A new Milwaukee startup, founded by a high-profile, local techie, is hoping to address the growing demand for predictive analytics.
Octavian Technology Group quietly launched in February. It is founded by Brad Zepecki, the former CEO of software consulting firm SafeNet, which is based in Minnetonka, Minn., but has a large office in Milwaukee. After working at the company for more than eight years, he left last year to figure out his next step.
After connecting with three technologists who worked in analytics and data science at Northwestern Mutual, the four of them decided to go all in on Octavian.
Besides Zepecki, the team includes Dave Pahl, who worked at Northwestern Mutual for 25 years in a number of roles, most recently as VP of analytics and data science; Carolyn Olsen, who was most recently a lead data scientist at NM; and Chris Turner, who worked as a senior project manager at NM for five years and previously held similar positions at several major advertising firms.
Octavian offers artificial intelligence and data science intelligence to companies. Zepecki said Octavian’s services could help cut costs and increase revenue for companies in a number of industries, including healthcare, insurance, manufacturing and finance.
The B2B company has four clients so far, which Zepecki declined to disclose.
“The main flagship offering is going to be data science solutions,” Zepecki said.
Zepecki, who has 27 years of experience working in the IT industry, grew SafeNet’s Milwaukee division from six consultants to 62 and led it to a 12-fold revenue increase.
In addition to leading Octavian, Zepecki is also reaching out to the local community with his nonprofit, Code The Way. The program teaches STEM concepts to local high school students. So far, the program has helped place two students in internships at Google and Facebook, Zepecki said.
“As Southeast Wisconsin continues to make strides toward building a strong technology presence, it’s critical to our future that all high school students are given opportunities to develop a passion for software development and encouraged to contribute to our community’s tech future,” he said.
