Neurala Company Overview

Max is the co-founder and CEO of Neurala Inc., and the company visionary. After his pioneering research in brain-inspired computing and deep networks, he continues to inspire and lead the world of autonomous robotics. He has spoken at dozens of events and venues, including TedX, NASA, the Pentagon, Los Alamos National Labs, Air Force Research Labs, HP, iRobot, Samsung, LG, Qualcomm, Ericsson, BAE Systems, Mitsubishi, ABB and Accenture, among others. His work was featured in IEEE Spectrum, New Scientist, Fortune, Tech Crunch, Venture Beat, Geek Magazine, CNN, MSNBC and many other media. Max is a Fulbright scholar, has authored dozens of academic publications, holds several patents and two Ph.Ds: Experimental Psychology, University of Trieste, Italy; Cognitive and Neural Systems, Boston University, USA.

Heather is Neurala’s co-founder and COO, and brings to the team her diverse executive skills ranging from oversight of multi-million dollar applied research initiatives, strategic planning, product management, and leading translation of research into commercial products. Heather enjoys finding ways in which artificial intelligence can be used to enhance consumer interactions with robots. Previously, Heather has served as the Executive Director and Co-PI of the NSF-sponsored CELEST Science of Learning Center at Boston University. Heather holds a PhD in Cognitive and Neural Systems from Boston University and a BS in Cognitive Neuroscience from the University of California at Berkeley.

Anatoly, Neurala’s co-founder and CTO, has over 15 years of experience in the development of massively parallel software for neural computation, and was one of the pioneers in applying GPGPU to neural modeling. In Neurala, he manages the tech team and oversees the technology’s development. Anatoly has a PhD in Cognitive and Neural Systems from Boston University and an MS in Computer Science. As an Assistant Professor at Boston University, Anatoly introduced over 70 students to computational modeling of the brain and guided several of them through their PhD programs. He has over 30 scientific publications to his name on topics including neural modeling of rodent spatial processing and navigation, massively parallel software for modeling neural activity, and perspectives and mechanisms of standardization of these models and underlying software.

Dan brings over 25 years of financial and operations experience to Neurala. His career includes diverse public and private company experience, from Fortune 500 to venture-backed start-ups, and Big Four public accounting. He is experienced in complex mergers and acquisitions, has managed debt and equity raises totaling over $150 million, and driven process and operational improvements and infrastructure build out.

He was previously CFO at Vitrue (acquired by Oracle in 2012 for $320M), Kova Solutions (acquired by Berkshire Hathaway in 2013) and SiteAdvisor (acquired by McAfee in 2006). He holds a BS, with honors, from Boston College and is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants.

Hoon brings significant global business development, sales, marketing, and country management experience throughout NA, Asia, and Europe. Hoon possesses broad industry experience in energy tech, automotive, semiconductor, PC/high tech, industrial, and CPG verticals with deep expertise in CV, AI, IoT, MarTech, Analytics & Content, SCM, ERP/SCP, B2B and B2C areas.

Hoon spent 25 years as a software & technology executive: CEO at Retailigence Corp, President and CEO at DST, President & GM – Automotive at Activant Solutions, COO at Adexa, SVP – Global SCM Consulting Services at Numetrix.

Hoon held senior line management positions at Fortune 500 corporations including, Haagen-Dazs., Lever Brothers, and Quaker Oats.

Hoon received a BS in civil engineering and operations research from Princeton University, and an MBA in Marketing from Kellogg Graduate School of Management.

Co-founded MÄK Technologies in 1990 (which was acquired by VT Systems of Alexandria, Virginia in December 2006). He is an avid mentor and angel investor at both TechStars and Bolt, with expertise in how to fund companies using government contracts. He is a noted industry advocate of open interoperability standards and commercial business models in Department of Defense procurement. He was six-term chairman of the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization, the international not-for-profit consortium that develops standards for synthetic environments. From 1987 to 1990, he worked for Bolt, Beranek, and Newman as a drive train simulation expert, responsible for mathematical modeling of physical systems. He holds dual bachelor’s degrees in mechanical and electrical engineering from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Some of Katz’s investments include Harmonix, GrabCAD, Oblong, Organic Motion, and PetNet.