Ryo Chijiiwa

Ryo Chijiiwa is an accomplished technology leader and entrepreneur with extensive experience in software engineering and management. Currently serving as the Founder of Ponderosa.ai, Inc. since October 2021 and a Technical Consultant at Alpha Studio since June 2024, Ryo has previously held significant roles including Senior Engineering Manager at brightwheel, Consultant at The Production Board, and Interim Head of Engineering at Higher Ground Education. Ryo led the engineering organization at Altitude Learning, overseeing a successful transition during a significant workforce reduction while enhancing productivity. Additional experience includes founding BootstrapSolar LLC, serving as CTO at SocialWire, and contributing as a Senior Software Engineer at wikiHow. Ryo holds a Bachelor of Arts in Computer Science from the University of Chicago, along with prior education at California State University, Chico, and Keio University.