Meet the Team

Derq is a global MIT spinoff and Techstars alum based out of Dubai and Detroit. We are founded and run by individuals passionate about creating safer and smarter roads for road users. Our multi-disciplinary team hails from MIT, Georgia Tech, IIT, and McGill, and has work experience with leading technology firms and agencies including Ford, Siemens, and NASA, and governments in the United States, Canada, and the Middle East.

Interested in joining the team? Apply at careers@derq.com

Dr. Georges Aoude
Co-founder &
CEO

Jay LaFrance
VP Business Development Western US

Bilal Naeem
Machine Learning Engineer

Jesse deVore
Senior Software
Engineer

Thaer Abbas
Lead Full-Stack
Developer

Yasir Tahir
Research Scientist (Computer Vision and ML)

Karl Jeanbart 
Co-founder &
COO

Akash Kishore
Senior Software
Engineer

Fahad Rizvi
Machine Learning Engineer

Mary Rose Dalocanog
HR and Operations Executive

Dr. Usman Farrokh Niaz
Lead Research Scientist (Computer Vision and ML)

Dr. Amer Abufadel
Co-founder &
CTO

Ankit Sharma
Systems
Team Lead

Harshal Kataria Software
Engineer

Mayank Pathela
Full-Stack
Developer

Utkarsh Dubey
Research Scientist
(Computer Vision and ML)

Jamie Sullivan
VP Business Development Eastern US

Arijit Bose
Senior
Product Manager

Imtinan Azhar
Full-Stack
Developer

Nihal Barde
Software
Engineer

Vatsal Kansara
Senior Software Engineer



Board of Advisors

We are advised by government & industry leaders and experts in smart cities, autonomous vehicles and artificial intelligence.

H.E. Dr. Aisha Bin Bishr
Former Director General
Smart Dubai Office

Dr. Karl Iagnemma
CEO, Motional
(JV between Aptiv and Hyundai)

Ty Beltramo
Fellow at CGS Advisors
Former CTO at MapQuest, Former Chief Architect at GM Onstar

Dr. Hamed Benouar
Former Chief Traffic Engineer
California DOT

Mark Joseph
Former CEO, Vice Chair
Transdev North America

Joe Boissy
Former CMO
of Iteris

Hicham Chatila
National Director
Parametrix

Dr. Zahi Karam
VP of Data Science
Bluecore

Eric Raamot
Former CTO of Econolite
Former Senior Strategist at US DOT