Effectual CEO and leadership

Michael J. Parks began his career in the U.S. Coast Guard at age 17. While serving his country, Mr. Parks earned an FCC License, an Associate’s Degree in Electronics Technology, completed flight school, piloted 3 types of helicopters and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. As part of the DEA, Parks supported Operation Bahamas Turks and Caicos, a large scale drug interdiction effort to stop the flow of illegal drugs from entering the U.S. Michael provides strategic leadership for Datapipe's technical departments. He is responsible for maintaining Datapipe's global network infrastructure which has consistently been recognized for speed and reliability. Michael also leads Datapipe's development team in designing and improving the industry-leading features within Datapipe’s client portal.

I have over 20 years of proven executive leadership experience in cloud services, cyber-security, financial services, technology strategy, operational improvement and software development for emerging, high growth organizations around the world. I have successfully delivered products and services in a number of vertical markets including financial services, supply chain automation, spend data management, eProcurement, manufacturing, library automation systems, content creation and military science. My operational experience ranges from worldwide data center and corporate infrastructure operations, financial services, and global customer care, to consulting and professional services. Formally trained in the Balanced Scorecard methodology, I enjoy working with other results-oriented executives who are also passionate about culture, to develop and lead corporate strategies that leverage human and technology capital for high growth opportunities.Specialties:Cloud Computing / ServicesCorporate M&A Transactions, Corporate Strategy Development & Execution, Cyber / Information SecurityPeople & Organizational Development, Outsourcing and Vendor Management, Global Data Center Operations, IT Financial Analysis, Corporate Program Management, Enterprise Agile Software Product Development

Chief People Officer | Chief Human Resources Officer | SVP of Human Resources | Start-Up Founder

M&A Integration | Global HR Leadership | Executive Coaching | Start-Up Investor & Adviser

Senior HR leader driving culture change and business transformation - positioning tech companies to capture and sustain competitive advantage.

With 20+ years of experience in recruitment, human capital strategy, and workforce optimization in the tech sector, I have driven organizations through exponential growth, navigating through change during acquisitions on multiple continents, and serving as a trusted advisor to executive leadership.

At Datapipe, where I served as SVP of human resources and administration through a period of explosive growth, numerous acquisitions, and global expansion, we were united by a common vision and goal - to deliver a premium data management experience for our clients.

From early growth stages to our acquisition by Rackspace, I had the opportunity to work alongside talented, visionary leaders on charting the course for the organization through human capital strategy, executive level recruiting and acquisition integration.

Previously, I managed human capital initiatives during multiple major acquisitions at publicly traded Micromuse, including our sale to IBM, following which I joined the IBM team as senior HR business partner for IBM Tivoli. Throughout my tenure, I partnered with leading retained executive search firms on placement of high-level executives and directed numerous compensation, benefits, and HRIS systems initiatives.

Executive Search | M&A Integration | Divestiture/Wind-Down Strategy | Domestic/International Compliance | HR Due Diligence | Change Management | Stakeholder Alignment | Value Creation | Employee Engagement | Strategic HR Management | Start-Up Incubation, Creation, Investment & Advisement

Darren Cook is a CSO & Co-Founder at Effectual. He has worked as Senior Security Engineer at Datapipe, Director of Information Security at Datapipe, and Information Security Manager at Datapipe. Darren studied at Rutgers University.

Rick Ruskin is a Chief Sales Officer at Effectual and is based in City Metropolitan Area, New York City, New York. He has worked as VP of Sales/ Board of Advisors at Index Engines, Vice President of North American Channels at Kaminario, and Executive Vice President/WW VP of Sales at MTI. Rick attended Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and University of Colorado Boulder.

Michael J. Parks began his career in the U.S. Coast Guard at age 17. While serving his country, Mr. Parks earned an FCC License, an Associate’s Degree in Electronics Technology, completed flight school, piloted 3 types of helicopters and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. As part of the DEA, Parks supported Operation Bahamas Turks and Caicos, a large scale drug interdiction effort to stop the flow of illegal drugs from entering the U.S. Michael provides strategic leadership for Datapipe's technical departments. He is responsible for maintaining Datapipe's global network infrastructure which has consistently been recognized for speed and reliability. Michael also leads Datapipe's development team in designing and improving the industry-leading features within Datapipe’s client portal.

I have over 20 years of proven executive leadership experience in cloud services, cyber-security, financial services, technology strategy, operational improvement and software development for emerging, high growth organizations around the world. I have successfully delivered products and services in a number of vertical markets including financial services, supply chain automation, spend data management, eProcurement, manufacturing, library automation systems, content creation and military science. My operational experience ranges from worldwide data center and corporate infrastructure operations, financial services, and global customer care, to consulting and professional services. Formally trained in the Balanced Scorecard methodology, I enjoy working with other results-oriented executives who are also passionate about culture, to develop and lead corporate strategies that leverage human and technology capital for high growth opportunities.Specialties:Cloud Computing / ServicesCorporate M&A Transactions, Corporate Strategy Development & Execution, Cyber / Information SecurityPeople & Organizational Development, Outsourcing and Vendor Management, Global Data Center Operations, IT Financial Analysis, Corporate Program Management, Enterprise Agile Software Product Development

Chief People Officer | Chief Human Resources Officer | SVP of Human Resources | Start-Up Founder

M&A Integration | Global HR Leadership | Executive Coaching | Start-Up Investor & Adviser

Senior HR leader driving culture change and business transformation - positioning tech companies to capture and sustain competitive advantage.

With 20+ years of experience in recruitment, human capital strategy, and workforce optimization in the tech sector, I have driven organizations through exponential growth, navigating through change during acquisitions on multiple continents, and serving as a trusted advisor to executive leadership.

At Datapipe, where I served as SVP of human resources and administration through a period of explosive growth, numerous acquisitions, and global expansion, we were united by a common vision and goal - to deliver a premium data management experience for our clients.

From early growth stages to our acquisition by Rackspace, I had the opportunity to work alongside talented, visionary leaders on charting the course for the organization through human capital strategy, executive level recruiting and acquisition integration.

Previously, I managed human capital initiatives during multiple major acquisitions at publicly traded Micromuse, including our sale to IBM, following which I joined the IBM team as senior HR business partner for IBM Tivoli. Throughout my tenure, I partnered with leading retained executive search firms on placement of high-level executives and directed numerous compensation, benefits, and HRIS systems initiatives.

Executive Search | M&A Integration | Divestiture/Wind-Down Strategy | Domestic/International Compliance | HR Due Diligence | Change Management | Stakeholder Alignment | Value Creation | Employee Engagement | Strategic HR Management | Start-Up Incubation, Creation, Investment & Advisement