Our Team
The Faction Team is comprised of a group of people that are passionate about restoring security and privacy to our networked world. We are just starting out. If you are interested in joining in our mission, please contact us!
Dave Rand
Co-Founder, CEO & CTO
Dave Rand is a Silicon Valley technologist, serial entrepreneur, CEO and CTO with a 30 year track record of successful products and patents spanning networking, privacy and cybersecurity.
Geoff Halstead
Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer
Geoff Halstead is a visionary entrepreneur, product strategist and Chief Product Officer for Faction who has conceived, built and grown multiple disruptive products across digital media, traffic information, indoor navigation and cybersecurity.
Dave Waldek
CFO
Over thirty years of financial experience across multiple industries, with both publicly held and private companies. Co-founded CFO Advisory Group providing strategic financial and business advisory services for high growth companies.
Dan O’Sullivan
Co-Founder and VP, Business Development
As an executive, manager, management consultant, investor, Board member and mentor, Dan has been actively involved in founding, funding, and building start-ups and early-stage technology companies for over 25 years.
Les Wilson
VP Enterprise Channels & OEM Partnerships
Les has vast experience and success in maximizing growth for both large and early stage companies across Silicon IP, EDA tools, 3D wafer scale semiconductors, SoC marketing and business development, as well as a tremendous depth of application knowledge spanning consumer, computing, communications, industrial, CyberSecurity, IoT and medical markets.
Darren Lipschitz
Director of Product Management
With extensive experience in developing product and marketing strategies, along with a strong background in product development for online software solutions, Darren is a seasoned professional in the tech industry. He has a proven track record in shaping product strategies that align with the digital landscape and has a passion for nurturing startups from their very beginning.
Our Advisors
Simon Mijolovic
Simon Mijolovic is a cybersecurity expert with over 25 years of experience in platform security, DevSecOps, and threat hunting. He holds multiple patents in virtualization security and has developed automated security solutions for both federal agencies and commercial sectors. Simon earned a Master’s degree in Communications from SUNY Brockport and a Bachelor’s degree in Speech Communication from SUNY Oneonta.
Gary Miller
Gary is a global speaker, thought leader, and threat intelligence researcher with deep experience in mobile cyber threats. He has launched two companies and led multiple technology efforts in risk management, digital privacy and adversary profiling.
James Roberts, Esq.
James works in Europe and the US with venture capital funds, scaleups & startups, large corporations and accelerators on both strategic and legal matters, largely on disruptive tech such as AI.
Scott Hanson
Scott is an experienced physician with with a broad range of experience and success working in public and private healthcare systems. He is an active participant and leader with the Maine Medical Association and passionate about pioneering technology that makes HIPAA compliance, privacy and security easier for care providers and their patients to use.
Jason Ciment
Jason is the Co-founder CEO of GetVisible digital marketing agency offering website, SEO, PPC & social media visibility since 2005. Jason also hosts the podcast "The Be #1 Online podcast guy"
Lauren Groff
Lauren is the CEO and founder of Groff NetWorks LLC. With over 15 years experience serving hundreds of clients in the greater New York area with computer and network consulting services. Lauren is also an advisory board member at Nerdwise.
Chris Yakabe
Chris Yakabe is a retired military and commercial pilot with over 40 years of aviation and engineering experience. He has held various positions as a NASA contract advisor on manned and unmanned aerial systems. Additionally, he was the military liaison to the former DHS Center of Innovation: a unique public-private partnership to leverage and adapt advanced cybersecurity technologies for government use.
Ben Quinones
Chairman
Ben Quinones is a successful attorney, serial entrepreneur, investor and advisor to high velocity start-ups. Ben is currently CEO of Pakal Technologies, Inc. Ben provides Strategic Advisory and Board services to numerous startups at various stages and arts groups in San Francisco. Ben graduated from Yale University and Stanford Law, and has been advising, forming, investing in and running tech companies in Silicon Valley since 1995.
Chris Yakabe
Chris Yakabe is a retired military and commercial pilot with over 40 years of aviation and engineering experience. He has held various positions as a NASA contract advisor on manned and unmanned aerial systems. Additionally, he was the military liaison to the former DHS Center of Innovation: a unique public-private partnership to leverage and adapt advanced cybersecurity technologies for government use.
Dan O’Sullivan
Co-Founder and VP, Business Development
As an executive, manager, management consultant, investor, Board member and mentor, Dan has been actively involved in founding, funding, and building start-ups and early-stage technology companies for over 25 years.
Darren Lipschitz
Director of Product Management
With extensive experience in developing product and marketing strategies, along with a strong background in product development for online software solutions, Darren is a seasoned professional in the tech industry. He has a proven track record in shaping product strategies that align with the digital landscape and has a passion for nurturing startups from their very beginning.
Dave Rand
Co-Founder, CEO & CTO
Dave Rand is a Silicon Valley technologist, serial entrepreneur, CEO and CTO with a 30 year track record of successful products and patents spanning networking, privacy and cybersecurity.
Dave Waldek
CFO
Over thirty years of financial experience across multiple industries, with both publicly held and private companies. Co-founded CFO Advisory Group providing strategic financial and business advisory services for high growth companies.
Gary Miller
Gary is a global speaker, thought leader, and threat intelligence researcher with deep experience in mobile cyber threats. He has launched two companies and led multiple technology efforts in risk management, digital privacy and adversary profiling.
Geoff Halstead
Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer
Geoff Halstead is a visionary entrepreneur, product strategist and Chief Product Officer for Faction who has conceived, built and grown multiple disruptive products across digital media, traffic information, indoor navigation and cybersecurity.
Gregory Iltchenko
Webmaster
James Roberts, Esq.
James works in Europe and the US with venture capital funds, scaleups & startups, large corporations and accelerators on both strategic and legal matters, largely on disruptive tech such as AI.
Jason Ciment
Jason is the Co-founder CEO of GetVisible digital marketing agency offering website, SEO, PPC & social media visibility since 2005. Jason also hosts the podcast "The Be #1 Online podcast guy"
Lauren Groff
Lauren is the CEO and founder of Groff NetWorks LLC. With over 15 years experience serving hundreds of clients in the greater New York area with computer and network consulting services. Lauren is also an advisory board member at Nerdwise.
Les Wilson
VP Enterprise Channels & OEM Partnerships
Les has vast experience and success in maximizing growth for both large and early stage companies across Silicon IP, EDA tools, 3D wafer scale semiconductors, SoC marketing and business development, as well as a tremendous depth of application knowledge spanning consumer, computing, communications, industrial, CyberSecurity, IoT and medical markets.
Leticia Gondo Chenin
UI/UX Designer
Luka Ugaya Mazza
Web Designer
Neville Orellana
Dev Ops, Pods, PPN platform
Scott Hanson
Scott is an experienced physician with with a broad range of experience and success working in public and private healthcare systems. He is an active participant and leader with the Maine Medical Association and passionate about pioneering technology that makes HIPAA compliance, privacy and security easier for care providers and their patients to use.
Simon Mijolovic
Simon Mijolovic is a cybersecurity expert with over 25 years of experience in platform security, DevSecOps, and threat hunting. He holds multiple patents in virtualization security and has developed automated security solutions for both federal agencies and commercial sectors. Simon earned a Master’s degree in Communications from SUNY Brockport and a Bachelor’s degree in Speech Communication from SUNY Oneonta.
Will Hobbs
VP, Marketing
Will Hobbs has a long track record of success spanning over 25 years in a variety of industries including health and fitness, online software development, DTC marketing, influencer marketing, video production, UX/UI design, entertainment licensing and celebrity representation. Will's first disruptive Internet company came as one of the Co-Founders of the Internet Underground Music Archive, which pioneered the digital distribution of music in the mid-90's.
