Meet the Knownwell Leadership Team.
Knownwell’s leadership team has decades of experience helping companies capitalize on transformative shifts in the technology landscape, specifically with a focus on translating technological disruption to business results. Learn more about the team and what makes us tick.
David DeWolf
Chief Executive Officer
David DeWolf is the Founder & CEO of Knownwell. David founded and served for 16 years as CEO of 3Pillar Global, a digital product development organization that grew every year under his leadership. 3Pillar was named to the Inc. 5000, a list of the fastest-growing private companies in the US, ten separate times. David twice oversaw the company’s sale to private equity companies while he served as CEO. David is an angel investor who backs companies and leaders who he believes have visions for companies that can change the world. He’s also an active and sought-after board member for high-growth tech companies and is currently a board member for 2X, Capango, and his alma mater, the Franciscan University of Steubenville. When not building or investing in technology companies, David enjoys traveling and spending quality time with his wife, Teresa, and their 8 children.
Courtney Baker
Chief Marketing Officer
Courtney Baker is the CMO of Knownwell and the host of our AI Know How podcast. Courtney spent more than 5 years at Full Focus before joining the Knownwell team. She held the CMO role for nearly 4 years at Full Focus before serving as Chief Revenue Officer for more than a year. During that time, she oversaw a transformation of the business from the personality-led brand of former Thomas Nelson CEO Michael Hyatt to the product-led brand of the Full Focus planner and related products. Courtney hosted the wildly successful Focus on This podcast for more than 200 episodes, and she still uses the Full Focus planner every day to ensure she’s driving results for Knownwell.
Mohan Rao
Chief Product Officer
Mohan Rao is the Chief Product Officer (CPO) of Knownwell. He guides Knownwell’s strategic product direction, including driving innovation, defining product offerings, and ensuring Knownwell’s products align with the company’s mission and vision. Mohan has more than three decades of entrepreneurial and executive experience building technology and product development organizations that drive rapid growth and shareholder return and has deep experience managing key customer relationships. Before joining Knownwell, Mohan served as Chief Product Officer, Chief Technology Officer, and President/COO for numerous SaaS technology companies, including Wagestream, StreetShares, Hobsons, Mobile Insight, Wireless Matrix, and Career Rewards. Several of these companies conducted successful exits after scaling growth organically and via successful integration of key acquisitions. Earlier in his career, Mohan was a Management Consultant at Deloitte & Touche and a Project Leader at Verizon Labs. Mohan enjoys playing tennis, biking, traveling, and reading biographies.
Pete Buer
Chief Strategy Officer
Pete Buer is Knownwell’s Chief Strategy Officer. With over three decades of experience crafting strategy, systematizing operations, and scaling culture in fast-growth company settings, Pete has held a variety of senior-most line and administrative leadership roles, and has extensive Executive Committee experience. Pete spent his professional “growing up years” at CEB (now Gartner), where he held such roles as Head of the Sales and Marketing Practice, Chief Administrative Officer, and Chief Culture Officer. After CEB, Pete was Chief of People and Operations with 3Pillar Global; and, prior to joining Knownwell, he was Chief Growth Officer with Brightfield. Pete counts among his greatest loves his family (which includes triplets), all things Norway-related, reading and writing, pinochle, car shows, fishing and the Pittsburgh Steelers (with apologies to friends in New England).
Phillip Merrick
Board Member
Phillip Merrick is a successful entrepreneur, technologist and CEO, specializing in enterprise software and cloud/SaaS markets in the US, Europe, and Asia/Pacific. He’s led a number of high-growth technology companies from the earliest startup stages to IPO and beyond, from zero to more than $200M in revenue. This includes three successful exits in the nine to ten figures and one of the most successful software company IPOs (webMethods) in history. Phillip has extensive public and private board experience and is currently the Co-Founder and CEO of pgEdge, a Postgres-based distributed database platform for modern applications that demand constant availability, global access, and rapid response times.
Andrew DeBerry
AI Advisory Board Member
Andrew DeBerry has spent the past two decades leading AI and cyber initiatives for the DOD, Google, Meta, Amazon, and Microsoft. He co-founded Costa Security and is an expert in the intersection of technology, ethics, and public policy. An Air Force veteran, Andrew served on cybersecurity and undercover strike operations in multiple countries. He is passionate about how artificial intelligence can improve our human connection and relationships. DeBerry advises Knownwell in the areas of AI ethics, security, and privacy.
Jessica Hall
AI Advisory Board Member
Jessica Hall is a leading voice on how UX will change in the age of AI. She has spent more than a decade on the cutting edge of innovation, design, and product leadership, a combination that gives her a unique perspective on how AI experiences can impact business growth. She is the VP of Design for CoStar, a publicly-traded global leader in the digital transformation of the $300+ trillion real estate industry, and a sought-after speaker on topics including product leadership in the AI era. Previously, she scaled a global product strategy and user experience organization at 3Pillar Global, founded by Knownwell CEO David DeWolf. Jessica and David co-authored The Product Mindset: Succeed in the Digital Economy by Changing the Way Your Organization Thinks while at 3Pillar. Jessica advises Knownwell in the areas of AI UX, product development, and continuous innovation.