LIFE SCIENCES - Key Persons


André Hentz

Job Titles:
  • Chief Administrative Officer
  • Chief Transformation Officer at BigBear.Ai
André Hentz is the Chief Transformation Officer at BigBear.ai where he drives organizational improvements and operational efficiency and oversees risk management, facilities, and integration efforts. He also serves as a member of the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association (AFCEA) Homeland Security Committee where he helps develop new ideas regarding challenges and capabilities that impact government, industry, and academia. Previously, he was the Chief Operating Officer at NuWave Solutions, Deputy Under Secretary (Acting) for Science and Technology at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Chief Scientist at S&T, and Senior Leader and Science Advisor to the Under Secretary.

Carolyn Blankenship - Chief Legal Officer

Job Titles:
  • General Counsel
  • General Counsel and Secretary of BigBear.Ai
Carolyn Blankenship is the General Counsel and Secretary of BigBear.ai. Carolyn leads the legal function at BigBear.ai, providing strategic input to drive the organization's growth and long-term success. Carolyn has over thirty years' experience advising companies on achieving business objectives in an emerging technology environment and joins BigBear.ai from Thomson Reuters, where she worked since 2001 and was most recently General Counsel, Product & Innovation. Carolyn's practice has focused on various legal aspects of artificial intelligence, and she has lectured on this subject at Princeton, Penn Law and the Practicing Law Institute, among others. She is also an Observer to the Intellectual Property Subcommittee of the Global Partnership on Artificial Intelligence (GPAI). Carolyn earned her Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard College and her J.D from the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law at Arizona State University.

Dorothy D. Hayes

Job Titles:
  • Director
  • Member of the Audit Committee
  • Account Circle / Audit
Ms. Hayes joined our Board of Directors as a director in December 2020. Ms. Hayes has served on the board of directors of GigInternational1 since its inception in February 2021. She was appointed as a director of Intevac, Inc. in June 2019, where she currently serves as the Chairwoman of the Audit Committee of Intevac, Inc. From 2003 until her retirement in 2008, Ms. Hayes served as Corporate Controller and Chief Accounting Officer and later as Chief Audit Executive at Intuit, a business and financial software company. From 1999 until 2003, Ms. Hayes served as Vice President, Corporate Controller and Chief Accounting Officer of Agilent Technologies, a public research, development and manufacturing company. From 1989 until 1999, Ms. Hayes served as Assistant Corporate Controller, financial executive of the Measurement Systems Organization and Chief Audit Executive of Hewlett Packard, a multinational information technology company. From 1980 until 1989, Ms. Hayes served in various management functions including Vice President, Corporate Controller of Apollo Computer, a computer hardware and software company. Ms. Hayes currently serves as nonexecutive Chairwoman of the Board of Directors at First Tech Federal Credit Union, a cooperative financial institution. She previously chaired the Audit Committee of the Vantagepoint Funds, a captive mutual fund series of ICMA Retirement Corporation, and the Audit Committee for Range Fuels, a privately held biofuels company. Ms. Hayes currently serves as a board member or trustee of various non-profit and philanthropic organizations including: Encore.org, Center for Excellence in Nonprofits and the Computer History Museum. Ms. Hayes holds an MS in Finance from Bentley University (1987), and received both a MS in Business Administration (1976) and a BA in Elementary Education (1972) from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She maintains the NACD Board Leadership Fellow credential and has been a several-time attendee at Stanford Directors College. She participates actively in Women Corporate Directors (WCD), the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD), Financial Executives International (FEI), and the Athena Alliance. She is a Senior Fellow of the American Leadership Forum-Silicon Valley, was a recipient of the YWCA TWIN award (1986) and was named to AGENDA Magazine's Diversity 100-Top Diverse Board Candidates (2010).

Dr. Avi Katz

Job Titles:
  • Director
  • Member of the Compensation Committee
  • Compensation
  • GigCapital4 's Executive Chairman
Dr. Katz co-founded GigCapital4, together with Dr. Raluca Dinu, who is also GigCapital4's Chief Executive Officer, President and Secretary, and has served as the Executive Chairman of the GigCapital4 Board of Directors since its inception in December 2020. In October 2017, Dr. Katz founded GigCapital Global's first SPAC, GigCapital1, Inc. ("GIG1"), which acquired Kaleyra. Dr. Katz has served as the Executive Chairman of Kaleyra, Inc. since the consummation of the transaction. Prior to that time, he was also the Chief Executive Officer and Secretary of GIG1. In March 2019, Dr. Katz founded GigCapital2, Inc. ("GIG2"), which entered into business combination agreements with each of UpHealth Holdings, Inc. and Cloudbreak Health, LLC. The business combination closed on June 9, 2021, and GIG2 was renamed UpHealth, Inc. Dr. Katz served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of GIG2 from March 2019 until August 2019. Since the inception of GIG2 until the closing of its business combination in June 2021, Dr. Katz has served as its Executive Chairman and Secretary and, following the closing of the business combination, he serves as Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of UpHealth, Inc. In February 2020, Dr. Katz and Dr. Dinu co-founded GigCapital3, Inc. ("GIG3"), which entered into a business combination agreement with Lightning Systems, Inc. The business combination closed on May 6, 2021, and GIG3 was renamed Lightning eMotors, Inc. From the inception of GIG3 until the closing of its business combination in May 2021, Dr. Katz served as the Chief Executive Officer, Executive Chairman and Secretary of GIG3. Following the business combination, Dr. Katz serves as the Co-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Lightning eMotors, Inc. In February 2021, Dr. Katz and Dr. Dinu co-founded GigInternational1, Inc. ("GigInternational1"), Dr. Katz has served as the Executive Chairman of GigInternational1 since its inception, Dr. Katz is also the sole managing member of GigFounders, LLC and a managing member of GigManagement, LLC. He is also the co-founder of Cognizer, a software company specializing in deep-learning powered natural language artificial intelligence, and was the Executive Chairman of Cognizer's board of directors from its inception in December 2018 until August 2020. Prior to GIG1, GIG2 and GIG3, Dr. Katz dedicated 10 years to incept and bootstrap, develop and manage GigPeak (NYSE American: formerly GIG), originally known as GigOptix, Inc. He served as Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer and President of GigOptix / GigPeak. From 2003 to 2005, Dr. Katz was the chief executive officer, president, and member of the board of directors of Intransa, Inc. From 2000 to 2003, Dr. Katz was the chief executive officer and a member of the board of directors of Equator Technologies. Dr. Katz has held several leadership positions since serving as member of Technical Staff at AT&T Bell Laboratories in the 1980s, and has made numerous angel investments in high-tech companies around the world. Dr. Katz is a graduate of the 1976 class of the Israeli Naval Academy, graduate of the 1979 USA Navy ASW class, and holds a B.Sc. and Ph.D. in Semiconductors Materials from the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology). Dr. Dinu co-founded GigCapital4 with Dr. Avi Katz, who is GigCapital4's Executive Chairman, and has served as a member of the Board of Directors, President, Chief Executive Officer and Secretary of the Company since its inception in December 2020. Dr. Dinu has spent approximately 20 years in international executive positions within the TMT industry working for privately held start-ups, middle-cap companies and large enterprises. She served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of GigCapital2, Inc. ("GIG2") from August 2019 until the closing of its business combination with UpHealth Holdings, Inc. and Cloudbreak Health, LLC in June 2021 and as a member of the board of directors of GIG2 (now UpHealth, Inc.) since March 2019. She has served on the board of directors of GigCapital3, Inc. (now Lightning eMotors, Inc.) since February 2020. Dr. Dinu has served as the Chief Executive Officer, President and Secretary of GigInternational1 as well as a member of its board of directors since its inception in February 2021. From April 2017 to May 2019, Dr. Dinu was the vice president and general manager of IDT's Optical Interconnects Division. Prior to that, she held several executive-level positions at GigPeak, including executive vice president and chief operation officer from April 2016 until it was acquired by IDT in April 2017, and before that, as its executive vice president of Global Sales and Marketing from August 2015 to April 2016, and as its senior vice president of Global Sales and Marketing from December 2014 to August 2015. From February 2014 to September 2017, Dr. Dinu was a member of the board of directors of Brazil-Photonics, in Campinas, Brazil, a joint venture that GigPeak established with the Centro de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento em Telecomunicações (CPqD). From 2001 to 2008, Dr. Dinu was vice president of engineering at Lumera Corporation ("Lumera") (Nasdaq: LMRA). Lumera was acquired by GigPeak in 2008, and Dr. Dinu joined GigPeak at that time. Dr. Dinu holds a B.Sc. in Physics and Ph.D. in Solid State Condensed Matter Physics from the University of Bucharest, and an Executive-M.B.A. from Stanford University.

Greg Goldwater

Job Titles:
  • Chief Growth Officer
Greg Goldwater has over 19 years of information technology, data science, analytics, AI, business development and project management experience, previously delivering automation for clients and leading cross functional teams at Accenture/Accenture Federal Services. Goldwater oversees Growth of BigBear.ai's Commercial and Federal segments as well as Strategic Partnerships, and continues to develop strategies to identify new market opportunities that align with our capabilities and our core mission to delivery clarity for the world's most complex decisions.

Jeffrey Hart

Job Titles:
  • Director
  • Member of the Compensation Committee
Mr. Hart joined AE Industrial Partners, LLC in 2015 as an associate, and has served as a Principal since October 2020. Mr. Hart sat on the board of Redwire before it was taken public via SPAC merger and continues to serve on the board of the public Redwire. He also sits on the board of Alpine, BigBear.ai, and UAV Factory, all AE Industrial portfolio companies. Before joining AE Industrial, Mr. Hart was an investment banking analyst at RBC Capital Markets from 2013 to 2015. He earned his undergraduate degree from Colorado Mesa University.

Julie Peffer - CFO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Financial Officer
  • Chief Financial Officer at BigBear.Ai
Julie Peffer is the Chief Financial Officer at BigBear.ai. Ms. Peffer previously served as the Chief Financial Officer for MedeAnalytics, a healthcare analytics company, since January 2021. Prior to joining MedeAnalytics, she served as Vice President, Finance at Amazon for Amazon Web Services, where she built and led global finance operations in support of all customer-facing teams (Sales, Marketing, and Customer Support). Ms. Peffer held various financial executive leadership positions across multiple industries (Defense, Aerospace, Industrial Manufacturing, Software, Multi-Industry companies) with global strategic and operational expertise. She has successfully implemented strategies, initiatives, systems and solutions that drive and support employee development, organizational change, performance excellence and revenue growth including expertise in Six Sigma DMAIC and Lean. Prior to Amazon, Ms. Peffer was VP, Finance at Flowserve within the Flow Control Division with manufacturing operations in 25 countries, and previous to that she was at Raytheon Space & Airborne Systems, where she worked as CFO for the Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance business which included operations in the US, Germany and the UK. She has also held senior leadership positions at ITT, Lennox International, Textron, Sterling Software and Texas Instruments. She earned her bachelor's degree in Finance and Management from Texas Tech University and her MBA from Baker University.

Kirk Konert

Job Titles:
  • Director
  • Member of the Compensation Committee
Mr. Konert has served with AE Industrial Partners, LLC, as a Partner since October 2019 and as a Principal starting in August 2014. He sits on the boards of multiple AE Industrial portfolio companies, including AMPAC, Applied Composites, Gryphon, Redwire, and UAV Factory. Previously, Mr. Konert was a Senior Associate at Sun Capital Partners from July 2011 to July 2014. Mr. Konert earned his undergraduate degree from Davidson College.

Mandy Long - CEO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Executive Officer
  • Director
  • Member of the Board
  • Chief Executive Officer of BigBear.Ai
Mandy Long was appointed Chief Executive Officer of BigBear.ai in October 2022. She previously served as Vice President, IBM IT Automation and Vice President, IBM Integration & Application Platform. Prior to that, she served as General Manager, IBM Watson Health Provider Analytics, as well as Chief Product and Strategy Officer, Artificial Intelligence for IBM Watson. She also previously held Vice President of Product Management positions at Modernizing Medicine and Experian Health. Mandy has received multiple awards and recognition for her accomplishments in the fields of Healthcare IT, including as one of the Most Powerful Women in Healthcare IT from Health Data Management in 2017. She earned a B.A. in Economics from Connecticut College.

Norm Laudermilch - COO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Operating Officer
Norm Laudermilch joins BigBear.ai with more than 30 years of technical and executive-level experience, and has served in a number of roles including Chief Operating Officer, Chief Technology Officer, and Chief Information Security Officer. Prior to joining BigBear.ai, Laudermilch was most recently with LookingGlass Cyber Solutions, and has experience in both startup and Fortune 50 environments, across federal and commercial markets.

Pamela Braden

Job Titles:
  • Director
  • Member of the Audit Committee
  • Member of the Contact the Board
Ms. Braden founded Gryphon Technologies, a defense engineering and technical services firm, in 1997, and has served as the CEO of Gryphon since its inception. Ms. Braden earned an undergraduate degree in political science from the University of Akron.

Paul Fulchino

Job Titles:
  • Director
  • Member of the Contact the Board
  • Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
  • Account Circle / Nominating and Corporate Governance
  • Member of the New BigBear Board
Upon consummation of the Business Combination, Mr. Fulchino will serve as a member of the New BigBear Board. From June 2015 to present, Mr. Fulchino has served as Operating Partner of AE Industrial Partners, LLC. In addition, Mr. Fulchino has been the Chairman of AEI HorizonX Ventures since 2019, where he serves on the Executive Committee and the M&A Committee. Mr. Fulchino provides the Board with executive leadership and experience, strategic thinking and extensive knowledge and expertise regarding the commercial aviation industry, the Company's customers and supply base, compensation and human resource matters, and mergers and acquisitions. Mr. Fulchino also brings to the Board experience as a public company director, assisting both Spirit AeroSystems Holdings (currently, since 2006) and Wesco Aircraft Holdings (previously, 2008 to 2020) in that role. Prior to his current role, Mr. Fulchino served as the Senior Advisor to Boeing from April 2010 until December 2014. Prior to that, Mr. Fulchino held executive roles, including Chief Executive Officer, at Aviall, in which period Aviall became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Boeing. Mr. Fulchino was also President and Chief Operating Officer of B/E Aerospace and President and Vice Chairman of Mercer Management Consulting. Mr. Fulchino received a bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Boston College and an MBA from Columbia Business School. Mr. Fulchino also attended the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Peter Cannito

Job Titles:
  • Chairman of the Contact the Board
  • Chairman and CEO of Redwire
Mr. Cannito has served as chairman and CEO of Redwire, a space solutions company, since June 2020. Prior to his current role, Mr. Cannito served as the CEO of Polaris Alpha from October 2016 until December 2018, a high-tech solutions provider developing systems for the DoD and Intelligence Community. Prior to that, Mr. Cannito previously held executive roles, including CEO and COO, at EOIR Technologies and he led a team of software and systems engineers at Booz Allen Hamilton focused on critical defense and intelligence programs. Mr. Cannito has been an operating partner with AEI Industrial from August 2019 to present. Mr. Cannito received a bachelor's degree in Finance from the University of Delaware, an MBA from the University of Maryland, and served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps.

Sean Battle

Job Titles:
  • Director
  • Member of the Contact the Board
  • Member of the Nominating and Corporate Governance Committee
Mr. Battle previously served as Vice-Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of BigBear.ai from December 2020 - December 2021. Mr. Battle has over 30 years of distinguished experience in the Intelligence Community (IC) and the Department of Defense. He began his career as a Signals Analyst in the US Air Force. Before co-founding PCI, Mr. Battle served as a Civilian Executive with the National Security Agency, where he was responsible for the End User Computing Portfolio for the Agency. He was responsible for developing and executing a technology modernization plan for all Agency employees in this role. As the former Vice-Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer of BigBear, Mr. Battle was responsible for facilitating mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships, and licensing opportunities consistent with enterprise strategy, goals, and objectives. Mr. Battle assumed his current role in December 2020 upon the merger of NuWave and PCI. Previously, from April 2008 to December 2020, he was Co-Founder and CEO of PCI. Mr. Battle holds a J.D. from the University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Law, and a B.S. in Business Administration from Hawaii Pacific University. Mr. Battle has been a member of the Maryland Bar for 18 years and is active in the Armed Forces Communication Electronics Association (AFCEA) and the Fort Meade Alliance (FMA).

Sean Ricker - CFO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Accounting Officer
  • Chief Accounting Officer at BigBear.Ai
Sean Ricker is the Chief Accounting Officer at BigBear.ai. In this role, he leads the organization's accounting, finance, and systems functions. Sean brings extensive experience partnering with executive management to develop and deploy financial strategies that strengthen BigBear.ai's financial position, improve performance, and expand into new areas. Prior to joining BigBear.ai, he served in accounting and reporting roles at Lockheed Martin Corporation and is a certified public accountant.

Theodore Tanner Jr. - CTO

Job Titles:
  • Chief Technology Officer
  • Chief Technology and Strategy Officer
  • Chief Technology and Strategy Officer at BigBear.Ai
  • Chief Technology Officer at BigBear.Ai
Theodore Tanner Jr. is the Chief Technology and Strategy Officer at BigBear.ai. Tanner has more than 30 years of experience, most recently serving as CTO and Chief Architect at IBM Watson Health, now Merative. Tanner also has held architect positions at both Apple and Microsoft, and has co-founded several acquired startups, including most recently PokitDok Inc., acquired by Change Health. He also created one of the first machine learning and natural language processing (NLP) as a Service companies on Amazon AWS called BeliefNetworks. Tanner is on the Industry Advisory Board (IAB) for the University of South Carolina Computer Science Department and the Center for Intelligent Systems and Machine Learning at the University of Tennessee, and is also an industry member of the Association For Computing Machinery. Tanner is a published author, and holds several patents in the areas of blockchain, semantics, machine learning, signal processing and signal protection.