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Meet Our Operators

Our team has built and run companies across several industry verticals, launching technology solutions focused on delivering business value. We believe the truth is in the details and projects are successful when the work is done the right way.

Chris Steiner headshot
Partner
Christopher Steiner

Chris helps clients solve thorny problems using technology. He brings a knack for matching pieces of business value chain with technologies that can enhance and simplify operations.

Riley Scott headshot
Partner
Riley Scott

Riley is a Partner at Cuesta who excels at helping private equity firms assess the technology posture of potential deal targets and execute technology initiatives throughout the deal lifecycle.

John Cacavias
Partner
John Cacavias

John has developed a unique skillset that leverages his deep technology expertise combined with pragmatic views on business that allow him to design creative technology solutions to business challenges. 

Tom Derhake headshot
Partner
Tom Derhake

Tom is a Partner with a software background focused on using technology to transform organizations. At Cuesta, he is responsible for both client sales and delivery.

Amari Smothers
Senior Associate
Amari Smothers

Amari, a Senior Associate at Cuesta, brings extensive experience in product development, management consultant, business strategy, predictive analysis, and change management. ​

Amy West
Principal
Amy West

Amy is a thoughtful and curious leader who can take highly complex problems, simplify, and clearly communicate strategies to diverse teams.

Andrea Bartels headshot
Senior Manager
Andrea Bartels

Andrea helps clients navigate product strategy and delivery execution. She is passionate about enabling people to do their best work, equipped with cutting-edge digital capabilities and pragmatic operating models.

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Senior Associate
Brandon Schele

Brandon is a dynamic senior leader with a proven track record of building high functioning PMO organizations, delivering projects, and optimizing business processes.

Brendan Oosse
Senior Associate
Brendan Oosse

Brendan is a driven and empathetic problem solver with a track record of enabling organizations of all sizes to become more effective in carrying out their missions.

Brett Ellison
Senior Manager
Brett Ellison

Brett partners with individuals and organizations to co-create solutions in their quest to become more efficient and effective operators.

Brian Mirise
Principal
Brian Mirise

Brian is a passionate and curious career technologist, focusing on enterprise infrastructure and strategic platform alignment. After 25 years of architecting application hosting solutions and evangelizing the benefits and pitfalls of cloud computing, Brian has the experience to help organizations make the right platform decisions and to improve and streamline these deployments. ​

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Principal
Chris Brandt

Chris is a seasoned CIO with a focus on identifying and implementing value creating initiatives.

Danny Asztalos
Associate
Danny Asztalos

Danny brings an enthusiasm for breaking down complex business problems by applying his experience in data analytics, project management, and visualization techniques.

Darren Peirce
Principal
Darren Peirce

Darren has a 20+ year track record of partnering with enterprises to drive strategic advantage from their use of data. In the last 14 years Darren leveraged that insight to focus on leading customer-driven product organizations, in the enterprise data management software market.

David Federico
Head of Divestitures and Acquisition Integration
David Federico

David is an experienced senior executive who enjoys working with clients to tackle their most difficult problems by leveraging technology to drive sound business outcomes.

Dylan Morris
Senior Associate
Dylan Morris

Dylan is a senior leader with 15+ years of diverse experience across a variety of tech industries including e-commerce, healthcare/wellness, and ed benefits.

Estefany Aguilar
Data Engineer
Estefany Aguilar

Estefany is a passionate and driven Data Engineer with a solid educational background and a burning desire to make data work for businesses. She is on a mission to turn raw data into valuable insights while being a true problem solver who thrives on challenges and excels in turning complex data into meaningful patterns.

Greg Grewal
Senior Associate
Greg Grewal

Greg, a Senior Associate on the Data Strategy team at Cuesta, is motivated by unlocking novel business insights using creative data analytics and visualization.​

Heather Wilson
Senior Manager
Heather Wilson

Heather is a transformation expert with a focus on delivering measurable results through innovative solutions. She is passionate about value delivery and systems thinking and has a track record of formulating strategic solutions for teams, processes, strategy, and technology.​

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Principal
Holt Zeidler

Holt is a technology leader with a passion for setting up agile development teams, an obsession with good analytics and visualization, and a penchant for successful change management.

Jack Keller headshot
Senior Manager
Jack Keller

Jack excels at using technology and process to transform manufacturing organizations.

Jamie Reingruber headshot
Senior Manager
Jamie Reingruber

Jamie is a leader in Cuesta’s Private Equity practice.

Jeff Jbara
Principal
Jeff Jbara

Jeff is a seasoned consulting and industry leader focused on delivering impactful business​ results underpinned by practical technology solutions. Jeff has developed a unique skillset​ blending deep operational expertise with broad technology exposure enabling him to help clients​ solve an array of complex challenges ranging from technology strategy and product management to large-scale transformation. ​

Kristi Kozubal
Senior Associate
Kristi Kozubal

Kristi is an enthusiastic collaborator and creative strategist with a broad background in helping businesses start, grow, transition and innovate. 

Kristi Pihl
Principal
Kristi Pihl

Kristi Pihl is a go-to-market and product strategy expert with over 15 years of experience in management consulting, entrepreneurship, and startup COO roles. She is an accomplished professional with a collaborative approach, listening to clients and colleagues to develop effective solutions that drive growth. She is passionate about helping clients use data and technology to…

Joy Ducey Miller
VP People & Organizational Effectiveness
Joy Ducey Miller

Joy is a passionate leader who enjoys helping organizations build scalable processes, leverage talent and technology while achieving profitable, sustainable growth.

Justin Sheridan headshot
Principal
Justin Sheridan

Justin has a passion for helping organizations use technology to capture value. He leads Cuesta’s Software Systems and Platforms practice, where he helps organizations define and deliver technology strategies that enable growth and drive efficiencies.

Jordan France
Manager
Jordan France

Jordan possesses over 11 years of applications development experience in healthcare, finance, and insurance industries. His technical background in solutions architecture and data management led him to the digital product development space. He excels in translating complex technical processes to stakeholder groups and breaking down data to inform their decision making.

Leo Chan
Senior Associate
Leo Chan

Leo is a curious and determined individual who has over 6 years of experience in the data space focusing on modern data architecture, design and engineering. He calls himself a data magician who has the ability to translate business problems/requirements into data analytics empowering stakeholders to drive strategic actions via insights.​

Leonard Kang headshot
Manager
Leonard Kang

Leonard is passionate about helping organizations build a data-driven culture that empowers people with the right information at the right time.

Marcus Wong
Manager
Marcus Wong

Accountant turned Data Analytics Engineering Leader, consultant to growth startups and Fortune 500 companies, with 10+ years experience in finance and analytics. ​Contributed to the successful design and implementation of enterprise data models to enable analytics, internal operations, and customer-facing product features across 30 organizations within Fintech, SaaS, Consulting Services, Restaurants, Sports Entertainment, and more.

Meredith Stroup
Senior Associate
Meredith Stroup

Meredith is an enthusiastic problem solver who excels in strategic thinking and process creation. She thrives in dynamic environments where she can make and leverage partnerships between a multitude of players to drive profitable and streamlined business outcomes.

Russell Stefanik
Manager
Russell Stefanik

Russ is an executive level cybersecurity engineer who loves partnering with clients to build and scale cyber architecture solutions in order to conduct enterprise and enclave cyber operations to keep critical data secure. 

Sarah Zieve
Senior Associate
Sarah Zieve

Sarah is passionate about empowering her clients and their teams to take ownership of the tools, processes, and systems they need to achieve their goals. Sarah is a member of the Software Systems and Applications practice, where she supports clients in identifying and implementing technology strategies to unlock next-level growth and efficiency.

William Sullivan
Senior Associate
William Sullivan

William is a servant leader who is passionate about implementing innovative technologies and helping organizations unlock their potential through both digital and agile transformations.

Zach Bengtzen
Associate
Zach Bengtzen

Zach is a data-driven associate with expertise in analytical problem-solving, market research & competitive analysis, marketing operations, and B2B marketing strategy. He has extensive experience with VC-backed software startups and SMBs in the hyper-growth phase.

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Senior Associate
Zach Papin

Zach enjoys finding new opportunities to apply his data enablement capabilities across enterprise data architectures.

Peter Lamb
Data Architect
Peter Lamb

Peter has over thirty years of experience in information systems consulting and training with a focus on data warehousing, master data management and analysis and planning systems. He has been the primary architect on multiple large, cross functional implementations. He has also worked to support implementation teams from system integrators, providing coaching and filling a…

Joel Mathen headshot
Consultant
Joel Mathen

Joel has more than 20 years of experience in the intelligence and information assurance fields.

Kevin Glynn headshot
Consultant
Kevin Glynn

Kevin is a three time public and private company Chief Information Officer (CIO), including being recognized as the 2019 CIO Innovator of the Year in Chicago.

Nate Cady
Consultant
Nate Cady

Nate is a resourceful and strategic-minded senior technology leader with 20+ years of experience in enterprise solutions, program and project life cycle management, vendor management, and IT process optimization.

Nosh Petigara
Consultant
Nosh Petigara

Nosh has a deep background in application development, having served as director of product strategy at MongoDB during that firm’s primary growth phase.

Vicki van Alphen
Consultant
Vicki van Alphen

Vicki advises technology clients on team effectiveness and organizational health – as key differentiators of successful companies. She coaches client leaders to be the best version of themselves.

We understand that self-awareness drives growth.

We achieve better outcomes when we embrace our strengths and develop our weaknesses.

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Technology doesn’t wait. Let’s start the conversation.

You want to achieve all your goals. We want to hear about them. Let’s talk about the future of your technology.