Rich Padula

Rich is the founder of Syclo, which was acquired by SAP in 2012. The company was started in 1996 out of his basement, and became a leading enterprise mobile platform company. As the CEO for 16 years, he grew the company to over 200 employees with large enterprise and government customers in 39 countries, becoming a leading channel partner for SAP, IBM and Oracle. Syclo’s platform and mobile applications were recognized as leading technologies by Gartner and other analyst firms resulting in Rich receiving the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award in 2004.

After the acquisition of Syclo, Rich was appointed as SAP’s Chief Strategy Officer for Mobile, where he served until July 2014. At SAP, he set the company’s direction for future mobile applications and the next generation of the SAP Mobile Platform.

In 2015, Rich formed Deep Dish Technology where he and his team explore, incubate and bring to market new technologies ranging from augmented reality, data analytics, paper elimination, and interactive experiences for museums and cultural spaces.

Rich currently serves on the faculty at Northwestern University, teaching at the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and mentoring students at The Garage, NU’s innovation hub. He attended Northwestern University and received a degree in Industrial Engineering.