About Us

As consumers of other high tech products, we do not like getting multiple sales calls full of empty adjectives, bringing software in-house through a complicated deployment, and then graduating it to shelfware after a long and difficult purchasing process. So that got us thinking. Our passion as a team is to advance markets with sophisticated technology innovations, but how do we make what we build more accessible to the technical user — the real test that a product has value?

We decided to simplify the user experience so you don't need to rely on a sales rep to decide if our products are right for you. When you test an Athena product, you have a choice to select the best fit from a variety of focused solutions. We want customers to understand firsthand exactly what our products do, test it with their own data, and buy only what they need. When you call us, you control exactly what kind of evaluation process you prefer and our support team is very happy to receive your technical questions.

Meet the Team

• Adarsh Arora, CEO

  Adarsh Arora is a co-founder and the CEO of Athena Security. Prior to Athena, Adarsh has created, managed and nurtured three successful start-ups (Lisle Technology Partners, Peritus Software Services and Vista Technologies) to maturity, including an IPO that created a $500 million market capitalization. Adarsh is on the Boards of Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center and the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science of Northwestern University. Adarsh also serves on the Board of TiE Midwest, of which he is a founding charter member and former Board President from 2006-2007. He is an elected member of the Economic Club of Chicago and formerly served on the Board of AccelChip Corporation. Adarsh is a frequent speaker for entrepreneurial events offered by the Midwest Entrepreneurs Forum, the Technology Executives Club, the Illinois Technology Enterprise Corporation, Kellogg School of Management and the University of Chicago's Graduate School of Business. As a member of the Chicago Mayor's Council of Technology Advisors, Adarsh is often invited to speak on the issues involved in offshore outsourcing. He is also the recipient of the 2004 Chicago Software Association's Annual City Lights Award. Adarsh received a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Northwestern University.

• David Hurst, CTO

  David Hurst is a co-founder and the CTO of Athena Security. David has been passionate about security since the early '90s when he founded and operated an ISP in Chicago and defended it against malicious hackers. He has been developing commercial software products through multiple entrepreneurial ventures for over 20 years, having founded four start-up companies and taken one of them public. Athena Security combines his work in software innovation and network security. Prior to Athena Security, he was a founding partner of Lisle Technology Partners where he performed strategic business and software development consulting for early stage and start-up technology companies, preparing them for successful venture capital funding and product launching. He has a proven track record of leading distributed development teams to deliver successful software products. David holds a BS in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Northwestern University.

• Anjali Gurnani, VP Product Marketing and Business Development

  As part of the core management team, Anjali was responsible for refining the business model and product positioning, identifying, defining and driving market strategies, partner alliances and securing initial customers starting from Athena's spinout from Lisle Technology Partners. Currently, Anjali is responsible for accelerating business growth through online and channel marketing, business case analysis, product line requirements, pricing and packaging, product launches, partner programs and profitability initiatives. Prior to the start of Athena, Anjali led Business Development at Lisle Technology Partners and developed the client portfolio for equity-based product development and technical due diligence services for Venture Capital partners.

• Sowmitri Swamy, VP Engineering

  As part of the core development team, Sowmitri is responsible for product delivery, development of new functionality, specification of underlying technology, and management of the product development team. Sowmitri was a founder and partner of Lisle Technology Partners and was responsible for several major development projects in multiple technologies for various clients. He has also performed various technical due diligence services for Venture Capital partners.

• Jed Abernethy, VP Sales

  Jed has been with Athena since 2007 and is responsible for accelerating Athena's new customer acquisition and top line growth. He is responsible for Athena's major accounts, presales and professional services, and he built and manages sales operations including direct marketing, customer/technical support services and represents the voice of the customer to the core management team. He brings 15+ years of high technology sales experience in IT consulting and early stage startups. His work in IT security includes Identity Access Management and web-content filtering. Jed is passionate about entrepreneurship and as president of The Big Idea Forum, a Chicago based entrepreneurial peer group, works to foster a sustainable entrepreneurial community in Chicago.

• Vijaya Raghavan, VP EMEA Operations and Business Development

  Vijay leads the India operations of the company and is responsible for business development in India, Asia and the Middle East. He is based in Bangalore and his substantial experience in working at senior levels for multi-nationals has provided him with an appreciation for the market conditions in that part of the world. Vijay started out as a technologist, helped in the development and product positioning of the Athena line of products before embarking on global initiatives. Prior to Athena, Vijay headed the India operations of Lisle Technology Partners. He has also worked for Texas Instruments and IBM in a career spanning over 25 years.

• Chandrasekhara Reddy, Chief Architect

  Chandra has over 11 years of experience in developing component-based, scalable and high throughput transaction systems using C++, Java and J2EE for early stage and start-up technology companies. Prior to Athena Security, he was a founder of Lisle Technology Partners, where he developed and delivered technology systems ranging from B2B e-commerce to core infrastructure for wireless telephony. Chandra holds an M.Tech degree in Artificial Intelligence from University of Hyderabad and a B.Tech degree in Computer Science from Andhra University.