Triana Technologies Team

Erik Grimmelmann, PhD
Managing Director

Erik has over twenty years experience in developing, delivering, and operating information technology. He was the Vice President, Architecture and Lead Architect at Cometa Network, Inc., a provider of nationwide, enterprise-grade WiFi, formed by IBM, AT&T, Intel and two venture firms, Apax and 3i. Prior to that he was Senior Vice President of Technology Infrastructure at Dun & Bradstreet where he was responsible for modernizing and globalizing D&B’s worldwide infrastructure. Erik held also a variety of senior positions at AT&T including Vice President of Network and Access and Vice President of Service Integration and Realization. Erik sits on the Board of the New York Software Industry Association.

Michel Berty, PhD
Advisory Board Member
Founder, Former Chairman and CEO of Capgemini USA

Michel is the former Founder, Chairman and CEO of Capgemini USA. He contributed to making Capgemini one of the largest IT consulting and services firms in the world with 50,000 consultants and annual revenues in the range of $8 billion. Michel served as one of Capgemini's principal executives for more than 25 years both in France and the USA. He continues to be active with many IT groups around the world. Michel holds a PhD in Physics from Universite d'Orsay in Paris and a Master of Management from IAE. Michel is also Advisor For French Foreign Trade (Conseiller du Commerce Exterieur pour la France).

Tommaso Trionfi, MBA
Advisor
Founder and Former CEO of Wimba, Inc.

Tommaso Trionfi brings to Triana more than 22 years of management experience with early stage and larger global software and engineering companies. He currently serves on the board of several companies in the United States and Europe. From 2000 to 2009, he was the CEO of Wimba, which he helped to grow from a European Research Institute technology to the leader of Web based SaaS collaboration software for the education market based in New York City. At Wimba, Trionfi oversaw three successful acquisitions, including Horizon Live. He built a team of over 140 people spanning 3 countries, and organized marketing, sales, business development, product management and finance into a structured organization. Prior to Wimba, he led business development at Omniticket Network, where he established strategic alliances with companies such as News Corporation and Singapore Press Holdings. Trionfi was formerly COO of Southern Europe for Colorlux, a global engineering company. Under his leadership, the region more than doubled sales to 60 million in three years. Before Colorlux, Trionfi was a managing founder at Delibes Consulting; and COO of Fontenay Industries, where he led operations and key acquisitions to grow the company from $15 million to over $120 million. Previously, Trionfi served in corporate finance at IBJ International, an investment banking firm based in London. Trionfi received his MBA from INSEAD, and master's degree in Science and Technology with honors from the University of Grenoble. He serves as President of the U.S. Alumni Association for INSEAD and sits on its US Council. He is fluent in English, Italian, French and Spanish.

Jean-Noel Poirier, MBA
Advisor
Vice President, Marketing & Business Development at Global Solar Energy
Former Vice President at First Solar Inc
Former Global Vice President Marketing at Honeywell

Jean-Noel Poirier is in charge of Clean Technologies. Jean-Noel is an advisor and equity partner of several companies, including Dependable Electronic Systems LLC -a start-up focused on solving reliability issues in Li-ion Batteries- and Machflow Inc., a start-up company with a unique clean cooling technology, backed by the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins. Formerly, Jean-Noel was a Vice President in charge of Market Development at First Solar, Inc., the world leader in thin-film solar energy ($1.2 billion in annual revenue). Prior to this position he held several senior executive positions at Honeywell, including Global Vice President, Marketing, for a $3 billion division, and Director of Strategy and Business Development for the company's $34 billion annual business. Jean-Noel holds an MBA from the Kellogg graduate School of Management, Northwestern University, as well as a BS in Applied Economics and a BS in Management Sciences from the University of Paris Dauphine.

Ari Ginsberg, PhD
Advisor
Professor at New York University Stern School of Business
Former Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at NYU Stern

Ari is a Professor of Management and Entrepreneurship at New York University Stern School of Business, where he has held the Chairman position of management and organizations department, and Director position of the Berkley Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. Ari serves on the advisory boards of several startups, and is President of the business services company BRL Associates, which works on strategic planning and corporate innovation initiatives. Ari is the recipient of multiple academic honors for his work on entrepreneurial strategies and the management of innovation. Ari holds a Master’s Degree in Human Learning and Cognition from Columbia University, and an MBA and Ph.D. in Strategic Planning and Policy from the University of Pittsburgh.

Kristin Barbato
Advisor
Strategic Planning at ConEdison

Kristin has over 15 years of experience in business development, strategic planning, engineering, IT, and operations. Kristin has managed billing systems for conEdison’s $13B in annual revenue including the implementation of a new CIS. Prior to Triana and conEdison, Kristin was Director of Client Application Services for Precision Response Corporation, supervising IT solutions for Fortune 500 companies in 17 call centers locations and 9,000 employees worldwide. She was also a Management Consultant for Utilities International, Inc., and Engineer at FPL. Kristin graduated from Columbia University with a MBA in Finance/Economies, and an Engineering degree from Cornell University. She also is one of the founding board members of the NYC Association for Energy Economics (NYCAEE) and works with many companies to support energy policy and projects in New York.

Paul Borgese, MBA
Advisor
Marketing and E-Business

Paul provides marketing, e-business and business development advising for TRIANA’s client projects. He currently leads the Emerging Markets Group of the Associated Press. Prior to assuming his position with AP, Borgese helped to develop The Wall Street Journal Online, and worked in the banking sector with the United States Federal Reserve System, J.P. Morgan Chase, and Merrill Lynch. He teaches business at New York University.
Paul holds a BS in Finance and an MPA from the University of Pennsylvania an MBA from New York University, and an additional Masters from Cambridge University, for which he received the British government’s Marshall Scholarship.

John Sweeney, BA
Advisor
Business Development

John advises the Business Development components of our projects. Currently based in the UK as Director of Sales for Navigator Customer Management, the relationship marketing company, he earlier was the Founder and Managing Director of the North-American subsidiary for a UK mid-sized company, which he successfully brought to profitability within the first year by securing accounts amongst the top Fortune 500 organizations such as Nokia, X-box, IBM, and Microsoft.
John’s career led him from Analyst to Managing Director positions in Europe and the United States, where he has advised and informed global strategic decisions for companies such as British Telecom, HP, Fujitsu Network Communications, EDS, IBM. He has worked at companies including Volvo, BPRI, and McKinsey & Company.

Sudha Bellamkonda
Project Manager

Prior to Triana, Sudha worked in software development and web design in Bangalore, India and management consulting at Deloitte, US. She leads projects in Triana Labs focusing on corporate strategy, market validation, demand analysis, due diligence and business development. Sudha has completed computer science engineering from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University in India, Masters in Software Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University and MBA from the Stern School of Business, NYU.