Fluree adds Epsilon COO to Board of Directors as company looks to build on significant momentum

Fluree, a Winston-Salem-based secure data management company, has added a technology executive to the company's Board of Directors as it seeks to grow what has already become an impressive list of clients.

Ric Elert is the president and chief operating officer of Epsilon Data Management, an Irving, Texas outcome-based marketing company with more than 8,000 employees and 40 offices worldwide.

Brian Platz, co-founder and CEO of Fluree, said Elert will bring "invaluable business operations leadership and proficiency in emerging technology" while serving on the board.

“As Fluree gears up for its next stages of growth, Ric’s decades of experience will be vital for us to achieve our goals. Fluree welcomes Ric’s guidance and looks forward to collaborating with him as we continue to scale,” Platz said.

“Data allows us to have a high-definition view of people, and it’s for that reason that data must be ethically sourced and protected with consumer privacy in mind,” Elert said. “I am excited to join Fluree’s Board of Directors and contribute to realizing Fluree’s vision for more secure, traceable and interoperable data ecosystems.” 

Elert is a board member of the Federation for Internet Alerts (FIA) and FreeOsk. He is a founding member of the IAB Data Center of Excellence. His appointment to Fluree’s board comes at a time when the company’s blockchain-backed data management platform is ushering in a new era of computing. 

“Fluree continues to be a dominant and vital force in secure data management as industry shifts into the Web 3.0 realm,” said Dan Malven, Managing Director at 4490 Ventures. “The addition of Ric to the board is another critical step toward the company building a world-class pairing of technology and team.” 

Fluree was founded in 2016 by Platz and co-CEO Flip Filipowski. In 2019, the company began raising its initial seed funding, which today totals $6.5 million and has led to significant momentum.    

That momentum saw the company sign contracts with major GovTech clients such as The United States Air Force and the Department of Education, and other government entities are interested in Fluree. 

“The Army is already using our product for one of their projects and … they’re interested in partnering with us as well,” Platz said.

Fluree also has developed a strategic partnership with Wake Forest Baptist Health to improve patient care. According to Platz, the company is looking to leverage that partnership into working with other health systems in more areas. 

“We think that our technology would be a great solution for helping to manage clinic trial data,” he said. “That’s a really nice area of opportunity in the healthcare space in general.”   

Common challenges of clinic trial data storage, such as the need for patient privacy and the fact that most trials have limited funding and timeframes, won’t hinder Fluree because the company is capable of storing data in a “cold” format. 

“Cold meaning that it’s not actively taking computing resources and costing dollars, but it still exists in a rich format where it can be pulled up and leveraged on-demand,” Platz explained. 

With 17 employees, 50 paying clients and nearly 5,000 non-paying clients, Platz said he believes the company will grow to 25 to 30 employees by year end. 

But Fluree is still a small company in an emerging field and with that comes some challenges.

“Our challenges are not only identifying customers dealing with challenges but packaging up our offerings in a way that we are growing revenue and sales,” Platz said. 

Platz doesn’t have any intentions of Fluree remaining a small company, with the company seeing a 400% jump in certain areas of technology adoption last year. 

“We have ongoing objectives of growing the usage of our technology by fivefold every year for at least a couple years,” Platz said. “We’re also later in the year launching an online data marketplace.”