Interview with Gravy Advisory Board Member Armando Escalante

December 24, 2019

Gravy welcomes Armando Escalante to the Advisory Board!

Armando sat down with us over dinner recently to share a bit about his background and what interests him about Gravy.

Interview with Gravy Advisory Board Member Armando Escalate

Gravy: Tell us about yourself…
Escalante: I spent more than 25 years in software and engineering management at companies like TransUnion, LexisNexus, and Unisys. Most recently, I was SVP and CTO for TransUnion (TLO Division). I’m also a startup guy, and was at Seisint in the early days. It was purchased by LexisNexis in 2004.

In my free time, I’m building an experimental aircraft. It’s a fun challenge and nearly complete. I’m also finishing my private pilot license.

Gravy: What brings you to Gravy’s Advisory Board?
Escalante: Over the last few years, I’ve joined the boards or invested in a few promising technology startups. I enjoy being at the stage in my career where I can share my engineering and technology management know-how with others, helping them to build great products and gain traction in their respective markets.

Gravy: Why is location intelligence the next big thing?
Escalante: Location intelligence is a powerful new source of consumer data – and data is what makes the difference between a good product and a great one, a good company and a great one. Five years from now, data will be the difference between a company that thrives and one that fails. So there is a huge emerging market for data that companies can use to enrich their own 1st party data stores, and location intelligence is one of the big ones.

Gravy: What is your favorite Gravy product, and why?
Escalante: Gravy DaaS. After all, I spent much of my career working with the original ‘big data’ giants.

Gravy: How do you see your industry using location intelligence in the next 5 years? 10 years?
Escalante: Today location data is being used for ad targeting, for competitive intelligence, but I think the bigger opportunity is in using it with other datasets – demographic, purchase, social network activity, other qualitative data. It’s a rich layer providing better place and consumer understanding, fueling things like predictive analytics, machine learning, AI. We’re going to see many, much more complex, use cases emerge.

Thank you for getting to know Gravy Advisory Board Member Armando Escalante.

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