Meet the team bringing the future of conversational AI to you
NLX was founded in 2018 in New York City by brothers Andrei and Vlad Papancea and longtime friend Peter Szerzo. Rooted in the belief that conversational applications will define the next era of human- computer interaction, the NLX platform was built with the goal of making it possible for anyone to build AI-powered voice, text, and multimodal conversations.
Drawing in part on Andrei’s experience building the conversational AI platform for American Express, the NLX platform is distinct in its design and architecture, ensuring that the content is what truly makes it unique. To achieve this, the platform is agnostic of AI technologies, legacy systems, vendors and channels, giving enterprise brands choice and flexibility in what infrastructure they use. The platform democratizes conversational application building through a no-code canvas that caters to users of all technical abilities, abstracting the complexity typically required to build and scale conversational applications.
Our customers bring our technology to life in new and unexpected ways, and we’re totally here for it. We are partners in innovation and we think with the end-user in mind, so our customers can be sure they are delivering the best experience possible.
There's a lot of hype around AI which is why we like to stay grounded. If it won't actually work for you, we are going to tell you. Our holistic approach to NLX is practical – for you, your business and your customers.
You shouldn't need specialized skills to build and deploy conversational applications. If the future of human-computer interaction is rooted in conversation, we'll want to ensure it's accessible, regardless of technical ability.
People may not always remember what you said, but they will always remember how you made them feel. Be approachable and make each other feel welcome. We expect diverse experiences and value individual input.
Andrei is CEO & CPO at NLX, our Swiss-army knife for all things natural language-related. He built the Natural Language Understanding platform for American Express, processing millions of conversations across AmEx’s main servicing channels.
Part of the Andrei-Vlad brother team, his first development was an app that delivered curated, high-quality gifts. Andrei is a creative guru, steering his ideas through 21st century technology to realize innovation.
As Director of Engineering, he deployed AWS across the business units of Argo Group, a publicly traded US company, and successfully passed the implementation through a technical audit (30+ AWS accounts managed). He teaches graduate lectures on Cloud Computing and Big Data at Columbia University. He holds a M.S. in Computer Science from Columbia University.
As CTO, Vlad has overall responsibility for the NLX platform and infrastructure as well as developing the technical strategy for the company. This includes implementing best practices in areas of engineering operations, security, monitoring, analytics, and automation.
He ran terabyte-scale data pipelines to facilitate AI-powered risk underwriting at Argo Group. He established DevOps standards for deploying new products on AWS, while migrating legacy applications to the newly prescribed architecture. Furthermore, he created reusable frameworks and pipelines for both actuaries and data scientists to deploy their statistical and machine learning models to the cloud.
Outside of NLX, Vlad likes to dine with friends at new restaurants in NYC and try to reproduce dishes at home. He holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Knox College.
Alexandra is the CFO of NLX, responsible for all things finance. She has more than 15 years of progressive experience in start-up corporate finance and is a CPA.
Alexandra was previously the CFO for Wibbitz, an online video creation platform acquired by Vimeo, and the CFO for Launchmetrics, a SaaS company that grew six-fold during her time there. In her spare time, Alexandra enjoys reading a good book, spending time with friends and family, and trying out new recipes and restaurants. She holds a BS in Finance and Accounting from the NYU Stern School of Business.
As Chief Strategy Officer, Brian is integral to helping grow the company’s client list across multiple sectors as well as implementing operational scaling to meet increased market demand.
He brings more than 25 years of company growth and team leadership experience across a range of diverse industry verticals. Most recently Brian led product development in healthcare analytics. He has also played product and business development roles in entertainment, energy, transportation, IT systems, financial services, and data analytics.
Brian enjoys surfing, hiking, biking, and sipping good tequila with friends.
He holds an MBA in Business Administration and Management from the University of Phoenix and has a Master’s in Computer Science and Computer Engineering from California State University Long Beach.
As Chief Growth Officer, Derrick is responsible for scaling the impact our business has with new and existing enterprise customers.
He has spent the last 12 years orchestrating product and organizational design efforts on behalf of Fortune 500 companies. Most recently Derrick was the Managing Partner at Opus, an organizational design firm where he led multi-year transformations for Twitter, American Express, and Lululemon. He is an active angel investor, speaker, and advisor to startups across North America.
Melanie Vargas is the Chief People Officer for NLX and is responsible for building and maintaining our unique culture and aligning our people strategy with our business strategy.
With an illustrious career spanning three decades working in early-stage technology organizations, Melanie has worn the hats of both the entrepreneur and the executive. This has given her a profound understanding of the challenges and triumphs in these worlds. She understands the urgency, agility, and innovation needed to thrive in this ecosystem.
Most recently, Melanie served as the Chief People Officer of HaptX, Inc. She is also the Founder and CEO of Radical Ignition, an executive coaching and leadership development firm. Additionally, Melanie served as the President of Swift HR Solutions for 16 years, a firm dedicated to helping early-stage companies design, launch, and manage their HR and leadership development infrastructure. During her tenure, she spearheaded a team of over 20 C-level HR consultants and executive coaches. She also managed the consulting business supporting more than 100 startup technology organizations at any given time. Many organizations she supported during her tenure experienced successful liquidity events. Melanie is a Certified Hudson Executive Coach and a ICF Professional Certified Coach. She also holds SHRM-SCP, SPHR credentials and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging from Cornell.
In her personal time, Melanie lives in Seattle with her husband, three kids, and two dogs. She enjoys hiking and water sports.