Meet Our Team
Joe Grimes
CEO and Director
Joseph Grimes has served as the CEO and Director of Tribal Rides since 2016. I am an accomplished executive and serial entrepreneur with a 25 year track record of success who drives technology based business opportunities from conception through implementation. Experienced in developing high level go- to-market strategies, securing financing, building and executing multi-dimensional operation plans, and, directing and motivating dedicated, goal-oriented teams to function in a coordinated and systematic fashion and accomplish stated business objectives. I graduated from the University of California, Santa Barbara, with a BA in Economics and Environmental Studies and also with a graduate degree focusing on Operations Research and Logistics, with his thesis in deriving “Near-Optimal solutions” to NP-Complete transportation problems by leveraging heuristic solution techniques. During my 12 year tenure at ISERA Group, which I co-founded and was President, I managed 5 teams of software system designers tasked with developing sophisticated Decision Support Software Systems for commercial, military and government sectors for the Department of Defense and National Science Foundation (NSF). I successfully negotiated and managed sophisticated US Government contracts of $20 million including a Phase 3: 5-year Indefinite Quantity/Indefinite Delivery Contract (IQ/IDC) with U.S. Navy (sole source) resulting in five commercial software systems, which improved system through-put, reduced costs, increased overall system capacity, were easy-to-use, and in the case of the Deployment Planner, saved countless lives. From 2015-2018, Joe served as the VP of Sales at Draker Energy, moving over to full time Business Development at Trimart in June of 2018 (his primary role.). He spends 30 hours weekly on Tribal Rides.
Melissa Lafsky
Sr. Communications Consultant
Melissa Lafsky is a communications expert, writer and storyteller working with clients in the tech and crypto/blockchain space to define messaging and tell powerful stories that connect with audiences. She has worked with pre- and post-ICO startups, mid-cap companies and enterprise companies like Facebook and GE. A former journalist and editor, she has launched digital products for The New York Times and Newsweek. She was an associate editor at the Huffington Post, the founding editor of the Freakonomics blog on the New York Times website, and the founding editor of Newsweek's digital editions. She has written for The New York Times, The New York Observer, The Christian Science Monitor, The New York Post and others, and provided on-air commentary for CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, Fox Business, NPR and Fox News Radio. She is also a former attorney and is licensed to practice in New York.Dr. Paul Sorensen
Sr. System Architect
Dr. Sorensen is a Senior Software Manager with more than 20 years of experience in software development, GIS, transportation planning and policy, and operations research. He has performed numerous projects for Federal, state, regional, and local agencies that address transportation funding, urban mobility, alternative fuels, climate change adaptation, performance measures, and emergency response logistics. Dr. Sorensen’s current work focuses on developing software solutions to support improved transportation planning and operations. Prior to joining Cambridge Systematics, he served as Associate Director for RAND Corporation’s Transportation, Space, and Technology Program. Dr. Sorensen holds a BA in computer science from Dartmouth College, an MA in urban planning from University of California, Los Angeles, and a PhD in geography from University of California, Santa Barbara.Sanjay Prasad, Esq
Patent Attorney
Chief Patent Counsel at Oracle Corporation, Licensing Executive IPValue Mgmt, Licensing Executive Intellectual Ventures, Owner Prasad IP, Board of Intellectual Property Owners Association, Board of Software Patent Institute, Law Degree Syracuse University College of Law, Editor Syracuse Law Review.Timothy Paige
Sr. Software Developer
Tim Page is an accomplished mobile application developer with multiple commercial releases under his belt for leading names in mobile gaming and enterprise applications. His team designed and released the first Star Wars mobile game, as just one noteworthy example. Experienced in leading teams of designers and programmers in commercial product launches, Page brings extensive knowledge of enterprise software system requirements and solutions, and is well versed in the attributes that contribute to a successful “consumer interface-centric” mobile application product. He is Owner Yam Yam Mobile (yamyammobile.com), Virgin Interactive - Senior Executive, Led the start-to-finish production of Sports and Action games, Managed team responsible for dozens of well- known games, Highly skilled DirectX, Python, Django, PostgreSQL, Amazon EC2 (cloud-based), and REST/JSON.Steve Ritacco
Head of Development
Steve has over 25 years of experience in software development and operations, ranging from embedded control to complex end-user applications and consumer portals. He has worked at industry leaders including HP, Motorola and Adobe Systems, as well as start-ups such as GO Corp. and Excite.com. As CTO of the Sperry & Hutchinson Company, he worked on an innovative SAS, big data, retail application. Most recently as CTO of BlueNRGY/Draker his team revitalized another SAS application in the big data, Solar/IOT space and revamped the company's hardware offering. Steve earned a BS in Computer Science at the University of Rhode Island.Dr. George Konstantinow
Sr. System Engineer
Dr. Konstantinow is a Systems Engineer and Operations Research Analyst from Santa Barbara, California, with over 30 years' experience in software and database engineering, systems design, and data analytics. Dr. Konstantinow currently serves as Chair of the IEEE Central Coast Section and is on the Board of the Science and Engineering Council of Santa Barbara. He is an active member of the IEEE, INFORMS, AMIA, and AAAS; and holds a BA in Mathematics from New College of the University of South Florida and a PhD in Biomedical Engineering and Computer Science from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.Peter Grimes
Sr. Marketing Consultant
Peter Grimes, CEO, Grimes and Associates, Inc., providing marketing and consultant services to small businesses in B-to-B environments, including print, digital and on-line business and consumer facing campaigns for market entry, consumer focus and research, and Corporate and product Branding. With offices in Colorado and California, Grimes and Associates, Inc., has specialized in the personal care, apparel, and consumer product industries.James Carter
Visionary Consultant
Principal Consultant: Vision Mobility, 20+ years Automotive Veteran, 19 Years at Toyota, Wealth of Automotive Sales, Marketing, Operations and Planning Experience, BEcon – Finders University.