Meet Our People

The leadership team at RealThing Ai is comprised of a strong mix of advanced technical expertise, proven commercialisation skills and global technology sales experience.

They are guided by an extraordinary Board of Directors, globally successful technology entrepreneurs and executives.

RealThing Team

Board

Silvio Salom

Silvio founded Adacel Technologies and Lochard Limited and led their global success, creating over a 1000 jobs and generating over $700M in revenue over the last 10 years. At Adacel, Silvio spearheaded numerous relevant programs including Voice Recognition and Synthesis Systems as applied to Air Traffic Control and Fighter Pilots, as well as automated Machine Translation System for the Australian Department of Defence and subsequently an on-line translation service. Under his leadership, in each case the technology was developed, deployed and commercialized gaining significant global market share.

Joseph Bruzzaniti

Joseph has many years of experience in the development of technology, as founder of Learning Seat (a Melbourne based e-learning company, acquired in 2006 by News Corporation) and IMR/Red Sheriff (a Melbourne company which expanded globally before being acquired by AC Nielsen).

Lawrence Paratz

Lawrence has more than 30 years’ experience in all facets of the telecommunication industries both domestically and internationally. As a Director and Chief Executive of Acacia Australia, he was responsible for development of an integrated proposal for delivery of national broadband communication for Australia. He is a Director of Maxis Communication Berhad, Chairman of the Technology Committee of the Board and a former senior executive of Telstra Corporation.

Lawrence has had executive responsibility for multi- billion dollar programs and integrations. He previously served as a member of the Board of the Australian Government’s Internet Assistance Program, and was formerly Chairman of the On-Trac@PeterMac Adolescent and Young Adult Cancer Programme.

RealThing Team

Management

Nick Howden

Chief Executive Officer

25+ years experience in the commercialisation of intelligent agents and AI software into industries including Defence, Emergency Management, Healthcare, as well as technology for Accessibility and Disability. His prior leadership role within CAE’s Professional Services (simulation and training) involved delivery of multiple software projects to Australian Defence worth many millions of dollars. He has created and managed over $10m of R&D programs in collaboration with universities, navigating the intersection of industry needs and academic pursuits.

Andrew Hodgson

Chief Technical Officer

25+ years of experience as a CTO and software architect with a wide-ranging history of translating research into products. Commercialised research from SRI’s AI labs into the world’s first commercial agent system. He has previously helped build multiple successful technology companies including The Preston Group, Australian Artificial Intelligence Institute, Agent-Oriented Software. He has a proven track record of taking laboratory research and applying to solve real world problems.

Brendan Lewis

Chief Commercial Officer

Brendan Lewis has 25+ years experience in developing technology businesses internationally. He has held Senior Executive roles in Sales, Marketing & Finance as well as being CEO & Founder of several technology services businesses, 3 of which he sold. His commercial experience spans Australia, Romania, Indonesia, Hong Kong, the USA, Vietnam, South Korea, the UK, South Africa, Kenya & Nigeria. He was the City of Greater London’s representative in Australia for International Trade & Investment for 6 years, stepping down in 2016. He joined RealThing AI formally in September 2018.