Adam is a serial entrepreneur who has spent his 26-year career running, fund-raising for, investing in, coaching and mentoring startup companies. He has raised money from a wide variety of sources including strategic venture capital, venture debt, friends and family, and a U.S. government intelligence agency. As a very junior VC, Adam had one positive exit. He co-founded, ran and sold betterVote.com in 2000 as the dot-com bubble burst. Valid Eval was born of Adam's frustration with poor learning outcomes for companies competing for grants, prizes and acceptance into accelerator programs.

Jacob Ablowitz has over 17 years of experience leading technology development and production programs across multiple industries and tech domains. He started his career working for two divisions of Lockheed Martin over 8 years as an engineer and then program manager on programs ranging from directed-energy missile defense for the US Air Force to submarine sonar systems modernization for the Brazilian Navy. More recently, Jacob served as a data analyst at Bridgewater Associates, the world's largest hedge fund, and then co-founded dmi.io, a data marketplace startup, which he led from its founding in 2013 until it closed in 2019, and has previously co-founded two other companies. Jacob holds a BS in Electrical & Computer Engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Master's of Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia. Jacob joined Valid Eval to channel his passion for applying systems-thinking principles to help organizations make decisions that are not only data-driven but also aligned with mission, values, and culture.

Joy Bird brings over 20 years of leading customer experience to Valid Eval. Much of her experience has been rooted in the financial industry with Thomson Reuters Lipper where she learned the art of navigating FINRA and SEC compliance and regulations requirements. She is passionate about building efficient processes that improve the customer experience.

Trent is the Co-CEO at Rule4. He is best known as co-author of the best-selling Unix System Administration Handbook and Linux Administration Handbook. With a more than 29-year history, the Unix System Administration Handbook has been translated into at least 16 languages and is recognized around the world as the “bible” of Unix system administration. Trent has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the USENIX Association for his work as a developer with the University of California at Berkeley's Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG), and he was the third engineer hired at Berkeley Software Design Inc. (BSDI). Most recently, Trent spent 16 years as co-founder and co-CEO of AppliedTrust.

A Boettcher Scholar, Trent holds a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder, which in 2004 awarded him the Kalpana Chawla Outstanding Recent Alumni Award. Trent also holds certifications as a CCIE, CISSP, ISSMP, ISSAP, CSSA, and GSNA.

Jamie Rhone is the Founder and Managing Partner at McClinton & Roy, LLC. McClinton & Roy is an outsourced procurement resource for businesses in the Federal marketplace. The McClinton & Roy team has over 100 combined years of Federal procurement experience. Jamie has Commanded a Contracting Squadron and has led contracting teams in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has held several CONTRACTING OFFICER Warrants to include an UNLIMITED Warrant. Jamie graduated from the US Air Force Academy in 1998 and earned his Master's of Business Administration (Contracts & Program Management) from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 2005. He retired from the US Air Force in the grade of Lieutenant Colonel.

Todd Leeson brings 22 years of U.S. Government accounting and compliance experience to Valid Eval. He is an expert in DCAA bookkeeping and has served as financial controller for several USG-funded companies.