About Us

Manish Chowdhary

Founder & CEO

Manish Chowdhary is the Founder and CEO of Cahoot. For two-decades, he has been an innovator, thought leader, and highly sought-after speaker for all facets of ecommerce. Manish has founded multiple industry-leading companies starting from his dorm-room at the University of Bridgeport, CT where he earned his B.S. in Computer Engineering. These include Pulse Commerce, a Cloud-based platform for online retail order & inventory management. Pulse Commerce has won several industry awards. Manish’s specialties include ecommerce strategy, business methods innovation, as well as omnichannel supply chain and logistics optimization. Last year, Manish was recognized as one of the 30 Most Innovative Business Leaders by Insights Success magazine. Manish is a 40 Under 40 Competition winner and holds an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters, the highest honor from his alma-mater University of Bridgeport, CT. He has been featured in the New York Times, Internet Retailer, and many other leading publications. Manish’s mission in life is to positively impact millions of lives through technology and leave the planet in a better state than when he arrived.

Jeremy Stewart

Dir, Customer Success

As Director of Customer Success for Cahoot, Jeremy is responsible for ensuring Cahoot’s merchants achieve the highest levels of success and customer satisfaction. He also partners with Cahoot’s sales team to develop customer service initiatives and opportunities. A longtime entrepreneur, Jeremy thrives in the startup environment. He is an eternal optimist, perfectionist, and he is obsessed with efficiency and all things lean and agile. In the past, Jeremy has founded multiple companies, including CarJoy, HaggleDaddy, PicPools, Aedis, and Webit. He holds an BS from Sacred Heart University and an MS from Quinnipiac University. In his free time, Jeremy is a self-described karaoke fanatic. He also enjoys spending time with family and friends and coaching Little League baseball.

James McDougal

Dir, Technology Operations

James is a key member of Cahoot and has been working closely with the founding team since 2000. As Director of Technology Operations, James is scaling Cahoot’s IT operations to address the challenges that arise with Cahoot’s rapid growth. He is responsible for 99.99% infrastructure uptime, enterprise IT systems scalability and high performance, as well as customer retention and success. James is super organized, rocket-scientist meticulous, and enjoys solving problems in many different aspects of the business. James demonstrates daily that hard work can be really fun, and that success is more achievable with a highly talented team that is aligned and cohesive. In his free time, he likes to experience new adventures, organize board game nights, and practice the Argentine Tango (considered one of the most difficult partner dances to master in the world). He has a B.S. degree from the University of Bridgeport, CT.

Rinaldi Juwono

Growth Manager

Rinaldi is an expert in strategy and an all-round jack of all trades. He is a former management consultant at BCG advising top-level management in Southeast Asia’s largest companies and a former product manager at Indonesia’s unicorn, Traveloka. Rinaldi holds an MBA from UCLA Anderson. As the growth manager, he brings a unique perspective to Cahoot by combining his strategy and product expertise into key initiatives around marketing and content. In his free time, you’ll see him catching broadway musicals, baking cookies, and playing dungeons & dragons.

Indy Pereira

Head of People Operations

As Head of People Operations for Cahoot, Indy is dedicated to creating a work environment that fosters innovation. She not only acts as the voice of the Company’s most prized assets: its people, but she also develops and executes recruitment strategies to identify diverse, top-caliber talent at all levels. In addition, Indy works to solidify, spread and scale Cahoot’s current culture of mission-oriented and passionate problem solvers. Outside of work, Indy is a mom of two and an animal lover. She is also a self-described travel and food junkie. She holds a BS in Biology & Chemistry, an MS in Health Care Administration and an MBA from the University of New Haven. Of her educational experience, she says, “I never wanted to leave college – two bachelors and two masters degrees later I finally stepped into the real world and still haven’t stopped learning.”

Russel Baris

Advisor

Russell has been a leader in Data Science, analytics, technology and business for over 25 years. He founded eLumindata in 2006 to help innovative leaders get more value — and more valuable insights from their data. Since then, he has worked with companies in the pharma/biotech, health care, real estate, grocery, marketing services and consulting industries to achieve key business strategies through Data Science. The Management Science group he built and led at Pfizer was recognized with the INFORMS Prize, the top organizational award in analytics. Russ has partnered with leading companies including Microsoft, Lotus, CVS and United Healthcare on the development of new technologies and services. He has served on over 20 boards, advisory boards, leadership teams and roundtables and has spoken at over a dozen universities.

Donny Askin

Advisor

Donny is an accomplished leader, board member, strategist and fundraiser. He manages early, growth, and mid-stage technology companies. His expertise spans several high technology industries that include software for omnichannel retail, demand chain, product design, supply chain, global sourcing, private label, SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) and on-premise enterprise. He successfully led a closely held company, a division of a public company, a business unit of a private equity owned company, a venture backed later-stage company, and a venture-backed early-stage growth company. Donny drives company development and turnaround, while providing liquidity to shareholders. He is experienced in all facets of business, from raising capital, mergers and acquisitions (M&A), marketing, sales, business development, professional services, software engineering, and finance. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in Philosophy from Clark University.

Paul Ellis

Corporate Strategy and Legal

Paul Ellis is a Senior Corporate Attorney and Managing Partner of the Paul Ellis Law Group. He represents companies ranging from start-ups to multinationals, funds, and individual and institutional investors. Paul counsels on issues including formation, seed and venture capital financing, joint venture and strategic partnering relationships, employment, equity plans, mergers and acquisitions, and protection and licensing of intellectual property. He has practiced in industries including software, Internet, information technology, telecommunications, healthcare, manufacturing, banking, financial services, real estate, consumer products, and entertainment. Paul has extensive public speaking experience on legal issues and has spoken on panels for the New York Academy of Sciences, Columbia University, the MIT Enterprise Forum, the National Science Foundation, and the New York Software Industry Association. He holds a B.A. from Harvard University a received his law degree from Georgetown University.”