Laconic's Team of Seasoned Leaders
Our executive team consists of seasoned experts from a wide range of technology, finance, sustainability and governmental sectors. We bring together a wealth of experience that combines a wide range of skills and knowledge to deliver innovative solutions at the intersection of ecology, economy, and security. This helps drive our mission forward where we envision a world that aligns humanity’s progress with the protection, restoration, and ongoing sustainability of natural systems, while driving economic growth.
JAMES MCCALL
Chief Executive Officer
Mr. James McCall is a proven sustainability leader with nearly three decades of experience driving environmental and operational excellence at some of the world’s largest corporations. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Hewlett-Packard, Inc (HP), where he oversaw both the Sustainability and Product Compliance organizations. Leading a global team of nearly 300 professionals, he delivered on ambitious annual goals that helped HP earn top scores for transparency, impact, and driving meaningful progress from the Dow Jones Sustainability Index, Corporate Knights, MCSI, EcoVadis, and a rare 'Triple A' rating across Climate, Water, and Forestry from CDP. In 2023, he was named one of the Global ESG50 top executives by Constellation Research. Before joining HP, Mr. McCall spent more than 24 years at Procter & Gamble (P&G) in a variety of engineering, manufacturing, and sustainability leadership positions. As P&G’s Global Climate and Supply Chain Sustainability Leader, he played a key role in the company’s climate and forestry investments, including their commitment to being carbon neutral for the decade. His efforts helped transition P&G’s 140 sites in 40 countries to 100% renewable electricity reducing their absolute carbon footprint, while in parallel investing in large-scale carbon projects to help offset remaining emissions. Mr. McCall also brings deep experience in nature-based climate solutions. He has worked with global partners including WWF, The Nature Conservancy, Conservation International, and The Arbor Day Foundation to help design and implement forest conservation projects that have protected hundreds of thousands of hectares of critical ecosystems around the world. Mr. McCall holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State University and is widely recognized for his ability to bridge corporate strategy with meaningful sustainability outcomes at scale.
DAVE MATHESON
Chief Financial Officer
Mr. David Matheson is a senior financial executive with over 40+ years’ worldwide experience in energy, infrastructure, manufacturing, industrial, and real estate industries. Mr. Matheson handled all financial and operational functions of multiple successful public and private companies, as well as those listed on the TSX and NYSE respectively. Holding a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of British Columbia, Mr. Matheson is well versed in international jurisdictional tax regimes in many G-20 countries including, Canada, United States, Australia and Indonesia. Mr. Matheson is a Certified Professional Accountant with a Chartered Accountant designation.
DAVID CRAMMOND
Chief Revenue Officer
Mr. David Crammond has over 40 years’ experience as a global finance executive with a successful track record of identifying new business opportunities in the U.S., Canada, U.K. and Singapore. Mr. Crammond has held a wide variety of executive roles in financial, technological, environmental and charitable organizations in Europe and Asia, including IHS Markit - a S&P 500 company. Having lived for many years in Asia, Mr. Crammond has extensive knowledge of doing business in Asia Pacific and China and understanding the diverse cultural nuances of the region.
MITCH CARMEN
Chief Analytics Officer
Mr. Mitch Carmen has over 15 years’ experience working with data and analytics and has led teams to deliver AI solutions across every sector of the economy. With a background in financial risk management and a passion for automation, Mr. Carmen has helped build intelligent systems ranging from KYC automation for big banks to early warning systems for large manufacturers in complex supply chains. Mr. Carmen holds a MSc in Applied Data Science from University of Chicago and a BA in Finance & Economics from Illinois Weslyean University.
ALISTAIR MULLEN
President of Business Development
Mr. Alistair Mullen has over 30 years of experience as a global financial executive with a track record of product innovation across asset classes - including the credit derivative index swap market. For the last decade, Mr. Mullen has held various advisory positions in startups, early-stage companies, and in UNFCCC negotiating groups. Mr. Mullen was a senior advisor to principle-negotiators on climate affairs for the UN and on Article 6 of the Paris Agreement. Most recently, Mr. Mullen was with the Coalition for Rainforest Nations (CfRN) where he was Head of the Rainforest Capital Markets Initiative. He has held investment bank leadership roles at BNP Paribas, ABN Amro, and Barclays where he managed global teams. Mr. Mullen holds an MA in Economics from the University of St. Andrews.
JESSICA ALEXANDER
SVP Global Corporate Partnerships
With over 25 years of experience in software sales, Ms. Alexander drives revenue through innovative go-to-market strategies with cloud service providers and strategic corporations. Before joining Laconic, Ms. Alexander spent over 8 years at CrowdStrike building and scaling co-sell programs with AWS while simultaneously cultivating Amazon into their largest customer. She created cross functional collaborative teams to support the accelerated revenue growth and scale. Prior to CrowdStrike, Ms. Alexander excelled in revenue generation at McAfee and RSA Security with strategic clients in finance, technology and entertainment. Ms. Alexander holds a B.S. from Georgetown University.
TOMMY OLSON
Director of Corporate Security & People Operations
Mr. Tommy Olson has 28 years’ experience as a Senior Military Police and Security Branch Officer in the US Marine Corps serving various military and law enforcement roles. He is a Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy graduate and maintains an active Top Secret/SCI Clearance. With a MA in Business and Organizational Security Management, Mr. Olson is a proven expert in leading and managing security operations in evolving global military and diplomatic landscapes around the world.
ELKE HEISS
Head of Marketing
Ms. Heiss is a strategic marketer with over 30 years’ experience providing strategic marketing counsel, development and management of integrated global marketing, internal and external communications, and go-to-market programs for B2B technology companies, including many world-wide corporate reputation and product positioning campaigns. Throughout her career, Ms. Heiss has held several executive positions and gained in-depth experience helping several technology companies go public and working for Cleantech initiatives, including, Cleantech Group, Think London and Veolia Environment. Living and working in Asia, Europe and the U.S. has provided Ms. Heiss with a global perspective that she rigorously applies to strategic marketing and communications counsel. Ms. Heiss holds a BA honors degree in Business Organization from Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, Scotland. She is fluent in English and German.
Board of Directors Experience
Meet our esteemed Board of Directors, a group of highly experienced professionals with diverse backgrounds and extensive expertise in their respective fields. From industry leaders like Joe Niciforo and Peter Borish to accomplished individuals like Joe Sexton and James McCall, our board brings a wealth of knowledge and strategic guidance to steer our global organization towards success. Get to know our directors and their impressive accomplishments in areas such as technology, finance, engineering and sustainability.
Joseph Niciforo
Chairman of the Board
Joseph Niciforo is a veteran in the financial trading and hedge fund markets. Currently, Mr. Niciforo is a founding member of HC Private Investments and serves on the firm’s investment committee. From 2007 to 2024, he was Chairman and CEO of HC Technologies, a principal trading firm focused on FX and global futures. Prior to HC Technologies, Mr. Niciforo worked for Tudor Investment Corporation from 1987-2004. He became a partner in 1989 and served as the Managing Director-U.S. Fixed Income. Mr. Niciforo also served as a director on both the Chicago Board of Trade and the CME Group Boards for 15 years. Mr. Niciforo graduated from Georgetown University and Fordham University School of Law.
James McCall
Director
Mr. James McCall is a proven sustainability leader with nearly three decades of experience driving environmental and operational excellence at some of the world’s largest corporations. Most recently, he served as Senior Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at Hewlett-Packard, Inc (HP), where he oversaw both the Sustainability and Product Compliance organizations. Before joining HP, Mr. McCall spent more than 24 years at Procter & Gamble (P&G) in a variety of engineering, manufacturing, and sustainability leadership positions. As P&G’s Global Climate and Supply Chain Sustainability Leader, he played a key role in the company’s climate and forestry investments, including their commitment to being carbon neutral for the decade. Mr. McCall holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from North Carolina State University and is widely recognized for his ability to bridge corporate strategy with meaningful sustainability outcomes at scale.
Peter Borish
Director
Peter Borish is the chairman and CEO of Computer Trading Corporation (CTC), an investment and advisory firm. He is a partner at Torsion Technologies, LLC, and a partner at Quantrarian Asset Management. Additionally, Mr. Borish serves as a board member of CIBC Bank USA and as an independent director of RMB Funds where he is audit committee certified. Mr. Borish is active in the non-profit sector where he serves as Chairman of the Institute for Financial Markets (IFM) and is a founding board member at both the Robin Hood Foundation and Math for America. Mr. Borish’s career began at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York where he monitored foreign exchange futures and options. At Paul Tudor Jones, Mr. Borish helped build Tudor Investments into a leading global macro hedge fund by spearheading the firm’s investment in research, data and computing. He earned his Masters of Public Policy from the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan and received a BA in Economics from the same university.
Joe Sexton
Director
Joe Sexton is a technology industry veteran and proven operator with more than 30 years Go-To-Market expertise in software, SaaS, and PaaS businesses. He currently serves as a Board of Director for Aqua Security, XFactor, Menlo Security, and BrainBox Intelligent Marketing. He is also on the Advisory Board of Jugo. Formerly, Mr. Sexton served as Member of the Board at CrowdStrike where he helped grow the company from $25M to over $1.7B in annual recurring revenue. He was also a board member at DecisionLink, D2iQ, and PagerDuty where he helped take the company through its successful IPO in 2019. From December 2012 to April 2017, Mr. Sexton served as President of Worldwide Field Operations at AppDynamics, Inc., which was acquired by Cisco in 2017 for $3.7B. He led AppDynamics from $28m to over $280m in sales while there. He has also held executive sales positions at McAfee, Mercury Interactive, EMC, and CA Technologies. Mr. Sexton holds a B.B.A. in Marketing from the University of Kentucky.
Philip B Kenny was Executive Vice President of Kenny Construction and President of Kenny International. The Kenny Organization was a worldwide firm operating for over 75 years on large complex construction projects. The firm was sold to Granite Construction, a public company in 2012. Mr. Kenny is currently President of Northgate Investments, involved in the development of nearly five million square feet of office and industrial projects. Mr. Kenny was the Founder and Chairman of One on One Sports, a radio company with six major market stations and over 465 stations in syndication. It was sold to Paul Allen of Charter Communications. Active in the Private Equity world, he has invested in a number of technology start ups in the construction and development space. He served on the Business Board at Miami University as well as the Board of the Engineering and Technology School at Northern Illinois University. He graduated from Arizona State University with a Business Degree and attended school on a full athletic scholarship.
Director
Phil Kenny
Jessica Sohl was President and a partner of HC Technologies, a principal trading firm focused on FX and global futures. At HC Technologies, she was responsible for overseeing the firm’s global operations and strategic global expansion. Prior to HC Technologies, she was a Regulatory and Compliance Attorney at Jump Trading, a leading data and research-driven trading business. Ms. Sohl is a former member of the CFTC’s Global Markets Advisory Committee and served as Vice-Chair of the New York Federal Reserve Board’s Foreign Exchange Committee. She currently chairs the Board of the Chicago Foundation for Women. Ms. Sohl graduated from Gordon College and Loyola University Chicago School of Law.
Director
Jessica Sohl
Donald Morrison
Director
Don Morrison is the retired Chief Operating Officer of BlackBerry/Research In Motion during the high-growth years. Prior to BlackBerry/Research In Motion, Don undertook a number of senior leadership positions in Canada, the United States, Europe and the Middle East with AT&T and Bell Canada. Don is currently the Chair of the Board of the Dalai Lama Center for Ethics and Transformative Values at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He was a previous Board Member of Yellow Pages and Mastercard Foundation, as well as the Founder and Chair of the Board of Ontario Global 100. His family foundation, Morrison Family Foundation, primarily focuses on medical advancements that help children in need and gives struggling communities the skills and tools to support them. Recently Don and his wife, Debbie, built a nursing college in rural Kenya following many years of philanthropic work in Sub Saharan Africa.
Jessica Sohl
Director
Jessica Sohl was President and a partner of HC Technologies, a principal trading firm focused on FX and global futures. At HC Technologies, she was responsible for overseeing the firm’s global operations and strategic global expansion. Prior to HC Technologies, she was a Regulatory and Compliance Attorney at Jump Trading, a leading data and research-driven trading business. Ms. Sohl is a former member of the CFTC’s Global Markets Advisory Committee and served as Vice-Chair of the New York Federal Reserve Board’s Foreign Exchange Committee. She currently chairs the Board of the Chicago Foundation for Women. Ms. Sohl graduated from Gordon College and Loyola University Chicago School of Law.