Leadership Team

Chris Grandi is Chairperson of the Board of Directors and Founder of Abacus Group. Chris was previously Chief Executive Officer at Abacus, growing the company into an award-winning global firm providing outsourced IT and cybersecurity services and solutions to the financial services industry.

Chris has extensive experience in the FinTech industry, having previously been President of Eze Castle Integration. He also co-founded Dynamic Transactions Inc., which developed internet payment software for commercial banks. Chris began his career at Maxim Integrated and Goldman Sachs.

Chris holds a BA from UCLA and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Jonathan was appointed President of Abacus in February 2022 and is based in New York. He has been with the company since 2014, originally as Chief Financial Officer. He oversees M&A, strategic partnerships, product management & software, marketing & communications, and all administrative and operational functions including human resources, real estate and legal.

Prior to joining Abacus, Jonathan served as Managing Director of Finance at ConvergEx Group, responsible for financial planning, M&A and new product development. Jonathan began his career in a variety of management roles in operations and finance at General Electric and American Express.

Jonathan holds a B.S. in Operations Management from Syracuse University and an M.B.A. from Penn State University.

Paul Ponzeka is the Chief Technology Officer at Abacus Group. Paul was previously Managing Director of Engineering at Abacus, and is responsible for R&D, systems engineering, disaster recovery and networking.

Before joining Abacus in 2012, he was head of engineering for Davidson Kempner Capital Management. Prior to Davidson Kempner, Paul was a senior engineer at Eze Castle Integration, responsible for high-level VMWare and SAN implementations, as well as serving as the company’s senior messaging expert. Paul earned a BS in Operations Management at the University of Scranton and is CISSP-certified.

Mike is an Abacus Founding Member and currently serves as Managing Director of Client Success. In his current role, Mike oversees all aspects of client support including overall strategy, development and communication.

Previously Mike served as Managing Director of Client Support and Director of Onsite Client Support & Project Management at Abacus. Previously, Mike worked at Bank of America and BNP Paribas, where he oversaw Client Technical Services for over fifty hedge funds. Mike holds a BA from the University of Florida.

Chris is an Abacus Founding Member and Managing Director, Product Management & Innovation. Previously Managing Director, Software Services, Chris has been with Abacus since 2009. He oversees the in-house software team that created and continually evolves the abacusPortal and now also leads the company’s product roadmap and innovation initiatives. He is based out of the Abacus office in Charlotte, NC.

Prior to joining Abacus, Chris worked at Round Table Investment Management on systems integration and at BlackRock Solutions as a Product Manager for the Aladdin® enterprise investment platform. Chris also established the Client Integration Group for Citco Fund Services in New York City, where his primary role was to ensure new hedge fund clients experienced a successful transition onto Citco’s Aexeo® platform.

Chris is a CFA Charterholder, and he has a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Ottawa, Canada.

Brian is an Abacus Founding Member and currently serves as Managing Director of West Coast Sales & Business Development.

Prior to Abacus, Brian was the Technical Director for BNP Paribas's Prime Brokerage Division (western region) where he was responsible for managing the hosted IT platform and all hedge fund clients who were procuring IT services through BNP Paribas Prime Brokerage group. During his seven years with BNP Paribas and Bank of America Prime Brokerage (acquired by BNP), Brian was responsible for the implementation and management of all IT functions at over 50 different hedge funds. Brian holds a BA from Florida Atlantic University and is located in San Francisco.

Tom currently leads the European region, based out of London. Tom is responsible for managing our UK operation and all Abacus European employees. In this role, Tom is focused on strategy, client service, technical development and business development in the European markets.

Prior to Abacus, Tom was the Chief Technology Officer for COMAC Capital (Europe) Ltd (“CCEL”) a multibillion global macro hedge fund. As CTO he led COMAC’s technology strategy, cyber security practices and group business continuity planning. Prior to that he held various technologist roles within Balyasny Asset Management, Glencore and Publicis Groupe. Tom was awarded distinction for MSc studies from the University of Liverpool.

Adam currently serves as the Managing Director of Human Resources for Abacus and oversees all aspects of HR including Benefits, Employee Relations, Recruitment, Talent, Training & Development.

Before joining Abacus, Adam was VP of HR Service Delivery at JPMorgan Chase where he led HR program and project management initiatives across LATAM. Prior to that he held various HR management roles with Diageo, Colgate-Palmolive and Bear Stearns. Adam holds a B.A. in Communications from the University of Rhode Island and is based in New York.

Nileesh Gopu is the Managing Director of Global Service at Abacus Group, focusing on identifying opportunities to grow the Abacus business and guide service delivery to new levels.
 
Gopu has over 20 years of experience in successfully delivering results for companies in North America, Europe, North Africa and Asia. Prior to joining Abacus, Gopu was Vice President of Customer Success at Data Intensity and Director of Client Engagements at Inatech. Gopu holds a BE in Computer Science & Engineering from Visvesvaraya Technological University and an MDes in Design, Strategy & Leadership from Cranfield University.

Jonathan Shapiro is the Chief Revenue Officer at Abacus Group, focusing on driving new client revenue growth and reaching global clients across emerging markets.
 
Shapiro is a globally recognized sales leader in the financial services space with over 20 years of strategic leadership experience across the asset management, mutual funds, banking, and software sectors. Prior to joining Abacus, Shapiro’s roles included Head of North America Alternative Sales at Broadridge Financial Solutions and Head of Sales at SS&C Technologies.
 
Shapiro holds a B.A. from the University at Albany – SUNY.

Dave was previously the Chief Operating Officer and Co-founder of Proactive Technologies, which was acquired by Abacus Group in February 2019. Dave began his technology career in 1999, advancing from intern to Service Desk Manager for a 140-person software company in nine months. From there he held various systems administration positions, including work at the American Stock Exchange. In 2003 Dave took a position managing a small business tech support consulting team in New York City. In three years he grew that practice from four to 40 clients, moving on to form Proactive Technologies in 2007. Dave is also a sought after public speaker on the subjects of business, leadership, technology trends and spirituality. Dave is a graduate of Wheaton College.

Jesse Sanders is the Chief Financial Officer at Abacus Group, overseeing the company’s mergers and acquisitions strategy and overall financial growth.

Sanders is an experienced finance and strategy professional with a background in private equity and venture capital. Prior to joining Abacus, Sanders was CFO of a large MSP and spearheaded numerous add-on acquisitions. 

Sanders holds a B.A. from Indiana University - Bloomington, an M.A. from The Johns Hopkins University, and an M.B.A. from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Anthony J. D’Ambrosi is the Chief Executive Officer at Abacus Group, leading the company’s mission, vision and strategy of growth and value creation for its clients, employees, partners and stakeholders.

D’Ambrosi is an accomplished global executive and thought leader with over thirty years of diverse business leadership and investment experience across global Information Technology, Managed Services, Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity. Prior to joining Abacus, D’Ambrosi served as CEO of ATSG and held senior executive positions at Bell Techlogix, CIBER and Deutsche Telekom T-Systems. He spent the initial years of his career at Hewlett Packard and Reuters.

D’Ambrosi holds dual Degrees in Mathematics and Computer Science from Hofstra University and has engaged on the Customer Advisory Boards for multiple tech giants, including TD SYNNEX, Cisco Systems, Fujitsu and Cloud Software Group (Citrix).

Stu Solmon is the CEO of HUMAN, a cybersecurity company safeguarding enterprises and internet platforms from bot attacks, fraud and account abuse, and serves on the Board of Directors for Abacus Group. Solomon has extensive industry experience, having previously held the role of President at Recorded Future, the world's largest provider of intelligence, and executive leadership positions at Opiv, iSIGHT Partners, and Bank of America. A proud graduate of the United States Air Force Academy, and the Rutgers School of Law, Solomon continues to serve as a senior officer in the Delaware Air National Guard where he has honed his technical skills and a strategic and mission-driven focus during a more than 25-year active duty and reserve component military career, 

Jonathon Bunt is Partner at FFL Partners and serves on the Board of Directors for Abacus Group. Previously, he was a General Manager and Product Leader at GuideSpark, Inc. an enterprise software-as-a-service technology company. Prior to that, Jonathon was Co-founder and CEO of byUs.com, a consumer services software company. Previously he was Founder and CEO of reBloom, a direct marketing consumer products company. Prior to business school, Jonathon was an Associate at Berkshire Partners, a Boston-based private equity firm. He started his career at Goldman Sachs as an Analyst in the Private Equity Group.

Cas Schneller is Managing Partner at FFL Partners and serves on the Board of Directors for Abacus Group. Schneller is responsible for overall management of the firm and leads FFL's Tech-Enabled Services investment activities. Previously, he worked at GTCR, a Chicago-based private equity firm. Schneller also worked at William Blair & Company as an analyst in the Mergers and Acquisitions group and at Luxor Capital Group as an investment analyst. 

Jim Akerhielm serves on the Board of Directors for Abacus Group as well as three other technology service companies. Jim has extensive experience in the technology services industry, previously serving as CEO of Triton Cellular, NuVox, and TekLinks, all of which were successful, private equity-sponsored technology services businesses. Earlier in his career, Jim gained operations, technology, sales and P&L experience at Verizon.

Jim holds at BS in Mechanical Engineering from Lafayette College and MS in Technology Management from the University of Pennsylvania.

Christian Scott is the Managing Director of Cybersecurity at Abacus Group, leading the cybersecurity practice by helping develop and deliver cutting-edge cybersecurity solutions to protect organizations from sophisticated malicious actors. Previously, Christian co-founded and led the team at Gotham Security, which was acquired by Abacus Group in 2022.

As a White Hat & ethical hacker, he has successfully led over 500 cybersecurity engagements, including penetration testing, cybersecurity risk assessments, social engineering testing, red teaming, and forensic investigations, including numerous Fortune 1000 companies. His research includes creating and contributing to numerous open-source tools leveraged by the cybersecurity community.

With over 18 years of technology and cybersecurity experience, Christian is a respected cybersecurity leader and educator, providing insight on the latest hacker techniques to many international banks, insurance companies, and governmental agencies, including members of the Federal Reserve Board.