Management Team

Tim Estes - CEO

Tim Estes has served as the CEO of Digital Reasoning Systems since founding the company over nine years ago. Tim received his BA in Philosophy from the University of Virginia where his broad academic studies included the areas of Philosophy of Language, Mathematical Logic, Semiotics, and related disciplines. Tim founded Digital Reasoning in 2000 with a vision to create software-based intelligent learning systems. This led to the breakthrough technology and intellectual property which is at the core of Digital Reasoning and our flagship product, Synthesys.

Rob Metcalf – President

Responsible for the company’s business and sales strategy, Rob Metcalf brings over a decade of experience in technology and information services businesses around the world. Prior to joining Digital Reasoning, Rob helped build software and information services businesses for LexisNexis in Mexico City, Toronto and Raleigh. As Vice President of Operations for Global Practice Management, Rob oversaw numerous acquisitions and key investments at the forefront of the company’s solution strategy. Prior to LexisNexis, Rob worked in Boston and San Francisco with The Parthenon Group, a strategy consultancy. Rob earned his MBA from Harvard Business School and his AB, Summa Cum Laude, from Princeton University.

Harry Schultz – Sr. Vice President, Product Development and Solutions

Harry Schultz serves as the Senior Vice President of Product Development and Solutions for Digital Reasoning Systems. He has over 34 years of experience providing technology solutions in a variety of different industries, to include: telephony, entertainment, intelligence, emergency management and state and local governance. In his current role, Harry works closely with the executive team to identify and pursue new opportunities for applying Digital Reasoning’s technology to solve difficult data analysis problems for the government’s intelligence community as well as targeted commercial markets. Harry began his career as a software engineer, developing software for telephone switches, process control and data acquisition systems in a refinery, operating systems for Digital Equipment Corp (VMS), and managing large-scale technology projects in both the public and private sectors. The focus of his last 15 years has been on managing large-scale IT projects and software development groups, with emphasis on team building and developing the processes and environment necessary to support successful software development and deployment efforts.

Dave Danielson - Vice President, Marketing

Responsible for all aspects of marketing strategy and public relations, Dave Danielson brings over 25 years of executive leadership positions in early stage technology companies. Prior to joining Digital reasoning, Dave served as the VP of Strategy and the Managing Director for LexisNexis where he worked to leverage emerging technologies for business transformation. Before this Dave served as CEO and VP Marketing for a number of companies while participating in the technology and application revolution of the last two decades.
Dave is a graduate of Susquehanna University and is an experienced author and speaker on application performance management as well as network and systems management in distributed architectures.

Eric von Eckartsberg – Vice President, Sales

Eric has over 15 years experience managing sales and operations for a number of high technology and consulting companies, and over 10 years service with the US Government. Eric’s US Government service included a number of national security related roles, including over four years overseas service with the US Embassy in Japan. Eric joins Digital Reasoning from Perceptive Pixel where he was responsible for growing the company’s presence in US and global government markets. Prior to this, Eric was responsible for sales into the National Security community for enterprise search vendor Endeca Technologies, and for structured data analytics provider Visual Sciences.

Previously, Eric managed teams working on national security information management projects for the consulting firm Booz Allen Hamilton, supporting high profile customers in the US Intelligence Community. Eric has also managed international market development, sales, and operations for companies in the Internet and network security markets including senior management roles at internet media firm, The Motley Fool, and network security vendor TruSecure.

Matthew Russell - Vice President, Engineering

Matthew leads our development team in architecting scalable web applications and devising innovative ways to embed the company’s core technology platform into both federal and commercial products. Matthew previously led a team to build a classified end-to-end enterprise application for the intelligence community. Matthew served as a trusted technology scout for the Defense Intelligence Agency where he researched and evaluated next generation technologies being considered for the government’s intelligence infrastructure. Matthew has completed over 40 publications on technology, including work that has appeared or is upcoming in scientific conferences, Linux Journal, Apple Developer Connection, and Make: Magazine. His most recent writing efforts entailed authoring Dojo: The Definitive Guide, a tome that provides authoritative documentation about a popular JavaScript toolkit. Matthew is a graduate of the Air Force Academy, where he graduated at the top of his class and earned the prestigious “Dean W. Gonzalez Award”.

Mark Naftel – General Counsel

Mark is in charge of legal affairs for Digital Reasoning Systems and brings over twenty-five years of experience in technology related law. He received a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and Masters Degree in International Business and Trade Law from Fordham University Law School. His career includes in-house positions with BellSouth, Bell Communications Research, and European telephone companies. He has also worked with several law firms in the United States and Europe, specializing in software licensing, intellectual property rights, regulatory law, corporate law, and drafting and negotiation of technology service and equipment agreements.

Jeff Rice – Controller

Responsible for accounting and finance including the company’s business plan, Jeff Rice is an accounting professional with over twenty-four years of experience in leadership positions. Prior to joining Digital Reasoning Systems, Jeff served as Chief Financial Officer at First Horizon Insurance and has served as CFO and Controller at several entities including three start ups throughout his career which he began with KPMG. Mr. Rice is also a member of the Air National Guard, currently serving as Vice Wing Commander for the 183rd Fighter Wing. He has deployed three times since 2001 in support of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Jeff obtained a Bachelor of Science degree with an Accounting major from Eastern Illinois University and is also a Certified Public Accountant.

Phillip Michalak – Director of Research

Phillip leads our research team in identifying priorities given the company vision and product commitments. He creates and manages implementation of the research plan, and keeps abreast of technology trends in computational linguistics and natural language processing. After graduating from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Phillip spent several years doing artificial intelligence research and development for Stottler Henke Associates, before landing in New York. Phillip is currently finishing his doctorate in Artificial Intelligence, Natural Language and Knowledge Representation from the University of Rochester.