel, he draws on his extensive experience and passion for innovation to lead partnership efforts that help brands build transformative ad solutions and achieve sustainable long-term growth.

Jesper Urban is the VP of Engineering at Kevel, having joined the company through its acquisition of Nexta -- a company he co-founded and grew from a two person startup to a global scale-up with clients across Europe and North America. With more than 21 years of experience in software engineering and product management -- including 16 years in B2B SaaS and ad tech -- Jesper brings deep technical and strategic expertise to his role. Before founding Nexta, he served as VP of Product at Adform, where he led the development of programmatic products and helped scale the company into Europe’s largest ad tech platform. Outside of work, he enjoys sailing, Danish summers, and spending quality time with his loved ones.

Seasoned leader with experience working in product, commercial, operational & marketing functions. Neil has scaled operations teams globally, defined & redefined product vision and roadmaps to meet market needs. Neil enjoys working as part of a close leadership team and balancing product roadmaps, with revenue growth, the required people, and team growth. Neil works from defining long range vision, through planning to launch and establishing the new business norms and continuous improvement.

Leslie Pierce-Connor has spent her career bootstrapping legal functions at startups, helping to build out the first-ever legal department at multiple growth-stage companies. She brings intensely practical experience in both legal operations and legal practice to the organization, with an emphasis on developing scalable, repeatable processes. Leslie also provides legal consulting services to charitable organizations. When not working, Leslie is an outdoor enthusiast, a calligrapher, a foodie, and a mom to both a two year old son and a six year old labrador retriever.

Mike Kohn leads the People and HR function at Kevel. Mike’s foundational experience as an HR Business Partner and as a human capital consultant at Deloitte launched him into his roles as a People executive and leadership coach at various scaling organizations. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Mike is passionate about building healthy, inclusive cultures where people can bring their whole selves to thrive. Beyond work, he spends time at spin classes, running, playing board games, hiking, and watching musical theater.

Paulo has been building products for the digital marketing and advertising industry for over 18 years. After completing his BSc in Computing from London Met, he started his career developing products at companies such as Acxiom and Wunderloop – Europe’s first behavioral targeting technology. Paulo later founded ShiftForward, where he launched products such as the Private CDP and the Ad Forecaster and served as CEO, completing its exit to Velocidi in 2018 and later to Kevel in 2022. Paulo also helps tech startups as a board advisor and as a mentor in the Founders Founders community which he helped create in Porto, Portugal.

Kate Gadzinski is the VP of Revenue Operations at Kevel, bringing over a decade of experience in tech and a unique background at the intersection of enablement and operations -- two functions she believes are most powerful when aligned. She began her career as an Executive Assistant to multiple senior leaders, including CEO -- an experience she describes as her “on-the-job MBA.” Since then, Kate has built a reputation for tackling business challenges through data-driven strategy, smart process design, and a focus on performance enablement. Outside the office, Kate loves to bake and experiment with new recipes. She’s an avid fan of Claire Saffitz’s creations and is always looking for her next kitchen project.

Matt has been an investor in and operator of early stage technology companies for more than 20 years. At Commerce Ventures, he leads the firm's retail-tech investing and has led investments in FleetOps, Grabango, Kevel, Mulberry, Pensa Systems, Rally, Simon Data, Syte and Trove. Commerce Ventures invested in Kevel in 2020 and Matt has worked closely with them since.

Philip joined Fulcrum in 2007 as the first Analyst. It was a special time to join as they were a startup themselves, and the experience growing with and alongside the firm has taught him a great deal. He have built a culture at Fulcrum that goes beyond business and has truly become a family. With the firm’s operational experience, he meets his teams with solutions, understanding what it truly takes to scale.

Tim Huntley graduated in 1989 from North Carolina State University with a BS in Computer Science, and is the former CEO of Ganymede Software, a venture-backed start-up he founded in 1995 with three friends from IBM.  Ganymede developed two award winning products, Chariot and Pegasus, for testing and measuring the performance of applications running over enterprise computer networks and was acquired in 2000 by Mission Critical/NetIQ, Following the acquisition by NetIQ, Tim was involved in a wide range of M&A, due diligence, and investment activities. These included the integration of WebTrends, the purchases of Marshal Software and SQL Probe from Subquery Innovations, and investments in @Stake and Lumigent Technologies.At present, Tim is the CEO of Centervention, a provider of social emotional learning interventions for students in grades K-8 and has been a member of the board of directors at Kevel since 2015.

Neil Callahan is a Founder and Managing Partner at Pilot Growth Equity and based in New York City. Neil has over 25 years of technology investing and operating experience and is a successful bootstrapped software entrepreneur. He has advised many of the world’s leading technology companies on strategy, product management, sales & marketing, infrastructure and operations. Prior to Pilot Growth, Neil was the Co-founder and CEO of Sitaro LTD.,which was acquired by CoActive Marketing Group. At CoActive, Neil was a member of the executive team as the President of the Digital Business Unit and as the EVP of Business Development. While at CoActive, Neil expanded the client portfolio into the automotive, technology, financial services and sports & apparel verticals. Prior to co-founding Sitaro, Neil was a Vice President of Marketing Technology & Strategy for Young & Rubicam / Wunderman. Neil began his career with Andersen Consulting as a software developer and an engagement manager, where he created technology solutions for the Fortune 50.

Jim loves what he does because he works with the same kinds of companies he's been working on for years. As a leader of these organizations, he wakes up every day thinking about how he can help his portfolio CEOs grow their business. Outside of Fulcrum, he is an active member of Atlanta’s entrepreneurial community. He is also a board member of Venture Atlanta and UNICEF Southeast Region.

Mark Mannino is a seasoned executive with over two decades of leadership experience in advertising technology, digital commerce, and data-driven marketing. Mark has held leadership roles at the forefront of transformational shifts in advertising — pioneering programmatic advertising at MediaMath, helping shape the rise of retail media during his nine years at Amazon and as COO of Flywheel, and now leading the next wave of innovation as President at Vidmob. At Vidmob, Mark is focused on helping brands and agencies turn their creative into a competitive advantage by unlocking the power of creative data. Known for building high-performing global teams, Mark has a proven track record of driving innovation at scale while maintaining a sharp commercial focus. His expertise spans SaaS, services, and General Management, with leadership across sales, operations, product, and engineering.In addition to his role at Vidmob, Mark serves serves as an Executive in Residence at Progress Partners. He holds an MBA from The Wharton School and is a graduate of Villanova University. A proud New York City Marathon finisher, Mark jokes that he ran for 2.5 times longer than the winner.