Applied Insight announced expansions and additions to its leadership team in a move the company says bolsters its focus on mission-enabling technology innovation, beginning with CEO John Hynes assuming a new role of executive chairman.
Chief Technology Officer Dede Dascalu will succeed Hynes as chief executive. Additional leadership changes include Benjamin Laibson, founder and CEO of Digital Age Experts LLC, Applied Insight’s most recent acquisition, as chief product officer; Adam Gruber, formerly director of engineering at aiLabs, as CTO; and the addition of Josh Tambor as chief financial officer.
As executive chairman, Hynes, who has led the integration of Applied Insight’s four acquisitions, will provide strategic counsel to the leadership team and work to enhance the company’s senior-level relationships with customers and partners.
He said this expansion in leadership follows the company’s momentum over the past 18 months after acquisition and strong organic growth.
“We’ve developed a unique portfolio of groundbreaking technologies, strengthened our team of highly skilled engineers and cemented our trusted relationships at the heart of the national security community,” Hynes said. “Now that we’re strongly united as one team, it’s the right time to accelerate our strategy to bring our mission-focused technologies to a wider customer community.”
That drive, Hynes added, will be led by a visionary CEO and team with a track record in delivering growth through innovation.
Dascalu joined Applied Insight through its 2018 acquisition of cloud infrastructure business Stratus Solutions, which he led as CEO. As Applied Insight CTO, Dascalu led the development and rollout of the company’s cloud management technology, Altitude. Dascalu also established the company’s research and development program aiLabs.
As Applied Insight CEO, Dascalu said one of his first priorities will be to build on the company’s entrepreneurial culture and up its investment in R&D and extend its technical training program within aiLabs.
“Also, we’ll be further empowering our customer-facing teams to identify and deliver on opportunities where our technical skills and products can deliver rapid, real and sustained value, supported by an expanding team of solutions architects,” he added.
Gruber is a specialist in designing enterprise cloud computing and cybersecurity solutions. He led the development of Altitude and was a technical program manager on multiple government programs in the intelligence, defense and federal civilian communities. As CTO, Gruber will direct Applied Insight’s technology vision and development roadmap and lead the aiLabs team.
With his entrepreneur and cloud product developer experience, Laibson will work with Gruber and the aiLabs team to expand Applied Insight’s product portfolio as chief product officer. As founder of DAE, he also invented the methodology behind the company’s cloud emulation platform that solves low-to-high side development and integration challenges for the national security community.
And as CFO, Tambor brings 30 years of experience in financial management and mergers and acquisition roles within the federal technology and services market. He has served as senior director of transaction advisory services and director of government contract consulting for RSM US, and prior, was CFO at CCE, Inc. In his new role, he will help deliver on Applied Insight’s strategy, overseeing financial planning and ensuring a competitive approach to product and services pricing.
“It’s fantastic to have such an experienced team to drive AI’s continued market expansion,” said Gavin Long, partner at The Acacia Group, which backs Applied Insight. “They are all commercially proven leaders with an outstanding track record at the front line of new technology development.”
