Our Team
Bios of what our staff do inside of SRT Labs, and outside.
Gregory Scott
Chief Executive Officer
Dr. Gregory Scott, CEO, began with a degree in Aerospace Engineering from Pennsylvania State University, and an MSc in Space Architecture from the University of Houston. He worked at Mission Control, launching the space shuttle for NASA at the Johnson Space Center, before heading to the University of Surrey where he completed his Ph.D. in Space Robotics, with a focus in planetary locomotion systems for exploration robots. He then worked for the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, where he acquired and managed over $10 million in robotics R&D programs for NASA, DARPA, and the Navy. In 2013 he founded SRT Labs, with the goal of bringing together service robots and commercial IoT devices from different manufacturers into the same ecosystem. While fully committed to building SRT Labs, he has been known to still submit NASA astronaut applications (five to date). If successful, Dr. Scott will continue to promote SRT’s fully remote work environment from Mars.
Karoline Pershell
Chief Operating Officer & Director of Strategy & Evaluation
Dr. Karoline Pershell, COO, earned her BS at the University of Tennessee-Martin (UTM), and her Masters and Ph.D. in Mathematics from Rice University. She taught as a math professor at UTM, at Qingdao University in China, and as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Hyderabad in India. She served with the Department of State as Evaluation Coordinator, and then as Executive Director of the Association for Women in Mathematics. At SRT Labs she specializes in listening to client needs to align business intelligence and improve their workflow. In a career distinguished with awards, she insists that her most meaningful accolade is the Bumble Bee Award, given when she was on UTM’s rodeo team as the first full-time, female collegiate bullrider, which reads: “Physics says that the bumble bee should not be able to fly. The bee ignores this information and goes on to fly, work, and achieve.”
Ralf Meisenzahl
Chief Financial Officer
Ralf is a research economist with a PhD from Northwestern University. He focuses on empirical research on corporate loans, bank lending and firm investment using large datasets. This focus makes Ralf a great fit to maintain the best interests of SRT as we analyze investor opportunities, while also ensuring our financial projections and targets are both realistic and attainable. With the precision of his prognostications, we’re convinced that he may be prescient.
Lauren Jerome
Chief Product Officer
Lauren Jerome, Chief Product Officer, is a creative problem solver, providing the fertile ground to develop SRT’s technology, and to ensure its successful adoption and continuity in our market. A graduate of the University of Toledo, she earned her Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering, summa cum laude, a skillset which she still applies to identify defects and opportunities in our deployment. Across her career she has served as Director of Engineering, Software Production, and Product Management, demonstrating her understanding of the totality of the business process and product lifecycle. As a transformative leader, she has co-organized events to foster small business, and co-founded Redefining Women in Tech, a program devoted towards supporting the needs of women in tech fields.
Len Backus
Vice President of Sales & Marketing
After learning of SRT Labs during a fundraising pitch, Len Backus took a deep dive into learning the culture and operations of our company and decided to join our team. With a 30+ year history as a start-up sales executive, he has an impressive resume growing sales teams and also collaborated in two IPO exits and many acquisitions. Having performed deep diligence on our company finances, customer relationship management, our sales pipeline, and on understanding our competition and market segments, Len has found great opportunities towards expanding SRT's commercial profitability. His present focus is on streamlining SRT's sales processes, improving collateral, and making customer relationship management use a core part of our team's daily culture.
Vishal Kole
Senior Software Architect
Vishal Kole is SRT’s Senior Software Architect. He began with a degree in Computer Science from the Engineering Institute of Ichalkaranji, and an MSc in Computer Science from Rochester Institute of Technology. His research work focused on cloud-based collaborative robotics and mapping as well as research in increasing efficiency in implementation of advanced algorithms. He worked as a software developer and consultant before leading the development and launch of SRT’s M1 Platform. Vishal is able to drive his passion, of bringing the exciting parts of Kubernetes and other machine learning algorithms from behind the scenes to make them accessible to the end user. Vishal’s passion for engineering was evident from his early age when fixing dysfunctional items used to be his most favorite pastime.
Elliot Barnett
Business Development Manager
Elliot Barnett comes to SRT Labs as our Business Development Manager. Elliot’s comprehensive understanding of business ecology stems from both his experience in the private market and academia. Prior to working with SRT Labs, he worked as both project manager and director of operations, administering to million-dollar ventures, leadership of teams, efficiency improvements, and strategic business planning. He received his Master of Business Administration from Virginia Commonwealth University in 2020. At SRT Labs, Elliot manages the full pipeline of client assessment with a targeted research approach, resisting the mass email campaigns. He currently holds title to having the illest tattoos at SRT, an undeniable advantage in amping our street cred alongside his smackdown memes.
Aaron Benson de Oliveira
Team Member Services Manager
Aaron Benson de Oliveira is a Human Resources Generalist with an academic background in philosophy, political economy, and computer science. He has a deep interest in the field of high tech and a love of the sciences generally, always looking at the ways technology is employed to improve the lives of people. Across his HR career, Aaron has built tools and resources geared towards the automation of multiple HR functions and the analysis of HR metrics. Aaron is tasked with ensuring that SRT Labs is prepared for an expansive future, constructing inclusive policies to make SRT’s business culture as cutting edge as our technology. He otherwise attempts to herd his cats and, true to his nerdy roots, watches a bunch of Star Trek reruns.
Jens Fritzenwanker
Solutions Architect
Dr. Fritzenwanker’s academic work is in deciphering complex regulatory networks in the field of molecular and developmental biological sciences, with work published in Nature, PNAS, PlosBiology, and Current Biology. His academic career includes several awards, funding, and fellowships in the United States and the European Union. As SRT’s Solutions Architect, he creates solutions for customer problems utilizing his experience in understanding complex networks, working with large data sets, and in project management. A technophile at heart, his experience in building and testing residential smart home systems with the precision of laboratory science means his device selection for client deployments is based on careful understanding of the device ecosystem. He is always happy to discuss your solution, it just may mean that it is from a beach or snow covered mountain!
Sam Kome
Technology Partnerships Manager
Sam Kome is a librarian and technologist with a background in information science and geography. He has employed his skillset to improve library discovery services (think databases and search engines), working with library stakeholders on a variety of IT and building projects. He has worked extensively in the improvement of geographic tracking; for aircraft, automobiles, and people by working with sensors and through indexing large data sets across varied internet service providers. He is essential to SRT in structuring the M1 Platform’s administration of robotic activity alongside assuring the proper integration of other smart devices. We look forward to his inevitable live action theatre production of the history of body surfing, dry cappuccinos included and pinkies up—so bourgeois.
Tasha Mitchell
Software Developer
Tasha Mitchell is a software developer and graphic designer with a passion for bringing concepts into a visual reality that’s both thought-provoking and interactive. Coming from a strong background in studying and speaking multiple languages (including Spanish and Chinese), she excels at wrapping new disciplines into how she crafts the informational narratives to resonate on varied levels with end users, incorporating the cognitive psychology of effective design. Her background in graphic design and linguistics underscores her ability to produce quality code and to create intuitive user experience frameworks with ease. When not occupied by coding, she delves into literary pursuits, such as screenwriting—”They were the best of cobots, they were the worst of cobots…”
Rachel Smith
Bookkeeper
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Michelle Snider
Senior Data Analyst
Dr. Michelle Snider, Senior Data Analyst, graduated in physics and math from Smith College, completing her Ph.D. at Cornell, and went on to work in federally funded research for about a decade, developing technical solutions in R&D. She has held leadership positions within organizations working to improve the accessibility of the STEM fields, holding an Executive Committee position at the Association for Women in Mathematics, facilitated workshops, and attended numerous conferences associated with this social goal. A consummate handywoman, Michelle’s applied knowledge of building systems supports her Solutions Team work at SRT Labs, and her deep love of baking makes all of us disappointed that we are a remote team without a break room.
Bennett Summers
Software Engineer
Ben Summers is a Software Developer with a background in C++, Python, and Java. He earned a degree in Computer Science and English from St. Vincent College, and a Masters in Computer Science from William and Mary. He worked as an aerospace flight software developer for the Naval Research Laboratory. While Greg was building SRT Labs, Ben would volunteer for weekend software sprints, working on Karoline and Greg's kitchen table and herding robots around their D.C. home. Ben uses his experience honing flight build processes, maintaining databases, and developing systems for robots to make sure the M1 is working behind the scenes. When not working, Ben can be found at yet ANOTHER Phish show or live music show, working on custom keyboards, and rock climbing around the NoVA area.
Julian Webb
Software Engineer
Julian Webb is a software developer currently working on SRT’s back-end services. He comes with experience in computer science in data administration and visualization. A renaissance man, he graduated with a degree in Liberal Studies from Iowa State University, worked as a welder, and worked to support disabled adults. Personal projects in computer science inform his hardware/software integration interests—from the building of a Mandelbrot Explorer Coffee table and even a singing dishwasher. When unoccupied with code, he enjoys homemade pizza, growing hydroponic basil and tomatoes, and biking around his midwestern home. He even engages in wild mushroom foraging. Ask him about his morchellaceae morchella pie!
Austin Wiggins
Robotics DevOps Engineer
Austin Wiggins is SRT Labs’ Robotics DevOps Engineer, working to perfect SRT Labs interoperative technology for service robots. He has worked across mathematics, research, medical informatics, and robotics. Passionate about the power of automation, he creates code that ensures the highest level of efficiency. Austin occupies himself outside of work researching automation techniques in manufacturing, agriculture, software, and other fields. An enthusiastic woodworker—having built his own kiln controller and dehumidifier for wood drying—Austin enjoys the great outdoors paddle boarding or kayaking, and has fun with his 3 year old building legos.