Prior to starting SearchBlox, Robert held leadership roles at Valtech, Mimecast and Grassroots Group (now part of Blackhawk). “My work in management consulting and software engineering drove a lot of what I do in my current role,” he says. “But I was always interested in entrepreneurship. So when I finished my MBA in 2003, I knew I wanted to launch my own company.”

“From day one our mantra has been ‘Search is simple.’ ” he explains. “We want to make search less complex to deploy and manage, while simultaneously making it more powerful and capable.” Robert’s favorite part of his job is creating new products for his customers’ big problems.

Outside of work, Robert loves traveling and cooking (Italian and Japanese cuisine are his current favorites). A music fan, Robert recently decided to learn to play piano: his 10-year-old daughter is his teacher. Robert and his family live in London.

“Search was my first project at the company where I worked back in the late 90s,” Timo explains. “I saw a gap in the market for affordable and simple search solutions, which led to Robert and me starting SearchBlox. We set out to create search products that were more secure, faster to deploy and less expensive — and we succeeded.”

Before SearchBlox, Timo worked at ChildFund and Capital One, among other places. “Those experiences gave me the communication and business skills I needed to run a company.” Today, as the vice president of product management at SearchBlox, Timo shapes the future of the product and works closely with customers. “Interacting with customers is my favorite part of the job,” he says.

Timo is passionate about helping nonprofits identify ways to increase their impact. And he isn’t the only programmer at home: his wife also codes. He enjoys spending time at the beach with her and their two daughters and is a cyclist and runner. Timo and his family live in Richmond, VA.