Dr. Simon Handley

Simon Handley, a Principal (Technology Research) at First Retail, leverages his expertise in machine learning, computational linguistics, cognitive science, and semantic technologies to manage high-volume, messy data.

Simon completed his PhD in computer science at Stanford University, and has worked in research and development at startups and large corporations. At Daimler Benz and Iconix Pharmaceuticals, Simon created adaptive user interfaces and used machine learning techniques to analyze large datasets; at Tumri, Simon was the lead developer in designing and building the back-end online infrastructure as well as the critical behavioral profiling technology at the heart of their systems; and at Overtone, Simon researched and architected machine learning strategies to analyze social media for brand sentiment.

Simon is a surf bum at heart, spending summer afternoons at Coyote Point and Candlestick and wet winter mornings in Santa Cruz. On the coldest days, you might find him falling off some boulders at Planet Granite.

Dr. Anne Hunt

Anne Hunt, a Principal (Engineering) at First Retail, defines and manages technical projects to support our clients as well as research efforts. Anne became interested in semantic technologies as an undergraduate, drawing connections among ideas in mathematics, logic, philosophy, and artificial intelligence. She pursued these interests to receive a doctorate in philosophy from the University of Virginia, and discovered that semantic technologies have real industrial applications.

Anne has helped leverage semantic technologies within new products and infrastructure at companies ranging from small start-ups (Cycorp, Ingenuity, and Primal) to multinational firms (Boeing and Microsoft). After spending a year building an engineering team in the snowy wilderness outside of Toronto, Ontario, Anne is happy to be back in the heart of the Silicon Valley.

Twitter: @annejhunt

Gam Dias

Gam Dias, a Principal at First Retail, is responsible for understanding our client's most pressing needs and imagineering them into products they love.

Gam was born in London, England, ran the Data Innovation Group at Aviva Insurance, and has spent the majority of his career working with enterprise applications such as Oracle CRM, and Hyperion Business Intelligence.

Gam has a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science from Liverpool University and an MBA from Warwick Business School. Gam travels, cooks and wonders a lot about his personal data.

Twitter: @gammydodger
Blog: www.realtea.net

To Kim

To Kim, a Principal (Technology & Engineering Services) at First Retail, manages technology delivery, product strategy, and program and project management. To has over 15 years experience achieving on-time, in-budget implementations of global projects involving business process reengineering, web application design and development, and web infrastructure and systems at startups and at companies such as Sun Microsystems, Oracle, BEA, and InstantSoft.

To has a BS in Molecular Biology from San Jose State University.

Twitter: @tokim123