IPO Edge and the Palm Beach Hedge Fund Association hosted a fireside chat with the CEO and Chair of KnightSwan Acquisition Corp. (NYSE: KNSW) to discuss the founding of KnightSwan, target business areas, outlook for the wider SPAC market, and lessons learned from the experience of being female leaders. The live event featured KnightSwan Co-Founder & CEO Brandee Daly and Co-Founder & Chair Teresa Carlson joined by IPO Edge Editor-in-Chief John Jannarone and Director of Research Alan Hatfield in a moderated video session lasting approximately 60 minutes and including a Q&A with the audience.
Watch the two highlight videos below (or click the link underneath to see the entire event):
CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE FULL 1-HOUR REPLAY
About KnightSwan:
KnightSwan, founded by Brandee Daly and Teresa Carlson, is an industry disruptor and catalyst for new and emerging technologies focused on accelerating innovation in cyber, cloud, and mission intelligence, a field focused on the collection, analysis, and delivery of foreign intelligence and counterintelligence information for the purposes of improving decision-making. Through this platform, KnightSwan intends to invest in a company that provides technologically-differentiated products and solutions to the commercial and government markets.
KnightSwan believes that it has the chance to seize a timely and significant market opportunity. The U.S. Government continues to make large investments in cyber, cloud, and mission intelligence solutions, considering them critical to managing national security as well as integral to driving innovation and advancing technology. Our objective is to leverage the experience that our seasoned KnightSwan team has in leading and growing technology-focused organizations in both the public and private markets to effect an initial business combination that delivers value to our stockholders.
Mmes. Daly and Carlson discussed:
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The founding of and outlook for KnightSwan
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Brandee and Teresa’s careers in the technology space
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Target areas of cloud, cyber, and mission intelligence and activity in the sectors
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The SPAC market (trends and observations and why Brandee and Teresa are optimistic)
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Brandee and Teresa’s experience as female leaders (lessons learned and advice for future leaders)
About the Speakers:
Brandee Daly, CEO of KnightSwan, is one of the leading women technology experts in government and business and has led an impressive 25-year career spanning roles at Amazon, Oracle, Microsoft, IBM, and the CIA. In 2021, Daly was named one of the “Top 20 Cloud Execs to Watch in 2021” by WashingtonExec.
Prior to KnightSwan, Ms. Daly was the founder and CEO of C2S Consulting Group (“C2SCG”), a leading provider of innovative solutions, prototypes, and delivery of Cloud Cyber Security to the U.S. Intelligence Community, DoD, and U.S. Federal Civilian Agencies. At C2SCG, Daly guided hundreds of businesses and public sector organizations to successfully migrate, manage, and optimize their technology and cloud automation. From 2018 to 2021, Ms. Daly successfully grew firm-wide revenue significantly, expanding the service offering to encompass cloud migration, cyber, architecture, DevOps / DevSecOps, and cloud business strategy. Under Ms. Daly’s leadership, C2SCG became a multi-service global consulting firm, providing a range of technology consulting solutions to all 17 intelligence agencies, broader public sector, and commercial markets.
Ms. Daly received a Bachelor of Science in Systems and Industrial Engineering from University of Arizona and a Masters of Business Administration from American University.
Teresa Carlson, the Non-Executive Chair of the board of directors of KnightSwan, is the President and Chief Growth Officer at Splunk Inc. (Nasdaq: SPLK) (“Splunk”). Ms. Carlson leads efforts to align and drive Splunk’s ongoing business transformations and go-to-market segments.
Prior to Splunk, Ms. Carlson spent a decade at Amazon, successfully launching Amazon’s Worldwide Public Sector and Industries Division for AWS. During her tenure, Ms. Carlson grew the Public Sector Division from its inception and pioneered the U.S. Government’s technological shift to the Cloud. Under her direction, AWS established the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) compliant GovCloud (U.S.-East) region in 2011, the commercial cloud services (C2S) contract for the intelligence community in 2014, and a second GovCloud region (U.S.-West) in 2018, setting the stage for future cloud regions for the defense and intelligence community.
Prior to joining AWS, Ms. Carlson spent nearly a decade at Microsoft where she successfully launched the company’s government agency division, Microsoft Federal. In her role, Ms. Carlson led strategy, execution of sales, partnering, contracting, business development, and performance world-wide. While overseeing Microsoft Federal, Ms. Carlson led Microsoft’s first cloud-based U.S. Government Business Productivity Online Services (BPOS) Region, closed the first ever Office 365 deal with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and closed the then-largest Enterprise Agreement with the U.S. Air Force, valued at over $330 million. As the leader of the U.S. Federal team, Ms. Carlson oversaw one of Microsoft’s largest divisions. Ms. Carlson received a Bachelor’s degree in Communication and a Master’s Degree in Speech and Language Pathology from Western Kentucky University.
Contact:
Alan Hatfield, Director of Research
Twitter: @IPOEdge
Instagram: @IPOEdge
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