Ian Hersey

Ian is responsible for Falkonry’s federal government business. A veteran of venture-backed startups with dual-use commercial/public sector offerings, Ian brings more than 30 years of experience in the field of advanced analytics. A computational linguist by training, he led the natural language technology area at Inxight Software from its roots within Xerox to a successful acquisition by SAP BusinessObjects. He was Global CTO at Attensity Group & Chief Product Officer at Saffron Technology until the latter’s acquisition by Intel.

In addition to his executive duties, Ian has long played an active role with government customers. Inxight was an early In-Q-Tel portfolio company & in a short period its ThingFinder product became the dominant natural language technology in the defense & intelligence community. He continued that role at Attensity & has led Falkonry’s customer-facing initiatives in the sector from the beginning.

Ian earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at Rice University & was awarded fellowships for graduate studies at UC Berkeley & visiting research grants at Belgium’s Rijksuniversiteit Gent & Katolieke Universiteit Leuven before moving into industry at IBM. He is based on Hawaii’s Big Island.