Kitware Announces Promotions As The Company Prepares for Growth

Aashish Chaudhary

Assistant Director of Business Development, Data and Analytics

Aashish joined Kitware in 2009. His technical successes include developing visualization systems for computer vision applications and geospatial visualization for Kitware’s Visualization Toolkit (VTK), open source software for manipulating and displaying scientific data. Aashish has led many successful proposals for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Department of Defense (DoD) and pioneered efforts to build inroads into NASA collaborations. He has fostered new partnerships with both commercial and government organizations and strengthened existing collaborations. In his new role, Aashish will focus further on building customer relationships and finding the right opportunities for Kitware to deliver impactful software to new and existing customers. 

Heather James

Assistant Director of Business Development, Computer Vision

Heather joined Kitware in 2014 to help grow government business in computer vision, but her role quickly expanded to include commercial business development. Heather has brought in millions of dollars of funding per year for business in the intelligence community, space sector, LIDAR, and many other areas. In parallel, Heather also manages Kitware’s DC office which includes coordinating office events, hosting visitors from external government agencies and internal technical team members, and overseeing classified projects. Her ability to build strong customer relationships has made her a valuable asset to Kitware’s team. In her new role, Heather will expand her business development responsibilities beyond computer vision and focus more on federal business development.

Sebastien Jourdain

Distinguished Engineer, Scientific Computing 

After joining Kitware in 2010, Sebastien started working on Kitware’s open source data analysis and visualization application, ParaView. He was instrumental in developing ParaViewWeb, an infrastructure to use ParaView’s visualization capabilities on the web. As a result of this work, Sebastien has become the lead developer of Kitware’s web-based scientific visualization platforms. Sebastien went on to create the infrastructure for vtk.js, a web-based version of VTK, Kitware’s open source software for manipulating and displaying scientific data. In his new role, Sebastien will continue to provide leadership for Kitware’s web visualization efforts and work with collaborators and customers to extend Kitware’s visualization capabilities.

Matt Leotta, Ph.D.

Assistant Director of Computer Vision, Computer Vision

Almost immediately after Matt joined Kitware in 2009, he initiated the development of TeleSculptor, Kitware’s open-source toolkit for 3D reconstruction and photogrammetry. As the primary developer, Matt has led numerous projects that have funded TeleSculptor and it is now widely used for computer vision applications both internally and externally. He has led and/or contributed to dozens of proposals and projects, including two major Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) programs, CORE3D and SMART, each worth millions per year. In his new role, Matt will help manage the Computer Vision Team while continuing to grow Kitware’s business and reputation in 3D vision.

Matt McCormick, Ph.D.

Distinguished Engineer, Medical Computing

Since joining Kitware in 2011, Matt has been a leader and a key contributor to ITK, an open source suite of software for medical image analysis. Matt is an established NIH principal investigator winning highly competitive R01 and fast-track SBIR/STTR applications in the areas of distributed registration of massive neuroscience Images and development of quantitative, image-based osteoarthritis biomarkers. In his new role, Matt will continue to provide leadership in ITK and develop fast and scalable image analysis techniques for large dimensional imaging data for Kitware customers and the open source community.

Zach Mullen

Distinguished Engineer, Data and Analytics 

Since Zach joined Kitware in 2009, he has been instrumental in creating platforms and solutions that are of high value to Kitware. He was at the forefront of web development at Kitware and remains a strong champion for web technologies. Zach has led technical efforts and large projects for customers within the intelligence community, National Institutes of Health (NIH), commercial industry, and more. He was also one of the lead developers of Girder, Kitware’s open source web-based data management platform. In his new role, Zach will be responsible for advancing Kitware’s web and hosted services expertise and outlining how these capabilities can be connected with the broad range of Kitware technologies to better serve customers. 

Roni Choudhury, Ph.D.

Technical Leader, Data and Analytics

Roni joined Kitware in 2012 and has contributed to Kitware’s growth and success across several fronts. He was instrumental in the successful Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) XDATA project, showcasing key information visualization capabilities. Roni also led the National Science Foundation (NSF) Multinet project, the NIH DANDI project, and recently won an Atlascope SBIR. As a technical leader, Roni will be more involved in procuring new customers and leading projects that involve data visualization and data management systems.

Adrien Beaudet

Senior Contracts Administrator, Contracts

Adrien joined Kitware in 2017. He expertly manages the administration of Kitware’s commercial and lab contracts. He excels in developing efficiencies, creating and implementing new processes, and documenting procedures. As commercial opportunities increase, Adrien will help build Kitware’s commercial contracting processes to scale with the company’s growth.

Daniel Chiquito

Senior R&D Engineer, Data and Analytics

Since joining Kitware in 2020, Daniel has been an integral part of building Kitware’s web development expertise. He is architecting and developing a data portal for very large neuroscience datasets and is a key developer on the MIQA project, a workflow application for medical image quality assurance. Daniel will continue to expand Kitware’s proficiencies in web technologies in his new position. 

Matt Covalt

Senior R&D Engineer, Data and Analytics

Matt joined Kitware in 2020. He has been a primary contributor to Kitware’s ResonantGeoData platform, which is being used across several projects in the company including the IARPA SMART effort. He has also effectively worked on other DoD projects. In his new role, Matt will continue to grow Kitware’s expertise in web applications and data management solutions.

Matt Dawkins

Staff R&D Engineer, Computer Vision

Since joining Kitware in 2011, Matt has been involved in multiple tracking-in-full-motion video projects. Matt has also led many of Kitware’s efforts with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), including helping to develop VIAME into one of Kitware’s most successful computer vision toolkits. In his new position, Matt will continue expanding Kitware’s environmental monitoring capabilities.   

Mary Elise Dedicke

Senior Technical Proposal Writer, Business Development

Mary Elise joined Kitware in 2019 and has made a significant impact on Kitware’s commercialization efforts. She works closely with project leads to write effective and meaningful proposals. As Kitware continues to grow and has more business development needs, Mary Elise’s unique skills will continue to amplify Kitware’s opportunities. 

Alexis Girault

Staff R&D Engineer, Medical Computing

Since Alexis joined Kitware in 2015, he has made significant contributions to Kitware’s open source platforms including the Interactive Medical Simulation Toolkit (iMSTK), 3D Slicer, and vtk.js. Alexis leads and contributes to several commercial projects that involve product development and technical software support. He has established long-term, successful relationships with commercial customers and will continue to do so in his new role.

Samantha Horvath, Ph.D.

Staff R&D Engineer, Medical Computing

Since joining Kitware in 2017, Samantha has contributed to and led several commercial and grant-funded projects using 3D Slicer. She has also worked on surgical planning and computer-assisted diagnostic applications that involve tracking devices, haptic devices, robotic arms, and more. Currently, Samantha develops custom 3D Slicer applications for medical and biomedical customers, which she will continue in her new position.

David Joy

Staff R&D Engineer, Computer Vision

David joined Kitware in 2018 and helped build a coherent system for the IARPA CORE3D program. Since then, he has repeated his role as an integrator of technology on a number of large-scale computer vision efforts for DARPA and IARPA. David is highly experienced in managing large and complex projects and, in his new role, will continue sustaining these impactful government projects. 

Ryan Krattiger

Senior R&D Engineer, Scientific Computing

Since joining Kitware in 2021, Ryan has contributed to the Exascale Computing Project which aims to support the DOE’s data and visualization software on next-generation supercomputers. He also helped develop and improve CMake-based build infrastructure and made key contributions to the core development build infrastructure of CMB. In his new role, Ryan will continue focusing on adding new capabilities to Kitware’s open source toolkits. 

Kerri Montenieri

Senior Accounting Administrator, Finance

Since Kerri joined Kitware in 2006, she has been overseeing two significant workflows in Kitware’s business operations. Recently, Kerri has automated these workflows to gain efficiencies and better manage Kitware’s volume increase and geographic expansion. Kerri will continue leading critical projects in her new role. 

Jared Vicory, Ph.D.

Staff R&D Engineer, Medical Computing

Jared joined Kitware in 2016. He has provided algorithms expertise in machine learning, shape modeling, and medical image analysis tasks, including detection, segmentation, and classification. Jared has led commercial and research projects, such as the segmentation of bone from x-ray and CT images and machine learning-based segmentation from colonoscopy videos. Jared will continue applying his algorithms expertise to critical medical computing projects.