BackboneAI Expands Leadership Team With Two New Hires to Help Drive Digital Transformation Amid COVID-19’s Supply Chain Disruption
NEW YORK (August 24, 2020) — BackboneAI, an intercompany data automation platform, has announced two new hires on its leadership team. Karen Strobel, with 35 years of experience in industrial and automotive products, has been tapped as Vice President of Customer Solutions, and Sarah Shaiq, who has managed data at scale for consumer products and e-commerce companies, joins as Senior Director of Product Management. The company, which launched in early March, uses AI to build frictionless data networks that seamlessly automate intercompany data processes. Based in New York City, BackboneAI brings greater operational efficiency to companies with supply chains of physical products.
“Since launching less than six months ago, we have had tremendous demand for our platform from companies that manage physical-product supply chains — so much so, that we needed to expand our team to meet the increased demand,” said Rob Bailey, CEO and founder of BackboneAI. “Whereas most companies are scaling back their resources, we’re continuing to attract the best talent for achieving our main goal: enabling companies to move faster and with greater transparency. Welcoming Karen and Sarah to our leadership team has been critical in meeting the demands of an ever-changing climate.”
With a career spanning over 20 years in leading digital content operations for Genuine Parts Company (GPC), Strobel offers expertise in logistics operations, data management, digital transformation and e-business solutions. Driving the product’s “voice of the customer,” she oversees the entire customer journey from pre-sales to post-implementation support and success. Karen will be based in the company’s newly opened Atlanta office. Complementing those efforts, Shaiq brings more than a decade of experience in product management, data and analytics, as well as machine learning. Based in New York City, she is responsible for the vision and roadmap of the “Accelerate” product, cementing BackboneAI as the market leader for intercompany data automation.
“We are excited to support the ongoing growth of BackboneAI, which has created an industry-first category for AI with intercompany data automation,” said Eva Ho, general partner of Fika Ventures, who is also a board member for BackboneAI. “Industry leadership is not just about innovation in service or product, but in celebrating diversity and inclusion on your leadership team.”
BackboneAI ingests data from multiple sources, such as product availability, product shipment, compliance, and regulatory standards, and transforms it into a unified, real-time data layer that synchronizes different data systems together and improves visibility. With increased data coverage and comprehensiveness, vendors can make more informed decisions and better manage the product flow to their end customers with greater data visibility and speed to supply chain companies.
“When I started collaborating with BackboneAI last year on compliance products and sales, I saw an immediate need for their data-automation platform, empowering companies to optimize their product data flows as supply chains underwent digital transformation,” said Strobel. “Fast-forwarding six months to the COVID-19 crisis, I am incredibly proud to be spearheading customer solutions for an industry pioneer whose platform is more relevant than ever before.”
Since launching in March 2020, BackboneAI has doubled in size and is on track for rapid market adoption across Fortune 500 and mid-sized companies in categories such as industrial products, automotive, real estate, food and beverage, and ecommerce.
About BackboneAI:
BackboneAI builds frictionless data networks through intercompany automation, a completely new category of automation. It transforms supplier and customer relationships through real-time data synchronization, fast API connectivity, and third-party application and database integration. Based in New York City and founded in 2019 by serial entrepreneur Rob Bailey, BackboneAI helps companies work together more efficiently by automating their intercompany data processes and optimizing communication through technology. The company’s investors include Fika Ventures, Boldstart Ventures, Cendana Capital, Dynamo Ventures, GGV Capital, MetaProp, Spider VC, and several notable angel investors. To learn more about BackboneAI, visit backbone.ai and follow them on @backboneai, in/backboneai, and medium.com/@backboneai