About Us

Managing Partner

GARY COOPER

Gary is the Founder and Managing Partner of Aptitude Ventures.  He spent the bulk of his professional career working in international markets across Europe, Asia Pacific and North America. Prior to founding Aptitude, Gary established and exited from 3 start-ups, including Sentiment360, Inc. a social media analytics provider and Rivereo, Inc., a Manila based Agile software development company that worked with startup clients in the US, Australia and the UK. Gary also held sales management roles with IBM (UK) and PeopleSoft in Pleasanton, CA..

Chief Technology Officer

MARK NATHANIEL

Mark has over 15 years experience in designing and implementing enterprise-level applications for international clients including complex financial trading systems. Mark provides thought leadership on object-oriented analysis and design as well as implementation of DevOps best practices,   Mark was instrumental in architecting Aptitude’s Agile360 Distributed DevOps methodology that has provided exceptional quality and on-time performance for all clients.

SENIOR PARTNER – WEST COAST

ROB BREWSTER

Rob brings extensive experience building high performance direct & indirect sales channels across the US and international markets. Rob was instrumental in driving sales growth at Twilio where he held several senior executive positions including VP of Global Sales and VP of Global Alliances. Rob previously held senior executive positions in Sales at market leading technology companies including Eloqua, Salesforce.com and Siebel.

SENIOR PARTNER – ATLANTA

LARRY LEWARK

Larry is the former CIO for Macys’ Inc, the iconic New York based department store chain with 885 locations across the US. Larry is widely recognized as one of the top executives in omnichannel retail, ecommerce and secure payment processing technology. Larry also served on the prestigious IBM Executive Customer Advisory Board for several years. Larry plays a key role in helping our startups optimize value propositions to address the strategic buying criteria of C-level decision makers.

PRINCIPAL ADVISOR – U.K.

DAVID MOODY

David is a recognised thought leader on Digital Customer Engagement and is currently VP & Global Business Leader for Verint, Inc.  David was formerly co-founder and CTO for Lagan Technologies Limited, one of the UK’s most successful SME exporters whose enterprise customer engagement software was sold successfully against major competitors, including Oracle.  David brings a wealth of product strategy and technical leadership to our startup partners.

PRINCIPAL ADVISOR – ATLANTA

BENN KONSYNSKI

Professor Benn Konsynski is the George S Craft professor of Information Systems at the Goizueta Business School at Emory University in Atlanta.  Prior to arriving in Atlanta, Dr. Konsynski taught in the MBA program at the Harvard Business School. Benn is a recognized thought leader in Digital Commerce and next generation commerce platforms. His research and advisory experience brings a valued mentorship to guide startups in developing long-term strategic value of their business solutions.

PRINCIPAL ADVISOR – ATLANTA

DON DIXON

Don has worked with 200 of the US Fortune 1000 brands during his 40 year career in advertising and marketing.   He has fulfilled a diverse range of senior roles, including Director of Sports Programming for Anheuser Busch, Senior Director of Integrated Marketing at Cox Enterprises and Chairman of Saatchi & Saatchi Marketing Services in New York.  Don also sits on the Board of Directors for the American Marketing Association.