Leadership
Founders
James Austin
President and CEO
Dr. James Austin is the Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cervais Inc. Dr. Austin is responsible for developing innovative emergent technology solutions that successfully answer the security challenges that exist with the Internet of Things (IoT) devices. He is the creative visionary behind ideation and product strategy of cutting-edge endpoint security and data protection products, D-RISK Enterprise and D-RISK Mobile, which provide a solid and secure defense against the exploitation of the Internet of Things devices.
As an accomplished cybersecurity executive, Dr. Austin is responsible for overseeing the vision and strategic priorities of the business, while continually setting the bar to maximize growth, and performance.
Widely respected for his vision and strategic thinking, James has anticipated the transformation of endpoint security in leveling the playing field against would be hackers to protect organizations and consumers world-wide. By constantly pushing the boundaries of innovation, James has been instrumental in shaping and developing Cervais’ cybersecurity posture. Coupled with intelligence and deep industry experience, James is empowering the industry to embrace proactive defense solutions.
Prior to Cervais, Dr. Austin’s career spans 25 year history in information technology as a cyber security and risk expert consultant leading security program initiatives across federal agencies to include US Postal Service, Navy, Department of Veterans Affairs, Federal Railroad Administration, (FRA) Department of Labor, NOAA, Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC).
Dr. Austin obtained his doctorate in Information Assurance from the University of Fairfax, Masters from Strayer University, and a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Florida A&M University.
James leads with unwavering faith and a resolute commitment to securing the Internet of Things by driving the innovation and technology to protect consumers and organizations from cyber threats.
Lori Marcum
CFO
Lori Marcum is the Chief Financial Officer for Cervais, charged with ensuring the overall financial health and stability of the company. In this capacity, she contributes to and helps focus the strategic planning objectives to build value within the company, and spearheads the financial strategy for Cervais to align with overall business objectives, including playing a key role to ensure the company grows profitably while maintaining the ability to invest in future growth.
Lori is a seasoned CFO who has a long and successful record of leadership, innovation and effectiveness in rapidly growing service and product-based organizations in both commercial and government contracting environments. For over 30 years, Lori has provided her expertise to technology companies in many diverse situations including: both large publicly-traded corporations and small/startup enterprises; both manufacturing and services/software organizations; both as successful companies and during times of acquisition integration and operational turnarounds.
In recent years, her particular emphasis has been on establishing and improving financial processes, cost and support infrastructures and competitiveness for a diverse group of private and publicly-traded organizations while ensuring compliance with CAS/FAR, DFAR, and GAAP/IFRS requirements.
At Cervais, Lori oversees financial planning and analysis, accounting and financial reporting, banking relationships, contracts administration, legal affairs, audits, human resource management and investor relations. Lori brings to a Cervais a rich history of financial leadership, corporate governance, compliance, and internal control.
Lori holds a B.S., Accounting from the distinguished University of Delaware and a M.B.A. from the esteemed Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. She also holds a C.P.A. in the District of Columbia and is the recipient of the C.M.A. designation.
Tony Salman
CRO
Tony Salman serves as the Chief Revenue Officer for Cervais, where he is responsible leading efforts to position Cervais in acquiring new business development opportunities through branding, marketing, strategic partnerships.
As a seasoned executive, Tony develops and executes campaigns, to successfully penetrate and accelerate the company’s footprint in the enterprise and consumer markets. He has crafted the pricing strategy, forecast volume, profitability at various price points for Cervais’ D-RISK Mobile device, and developed a distribution strategy leveraging MSPs, VARs, and channel partners.
Tony is a rare talent that brings together unparalleled value with a unique blend of technical engineering and marketing expertise to spearhead product design, product positioning, while driving revenue targets. Tony has acquired expertise in multiple disciplines to include finance, software, cybersecurity, automation, IoT, smart grid cities, web development, over a vast 18-year career in the electrical utility and industrial industries.
Tony has a Bachelor of Sciences degree in Electronic and Computer Engineering from Ohio State. Tony applies a consultative approach in solving customer problems, and he is passionate about architecting solutions to overcome any challenge.
Janelin Johnson
COO
Janelin Johnson is one of the four Founders of Cervais Inc., where she also holds the executive position as Chief Operating Officer. As an exceptionally strategic and dedicated leader, Janelin brings 25+ years of business expertise to Cervais, spearheading the optimization and sustainability of internal operations.
Additionally, Janelin oversees and manages the strategic processes related to scaling operations. She accomplishes this by directing teams on how to work through cross-functional initiatives to stimulate company growth, while simultaneously, upholding a company standard of providing top quality services to customers.
Her successful strategic and tactical leadership experience encompasses a broad spectrum of IT initiatives across both federal government and commercial markets, including healthcare, telecommunications, financial, and aviation. With her specialized focus in Healthcare IT, she has led the adoption, coordination, and implementation of Electronic Health Records (EHRs), and TeleHealth programs, in support of enhanced delivery of virtual care solutions.
Janelin holds a Master of Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Maryland Global Campus, and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management from the distinguished Tulane University.
Janelin leads with a passion for exceeding customer expectations, relentless pursuit of continuous process improvements, and keenness for developing talent, steadfast commitment to excellence, and desire to be a source of support wherever she finds herself.
Advisors
Andres Jordon
CEO & Principal Consultant – Factor Six LLC Advisor
A global citizen, Andres has 30 years experience innovating across the globe. He has lived and worked in European, Asian and Latin American cultures. He is a passionate speaker on innovation and design thinking ecosystems as powerful way to accelerate digital transformation. He has built and managed innovation capacity in corporate, startup and consulting domains. A digital thinker, his career has evolved from being an active participant in the building of the internet, to advising organizations on how to innovate in a digital world.
His passion for innovation ecosystems began in 2006 when he co-founded an innovation lab for a $1 billion business unit of Deutsche Telekom. In his charge as VP of Innovation he built global products resulting from new insights derived from human-centered approaches utilizing design thinking tools. His industry leading efforts have been recognized via collaborations with universities including UNAM (Mexico), GMU, USC Marshall and via invitations to speak at prestigious organizations such as The Milken Institute, UNDP and Frost & Sullivan.
He holds a Masters in International Business and a BS in Finance from GMU in addition to multiple Design Thinking certifications from UVA and Experience Point/IDEO. Andres is currently completing a book focused on the impacts of innovation and entrepreneur-based ecosystems on organizational cultures. He resides in Alexandria, VA, in the Washington DC, USA Region.
Major General Hawthorne L. Proctor, US Army (Retired)
Managing Partner – Proctor & Boone LLC Advisor
Major General ® Hawthorne L. “Peet” Proctor retired from the Army after over 34 years of service in 2004. After completing his studies at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University in 1968 as a Distinguished Military Graduate, he entered the Army in 1969 as a Second Lieutenant. As a company grade officer, he served in a variety of units as a Platoon Leader, Company Commander and as a Logistics Staff Officer including service in Vietnam, Thailand and with the 25th Infantry Division, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii. Upon promotion to Major, MG ® Proctor attended the Army’s Command and General Staff College prior to being assigned to the Republic of South Korea as a Logistics Staff Officer. He was then assigned to the Department of the Army’s Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics and upon promotion to Lieutenant Colonel, he was reassigned to Schofield Barracks to command the 25th Supply and Transport Battalion. After command of the battalion, he was assigned as a student at the Army War College. In the summer of 1992, he was reassigned for his third tour at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii to command the 45th Corps Support Group.
After command, he was assigned to the Pentagon as the Executive Officer to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics. In 1996 he was promoted to Brigadier General and assumed the duty as the Director, Plans and Operations, Office of the deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics. Subsequently he was selected for command of the Defense Personnel Support Center and later the Defense Supply Center Philadelphia. MG Proctor was promoted to Major General in July 1998 and was assigned as the G3, Army Materiel Command in Alexandria, Virginia. In July1999, he became the 46th Quartermaster General of the Army at the Quartermaster School, Fort Lee, Virginia.
In July 2001, he was reassigned to Headquarters, Defense Logistics Agency as the Chief of Logistics Operations, J3. He retired from that position in 2004. Throughout his military service, MG ® Proctor received numerous honors and military awards. After retiring from the Army, MG ® Proctor served as the Chief Operating Officer of Innovative Logistics Techniques, Inc. and in 2006, he became the Managing Partner of Proctor & Boone LLC, a business consulting firm. Additionally, he serves on the board of a Fortune 400 company, on several not for profit boards and is Chairman of the Military and Veterans Affairs
Commission of the Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc. MG ® Proctor currently serves as the Honorary Colonel of the Quartermaster Corps. He resides in Clifton Virginia.
Norman Currie
VP of Customer Experience – Expel Advisor
Norman brings over 20 years as a seasoned cyber security and operational executive with multiple successful roles and industry accomplishments. Currently he is the Vice President of Customer Experience (CX) at Expel, a premier Managed Detection and Response provider based in Herndon, VA.
Prior to his role at Expel Norman has served as a global executive for ZeroFOX (VP of Global Services), Hexis Cyber Solutions (acquired by Watchguard) (VP, Global Services and Support) , and Accuvant (OPTIV) (VP of Managed Solutions) focused on the scalability and growth of Managed Security, Global Training, Consulting and Support organizations.
Norman’s experience extends to the Channel where he spent 5 years with McAfee as Global Director, focused on the SI, SP, Telco, MSS, and OEM markets and leading the architecture and design team for managed solution development across the globe for many of the largest providers in the world.