Executive Leadership Team
Louis is the founder of HDS and was a founder of Borders Books & Music, Synergy Software, and Webvan. Louis revolutionized the retail book industry with the founding of Borders, the first book and music superstore chain. Borders successfully leveraged technology to improve the delivery of physical media to consumers. Louis sold his interest in Borders in 1993; at its peak, the company had annual revenues of $3.5 billion. In 1998, he founded Webvan, an online home delivery retailer, and served as its CEO until its successful IPO; the company achieved a peak market value of $7 billion. Louis holds a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Michigan, and completed graduate coursework in mathematics at MIT.
Jim brings more than 30 years of operational leadership and technology development experience from established Fortune 50 companies to Silicon Valley startups. Previously, Jim served as the CEO and President of Kindred AI and a member of their Board of Directors. He successfully led the company from pre-product design concepts to a fully functioning, customer facing organization, that proudly serves large global retailers with real AI powered robotic solutions in production fulfillment centers. Prior to Kindred, Jim was COO at One Kings Lane, where he supported three years of consecutive year-over-year growth of more than 100 percent. Earlier in his career, he was vice president of operations for Walmart.com, responsible for large teams, and identifying and implementing processes and systems that could scale and continually improve efficiency. Jim formerly held positions in technology banking and software applications, including roles as vice president of software applications at Fritz Companies, Inc. and United Parcel Service.
Andreas brings over 25 years of experience in financial executive leadership as well as broad based experience building online grocery businesses and cross-border solutions on branded sites and 3rd party marketplaces. He has served as an advisor to companies looking to build out their ecommerce business and was previously head of ecommerce International for LBrands, CFO ecommerce for Walmart and CFO China Beverages for Pepsico.
Monique brings over 25 years bringing technology and automation solutions to the enterprise with specific emphasis on innovative, disruptive technologies that change how we do business. Previously, she was with Kindred providing AI robotic solutions to help retailers compete in the ecommerce market. She has also held leadership positions with Rethink Robotics, DZS and Segway where she helped commercialize the first recognized personal transportation device. Monique served on the board of The Association for Passive Optical LAN (APOLAN) where she helped guide marketing initiatives to educate enterprise customers on the benefits of fiber technology. Monique has an M.A. in Psychology from the University of Delaware.
Taha is a seasoned product development executive, with experience envisioning, building and scaling B2C, B2B, and platform products at startups and enterprises. Taha was previously head of product at Kindred AI, where he helped bring the industry’s first and most successful AI-powered robotic order fulfillment solution to retailers like Gap and Carter’s. Taha has also helped conceive & deliver state-of-the-art consumer & business banking app experiences to millions of customers of world-class institutions like CIBC and helped Canada’s top telco TELUS develop & launch their Internet of Things solutions & marketplace.
Abhishek is an engineering leader with specialized talent in mathematical modeling. Previously he worked at Apple as an OR and Data scientist where he continued to push the boundaries of innovation in supply chain and logistic operations combining analytics, insights and visualization. Early in his career, Abhishek worked for Cypress Semiconductor developing mathematical models for capacity planning and production scheduling at their Fab. Later he joined ILOG, the makers of the market-leading linear programming solver called CPLEX, which was acquired by IBM in 2009. At IBM, he continued his OR practitioner journey and wore several hats including spending a couple of years as a researcher at the prestigious TJ Watson Research Lab in NY developing intellectual property for the company.
Norm is a talent acquisition leader with over 15 years experience across the eCommerce, Payments, and FinTech sectors. Previously, Norm was Head of Talent at Credit Sesame, a leading Personal Credit Management startup. Norm has worked extensively with Founders, C-Level Executives, VP’s, Directors, and Hiring Managers to attract top talent and develop successful teams. Norm has helped scale startups backed by early and growth stage venture capital firms including Andreessen, Kleiner Perkins and Google Ventures. Norm holds an MBA from University of Queensland and a BS from Cal Poly State University.
Aravind Durai is an accomplished automation executive and as the Vice President of Automation at HDS is responsible for the implementation of RoboFS - the software defined robotic fulfillment system. He is responsible for IP generation and protection and is currently building the product, the engineering team, and managing the work of best-in-class suppliers.
Prior to HDS, Aravind served as the Robotics Manager for Mitsubishi Electric for the Americas where he designed and implemented a high-growth product roadmap.
Aravind began his career in automation in 1996 as an engineer with Kuka Robotics. Since then he has held positions of increasing responsibility at ABB, Baxter, and Fanuc. Aravind used his engineering know-how to help clients such as Caterpillar, Chrysler, Harley Davidson, Kohler, Kraft Foods, Monsanto, Apple, and Schneider Electric deploy robotics and automation as a means to increase throughput, improve quality, enhance safety, and reduce costs.
Aravind earned an M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Northern Illinois University and an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.
Board of Directors
Ken Beyer serves as EVP & President, Ingram Micro Commerce & Lifecycle Services (“CLS”) and is responsible for the strategy, growth and delivery of the business globally. CLS is a leading global provider of supply chain and e-commerce logistics services that power growth for brands, retailers, operators and enterprises. Ken joined the company in September 2013 when Ingram Micro acquired CloudBlue Technologies, where Ken was the co-founder and CEO. Ken graduated from Kansas State University with a degree in Architectural Engineering.
Craig A. Leavitt is the former CEO of Kate Spade. Kate Spade was acquired by Coach in a $2.4 billion deal in May 2017. Craig currently serves on several Boards of Directors. He is Non-Executive Chairman of Build-A-Bear Workshop, Inc., Director for Crate and Barrel, Gildan, and The Roundabout Theatre Company. Prior to joining Kate Spade, Craig was President of Global Retail at Link Theory Holdings where he had total responsibility for merchandising, operations, planning, allocation and real estate for the Theory and Helmut Lang retail businesses. Previously, he spent several years at Diesel, most recently as Executive Vice President of Sales and Retail. Craig also spent 16 years at Polo Ralph Lauren, where he held positions of increasing responsibility, including Executive Vice President of Retail Concepts.
Sujeet Chand is the CTO of Rockwell Automation, the world’s largest company dedicated to industrial automation and information. He is responsible for leading technical innovation, product architecture, and global business development including an ecosystem of strategic alliances and partnerships. His leadership has been instrumental in the transformation of Rockwell Automation from a traditional industrial manufacturing company to a technology company. Sujeet received the prestigious M. Eugene Merchant Medal from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) and American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) for “contributions to the science and engineering of smart manufacturing” in 2019, and the Forbes Excellence in Innovation award for “connecting manufacturing technology with business IT systems to create a Connected Enterprise,” in 2014. He currently holds 54 patents, has published more than 75 technical papers in research journals and conferences, and has received a number of distinguished honors for his engineering practices and technology leadership. Sujeet earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering and a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Florida.
