TEAM

Aron B. Hall, CEO

In 1977 a young Aron Hall watched his dad write computer programs over a 110bps acoustic coupler modem on a Unix server 70 miles away. His dad turned to him and said, "In ten years most people will work from home like this." 25 years later, Aron founded Hobnob to redesign secure, portable networking.

Although it's hard to remember life before Hobnob, Aron worked at several software companies around the Silicon Valley including Sybase and CenterView (acquired by Informix). He was an early employee of the successful startup Marimba (acquired by BMC Software) where he was a senior engineering manager.

Aron holds an MBA from Carnegie Mellon University and a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of California at Davis.

Jared Go, CTO

Prior to being named Hobnob's CTO, Jared Go was a PhD candidate at Stanford University and a Stanford Graduate Fellow. Jared holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University where he was awarded the prestigious Allen Newell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research.

Before joining Hobnob in 2004, Jared developed diagnostic teleradiology software at eMed Technologies and worked on next-generation infrastructures for user interfaces at Microsoft. In his spare time, Jared presents and publishes research on diverse topics ranging from graphics to artificial intelligence.

ADVISORS

Arthur van Hoff

CTO, Flipboard, Inc.

Arthur van Hoff is a serial entrepreneur and a technical adviser to Hobnob. Arthur was involved in the creation of the Java programming language and he was a founder of Marimba, Strangeberry, ZING and most recently Ellerdale Inc.

Arthur grew up in Holland and has a Masters Degree in computer science from Strathclyde Unversity in Glasgow Scotland. He has been active in the Silicon Valley tech community for over 16 years.

Josh Bloch, Ph. D.

Chief Java technology architect, Google, Inc.

Josh Bloch is chief Java technology architect at Google. Prior to Google, Josh was Distinguished Engineer at Sun Microsystems.

At Sun from 1996 to 2004, Josh was an integral part of the formation and direction of the Java platform. He made major contributions to every Java release since the beginning and his acclaimed contribution to the Java platform, the Java Collections Framework, won numerous industry awards.

Josh is the author of Effective Java, the unquestioned standard reference work on best programming practices for the Java platform. A worldwide bestseller since its release in June 2001, Effective Java has won several industry awards including the prestigious Software Development Jolt award. Josh is a tireless evangelist of Java, speaking around the globe at a variety of Java forums.

Josh had a distinguished academic career including a Ph.D. in Computer Science from Carnegie-Mellon University, where his thesis on Replication of Abstract Data Objects was nominated for the ACM Distinguished Doctoral Dissertation Award. Josh has a B.S. in Computer Science from Columbia University.

Peter Lee, Ph. D.

Director of the DARPA Transformational Convergence Technology Office

Dr. Lee is the Director of the DARPA Transformational Convergence Technology Office as well as Professor and former Head of the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University.

Dr. Lee is known internationally for his research contributions in areas related to the theory of programming languages, with applications to operating systems, networks, and computer security. Dr. Lee is perhaps best known for his co-development of "proof-carrying code" (PCC), a technology for verifying the security of mobile code.

Dr. Lee served as associate dean for undergraduate programs at the School of Computer Science from 2000-2004. Under Dr. Lee's watch the school continued its rise to national prominence including a #2 ranking in the Gourman Report and a six-fold increase in the number of women in the program.

Dr. Lee is a member of the Army Science Board and has served on panels for the Defense Science Board, the National Academies, DARPA IXO, and DARPA ISAT.