User:Giuseppe Taibi/Giuseppe Taibi

Giuseppe Taibi is an Italian-born software engineer and Internet entrepreneur. In 1995 he co-founded Altoprofilo with interaction designer Leandro Agro' and software engineer Giuseppe Di Fatta, after earning his Laurea degree in Electrical Engineering at the University of Palermo with a thesis in the branch of Artificial Intelligence known as Knowledge-Based Systems. Altoprofilo was one of the first Italian consulting companies exclusively focused on Internet-enabled business. In 1999 Altoprofilo secured several million euros in funding by MyQube, a venture capital fund participated by high-profile investors including Pirelli, Benetton, Banca Intesa and Merrill Lynch. Altoprofilo grew from 3 founders to an interdiscipinary team of 90 Altoprofilici with headquarters in Milan, Italy and Boston, MA. Altoprofilo quickly established itself as one of the most well-regarded and forward-looking Internet consultancies in Italy, known for its excellence in pairing the most powerful technologies with the most usable interfaces. Such reputation helped securing large contracts with customers in media, telecommunications, manufacturing, retail and finance. Altoprofilo was merged with Dialoga a leading Italian systems integrator.

While at Altoprofilo, Giuseppe became a founding member of the International Council at Harvard University's Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs directed by Prof. Graham Allison and attended the 2002 World Economic Forum, held in New York City instead of Davos, Switzerland, because of 9/11.

From January 2005 to May 2007, Giuseppe joined QuitNet, the world's largest smoking cessation program, as Chief Technology Officer for managing the growth of its highly trafficked web portal and maximizing its value. During his tenure at QuitNet, the company went through 2 successful mergers, first with Axia Health Management, and then with Healthways, a multi-billion dollar publicly traded company (NASDAQ: HWAY).

In May 2007, Giuseppe joined online health information rating and ranking startup WEGO Health as VP Technology. WEGO Health was founded by online health pioneer and former Yahoo! executive Jack Barrette, and is funded by General Catalyst, the top-tier VC firm based in Cambridge, MA.

In June 2012, Giuseppe became CEO of the new Rapid-I North America. Rapid-I provides the world-leading open source data mining software RapidMiner and all kinds of services related to data mining, text mining, web mining, predictive analytics, and machine learning including but not limited to consulting, training, software development, RapidMiner adaptations and extensions, professional support, complete data analysis services and projects.

RapidMiner is used in data mining applications of more than 20.000 users in more than 30 countries world-wide. In the last three years, RapidMiner was downloaded more than 300,000 times. In 2008, Rapid-I was awarded the European Open Source Business Award 2008.

In 2013 Rapid-I becomes RapidMiner, raises $5M from venture capitalists, and moves the world headquarter to Cambridge, MA, while Giuseppe becomes the Global Chief Product Officer. In Feburary 2014 Gartner places RapidMiner in the Leadership quadrant for Advanced Analytics, along with analytics industry heavy-hitters SAS and IBM.

In September 2014 Giuseppe leaves RapidMiner to focus his energies on a new startup to be announced in Q4 2015.

Giuseppe is also President and Founder of SmartWorlds, a US software development and consulting company specialized in mobile and advanced analytics, and has been featured in Who’s Who: Boston’s Mobile Industry Heavy Hitters.

In addition to his high-tech ventures, Giuseppe is a proud importer of Olio Taibi, the single-estate, organic extravirgin olive oil produced on his family's estate in Sicily and sold in some of the nation's most acclaimed gourmet stores. Giuseppe was a Visiting Scholar at Boston University, has taught his own course on Applied Innovation in Mobile Computing, which was renamed Smartphone Application Development at Harvard University Extension School, and holds a PhD in Software Engineering from the University of Palermo with a thesis in Artificial Intelligence and Digital Signal Processing.

He is married with artist Nita Sturiale. The couple's 2 daughters are Ella Francesca and Gaia Valentina. Giuseppe Taibi's official web site and blog is at www.giuseppetaibi.com.