Founder & CEO
Our Story
Like the simple canoe, Artificial Intelligence is the innovation that can help us develop in any direction we wish to go. It offers virtually unlimited possibilities. Yet, we must not lose sight of who we are as people and as corporate citizens. kama.ai was founded in 2014 to design an EI, or an Emotionally Intelligent AI. Unlike other AI engines, the EI is meant to remain grounded, and embrace human traits and values like ethics, emotions, and empathy. All this while improving the lives of the people it serves. This is our journey, and we invite you to join us. Together we will navigate new and uncharted waters – safely, responsibly, and with fairness and respect for all people.
Our Story
Like the simple canoe, Artificial Intelligence is the innovation that can help us develop in any direction we wish to go. It offers virtually unlimited possibilities. Yet, we must not lose sight of who we are as people and as corporate citizens. kama.ai was founded in 2014 to design an EI, or an Emotionally Intelligent AI. Unlike other AI engines, the EI is meant to remain grounded, and embrace human traits and values like ethics, emotions, and empathy. All this while improving the lives of the people it serves. This is our journey, and we invite you to join us. Together we will navigate new and uncharted waters – safely, and with fairness and respect for all people.
Our Language, Words, and Vision
In 2010, the founders of kama.ai had the vision to use words as the basis of a new form of intelligence that combines human values to bring machine understanding to words, knowledge, and human issues or requests. We believed that this approach could more closely approach human understanding. Our vision extended into using this intelligence to drive many business and societal applications. It ultimately includes allowing people to tell their stories and pass family and community culture to future generations with their own words and voices.
Now, with our first patent awarded in four global jurisdictions including Canada, USA, China, and Israel, and with our kama DEI platform in commercial service with customers since May 2020, we are beginning to see the aspirations of our vision appear more clearly. In late 2022, we will file our second patent that will expand our ability to understand, infer, and communicate in natural language and further deliver our vision and mission.
Our Values
Truth
Humility
Innovation
Courage
Inclusivity and Respect
Truth
Courage
Humility
Inclusivity and Respect
Innovation
Meet Our Team
Brian Ritchie
Founder & CEO
Brian went on to hold executive Sales and Marketing positions with ChangePoint, Oracle, Ericsson, and ZTE. As lead inventor of the patents for kama DEI, Brian uses his experience in the Internet and Telecom industry to define the go-to market strategies for kama.ai’s Designed Experiential Intelligence™ enablement platform in the Enterprise market and CRM channel partner community.
Mark Cosyn
VP Business Development
Mark is a Certified Management Consultant (CMC) and holds an MBA with specializations in leading innovation and building sustainable communities. He brings 20+ years of experience in start-up ventures, business development, executive technology management, and consulting. He focuses on value creation through integrating customer experience (CX), value engineering, and employee experience (EX).
Prior to joining kama.ai, Mark led business development and project roles in North America and the Middle East, delivering go-to-market programs with industry leading firms. His competencies cover multi-platform cloud architecture and application development, specializing in AI, IoT, and digital twin data ecosystems.
Mark is responsible for business development, strategic partnerships, and channel development, helping clients and partners deliver sustainable economic, environmental, and social outcomes.
Michael Sasarman
SVP of Customer Success & Operations
Behrooz Darabiha
Head of Enterprise Development
Jacky Wang
Head of AI Development
Prior to joining kama.ai to head up AI development, Jacky worked for a major Canadian hedge fund where he applied deep learning techniques in algorithm trading. Jacky also served as a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Ryerson University and was a visiting Professor and Scholar at the University of Manitoba and the University of Windsor.
Jacky is responsible for advancing kama DEI’s inference capabilities, Natural Language Understanding and Natural Language Generation to continually improve the conversational interactions with users.
Kaiyang Li
kama DEI Product Manager
Gabriel Carrillo
Senior Software Developer
Charles Dimov
Chief Marketing Officer
A seasoned B2B marketing leader with over 25 years of experience, specializing in driving demand for high-tech SaaS startups and scale-ups. With a strong focus on demand generation, Charles’ track record includes increased SQLs by 11 times and expanding sales pipelines by up to 5.2 times within 2 year mandates. His expertise spans across AI, HRTech, LegalTech, Supply Chain systems, and eCommerce, with a proven record of helping startup businesses secure substantial investments. Charles leads marketing strategy, communications, and demand generation at kama.ai, leveraging his background to accelerate growth and expand market presence.
Charles has a Bachelor of Applied Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering, a Master of Applied Science (MBA equiv.) in Technology Management, and a Bachelor of Business Economics, from the University of Waterloo. As an avid lifetime learner, he has certifications in Business Strategy from Harvard Business School, Strategic Communications, Digital Marketing from University of Toronto, and half a dozen other marketing certifications from various universities and academies. Charles also teaches Marketing at Seneca Polytechnic.
Our Logo
The central figure in our logo represents all people. The body conveys the layers in our Designed Experiential Intelligence™ platform. The head represents the Emotional Intelligence emerging from the platform. When our platform is empowered by the experience and input of our customers and partners, together we create the Emotionally Intelligent agents that support our customers’ clients and our community members.
The lines of the body represent a multipurpose “E”. This reminds us that we are Emotional beings that grow from our own Experience and those of others too. It also reminds us that we must follow a path of Empathy and Ethics. This being true in all we do, in dealing with others, and in our case, in designing and developing our platform.