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I’m Kirk Benell and I’m a software technologist with a wide-variety of interests as well as expansive experience in software technologies. My passion, expertise and experience all center around the ideation, construction and bringing to market innovative software products. Possessing a unique mix of technical abilities and innate market intuition, I take a holistic approach to everything I’m involved with.
I’ve worked in geospatial, navigation and scientific visualization domains for all of my professional career, with a diverse industry background. As a software developer for many years, I have extensive experience with the day-to-day demands of an engineering team. Also, as an Engineering Executive/CTO, I know the importance of leadership, software business considerations and taking strategic vision to product implementation. My professional experience is outlined in my resume.
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Executive and Leadership
- 20+ years of software business experience in both small and with a large-public companies
- Held senior level positions including Director, VP Engineering and Chief Technology Officer
- Oversaw rapid organization growth during ownership transitions as well as in support of commercial success
- Recognized as the “vision” leader – working with team members and customers to build a strategic technical/product plan
- Have overseen strategic technical roadmap generation, R&D investments and technical transitions into product deliverables
- Key member of multiple merger and acquisition evaluation and integration teams
- Lead technical integration and product strategy in support of large strategic partnerships
- Oversaw 60+ sized engineering teams, spanning multiple locations and countries
- Technical evangelist, supporting the community and company marketing activities and events worldwide
- Transformed conventional Engineering organizations into agile, high-performing teams on many occasions
Engineering and Technology
- Trained in Physics and Computer Science
- 20+ years as software engineer and architect
- Extensive experience and knowledge of geospatial computing, image analytics and GIS
- Extensive experience and knowledge in scientific visualization and computing
- Developed, designed and implemented solutions in support of desktop, enterprise and mobile product solutions
- Lead engineer in support of key customer interactions
- Train, mentor and coach both existing and new team members
- Established best practices and systems for both legacy and new product development
- Lead member in support of standards bodies and open source strategy
- Recognized as a high-performer, constantly delivering unique solutions that delight customers