Second industry expert to lend vision and guidance to IoT-focused, vertically aligned innovation and commercialization ventures
CHICAGO, IL.– August 21st, 2019: Rocket Wagon Venture Studios today announced Richard Mark Soley, Ph.D., is the second member to join its recently established Advisory Board. Dr. Soley, who serves as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Object Management Group, Inc. (OMG) and Executive Director of the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC), is a highly-regarded leader whose contributions to the development and advancement of the connected cyber-physical world began in 1989 when he established OMG and drove the world’s leading standardization process and the original CORBA™ specification.
Dr. Soley marks his 30th year as Chairman and CEO of OMG, while actively driving two of the most influential cloud and IoT non-profit organizations in the world.
“I couldn’t be happier with Richard’s joining of our Board of Advisors,” said Don DeLoach, founder and CEO of Rocket Wagon Venture Studios. “Part of what makes us different from other very impressive venture studios in the market today is our franchise approach to creating a series of vertically aligned, IoT focused venture studios. We offer two additional levels of expertise and focus to an already exceptional commercialization model for innovation.”
“Richard is an icon in the industry,” DeLoach continued. “People who understand the progression to the cyber-physical world understand Richard has been a key player in this progression. Having Richard join us is a fantastic endorsement of what we see as our compelling mission for all of us at Rocket Wagon Venture Studios, and we are honored he will be a part of our team. We look forward to Richard’s counsel and collaboration as we move forward together on this journey.”
“It’s an honor to contribute to Rocket Wagon Venture Studios mission,” Dr. Soley said. “We are at an inflection point, and Don and his team are rightly focused on how to move IoT and Industrial IoT together with the digitalization of enterprises, organizations and governments, creating demonstrable value. Whether developing solutions that improve life in urban areas, improve the planet and environmental ecosystems, or improve safety and security, we find ourselves at a pivotal moment where innovation meets commercialization, and value creation benefits investors, innovators and society. Rocket Wagon Venture Studios mission is aimed at the heart of how we now scale innovation to solve real world problems.”
In 1996, Soley led the effort to move into vertical market standards (starting with healthcare, finance, telecommunications and manufacturing) and modeling, leading first to the Unified Modeling Language™ (UML) and later the Model Driven Architecture (MDA). He also led the effort to establish the Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) Consortium in January 2007, leading to the launch of the Business Ecology Initiative (BEI) in 2009. The Initiative focuses on the management imperative to make business more responsive, effective, sustainable and secure in a complex, networked world, through practice areas including Business Design, Business Process Excellence, Intelligent Business, Sustainable Business and Secure Business.
In addition, Dr. Soley is the Executive Director of the Cloud Standards Customer Council, helping end users transition to cloud computing and direct requirements and priorities for cloud standards throughout the industry. In 2014, Dr. Soley helped found the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC) and serves as Executive Director of the organization. The IIC was formed to accelerate the development, adoption and wide-spread use of interconnected machines and devices, intelligent analytics, and people at work. The members of the IIC catalyze and coordinate the priorities and enabling technologies of the Industrial Internet.
Dr. Soley also serves on numerous industrial, technical and academic conference program committees, and speaks all over the world on issues relevant to standards, the adoption of new technology and creating successful companies. He is an active angel investor and was involved in the creation of both the Eclipse Foundation and Open Health Tools.
Previously, Dr. Soley was a co founder and former Chairman/CEO of A. I. Architects, Inc., maker of the 386 HummingBoard and other PC and workstation hardware and software. Prior to that, he consulted for various technology companies and venture firms on matters pertaining to software investment opportunities. Dr. Soley has also consulted for IBM, Motorola, PictureTel, Texas Instruments, Gold Hill Computer and others. He began his professional life at Honeywell Computer Systems working on the Multics operating system.
A native of Baltimore, Maryland, Dr. Soley holds bachelors, masters and doctoral degrees in Computer Science and Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Last week, the company announced the formation of its Advisory Board, and appointment of its first member, Max Wolff, the Managing Partner of Multivariate strategic consulting services.
The RWVS Board of Advisors will ultimately extend to six members and assist in providing a varied set of insights and support for the executive team. Subsequent announcements will be made over the coming weeks.
About Rocket Wagon Venture Studios
Rocket Wagon Venture Studios helps to build startups for the cyber-physical world by providing a team of experienced entrepreneurs who also have strong experience in IoT and specific vertical expertise. The RWVS parent organization provides the architectural cyber-physical framework including considerations regarding devices, security, privacy, data governance and ownership, communications, and a broad range of analytics, as well as shared legal and financial services, underlying operational systems, and corporate relationships. The related subsidiary studios are vertically focused venture studios that combine entrepreneurial expertise to de-risk startups and accelerate them to market with vertically aligned, IoT specific expertise to drive targeted startups at higher valuations.
Learn more at rwvstudios.com.
