Leadership

Milena Alberti-Perez was elected to our Board in February of 2022. Ms. Alberti-Perez serves as the Chair of the Audit Committee and as a member of the Compensation and Talent Management Committee. Ms. Alberti-Perez brings executive, international leadership, digital transformation, audit committee, merger and acquisition, corporate divestiture, post-merger integration, cyber security, cost management, compensation, and data analysis experience to Digimarc’s Board of Directors. She was most recently the Chief Financial Officer of Getty Images, Inc., the world’s leading visual content company. Prior to that, in 2020, she served as the Chief Financial Officer of MediaMath, a demand-side platform for programmatic marketing and advertising. Ms. Alberti-Perez worked in a variety of financial and publishing roles from 2001 to 2017 at Penguin Random House, the world’s largest book publisher, serving as the Global and US Chief Financial Officer of Penguin Random House from 2015 to 2017 and, as management, served as a non-voting member of its board of directors and its audit committee. Ms. Alberti-Perez also worked in financial analyst and research roles at Lehman Brothers and Morgan Stanley. She also currently serves on several private company boards of directors, including RBmedia and Overdrive, and has previously served on the private company boards of Companhia das Letras, and Flatworld/Sagence. She has served on not-for-profit boards of directors, including The University of Pennsylvania Executive Fund, Jumpstart, and the Wild Bird Fund. Her academic background includes a Bachelor of Arts degree cum laude from The University of Pennsylvania, with Distinction in Economics and minors in Math and Latin American Studies. She received her Master’s degree in Business Administration, with Distinction, from the Harvard Business School, where she graduated in the top 15% of her class.

Ms. Alberti-Perez’s experience is particularly germane to Digimarc’s initiatives to increase diversity and inclusion at all levels of the Company and improve the Company’s finance oversight and operations, cybersecurity and data management, merger and acquisition activities, post-merger integration, and compensation management areas. She is accomplished across many disciplines with extraordinary leadership qualities and financial and analytical skills. She has led teams of more than 200 people across the full spectrum of financial analysis and reporting, financial and cost management, international and domestic mergers and acquisitions, including the largest merger in book publishing history, and the integration of those companies. She is also experienced in the areas of cybersecurity and data management and digital transformation, aligned with the Company’s strategic direction. Ms. Alberti-Perez was referred to the Governance, Nominating, and Sustainability Committee through the Latino Corporate Directors Association.

Sandeep Dadlani was elected to our Board in March of 2021. Mr. Dadlani serves as a member of the Governance, Nominating, and Sustainability Committee and the Market Development Committee. He brings product management, operations, digital and technology platforms, data management, artificial intelligence, mobile commerce, e-commerce, platform automation, supply chain digitalization and international experience to Digimarc.

Mr. Dadlani was named EVP, chief digital and technology officer for UnitedHealth Group in September 2022. He is responsible for leading technology and digital strategies across the enterprise to drive innovation and deliver exceptional experiences in health care. In his role, he leads Optum Technology, a leading technology delivery division of Optum, serving the Optum and UnitedHealthcare customer base.

Prior to UnitedHealth Group, Mr. Dadlani was the Global Chief Digital Officer at Mars, Incorporated, a $40 billion global conglomerate in the pet care, food and confectionary businesses, where part of his responsibilities focused on the digitalization of the supply chain. He worked with Mars' global business segments to drive their digital growth, while delivering effectiveness and efficiency to existing business and technology platforms.

Earlier in his career, Mr. Dadlani was with Infosys (NYSE: INFY) from 2001 to 2017 where he last held the position of President, Head of Americas and Global Head of Infosys's Manufacturing, Retail, Consumer Packaged Goods and Logistic Practices. He co-founded and eventually ran as Chairman Infosys Edgeverve, a new artificial intelligence company for Infosys, and Skava, a mobile commerce company. Prior to his employment with Infosys, he began his career in investment banking at Citibank.

Mr. Dadlani has more than 25 years of experience in operations, consulting, business development and product management. He has been a contributor to the Harvard Business Review, Forbes and is a regular keynote speaker at industry forums. Mr. Dadlani has won several awards, including CIO of the Year in 2019 by Consumer Goods Technology, was named one of the top 150 business transformation leaders globally by Constellation Research, and Blue Yonder’s 50 most prominent AI thought leaders in 2021. He has co-authored the UN Global report on supply chain sustainability. Additionally, he is on the World Economic Forum’s Global Agenda Council on the Future of Consumption and has participated for several years in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos.

Mr. Dadlani earned a B.E. degree (electrical engineering) from M.S. University, Baroda, India and an MBA (in finance) from JBIMS, Mumbai University, India.

Katie Kool was elected to our Board in March of 2022. She began Board service on July 1, upon her retirement from Procter & Gamble, contingent on her election by the shareholders. She serves as Chair of the Board’s Compensation and Talent Management Committee and a member of the Audit Committee and the Governance, Nominating, and Sustainability Committee. Ms. Kool is a seasoned finance executive, who began her career with Procter & Gamble in 1995 and successfully transitioned to general management as a divisional CEO, with a proven history of delivering superior results across both Consumer Products and Services business models. She brings executive, financial, international, innovation, and investor relations experience to Digimarc’s Board of Directors. Starting in January of 2019, she most recently served as the CEO of Tide Cleaners, a wholly owned subsidiary of Procter & Gamble, which is a service-based retailer providing out of home dry cleaning and laundry services through franchise and corporate stores, lockers, home delivery, and college campuses. For the three and a half years prior to her current CEO experience, Ms. Kool was the CFO for North America Fabric Care, which includes the Tide, Gain, Downy, and Bounce brands and has over $8 billion in retail sales. She was also CFO for the Global Procter & Gamble Professional business, where she developed a 5-year strategic plan, including a more focused operating model, profit and loss, and cash investments to deliver sustainable Operating Total Shareholder Return. In addition to her extensive business leadership experience, Katie was a key member of Procter & Gamble’s Investor Relations team for 5.5 years, during which she partnered with 3 CEO’s and led communications for the strategy renewal that spanned two $10 billion productivity programs and a more focused portfolio of strategic brands. Ms. Kool is also a Board Member at Aspen Aerogels (ASPN) and serves on the Audit Committee and the Nominating, Governance, and Sustainability Committee.  In her personal time, Ms. Kool was Co-Founder & CEO of KW CrossFit. She is a Board Member and CFO for Sonje Ayiti, a nonprofit organization focused on providing tools for Haitians to help themselves via education, economic development, and health promotion, and she co-led the creation of the Cima School of Hope in Haiti, a government-licensed school with over 300 students in Pre-K through 9th grade and over 25 employees.  Ms. Kool holds a Bachelor of Arts summa cum laude from Kalamazoo College and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from Washington University in St. Louis.

Ms. Kool’s experience is particularly germane to Digimarc’s initiatives to increase diversity and inclusion at all levels of the Company, improve the Company’s finance oversight and operations, and help oversee the Company’s investor relations program, post-merger integration, and business innovation and business process reengineering areas. She is accomplished across many disciplines with extraordinary leadership qualities and financial and analytical skills, including business analysis and value creation, financial controls and Sarbanes-Oxley compliance, and talent recruitment, development and retention. She has successfully navigated a business through the COVID pandemic, introduced and managed disruptive business innovation activities, and led the acquisition, integration, and expansion of two start-ups. She has successfully managed investor relations challenges, and has strong controllership skills, leading the General Ledger Accounting organization for the Americas from the San Jose Costa Rica Service Center during the integration of the Gillette acquisition. Ms. Kool was referred to the Governance, Nominating, and Sustainability Committee by Mr. Walter, a member of the Board of Directors.

Ravi Kumar Singisetti was elected to our Board of Directors in June 2021. Mr. Kumar has over 20+ years of experience in the consulting space, incubating new practice lines, driving large transformational programs, and evangelizing new business models across industry segments. He serves as a member of the Compensation and Talent Management Committee and the Market Development Committee. He is currently President at Infosys, where he leads the Infosys Global Services Organization across all global industry segments, driving digital transformation services, consulting services, traditional technology services, engineering services, data & analytics, cloud and infrastructure, and enterprise package applications. He is Chairman of the Board of Infosys BPM Ltd. He also oversees Infosys business in India, Latin America, Japan and China. He is also the Chairman of Infosys Public Services, oversees the consulting services subsidiary of Infosys, and oversees and chairs the boards of Infosys acquired digital companies Kaleidoscope, Guidevision, Simplus, Wong Doody, Fluido and Brilliant Basics, and Chairs the board of the Hitachi-Panasonic JV in Japan. Mr. Kumar is on the Board of Governors of the New York Academy of Sciences, Board of the US Chamber of Commerce, and the Board of Advance CT-Economic Development Board of the State of Connecticut. He earned an M.B.A. from Xavier Institute of Management, India.

Mr. Kumar brings executive, global services, consulting, data analytics, cloud applications, enterprise solutions, client support services, digital applications and international experience to Digimarc’s Board of Directors. Mr. Kumar is accomplished across many disciplines with extraordinary leadership qualities. His experience is particularly germane to Digimarc initiatives to increase diversity and inclusion at all levels of the Company and improve the Company’s incubating new business areas, driving large transformational programs, and evangelizing new business models across industry segments. Mr. Kumar was referred to the Governance, Nominating, and Sustainability Committee through BoardProspects.

Riley McCormack was elected to our Board of Directors in October 2020 and was appointed to be President and Chief Executive Officer in April 2021, prior to which he served as Lead Director and a member of the Audit Committee, Compensation and Talent Management Committee, Governance, Nominating, and Sustainability Committee, and Market Development Committee and the Chair of the Compensation and Talent Management Committee. Since 2015, Mr. McCormack has served as Managing Member and CEO of McCormack Family Investments and founded and has served as Managing Member and CEO of TCM|Strategic, a fund that invested $53.5 million in the Company in September 2020. Previously Mr. McCormack was the founder, CEO and PM of Tracer Capital Management, a $1.5 billion New York-based global technology, media and telecommunication hedge fund. Prior to Tracer, he was a partner at Coatue Capital and a high-yield research analyst at Morgan Stanley, covering media and telecom companies. Mr. McCormack graduated summa cum laude from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where he was a Benjamin Franklin Scholar and a Joseph Wharton Scholar.

Mr. McCormack brings executive leadership, strategic, financial, investment, operational and transactional expertise to the Board of Directors. He brings the perspective of a longtime shareholder, and major investor. He has extensive experience investing in, and providing advice to, a broad range of companies, with a specific focus on fast growing global technology, media and telecommunication firms. His prior experience is particularly germane to strategic and financial oversight, attracting institutional investors to Digimarc, and ensuring the interests of all Digimarc shareholder-owners are well represented. TCM|Strategic is entitled to a Board seat and membership on all committees under the terms of its Subscription Agreement with the Company, dated September 29, 2020, and Mr. McCormack was chosen to fill that Board seat.

James T. Richardson was elected to our Board of Directors in July 2008 and served as Lead Director from that time until February 2021, when he was succeeded by Mr. McCormack. He served Old Digimarc as a director from March 2003 until its sale in August of 2008 and was the Lead Director for that period as well. Mr. Richardson serves as a member of the Audit Committee and the Governance, Nominating, and Sustainability Committee. Mr. Richardson has served as an officer and director of and consultant to companies in the high-technology sector. Mr. Richardson was a director (and former chairman of the board of directors and former chairman of the audit committee) of FEI Company (listed on Nasdaq as FEIC until acquired), a diversified scientific instruments company, from 2003 until its sale in 2016. He previously served as a director and audit committee chair of Tripwire, Inc., a network security company, from 2003 to 2011; as a director of Epicor Software Corporation (Nasdaq: EPIC), a global business software company, from 2008 to 2010; and as a director of Plumtree Software, Inc. (Nasdaq: PLUM), an enterprise software company, from 2003 to 2005. Mr. Richardson received a B.A. in finance and accounting from Lewis and Clark College, an M.B.A. from the University of Portland, and a J.D. from Lewis and Clark Law School, and is a licensed C.P.A. and attorney in Oregon. Mr. Richardson is a Board Leadership Fellow certified by the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD).

Mr. Richardson provides the local business community perspective, and brings public company operational, financial, legal and industry expertise to the Board of Directors, particularly in the high technology and financial areas. Prior to joining our Board, Mr. Richardson served as chief financial officer and chief administrative officer for five global technology companies ranging in size from $20 million to $300 million in annual revenue, including as senior vice president and chief financial officer of WebTrends Corporation, a website analytics company, senior vice president-corporate operations and chief financial officer at Network General Corporation, a developer of network management software, vice president finance and administration and chief financial officer of Logic Modeling Corp., a semiconductor software company, and vice president finance and administration and chief financial officer of Advanced Logic Research, Inc., a server and systems company. These experiences are particularly germane to the strategic and operational oversight, transactional and risk analysis, and legal and financial initiatives of the Company.

Alicia Syrett was elected to our Board of Directors in October 2020 and was elected as Board Chair in April 2021. Ms. Syrett serves as a member of the Audit Committee, Compensation and Talent Management Committee, Governance, Nominating, and Sustainability Committee, and Market Development Committee and serves as the Chair of the Governance, Nominating, and Sustainability Committee. Ms. Syrett brings more than 20 years of investment management experience to the Digimarc Board. She is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Pantegrion Capital, an investment management firm she founded in 2011. She is an accomplished author, speaker, and regular media personality on major cable and network news and financial programs. Before Pantegrion, Ms. Syrett was the Chief Administrative Officer and Managing Director of Mount Kellett, a multi-billion-dollar investment firm acquired by Fortress Investment Group. Between 2002 and 2008, she served as a Director at HBK Investments and as Chief Administrative Officer at Farallon Capital, one of the country’s largest hedge funds. She began her career at Donaldson, Lufkin, & Jenrette in investment banking. Ms. Syrett served on the board of directors of NewAge (NBEV) from January 2020 until January of 2022, where she served on all committees (Compensation, Audit, and Nominating, Governance and Sustainability). Ms. Syrett holds an MBA from both Columbia Business School where she received Beta Gamma Sigma honors and the London Business School where she graduated with distinction (top 10%) and holds a bachelor’s degree in economics with concentrations in finance and accounting from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, where she graduated magna cum laude. Ms. Syrett is a Board Leadership Fellow certified by the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD).

Ms. Syrett brings executive, human capital management, financial, compensation and operational expertise to the Board of Directors. Ms. Syrett is accomplished across many disciplines with extraordinary leadership qualities, a history of investing in and advising hyper-scale growth organizations, a track record of advocating for diversity and equality, and a mastery of modern media. She is an accomplished venture capitalist, author, instructor at Columbia University, public speaker and has been a regular guest on various financial network television shows. Ms. Syrett is also a highly sought-after advisor to startups, early-stage, hyper-growth companies, and women-led organizations. Her experience is particularly germane to Digimarc initiatives to increase diversity and inclusion at all levels of the Company and improve the Company’s compensation program, succession planning, corporate governance, sustainability and Board and personnel recruitment initiatives.

Andrew J. Walter was elected to our Board of Directors in October 2016. Mr. Walter serves as a member of the Audit Committee and the Market Development Committee and serves as the Chair of the Market Development Committee. Mr. Walter has more than 30 years of operations, information technology and shared services experience, including 26 years at The Procter & Gamble Company (NYSE: PG), a consumer goods company. Mr. Walter has served on a number of boards, including the GS1 US Board of Governors, an organization that develops and maintains global standards for business communication, and as Chair for its technology committee. He is currently serving as an advisory board member or strategic advisor for various privately held technology companies and as Trustee and Vice Chair for the Ovarian Cancer Alliance of Greater Cincinnati. Mr. Walter received his B.C.S. from the University of Cincinnati.

Mr. Walter brings strategic, international, operational and transactional expertise to the Board of Directors. Prior to joining our Board, Mr. Walter enjoyed a long tenure at Procter & Gamble, where he most recently led its Global Business Services and IT Global Commercial Services and Delivery organization until August 2016, with more than 1,500 IT and multifunctional professionals and more than 5,000 partner resources. He has deep expertise in integration of emerging and core commercial technologies, supply chain management, sales and marketing, and consumer and business analytics.