Our Team
The Faction Team is comprised of a group of people that are passionate about restoring security and privacy to our networked world. We are just starting out. If you are interested in joining in our mission, please contact us!
Dave Rand
Co-Founder, CEO & CTO
Dave Rand is a Silicon Valley technologist, serial entrepreneur, CEO and CTO with a 30 year track record of successful products and patents spanning networking, privacy and cybersecurity.
Geoff Halstead
Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer
Geoff Halstead is a visionary entrepreneur, product strategist and Chief Product Officer for Faction who has conceived, built and grown multiple disruptive products across digital media, traffic information, indoor navigation and cybersecurity.
Ben Quinones
Chairman
Ben Quinones is a successful attorney, serial entrepreneur, investor and advisor to high velocity start-ups. Ben is currently CEO of Pakal Technologies, Inc. Ben provides Strategic Advisory and Board services to numerous startups at various stages and arts groups in San Francisco. Ben graduated from Yale University and Stanford Law, and has been advising, forming, investing in and running tech companies in Silicon Valley since 1995.
Dave Waldek
CFO
Over thirty years of financial experience across multiple industries, with both publicly held and private companies. Co-founded CFO Advisory Group providing strategic financial and business advisory services for high growth companies.
Dan O’Sullivan
Co-Founder and VP, Business Development
As an executive, manager, management consultant, investor, Board member and mentor, Dan has been actively involved in founding, funding, and building start-ups and early-stage technology companies for over 25 years.
Les Wilson
VP Enterprise Channels & OEM Partnerships
Les has vast experience and success in maximizing growth for both large and early stage companies across Silicon IP, EDA tools, 3D wafer scale semiconductors, SoC marketing and business development, as well as a tremendous depth of application knowledge spanning consumer, computing, communications, industrial, CyberSecurity, IoT and medical markets.
Chris Yakabe
Partner
Chris Yakabe is a retired military and commercial pilot with over 40 years of aviation and engineering experience. He has held various positions as a NASA contract advisor on manned and unmanned aerial systems. Additionally, he was the military liaison to the former DHS Center of Innovation: a unique public-private partnership to leverage and adapt advanced cybersecurity technologies for government use.
Darren Lipschitz
Director of Product Management
With extensive experience in developing product and marketing strategies, along with a strong background in product development for online software solutions, Darren is a seasoned professional in the tech industry. He has a proven track record in shaping product strategies that align with the digital landscape and has a passion for nurturing startups from their very beginning.
Advisory Board
Chuck Stormon
Chairman
Chuck Stormon, is a eight-time (8x) serial entrepreneur and prominent figure in the fields of artificial intelligence and venture capital. Stormon left his PhD studies to found Coherent Research which commercialized his chip architecture for accelerating AI, which was acquired by Cypress Semiconductor. Stormon then co-founded Coherent Networks which combined neural networks and expert (rule-based) systems with human-in-the-loop processing at scale in one of the first commercially successful hybrid AI solutions, which transformed the electric utility industry. Coherent Networks was acquired by Osmose Corp. Stormon’s next venture was Steleus, which was acquired by Tekelec (NASDAQ: TKLC), and was subsequently acquired by Oracle. Stormon cofounded StartFast Ventures while continuing to be an entrepreneur/operator in a series of businesses. Stormon earned his Bachelor's and Master’s degrees in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University.
Scott Robidoux
Scott Robidoux is the Chief Operating Officer (COO) for Assured Information Security (AIS), where he leads day to day operations and guides strategic growth initiatives expanding AIS’s diversification of its capability and technology offerings. Prior to joining AIS in 2018, Scott worked with Booz Allen Hamilton (BAH). As the Principal/Director and Business Operations Manager for the Rome, NY office, he successfully led the BAH Air Force Command, Control, Communications and Cyber Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (C4ISR) and Cyberspace team through unprecedented growth providing technical support and solutions to the Air Force, Air Force Research Laboratory, and National Intelligence Communities.
Previously, Robidoux completed 22 years of a combination of active duty/reserve military service in the United States Navy, retiring in 2002.
He currently serves on the SUNY Polytechnic Institute College of Engineering Advisory Committee and the Masonic Medical Research Institute (MMRI) Community Action Committee.
Friends of Faction
Chase Cunningham
A retired Navy Chief cryptologist, Cunningham previously held leadership roles at Forrester Research and Ericom Software. As a thought leader, Cunningham is passionate about helping organizations improve their cybersecurity posture. He is a sought-after speaker and consults with governments and enterprises worldwide on security strategy and Zero Trust practices. Cunningham has authored several books, including "Cyber Warfare - Truth, Tactics, and Strategies."
James Roberts, Esq.
James works in Europe and the US with venture capital funds, scaleups & startups, large corporations and accelerators on both strategic and legal matters, largely on disruptive tech such as AI.
Scott Hanson
Scott is an experienced physician with with a broad range of experience and success working in public and private healthcare systems. He is an active participant and leader with the Maine Medical Association and passionate about pioneering technology that makes HIPAA compliance, privacy and security easier for care providers and their patients to use.
Jason Ciment
Jason is the Co-founder CEO of GetVisible digital marketing agency offering website, SEO, PPC & social media visibility since 2005. Jason also hosts the podcast "The Be #1 Online podcast guy"
Lauren Groff
Lauren is the CEO and founder of Groff NetWorks LLC. With over 15 years experience serving hundreds of clients in the greater New York area with computer and network consulting services. Lauren is also an advisory board member at Nerdwise.