Michael serves as a Board Director or Advisory Board member for high growth companies. He also contributes to the Investment Committee of the SBoTX Foundation and has served on the Board of Dallas Summer Musicals. Michael is an active member of the National Association of Corporate Directors (NACD) and the Young Presidents’ Organization (YPO).
Michael has served as an Operating Partner for HBC Investments and an industry advisor for several private equity fund sponsors after almost a decade of senior executive leadership at Interstate Battery. While at Interstate, Michael was an Officer on the senior executive team, the President of All Battery Centers Inc., Interstate’s multi-unit franchise system, and the President of PowerCare Service and Solutions Inc., Interstate’s industrial power management business.
Prior to joining Interstate, Michael held senior executive roles at both operating and private equity organizations while serving on the Executive Committee of the Center for New Ventures and Entrepreneurship at Texas A&M University’s Mays School of Business.
A native Texan, Michael earned a bachelor’s degree from the College of Engineering at Texas A&M University then joined Shell Oil Company’s multi-unit retail business in Chicago. He earned an MBA from the University of Chicago with concentrations in finance and international business. Michael and his wife Tonya have been blessed with two wonderful children. As a couple, Michael and Tonya give back by mentoring couples through their engagement season. Outside of his family, community, and professional commitments, Michael enjoys being outdoors, shooting, and reading.
Mr. Sauls has served as director of RiseIT®, Inc. since January 2018. Keith is the founder and CEO of ThirdShift, an Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics platform that empowers Endowments, Foundations, and Family Offices to make superior evidence-based investment and governance decisions. He has also been the Managing General Partner of Exeter Venture Group, a privately-owned venture capital and private equity firm, since January 2000.
Mr. Sauls holds a BA from the College of Charleston and an MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. He is also a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Keith has served as Investment Chair/Vice-Chair of the College of Charleston Foundation Board since 2004 and was instrumental in the College’s early adoption of AI software to enhance fundraising and philanthropy for the Foundation. In addition, he was a founding member of the Porter-Gaud School Foundation Board and served as the Chair of their Foundation’s Investment Committee from 2012 – 2016. He remains a member of their Investment Committee.
Mr. Sauls spent the majority of his 30yr career advising Endowments, Foundations and Family Offices, with tenures at Bessemer Trust, NA, GenSpring Family Offices and J.P. Morgan. He is a frequent speaker on the use of technology in the non-profit sector to improve investment, fundraising, and engagement results; and is regarded as a subject matter expert on ESG and Impact Investing.
Keith is an avid adventurer. He has traveled to Antarctica on three separate expeditions with “Sir” Robert Swan, culminating in January 2018 as a member of the South Pole Energy Challenge team; which was the first to go “green” to the South Pole physically pulling sleds to the Pole using only biofuel, solar, and wind-power as energy sources. He has summited Kilimanjaro twice in 2006 and 2014 and is an active member of the GoRuck endurance challenge community.
Mr. Mula is a senior IT industry executive with more than 20 years of experience in account operations management and talent acquisition, with a history of success in every capacity. Vamshi has worked to develop cost-effective solutions through high-quality processes. As President of Smartworks, Mr. Mula leverages that experience to drive performance and growth across multiple divisions of the company. These range from consulting services to custom software development.
Mr. Castillo brings more than 25 years of system, network, and solution design experience to his role at RiseIT®. This experience is coupled with many leadership roles in technical, engineering, and development teams, building both hardware and software products and solutions. He is an expert in networking, server, and data center design and management with a recent focus on workload management and migration to private, public, and multi-cloud environments.
Before joining RiseIT® Mr. Castillo was the CTO and Vice President at Resonate, Inc, where he successfully led both the Technical Sales and Engineering teams. In the sales role, his role was instrumental in securing agreements with global clients that included AT&T, Bank of America, Loral Space & Communications, Lockheed Martin, and Saudi Aramco. He was successful in leading the onshore team, building an offshore development organization, and coordinating the collaboration of the two. As a member of the leadership team, he played a crucial role in the acquisition by RiseIT®.
He holds a Bachelor of Science in Finance from San Jose State University.
Mr. Khandavalli is the Chief Executive Officer of RiseIT®, bringing years of experience with him. His ability to lead companies toward success is unmatched in his field. As an award-winning entrepreneur and experienced keynote speaker, Mr. Khandavalli is an asset to the entire team. Mr. Khandavalli has been a board member since 2017. Before joining RiseIT®, Mr. Khandavalli founded a variety of companies and led them toward growing success. In 2012, SevenTablets was born as a sect of the iTech group of companies. iTech was started by Mr. Khandavalli in 2001, where he served as Chairman and CEO. Prior to entering the IT industry, he worked as a chemical engineer at Enerfax.
Mr. Khandavalli was named one of the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year finalists in both 2009 and 2010 as well as a finalist for the Wells Fargo Asian Business Leader in 2010. In his free time, Mr. Khandavalli flies as a licensed private pilot, gives back to the community, and devotes time to his wife and two children. He graduated from the University of Akron, Akron, OH, with a master’s degree in Chemical Engineering.
