Our Team

Brad Cheedle

Chief Executive Officer

Brad joins Otava as a grizzled veteran technology executive and entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience. His professional expertise includes corporate finance, sales and business development, engineering, technical operations, marketing, product development and mergers and acquisitions. He has helped launch companies and organizations at WOW!Business, Zayo Group, Qwest Communications, Onfiber Communications, Level 3 Communications and MCI Communications.

Brad is an active alumnus at the University of Northern Colorado, Monfort College of Business. He currently sits on the Board of Directors there and supports the organization’s entrepreneurial programs. He’s a sucker for a good bourbon and enjoys jamming out on his guitar more than anything except possibly being with his family.

Tom Wilten

Chief Financial Officer

Tom is Chief Financial Officer of Otava, who has built his career around corporate finance and strategy. His previous experience includes Qwest Communications, where he was responsible for mergers and acquisitions, divestitures, and strategic business review. Tom capped his career at Qwest by leading the process for the $22 billion merger with CenturyLink–no small feat!

Tom holds an MBA in finance and accounting from the University of Chicago and a B.A. in economics from Cornell University. When he’s not guiding Otava financially, you can find him hanging out with his family of three children, serving on the Board of Trustees for the Colorado/Wyoming Chapter of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the Good Shepherd Foundation board, or kicking around a ball as a volunteer recreational soccer coach.

Jim Lubinski

Vice President of Product, Cloud Engineering

and Infrastructure

Jim is Vice President of Product, Cloud Engineering and Infrastructure at Otava, a broad role spanning engineering, product, platform development, tools, service integrity and data center operations oversight and strategy. Jim’s result-driven technology and management career spans more than 30 years. Prior to joining Otava, Jim served as a senior executive and advisor for the Technical Excellence Group (TEG-Global) and JEL Technologies, where he led IT and business development with an emphasis around finance and banking, cloud, big data/data analytics, and healthcare. Prior to that Jim held SVP and CIO roles at esteemed companies such as Western Union, First Data Corporation and Galieleo International.  In his spare time Jim serves on the Denver Innovation Advisory Board, where business and community leaders come together to bring value to the surrounding communities.

Jim holds a BS in Mathematics from the University of Michigan, as well as an MBA in Finance from Wayne State University. When Jim isn’t moving mountains behind his keyboard, he enjoys playing golf with his family in Colorado where they live and anywhere else they have 18 holes.

Laurel Burton

Vice President of Product and Marketing

Laurel has an uncanny gift for transforming previously unknown corporate brands into thriving powerhouses. Her award-winning career includes serving as the Vice President of Marketing for Faction Inc., a large cloud infrastructure provider, and ViaWest (now Flexential), a nationwide data center service provider. She has also served as a Fractional CMO for IQ Wired, Big Compass, HotQuant, Nuvalo, Aligned Energy and two confidential businesses (oooh, mysterious!).

Laurel holds both a Master’s in Telecommunications Engineering as well as a Master’s of Business Administration from the University of Colorado. When she is not working, you can find her enjoying mountain living with her four-legged friends Wilma and Norma by her side.

Cyndi Lyon

Vice President of Operations

Cyndi brings over 20 years’ experience focused on improvement process and overall customer experience to Otava. She is responsible for managing and scaling the client services, deployments, and data center operations teams to better serve our clients. An enthusiast for first impressions and the overall customer experience, Cyndi is focused on creating a seamless customer-centric experience which brings together diverse internal expertise to establish best practices and simplify process for our customers.  Before coming to Otava, she was the Director of Professional Services with Foresee, managing a team of analysts, setting the overall onboarding strategy for customers, and building out the professional services consultant role and product offerings. Prior to that she was the Planning Director for the City of Romulus, where she established the city’s first Planning Department. Cyndi works out of our headquarters in Ann Arbor, Michigan, office and has an honors Bachelor degree from Eastern Michigan University.

When she is away from the office, she enjoys spending time with her family, traveling, and heading north to enjoy the Michigan seasons.