Meet our team
FOUNDER AND CEO
Harirajan Padmanabhan
Hari is an information technology professional who is passionate about applying holistic approaches to enterprise issues. Over the last 36 years, he has served in many different roles within enterprises and as consultant, entrepreneur, and leader in over a dozen different vertical industries globally. Hari started his career in mainframe computer development at Amdahl Corporation in Sunnyvale, California. He co-founded early Internet startups in the 1990s in Silicon Valley in eLearning and eHealth.
In the last 10 years, as a leader and consultant in the enterprise architecture discipline, Hari has been focused on the manufacturing industry and its digital transformation. Hari also serves as Interim Co-Chairman of the Open Process Automation Forum (OPAF) and Co-Chairman of its Enterprise Architecture Working Group. OPAF is developing the O-PASᵀᴹ standard for industrial process control and automation.
Hari has authored several patent applications and publications, including one granted US patent. He has degrees in Computer Science, Educational Technology, and Chemical Engineering. Hari lives in Wichita, Kansas.
AI THOUGHT LEADER - ADVISORY BOARD
Dr Arthur Kordon
An internationally recognized pioneer in applying artificial intelligence in the industry with more than 30 years of experience. He is currently consulting several global corporations to introduce and use analytical solutions and artificial intelligence in their business. He was granted a US patent and has published more than 70 papers, three books, and 16 book chapters in applied artificial intelligence and advanced analytics.
ENTREPRENEUR AND PERSONAL CFO - ADVISORY BOARD
Brian Paulsen
Brian Paulsen is an entrepreneur and Wealth Manager with Intellicents Inc. and focuses his time on helping business owners transform business success into personal wealth. Brian is a retired Distinguished Engineer at IBM with 20 years of leadership experience primarily in the finance industry. He is the co-author of the IBM’s PanDOORA architecture and holds several patents in the object-oriented application architecture space. Brian’s last role at IBM was as the CIO of the IBM Account and oversaw the technical team that delivers and supports the applications that run the IBM Corporation
Brian’s role on the Advisory Board is to leverage his technical background and wealth management leadership to help position hpad for growth.
PROCESS CONTROL EXPERT - ADVISORY BOARD
Karel Cerny
Karel is a highly respected leader in process control and automation in the pulp and paper industry. He started his career in this industry as an electrical engineer over 50 years ago. From 1985 to 2020, Karel played several roles, including senior process control engineer, project manager, and director at Georgia-Pacific. As director of corporate process control engineering, he was responsible for all process control projects as well as plant upgrades and introduced several industry-leading innovations prior to his retirement. Karel actively contributes to Open Process Automation Forum efforts to create the O-PASᵀᴹ standard for process control and automation.
TECHNOLOGY & SALES STRATEGIST - ADVISORY BOARD
Brandon Sullivan
An entrepreneur with years of successful sales leadership in venture-backed software startups. Passionate about revenue growth, customers experiencing life changing value, and increasing shareholder value for the founder and investor community.
Currently focused on an early stage startup in the auto industry, Brandon has extensive knowledge of go to market strategy, operations, and growth.
Brandon lives in Wichita, KS, and holds a bachelor’s degree in Entrepreneurship from Wichita State University.