Executive Team Bios
Manuel Aparicio – Co-founder and CEO
Aparicio
leads Saffron’s corporate vision and fundamental direction.
Prior to Saffron, Manuel Aparicio was Chief Scientist of the IBM Knowledge Management & Intelligent Agent Center. At IBM, he and Jim Fleming, Saffron Co-founder and President, worked on the commercialization of associative memories systems. Aparicio also served on the Board of Directors for The Agent Society and the Foundation for Intelligent Physical Agents, an international standards body.
Aparicio is an evangelist for the application of associative memory-based systems, holds several patents for memory-based technology, and has published numerous papers and journal articles. He has over 20 years in machine learning and 10 years in the commercialization and industrial development of intelligent agents.
Aparicio is an alumnus of the University of South Florida where he earned a Ph.D. in Experimental Psychology, with a focus on biologically based neuro-computing.
Visit Dr. Aparicio's professional blog that details his thoughts on memory-based entity analytics and related industries.
Jim Fleming – Co-founder, President and CTO
Fleming leads Saffron’s technical and strategic initiatives.
In 1999, Fleming and Aparicio left IBM and established Saffron Technology; applying their expertise towards more advanced, intelligent associative memory-based computing solutions for personalization in electronic commerce, query optimization, processing informatics for life sciences. Saffron’s breakthrough, a patented associative memory-based analysis and prediction capability, enabled the commercial application memory-based systems at scale.
Prior to founding Saffron Technology, Fleming worked for IBM on agent-based learning technologies and security products. He also helped pioneer LAN-based e-mail systems while working as a technical lead at Lotus/cc:Mail. His interest in agent-based software formed while at cc:Mail working on rule-based systems in the early 1990s. He has also worked with Microsoft's PowerPoint division on writing slide imaging software.
Fleming is an alumnus of Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois where he earned his bachelor of science in computer science.
MG (Ret) Gary M. Jones – Senior Vice President of Sales
General
Jones leads Saffron’s Government Sales and Business Development initiatives.
General Jones brings proven, experienced-forged senior leadership skills in military and international affairs to lead Saffron’s Sales and Business Development initiatives in National Security. With over 28 years Military experience, Jones is a respected, seasoned Military Leader with Command responsibility at all levels of the Army’s tactical and operational formations. He managed programs and deployments at the national and international levels, with extensive operational expertise in Europe, Sub-Saharan Africa, Central Asia, the Caribbean, Central America and the Middle East. During the Afghanistan War he served as the Deputy Director of Military Operations for the Central Intelligence Agencies Counter Terrorism Center as a principal advisor to the Director. He served in Europe as the Sub-Unified Commander of Special Operations Command Europe and his last position prior to retirement from Military Service was as the Commander of the United States Army Special Forces Command, a 9,700 man forces with worldwide responsibility for fighting the Global War on Terrorism.
Prior to joining Saffron, Jones served as Senior Vice President for Performance Materials, Inc. a company providing innovative armor solutions, security solutions for the Department of Defense and other Government Agencies.
Jones is an alumnus of Louisiana State University where he earned a bachelor’s degree in Criminal Justice and is a graduate of the Army War College and the Conflict Management and Negotiation programs, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University.
BGen (USA, Ret) Mark V. Phelan – Vice President of Sales
General
Phelan leads Saffron’s non-DOD Sales initiatives.
General Phelan brings a distinguished leadership career with the US Army’s Special Operations Command to grow and develop Saffron’s non-DOD Sales initiatives in national security. With 30 years of Military experience, Phelan is recognized for a distinguished leadership career dedicated to building and leading organizations that consistently performed beyond expectations, and achieved unprecedented success in challenging global situations.
Phelan managed programs and deployments at the national and international levels; holding full strategic planning, staffing, and operational management responsibility for organizations with up to 1400 personnel. Most recently, Phelan served as Commander of the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Transition Team and was responsible for building and leading this organization in support of the Iraqi government. Previous responsibilities included Deputy Commanding General, US Army Special Operations Command, where he was responsible for the operations of six distinct organizations with a total of 7000 personnel worldwide. He also served as Deputy Director for Special Operations, Joint Chiefs of Staff as Senior Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on all matters pertaining to the use of Special Operations forces in the global war on terrorism.
Phelan is an alumnus of U.S. Naval War College, where he earned a Masters
of Art in National Security and Strategic Studies; and of Northeastern University
where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Criminal Justice.
Gayle Sheppard – Executive Chairman and Member, Board of Directors
Sheppard
leads Saffron’s business operations and market growth strategy.
Sheppard leverages over 25 years in the software industry bringing extensive global operations, sales, marketing and consulting experience to the Saffron leadership team. Sheppard leads Saffron’s business operations and market growth initiatives and oversees business development, marketing, and industry business units. Sheppard’s prior industry experience includes leading global sales in addition to general management roles in starting, building and expanding business units in North America, Asia Pacific and Japan.
Prior leadership positions include VP/Managing Director PeopleSoft, President and CEO MarketMile, LLC (now Ketera Technologies), VP Worldwide Sales J.D.Edwards & Company, President, J.D. Edwards Japan K.K., and VP Sales and Marketing, J.D. Edwards Asia Pacific. Sheppard’s broad global management and Asia/Japan expatriate experience provide valuable insights into creating value and managing growth in the global economy.
Sheppard serves on civic and corporate organizations including the Corporate Advisory Board of SonicSwap, Inc., a social platform built on i-Tunes™ and the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise at Kenan Flagler School of Business, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.
Sheppard is an alumna of the University of South Florida where she earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration with concentrations in finance and accounting.
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