Management

Bill Stasior President	Bill Stasior joined Amazon.com in 2003 as Director of Search and Navigation while helping to create A9.com. In early 2004, Bill moved to Palo Alto as VP of Engineering of A9.com where he now serves as President. Prior to joining A9 and Amazon, Bill was the Director of Advanced Development at AltaVista and Vice President of Engineering at AlterEgo Networks. Bill has extensive experience in networks and multimedia systems as well as computer vision and data analysis. Bill has been developing a wide range of Internet-based applications and search solutions since the earliest days of the World Wide Web. Bill holds a B.S., M.S. and a Ph.D in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT and was a CSDL Laboratory Fellow at the Charles Stark Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Matt Battles Vice President Ad Technologies	Matt Battles serves as A9.com's Vice President of Ad Technologies. Matt joined A9.com in 2004, and has held roles in Finance as well as Sales and Marketing. After leaving to help launch another company in 2007, Matt returned to A9.com in 2010. Matt brings over 10 years of tech industry experience, within a wide range of disciplines. Prior to joining A9.com, Matt worked in Business Development at Amazon.com. He also served as COO at Voleon Capital Management LP, currently located in Berkeley, California, where he helped launch the company and its statistical arbitrage trading operations. Previously, Matt worked at D. E. Shaw & Co., where he focused on the company's internet initiatives; as SVP Product Development at Juno Online Services, he helped launch the company's ISP and the first advertising-supported free e-mail service. Matt holds an MBA from Stanford University and a BA from Yale University.
Gautam Bhargava Vice President Visual Search	Gautam Bhargava joined A9.com in 2009 as Vice President of Visual Search. Most recently, Gautam served as CEO of SnapTell, a company he co-founded. Gautam also co-founded Vialto Corporation (acquired by Cisco), where he was the CTO & VP Engineering. In his previous roles, Gautam held senior kernel-engineering and management positions at TimesTen Performance Software, IBM Silicon Valley Lab and Silicon Graphics. For more than 20 years, Gautam has been a part of teams that build innovative software solutions. Gautam holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Computer Science from Iowa State University, and a B.Tech. in Computer Science from IIT, Kanpur. He has been granted twenty-one patents as co-inventor in the area of data mining and database technology and published papers in prestigious journals such as TKDE, SIGMOD, etc.
Dana Friedman Vice President Finance	Dana Friedman joined A9.com in 2006 where she serves as Vice President of Finance. Dana brings over 20 years of finance and operational experience to her role at A9.com. In addition to contributing strategic input for company initiatives, Dana leads financial planning, analysis and accounting for A9.com. Dana also oversees the facilities and administration teams. Prior to joining A9, Dana worked at Lucasfilm, where she held various positions including Director of Planning for Lucas Digital Ltd., as well as Visual Effects Producer for Industrial Light and Magic, working on such films as Minority Report and Space Cowboys. Previously, Dana held finance roles at Solomon Brothers Inc and at Chiron Corporation (now part of Novartis), a large biotechnology firm. Dana holds an MBA from the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. She also graduated with Highest Honors and Phi Beta Kappa from UC Berkeley, where she earned her A.B. in Economics and Rhetoric.
Andrew Hamel Vice President Search Technology	Andrew Hamel joined A9.com in 2008 where he serves as Vice President of Search Technology. Andrew brings over 20 years of tech industry experience and a unique skill set anchored in product innovation, strategic business development, and professional services. His background spans consumer-hosted Internet services, consumer products, and enterprise software. Before coming to A9.com, Andrew served as VP at TiVo and at Tacit Knowledge Systems. He also co-founded Propel with Steve Kirsch, and was General Manager of the GO Network Auction Business Unit at Infoseek Corporation. Andrew holds a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science from California State University, Chico.
Brian Pinkerton Chief Architect Search Technology	Brian Pinkerton serves as A9.com's Chief Architect of Search. Brian joined A9 in 2003 as Principal Engineer. After leaving to start his own company, Brian returned to A9 in 2011. Brian brings over 20 years of Search experience to A9. In 1993, Brian created WebCrawler, the first Internet search engine, while working on his Ph.D. at the University of Washington. He subsequently held senior management roles at Excite, Technorati, and Lucid Imagination. Brian holds a Ph.D. and M.S. in Computer Science & Engineering from the University of Washington, as well as a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Wisconsin.
Diana Sutter Vice President Human Resources	Diana Sutter joined A9.com in 2003 as Vice President of Human Resources. Diana brings 20 years of human resources experience to the company where she defines and implements all aspects of HR strategy, operations, and programs. Prior to joining A9.com, Diana led human resources and organizational development teams for companies such as Netcentives, Post Communications, Inc., Tenth Planet Explorations, and Summit Organization, Inc. Building and implementing human resource and operations infrastructures that can support rapid company growth in addition to effectively orchestrating corporate change is her passion. Diana holds a B.S. in Human Services from the College of Notre Dame.

Principal Advisors

In 1994, Jeff Bezos founded Amazon.com, Inc., now the leading online retailer that offers services which traditional retailers cannot: lower prices, authoritative selection, and a wealth of product information. With Amazon.com, Jeff created a business model that leveraged the Internet's unique ability to deliver huge amounts of information rapidly and efficiently.

Prior to starting Amazon.com, Jeff worked at the intersection of computer science and finance, helping build one of the most technically sophisticated quantitative hedge funds on Wall Street for D. E. Shaw & Co. He also led the development of computer systems that helped manage more than $250 Billion in assets for Bankers Trust Company.

Jeff Blackburn joined Amazon in 1998. He has served in a number of senior positions. Currently, he is Senior Vice President, Business Development. Other positions he has held at Amazon include Vice President, European Customer Service and Vice President, Operations Integration.

Prior to joining Amazon.com in 1998, Jeff was Assistant Vice President at Deutsche Morgan Grenfell.

Tom Szkutak joined Amazon.com in October 2002 to serve as the company's chief financial officer and senior vice president. As CFO he oversees the company's overall financial activities, including controllership, tax, treasury, analysis, investor relations, internal audit and financial operations.

Before joining Amazon.com, Tom served as CFO for GE Lighting, where he managed a division with $3 billion in annual revenue and more than 33,000 employees around the world.