Behavox Announces Industry Leaders Michael Piwowar and Jeff Diana as Advisors to the Board

NEW YORK–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Behavox, a pioneering artificial intelligence data analytics firm, announced today that it has appointed Michael Piwowar, Ph.D., Executive Director of the Milken Institute Center for Financial Markets and former Commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”), and Jeff Diana, High Growth Consultant and former Chief People Officer of Atlassian, to Advisors of the Board.

“Jeff believes that People Analytics holds the key to success for many organizations and will unlock significant productivity gains for managers and employees alike.”

Throughout Piwowar’s distinguished career, he has been at the forefront of policymaking and regulatory oversight that protects investors, safeguards financial markets, and promotes economic growth and opportunity. He served as a commissioner from 2013 to 2018, holding the position of acting chair in 2017, where he played a major role voting on nearly 5,000 matters (including more than 100 rulemaking and over 3,400 enforcement actions).

“Mike’s experience as an economist on the frontline of policymaking and regulatory oversight is unrivaled,” continued Adylov. “He will help Behavox continue to grow its community with an important focus on effective compliance as we solve problems for Wall Street firms.”

Before his SEC appointment, Piwowar was chief economist for the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, playing a key role in the development of legislation to enact reforms and support recovery from the 2008 financial crisis, including the Dodd-Frank Act (2010) and the JOBS Act (2012). During the financial crisis and its immediate aftermath, Piwowar was a senior economist at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) in both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama Administrations.

“Behavox is a leading disruptor in artificial intelligence, which helps the biggest firms on Wall Street weed out bad actors,” said Piwowar. “During a time when technology innovation is undeniable, I am pleased to bring my experience from the SEC, the White House, Congress, and academia to help Behavox remain at the forefront of the FinTech industry. The value they are providing their clients is extremely impressive.”

Diana is a seasoned executive with more than 20 years in experience in the Human Resources space, specializing in high growth initiatives at cutting edge technology and engineering companies. He is an expert on how to build and scale high growth pre-IPO companies globally, designing cultures that thrive and provide true competitive advantage.

“I’ve been following Behavox’s development closely and am excited to be joining at a time at which growth is accelerating,” said Diana. “Their product has a competitive edge – they’re doing things that no one else is doing. I’m looking forward to working closely with Erkin and the entire management team on how to best scale the continued maturation of Behavox.”

From 2012 to 2016, Diana was Chief People Officer at Atlassian, where he grew the company from 300+ to nearly 2,000 team members and drove numerous innovative market leading people initiatives that supported growth. Most notably, he played a key leadership role in Atlassian’s journey from a $500 million+ book value organization to a highly successful IPO in 2015, which resulted in a $6.5 billion+ market capitalization. Prior to Atlassian, Diana was CPO at SuccessFactors, where he built the company’s HR function from scratch, led a series of key initiatives to produce more than $25 million in savings, and doubled the company’s salesforce with a record‐breaking 600 new hires in one year.

“Jeff Diana is not only an expert on hyper growth and market penetration within technology, but also brings with him expertise on how to build and scale an engineering culture,” continued Adylov. “Jeff believes that People Analytics holds the key to success for many organizations and will unlock significant productivity gains for managers and employees alike.”

Piwowar and Diana are looking forward to being involved with Behavox on its journey to eventually becoming a public company on the NYSE.

Michael Piwowar, Ph.D., Biography

Michael S. Piwowar is the executive director of the Milken Institute Center for Financial Markets. Dr. Piwowar served as a Commissioner at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission from August 15, 2013 to July 6, 2018. He was first appointed to the SEC by President Barack Obama and was designated Acting Chairman of the Commission by President Donald Trump from January 23, 2017 to May 4, 2017. He was previously the Republican chief economist for the U.S. Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs under Senators Mike Crapo (R-ID) and Richard Shelby (R-AL) and served as the lead Republican economist on the four SEC-related titles of the Dodd-Frank Act and the JOBS Act. During the financial crisis and its immediate aftermath, Dr. Piwowar served in a one-year fixed-term position at the White House as a senior economist at the President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) in both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama Administrations. Before joining the White House, Dr. Piwowar worked as a Principal at the Securities Litigation and Consulting Group (SLCG). He received a B.A. in Foreign Service and International Politics from the Pennsylvania State University, an M.B.A. from Georgetown University, and a Ph.D. in Finance from the Pennsylvania State University.

Jeff Diana Biography

Jeff Diana is a seasoned executive with more than 15 years of experience in the human resources (HR) field. Prior to joining Atlassian in 2012, Jeff was CPO at SuccessFactors, an SAP company, where he built the company’s HR function from scratch, led a series of key initiatives to produce more than $25 million in savings, and doubled the company’s salesforce with a record-breaking 600 new hires in one year. Previously, Jeff was Chief HR Officer at Safeco, a personal insurance company, where he made one of the largest overhauls to the company’s rewards program to support a new high growth initiative. Jeff has held HR leadership roles at Microsoft, General Electric and Bell South. Jeff holds a Master’s degree in Sociology from the University of South Carolina-Columbia, and a Master’s degree in HR management from the Moore School of Business at the University of South Carolina.