Join AITP San Diego as we host a panel of highly accomplished I.T. practitioners from local unicorn companies! A unicorn company refers to a privately-owned startup that is valued at over $1 billion and is not listed on a stock market. Our group of esteemed panelists are known for their exceptional success and innovation in the tech industry.
The panel will cover a wide range of topics including emerging technologies, digital transformation strategies, and navigating the challenges of scaling a tech startup. Participants can expect to hear firsthand experiences, best practices, and lessons learned from the panelists. Don't miss this exclusive opportunity to engage with some of the brightest minds in the I.T. industry
Meet Your Moderator
Donna Kruse, CEO, Savvy Technologies
Donna Kruse founded Savvy Technologies in June of 2018 to help mid-enterprise firms navigate the digital transformation journey. Mixing big picture thinking with a relentless attention to detail, Savvy manages every step of the vendor assessment process to ensure best fit and highest value. With a focus on and expertise in emerging technologies including Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Based Communications & Collaboration, Cloud Based Contact Center and Next Gen Security solutions, when Savvy is at work, clients win.
Prior to Savvy, Donna’s industry tenure includes 20+ years of industry experience with firms including AT&T, Lucent Technologies and most recently Qwest Communications, where she earned numerous sales achievement awards as well as customer accolades.
Before joining the technology industry, Donna spent time in Sports Marketing at both the University of Iowa Athletic Department and with the Cedar Rapids Silver Bullets CBA expansion franchise. She is a proud alumnus of the University of Iowa with a BBA in Business Administration and an emphasis in Marketing & Communications.
Donna is a passionate advocate for Women in Technology. She currently serves as the Chair of the Philanthropy Committee for Cloud Girls, which just concluded its most successful fundraising year in history. Donna is also a long time member of the AAUW Tech Trek Committee which sends promising 13 year old girls to STEM camp for 1 week on full scholarship. Additionally, she serves on the Advisory Committee for the San Diego Chapter of the Association of IT Professionals.
Learn more about our panelists below:
Stephane Major, Prinicpal engineer at ClickUp!
Stephane is an Aerospace Engineer by formation, but in the late 90's migrated to the world of Software Engineering. Right from the start Stephane joined a startup and has been in startups ever since.
After his first startup experience in Montreal Canada at Maya Heat Transfer Technologies, Stephane moved to Seattle and joined Primus Knowledge Management (IPO), and then Attenex which eventually was acquired by FTI Consulting. During that time Stephane had the opportunity to build desktop applications, web applications, then contribute to complex enterprise applications and eventually be on the front lines of Machine Learning applications.
Back in 2014 Stephane and his family started a new chapter when moving to San Diego, again joining startups of varying sizes, AbacusLaw, Ubix, SmartDrive, some going through acquisitions, or unfortunately running out of money but all providing invaluable learning opportunities. Then in March 2021, Stephane joined the ranks of ClickUp, a very promising and fast growing San Diego startup. During that period, ClickUp has grown from a little over 200 employees to closer to 1000 at this time. That period also included significant transformations in how product development and engineering is done, trying to balance more rigor and robustness in processes with the necessity to maintain a high delivery velocity. Stephane who was originally part of "the" backend team, is now part of the Core-Services team which is responsible for business critical systems that power the ClickUp application.
Daniel Marashlian, CTO and Co-Founder of Drata
Daniel Marashlian is a seasoned tech entrepreneur for two decades, specializing in leading and creating the technology for startups and enterprises. He currently serves as the CTO and Co-Founder of Drata where he oversees the vision, strategy, and execution of the tech roadmap. Drata helps thousands of companies across 50+ countries build trust across the cloud by streamlining over 20 compliance frameworks, standards, and regulations through continuous automated control monitoring and evidence collection, resulting in lower costs and time spent preparing for annual audits. Prior to Drata, Daniel was the Co-Founder and CTO of Portfolium, RapidEngage, TweetPhoto, and Pelotonics.
Daniel's expertise centers on product, programming, UX, databases, software architecture, and cloud architecture, as well as developing culture and a healthy team structure. With a wealth of experience building Saas companies and leading world-class engineering teams, Daniel enjoys getting into the trenches with his IT and engineering teams to drive innovation. He holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Science from the University of Arizona and a master's in Leadership from Northern Arizona University.
