Dr. Manuel 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.

Mr. Jim 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.

MGen (Ret) Gary M. Jones is the Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Government Solutions. He leads Saffron’s Government business initiatives and is responsible for all Government and Defense Industry operations for customer sales and services. 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 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 (Ret) Mark Phelan is the Vice President of Sales. He brings a distinguished career with the U.S. Army’s Special Operations Command to grow and develop Saffron’s sales initiatives in national security and related industries. With 30 years of military experience, General 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 served as Commander of the Iraqi Counter Terrorism Transition Team and was responsible for rebuilding and leading this organization in support of the Iraq government. Previous responsibilities included Deputy Commanding General, U.S. Army Special Operations Command, where he was responsible for the operations of six distinct organizations with a total of 7,000 personnel worldwide. He also served as the 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. He is an alumnus of the 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.

Ms. Gayle Sheppard is Saffron's Executive Chairman of the Board of Directors. She is responsible for Saffron’s market and business strategy and leads the execution of Saffron's business growth plans. Gayle has over 25 years of industry experience in enterprise software and services, international executive leadership experience with global companies and hands-on involvement with emerging companies, boards and academia. Prior to Saffron, she was VP/Managing Director at PeopleSoft, Inc., CEO/President MarketMile, LLC (now Ketera, Inc.), VP Worldwide Sales, J.D.Edwards & Company, President and General Manager, J.D. Edwards Japan, K.K. and Vice President Sales and Marketing, J.D.Edwards Asia Pacific Ltd. She is a Research Fellow at UNC Kenan-Flagler's Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise and serves on the Advisory Board of Sociocast, LLC, a Web 3.0 social influence network platform company, the Board of Directors for the North Carolina Life and Sciences Museum and the National Advisory Board for the Ackland Art Museum at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Gayle is a graduate of the University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, where she received a B.S., Business Administration.