Officers
Ray Blankenheim, CEO
Mr. Blankenheim has a BS in Economics and over 35 years of IT and government experience including company owner, project manager, software lead, compliance officer, chief operations officer, and chief technical officer. Ray’s skillset spans the entire executive framework with an emphasis on technical projects with a specialty in software development and management. Ray was one of the founders of Waterfront Technologies, Inc. (Waterfront), a Baltimore, MD based company that is focused on marketing and government contracting. Ray contributed business development and sales skills in generating over 25 million dollars in additional service sales across multiple federal and state agencies.
Ray has extensive experience assembling the management structure needed to form and staff both new companies and large government agencies. At Waterfront, Ray implemented and managed highly complex Configuration Management (CM) Projects including a large project at the Department of Labor Employment Training Administration’s Office of Performance and Technology. This task involved coordinating more than 30 active software projects managing over a million source files where Ray designed and implemented the first programs for library storage and automated build processes. Ray was then task will reorganizing the Office of Foreign Labor Certification in the issuance of green cards where he eliminated the historic lag time resulting in a Presidential Commemoration.
While with Waterfront, Ray formed a new company, Tricorder Data Systems (TDS), whose focus is military-grade mobile applications. Ray, as President, coordinated both technical and sales efforts to release two major commercial software products. The first product was the “Emergency Management Incident Tracking System” (EMITS) which gathers and transmits situational and accountability data in real-time to Emergency Management Datacenters. Ray coordinated two highly successful demonstration of the software in lives exercises with Pennsylvania’s Region 13 Emergency Management Agency and he orchestrated a live controlled experiment with SOCOM. The second product was “Radiation Scout” which is a first of its kind camera-based radiation detection device integrated with a real-time enterprise distribution system. Ray was principal in establishing partnerships and negotiating the third-party software integration contracts needed to complete the project. Ray again coordinated the successful live demonstration of the product with various stakeholders onsite and through several conferences, such as the annual Airports Council International (ACI), North America conference. Currently, Radiation Scout is scheduled to be upgraded to run as an embedded process and enhanced with brain-based technology. EMITS is scheduled for similar upgrades.
Ray is one of the principal founders of Signal Edge, Inc. Signal Edge was created after the discovery of the brain’s process algorithm. Ray was selected to head up the effort and was tasked with determining the best method to manage and commercialize our amazing technology leap. With this goal is mind, Ray has analyzed, researched, and explored various avenue for sales opportunities, distributor relationships, technical partnerships, and financing options. With all of this pertinent information, Ray and his team have been able to distill the best method for producing and selling our brain-based technology into this business plan.
David A. Edgar, CTO
Mr. Edgar has a BS in Computer Science and over 40 years of experience in the Computer IT community working as a programmer, analyst, manager, inventor, and technical writer. David coauthored the first GSA course in Computer Security and was a system support programmer at Naval Sea Systems Command. He built the first programs for monitoring operating system usage and bridging accounting data (STARS) between NAVSEA’s IBM datacenter and their DEC datacenter. David helped design and develop the first X.500 Directory Server for the Navy.
In 1989, David designed and invented his first commercial email gateway “MBLink”, providing a bridge between DEC-based email systems and cc:Mail. The key technical differentiator was that MBLink was the first gateway that did not require address registration. Electronic mail bridges originally took two to eighteen months to configure, were costly to maintain, and supported limited users. With MBLink, the system was installed and fully operational in 15 minutes, managed itself automatically, and enabled unlimited users. David designed and/or built the first email gateways for 3COM, Microsoft Mail, Lotus Notes, Novell’s Global MHS, and SMTP. During this period, MBLink was the primary email bridge used at the White House from 1992 thru 2000. His entire email story and the science used is chronicled in “The Rise and Fall of Email” © 2016 David A. Edgar.
David was founder of Altarus Corporation, a company focused on the development of a secure system for moving application transactions in real-time across wireless networks. David invented an advanced network data processing architecture and received US Patent 6,912,522 – “System, method and computer program product for optimization and acceleration of data transport and processing”. David designed and developed the first HIPPA compliant wireless application for performing nursing bedside care at VA Hospitals. He worked with NIST to receive the first FIPS 140-1 security certification for a wireless platform. Altarus became the principle wireless consultant for Hewlett Packard and was a Symbol Technologies Platinum Partner. David was also the Principle Investigator for two Cooperative Research and Development Agreements (CRADA) with the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center in San Diego (“SSC Pacific”) called “Hastily Formed Secure Data Networks” and “Low Bandwidth Wireless Networking”. David’s naval research activities combined with his work in radiation sensor data processing led David to his groundbreaking invention of Artificial Subconscious Intelligence.
Robots and Red Tape: Neuro-Symbolic Intelligence, the Human Brain and AI with Dave Edgar July 22, 2024
Dave and I chat about the brain, AI, and how the studying the human mind can promote efficiency in AI systems.
Vijay Laksman, Business Development
Mr. Laksman possesses an extensive 33-year background in software development. His leadership roles include serving in esteemed organizations such as Bethesda Softworks as their Lead Designer/Producer, at Universal Studios as VP of Production, and as the Chief Innovation Officer at MNNT, an L2 blockchain platform company designed to support Web 3.0 gaming. Notably, Vijay's expertise extends beyond software management; he mentors project managers, offering solutions to prevalent challenges in the field.
Educationally, he holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from George Washington University with specializations in Physics, Sociology, Psychology, and Creative Writing, and graduated from the Harvard Business School's elite General Manager Program. Furthermore, his academic pursuits at Georgetown University's School of Medicine underline his interdisciplinary strengths. He has also applied and been accepted to the 2027 Masters Program specializing in Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
In the entrepreneurial realm, Vijay has raised over $350MM for software development projects and returned approximately $3.8B in revenue. On a personal level as an entrepreneur, he has successfully raised $18 million for his own endeavors, launching three Edtech startups. These spanned K - 3 ESL, 3 - 5 Social Studies, and 6 - 8 STEM curriculum designed to intervene on behalf of girls leaving the related fields of science. Most recently, he served as President for Mindgrub Ventures in Baltimore, a fund dedicated to investing in progressive human-service technology, particularly AI-driven smart assistants, and returned on average 63% ROC year-over-year.
Beyond his professional pursuits, Vijay is an award-winning author of 4 novels in the Mythborn series. A fifth book is on the way. Additionally, his accomplishments in full contact karate, twice being ranked #1 in the nation, further diversify his profile. His contributions to platforms like Quora (over 900K views) earned him being named the 2018 Writer of the Year, underscoring his commitment to sharing knowledge.
In summary, Vijay integrates profound expertise in software development with multifaceted educational experiences and entrepreneurial achievements. As CEO of Signal Edge, Inc. he has now shifted his efforts to leading a way for AI to help people communicate with each other more effectively via AI companions.
Janice Kaufmann, CFO/VP of Marketing
Ms. Kaufmann has a BS in Applied Design and a MS in Publication Design and 35 years of marketing experience managing creative and development teams within budget, both large and small. Janice has worked as an Art Director/Production Manager at the Reeves Agency, SMS Productions, Barton-Cotton, Southern Farm Publications, and Lopez Publications. Janice is a seasoned marketing and creative talent utilizing her skills in branding, publications, presentation, pre-press and web development in countless successful marketing campaigns and publications both regional and national. Some of Janice’s more well-known marketing campaigns include MTA’s “Try a New Ride Clyde”, the University of Baltimore’s “Famous Quotes”, the annual Preakness Celebration and the Baltimore Police Department’s “A Job That Really Matters”.
Janice was one of the principle founders of Waterfront Technologies Inc. (Waterfront) in 2001 where she serves as both President and CFO. Waterfront is a successful marketing and IT service firm operating in the Baltimore/Washington DC area. Janice is directly responsible for all financial and corporate accounting including benefits management, contract financing, project budgeting, government compliance, accounts receivable, accounts payable, and payroll. Janice financial acumen created a highly efficient business model that generated over three million dollars in annual revenue encompassing over four dozen commercial clients and several large federal and state government agencies. Janice is highly adept at scoping financial opportunities, satisfying regulatory compliance, establishing best accounting practice, and managing cash flow.
Currently as communications specialist for at a Federal Agency responsible for the website, branding, graphs, presentations, social media and all internal and external communications.