Corporate

Management Biographies

Melih Abdulhayoglu
President and CEO - Comodo Group

Melih's deep expertise and knowledge of computer security systems, particularly as related to internet security and transactions, led Melih to launch Comodo in 1998. With a passion for seeing a safe and trustworthy internet, he has been instrumental in setting the strategy for product development and has spearheaded the architectural design and implementation of Comodo products, services and infrastructure. His designs have set the standard for the industry, winning awards in their proactive ability to engender trust on the web. A technology leader for over 15 years, Melih has pioneered innovative communication, hardware and software security implementations to ensure comprehensive internet security. Under his direction, the Comodo name has become synonymous with Internet Identity and Trust Assurance, which becomes more and more a pivotal issue of our time.

Melih gained a Bachelor of Engineering degree in Electronic Engineering (B.Eng.) from Bradford University in 1991. At Bradford, he supported the development of security technologies for the British government. Respected as a thought leader for the identity and trust industry, Melih is a key public speaker and has led the company in its responsibilities as a contributing member of the Trusted Computing Group, as well as the renowned Digital Trust Lab Research and Development Center.

Robin Alden
Chief Technical Officer

Robin is the Chief Technical Officer of the Comodo Research Lab. Robin has gained a B.Sc. in Computer Science & Electronics from the University of London and an M.Sc. in Computer Science from University of Manchester. He has extensive experience at developing and implementing Global computer systems and solutions. Prior to joining the Comodo Research Lab in 2000, Robin has held senior programming and technical positions with British Airways, CAPS and InfoSys.

Dr. Richard Furness
Hardware Development - Comodo Research Lab

Richard is Head of Hardware Development with the Comodo Research Lab. He obtained his doctorate in Electronic Engineering, entitled "Circuit Architectures for Arithmetic Operations in Finite Fields" from Huddersfield University. Richard has published several papers in the field of Electronics and is a member of the Institution of Electrical and Electronic Engineers.

Paulo Kaiser
VP, Operations

Paulo Kaiser joined Comodo in 2006 and is responsible for the company's global operations, bringing a wealth of international experience in managing on and off shore operations. Within this role, Paulo will manage all aspects of Comodo's global customer service, validation, infrastructure and web development teams. Additionally, he leads the enterprise business transformation initiative for Comodo, which focuses on enhancing the company's selling and service capabilities, while creating business value through cross-functional improvements in operating efficiency and productivity. Paulo comes to us from RiskClick, where he was VP of Development and Operations. Previously he was VP of Operations for Gist Communications, a leading independent developer of iTV software for the digital television industry.

Paulo has both a Master of Science, Information Systems and a Master of Business Administration from New York University, and an undergraduate degree from Cornell University cum laude. He is adjunct faculty at NYU's Masters Program in Direct and Interactive Marketing where he lectures on operations management and customer service. Paulo speaks Portuguese, Japanese, Spanish and French.

James Langman
VP, Business Development

James Langman, Director of Business Development for Comodo, is responsible for identifying and developing Global strategic partnerships, alliances and OEM relationships. James provides key strategic leadership in defining Comodo’s go-to-market strategy for partner programs across channel sales, OEM sales and strategic business alliance organizations.

Since joining Comodo in 2001, James has taken the lead developing Comodo’s extensive partner network that now reaches into well over 45%+ of the world’s domains. Further, James has initiated and secured numerous successful technology relationships across multiple markets including wireless, ISP’s and other Service Providers. Finally, James is a key contributor in Comodo’s continuous innovation and development of Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) based solutions.

Prior to joining Comodo, James held a senior sales position at Hays Plc a leading Global recruitment specialists where he was on focused on driving revenues through sales and field operations. James holds a Bachelor of Arts degree (with honours) in Business Management from Manchester Metropolitan University.

Andrew J. Pynes
VP, Sales

After working as a sales and marketing consultant to Comodo for over five years, Andrew Pynes formally joined Comodo in November 2004 as Executive Vice President of Worldwide Sales & Marketing. Mr. Pynes brings over twelve years of sales, marketing and management experience in the high technology industry to Comodo, most recently as the sales & marketing executive with one of North Americas leading IT consulting/systems integration firm, Sierra Systems. Prior to joining Comodo, Mr. Pynes career also includes tenures with one of North Americas largest IT Value Added Reseller TIG (Technology Integration Group), a leading eCommerce consulting firm, and an ERP implementation and custom application development firm. Mr. Pynes holds a B.A. and graduated with honors from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Judy Shapiro
VP, Marketing

Judy Shapiro joined Comodo in 2005 as VP of Marketing. Ms. Shapiro's background and experience in technology marketing will strengthen Comodo's substantial leadership and growth in Identity Assurance Management solutions for businesses, infrastructure service providers and end-users.

Judy Shapiro joins Comodo from Computer Associates where most recently she was VP, Marketing responsible for customer acquisition, retention and upsell efforts. Prior to joining Computer Associates, Ms. Shapiro held several senior management positions at Lucent Technologies, Bell Labs, Metropolitan Telecommunications and AT&T in the areas of marketing, market development, new technologies and corporate strategy. Ms. Shapiro also had been a Vice President at NWAyer, an advertising agency, where she managed numerous accounts including Procter & Gamble, JCPenney, Gillette and Chemical Bank.

Ms. Shapiro received her Bachelor of Arts degree from the City University of NY within numerous disciplines including Marketing, Advertising and History.

Dr. Colin Walter
Head of Cryptography - Comodo Research Lab

Colin has a formidable international reputation in the design of hardware and algorithms for the implementation of RSA cryptography. He is on the programme committee of several international conferences (e.g. CHES and ARITH) and has given invited lectures on many occasions. He obtained his doctorate in algebraic number theory from Cambridge University and he is a senior member of the IEEE. Colin joined Comodo from UMIST and is responsible for the on-going research and development work of the cryptography team which designs, tests and verifies all the crypto-systems underlying the many and varied security products developed by Comodo. Colin is most well-known to the international community for his invention of the first ever purely locally connected systolic array for modular multiplication. This enables servers to perform the calculations for very large numbers of SSL key exchanges at once. Recent research has led to the MIST algorithm, patented by Comodo, which is a key ingredient in the secure implementation of electronic purses on smartcards. Colin has been appointed as Program Chair for the CHES conference 2003.

Michael Whittam
Chief Finance Officer

Michael has worked for Comodo since it started in 1998. After graduating from Hull in 1987 with a BA Hons degree in Accountancy and Finance he trained with a firm of chartered accountants. He then moved into the private sector as Accountant and Company Secretary for a number of small to medium-sized companies. Over the last six years, Michael has established a successful business consultancy practice, working closely with blue-chip firms such as KPMG and Ernst Young. He is also a director in a chartered accountancy firm that specializes in providing various business and accountancy services to companies and organizations.

Board of Advisors

Prof. Joseph D. Ben-Dak

Serving the United Nations as the Principal Advisor to the Secretary General, Science and Technology and Public Management (UNDP) and the founder and Chief of the United Nations Global Technology Group, Joseph has initiated and established successful technology and science businesses in numerous countries including most of Latin America ,Africa, China, Russia and the Arab World. His extensive technology and development planning career, combines licensing, administrative, business and international service with senior academic appointments. Joseph is also Chairman of Knowledge Planning Corporation, a strategic Think Tank advising banks, entrepreneurs, corporations and governments in planning and designing scientific and technological excellence. Concurrent with his advisory role at Comodo, Joseph is serving "Of Counsel" on Strategy and International Technology in developing countries to Mid-Market Securities, Investment Banking Advisors, NY.

Jim Adamson

Jim has served in a wide range of high ranking positions including Chief Executive Officer; a NASA Astronaut and as a U.S. Army Colonel. He joins Comodo from Honeywell where he was President of Honeywell Technology Solutions Inc. Previously, Jim was Chief Operating Officer of United Space Alliance, President and CEO of Lockheed Engineering and Sciences Company, and was president of and owner of Monarch Precision and Monarch Arms Inc. He has also had a long career in public service as well as considerable experience in the private sector providing strategic direction to leading aerospace companies. Specifically he brings more than a decade of strong leadership to Comodo with an impressive record of success in achieving increased productivity through management and employee commitment to quality.

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