Socrata adds Kenneth Melero and Stu Rabinowitz to its federal team

Socrata, a Seattle-based cloud software company focused exclusively on “democratizing access to government data,” announced on January 14 the addition of two experienced managers – Kenneth Melero and Stu Rabinowitz — in its Washington, DC, office.

Melero has joined Socrata as the director of federal sales in Washington, DC. He has spent more than 20 years working in the federal market space, has in-depth knowledge of geospatial, big data analytics and government intelligence technologies.

Earlier in his career, Melero served as a senior director at PIXIA Corp., and before that he was the vice president of product sales at SPADAC Inc. prior to its acquisition by GeoEye.

Rabinowitz has joined Socrata as director of federal markets and channel partners, also in Washington, DC. He has deep experience implementing strategic technology solutions in public-sector environments, according to a news release issued by Socrata.

Rabinowitz was previously chief technology officer at Creative Computing Solutions, Inc. (CCSi), where he provided healthcare solutions, architecture and technologies to customers within the Veterans’ Administration and Department of Defense (DOD) military health services.

“We’re taking our company — and open data — to the next level,” says Kevin Merritt, Socrata’s founder and CEO. “Our cloud-based platform offers so much more than open data for the sake of transparency and accountability. It’s the foundation for our new performance management solution, GovStat, which is helping organizations become more data-driven in their decision-making. Our platform is also a key enabler helping organizations modernize the way they access and use their own data internally and publish and disseminate data externally. This directly supports their core programs and mission.”

“Ken and Stu understand better than most how to provide government agencies and non-governmental organizations in and around Washington, DC with the best service, the most innovative products, and the most thoughtful insights,” Merritt added. “We’re fortunate to have this talented pair on our team and leading our plans to grow our business in these markets.”

Socrata’s Washington, DC operation serves agencies of the federal government and a wide range of non-governmental organizations (NGO). Socrata’s open data platform already supports open data initiatives at major organizations, such as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), World Bank, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), among others.

The addition of Melero and Rabinowitz follows a 2013 announcement from Socrata that Bill Lawler and Joel Baller had joined the company to help it focus on its core public-sector customer base.

Lawler, Socrata’s vice president of sales in Seattle, held multiple leadership roles earlier in his career at Dell, including vice president of enterprise sales. And, before joining Dell, he worked in various management capacities at Apple.

Baller, Socrata’s vice president of public sector, previously held senior revenue-producing roles at Oracle, RightNow Technologies and Xerox.