Co-Founder and CEO
Adam Rentschler is the co-founder and CEO of Valid Eval. With nearly 30 years of experience leading and investing in technology companies, Adam brings a unique combination of operational and funding expertise to his mission of building the American innovation ecosystem. Adam has served as a venture capitalist, angel investor, three-time CEO, and two-time founder.
CTO and COO
Jacob Ablowitz has over 20 years of experience as a technical and operational leader, with roles at Lockheed Martin, Bridgewater Associates (the world's largest hedge fund), and as Co-Founder & CEO of a data marketplace startup. 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.
VP of Customer Success
Joy Bird brings over 20 years of leading customer success 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.
CISO
Trent Hein 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. 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).
Head of Infrastructure
Devon Jones brings 25 years of architectural and operational experience to Valid Eval. At SendGrid, he architected and scaled the system that delivers over eight billion emails per day. He brings a blameless process to incident response and a focus on constant learning and empiricism to operational decision making.
Head of Contracting
Louis Orndorff, a retired USAF Colonel and Joint Qualified Officer, brings over 35 years of expertise in federal procurement, contract management, and international diplomacy—ranging from weapon systems to war zone contracts. A four-time acquisition commander with multiple unlimited contracting warrants, he has managed 300+ major defense contracts worth more than $200 billon, including TS SAP/SAR programs. Louis is a trusted leader in acquisition strategy and program management and an expert in security cooperation challenges.