Meet our Executive Team
Sean Murphy
Chief Executive Officer
Prior to PingThings, Sean built a small data science and analytics consultancy that served multiple industries and quickly grew to over a million dollars a year in revenue. Previously, he bootstrapped an email analytics company to over $500K in ARR and served as the director or research and an instructor at Manhattan Prep (acquired by Kaplan). Prior, he was a senior scientist at the JHU Applied Physics Laboratory for over a decade, where he focused on machine learning, high-performance and cloud-based computing, and anomaly detection. He has undergraduate degrees in honors mathematics (cum laude) and honors electrical engineering (magna cum laude) from the University of Maryland College Park and graduate degrees in biomedical engineering (summa cum laude) from Johns Hopkins University and business (with Distinction) from Oxford University.
Mike Brown
Chief Technology Officer
Mike is a hands-on technologist and business leader that has (co)founded four venture-backed companies in several industries including broadband networking, mobile video, cloud storage, cybersecurity and AI assisted digital health. Collectively his teams’ products have served more than 300 million subscribers and earned $3.2B in worldwide sales. Prior to launching his startup career, Mike led pioneering systems engineering programs for the DoD and Intelligence communities and was a radar missile guidance and ECM-ECCM engineer. He loves all things digital and creating world class, leading-edge products and services that enhance our daily lives. Mike holds an MBA from Boston University, MSEE from the University of Southern California and a BSEE from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.
Board of Directors
Paul Winters
Managing Partner, Petra Funds Group
Paul Winters is the board representative of Three Curve Capital LP (“TCC”), the family office of Mr. Stuart Porter, founder and CEO of Denham Capital Management LP (“Denham”). TCC invests in early stage companies across a range of technologies, applications and sectors. Paul also serves as Managing Director and General Counsel of Denham, a $9.5 billion+ energy and resources focused investment advisor. He is responsible for all legal matters involving Denham, its funds and its investments. Paul has almost 25 years of experience as a transactional lawyer, and has handled a wide range of matters arising across the lifecycle of companies in the energy sector. He serves as a board member of Greenleaf Power, a North American biomass-focused IPP, and Endeavor Energy, an Africa-focused thermal and renewable IPP, among others.
Andrew Byrnes
Venture Capitalist, Micron Technology
As Director for Micron's AI Fund and portfolio manager for Comet Labs, Andrew invests in and supports the best early-stage AI and robotics startups that transform big industries. His focus is in deep tech, industrial automation, and computing hardware that enable the next wave of machine learning innovation. Prior to Comet, Andrew was the founder of Stower Energy - an early startup leveraging machine learning to provide predictive operations and maintenance for distributed energy systems - and project manager for utility scale power developer the Martifer Group. He did his graduate work in Materials Science and Engineering at Stanford University, and enjoys his limited peaceful moments in the quiet fog of Pacifica.
Ali Raza
Chief Digital Officer, ChampionX
Coming Soon.
Stu Porter
Founder, CEO, and CIO, Denham Capital
Stu Porter is the Founder, Chief Executive Officer, and Chief Investment Officer of Denham Capital a private equity firm focused on energy and mining. Stu brings over 30 years of senior investment experience and serves on the Investment Committee and Valuation Committee.
Prior to founding Denham, Stu was a founding partner of Sowood Capital Management LP and,
prior thereto, was employed as a Vice President and Portfolio Manager at Harvard
Management Company, Inc. where he focused on public and private transactions in the energy
and commodities sectors. Stu previously worked at J. Aron, a division of Goldman Sachs. While
at J. Aron, he worked on the Goldman Sachs Commodity Index desk. Prior to joining J. Aron, Stu
was a self-employed trader at the Chicago Board of Trade and was employed by Cargill
Incorporated in Minnetonka, Minnesota in the Financial Markets Division.
Stu received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Michigan and a Master of Business
Administration degree from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
Board of Advisors
Leonard Rainow
Senior Executive, Hubbell Incorporated
As Vice President, Software for Hubbell Utilities Solutions, Leonard is responsible for leading the design, development and delivery of enterprise class cloud-native Industrial IoT solutions that enable electric, water, and gas distribution utilities to safely, reliably, and efficiently operate their networks. Leonard has more than 30 years of experience in software industry, working for both public and private companies. Leonard has held leadership positions as Chief Technology Officer and Global Head of Software Engineering for companies such as General Electric, Oracle, Selectica, Manugistics and others.Leonard started his career as software architect at PeopleSoft’s pre-IPO stage. He studied Applied Mathematics at Odessa University in Odessa, Ukraine.
Cory Baldwin
Vice President, Infrastructure IoT at Bentley Systems
Cory has spent his 20+ year career developing technology forward products and solutions to address the challenges of the world’s largest and most challenging industries – Infrastructure, Energy, Natural Resources, and Construction. From focused development and application of novel triple-difference processing techniques for GNSS capable of millimeter-level geospatial monitoring of critical infrastructure – to development of a broad end-to-end IoT platform capable of providing integrated insights across the world’s largest portfolio of structural, geotechnical, environmental, geospatial, and process sensors – he is passionate about addressing customer’s challenges regardless of the scope or complexity. Cory believes that success comes from the practical application of technology to enable improved decision-making, enhanced productivity, and effectiveness at an individual level – made possible with well-conceived solutions leveraging the best technology, tools, and training.
Alison Silverstein
Independent Consultant
Alison Silverstein is an independent consultant, strategist and researcher on electric system reliability, resilience, market design, transmission, energy efficiency and technology adoption issues. Her work on major federal electricity efforts includes the U.S. DOE’s Staff Report on Electric Markets and Reliability, three national transmission congestion studies, the Hawaii Clean Energy Initiative framework, and the industry-wide advancement of synchrophasor technology. Silverstein has advised states, utilities, ISOs, and non-governmental entities since 2004. Silverstein worked as a senior advisor to Chairman Pat Wood, III, at FERC from 2001 through 2004, co-chairing the 2003 U.S.-Canada blackout investigation, at the Public Utility Commission of Texas from 1995-2001, and previously at PG&E and as a consultant in Washington DC. She serves on the Boards of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy and the Health Alliance for Austin Musicians.
Dr. Alexandra von Meier
Grid Subject Matter Expert
Alexandra “Sascha” von Meier is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at UC Berkeley, where she teaches a course on Electric Power Systems. She is also Director in CIEE’s Electric Grid program area, focuses on power distribution systems, Smart Grid issues, and the integration of distributed and intermittent generation. Her current research projects center on the use of high-precision micro-synchrophasor measurements for situational awareness, diagnostics and control applications in distribution grids.