Our Story

Ken is the founder and CEO of CSI, a defense contracting business providing technology and engineering services including information assurance, cyber security, software development, data center consolidation, network security, and system security. CSI grew from two employees and $64,000 in revenues to almost 120 employees and more than $8 million in sales in just 4 years. In 2012: Forbes Magazine named it the 4th fastest growing inner-city business. Ken is a native of Oklahoma and proud of it! Today he resides in Oklahoma City with his wife and two children.

Jef has been involved in the design, construction, commissioning and training of over 300 labs in 13 states. His background as a Product Manager/Project Engineer in the compressed gas and cryogenics industry kept him highly involved with the Biopharmaceutical, Food Processing and Healthcare industries. Because of Colorado’s early legalization of medical cannabis this work eventually began to be heavily involved with the cannabis industry. Initially the work was centered around cultivation of cannabis. Jef designed and developed the first large scale system to safely enrich large indoor cultivation spaces with Carbon Dioxide gas (CO2) in 2009. This system is still widely used and sold today and is the standard in the industry. As the industry grew, the work became more centered around processing. Jef has always been focused on working safely and efficiently. He continues to work with many federal agencies including FDA, DOE, USDA, USGS, NREL, OSHA and DOT as a Cryogenics and Compressed Gas engineer. He presently serves on four NFPA technical advisory boards and three ASTM Committees. His expertise led him to begin consulting for the cannabis/hemp industry in 2010 as a leading safety and process engineering consultant. Today Jef translates the knowledge and expertise gained from his 41 years of related industry experience directly into making 1440’s processing business best in class.

Mark has worked in the IT industry for over 20 years, the last 10 years in the government sector. He is PMP certified and prior MCP (Microsoft Certified Programmer.) In addition, he has obtained multiple Microsoft Partner certifications while under employment. He carries a wide range of skills in development, management, and back-office automation. He is a qualified SharePoint developer, .NET programmer, and SQL specialist. His skills shine in back-office operations, automation, and integration. He has implemented multiple ERP systems (Dynamics GP,NAV,JAMIS,Acumatica) and has in depth knowledge of true cost accounting. Although new to the manufacturing sector, almost all of the same principals apply in the government world. Job Costing, Forecasting, and Dashboards are critical, and play a daily role in Mark’s role as CIO. Mark has obtained multiple ISO 2015+, CMMI (Dev and SVC) Level III certifications, as well as FedRAMP and NIST 800-171 certifications which secure our technology and financial resources to the highest government standards. Mark has most recently worked with the 1mil to 30mil growth of small businesses to mid business levels. He is extremely familiar with bridging the older technologies with the current cloud infrastructure standard. Due to the wide range of skills, he is able to allocate almost any technical resource to meet the demand of the customer or requirement.

Sean has more than 17 years’ experience in the IT industry. He is an international speaker, panelist on security matters, has won and or placed in several Defcon competitions, has experience with Tribal Government, Tribal Gaming, Health Industry (HIPAA/HITECH Security Specialist) U.S. Federal contracting and consulting with agencies including DoD, NSA, and the US Marshall's service. Sean has been described by the hacking community as "leaving a litter of broken and/or shelled systems in his wake". Sean was previously the principal security consultant for NetSource Secure, a Denver-based firm with a strong presence in Oklahoma for multiple verticals. He is one of the founders of BlueAnt Security and the DC405 and is currently active in the Oklahoma hacking scene. Sean is the current world record holder for the longest FRID Hack, longest Wifi Shot, has 3D printed firearm smuggled through TSA and documented for FAA, and PCI QSA Signoff for 4 different; Level 1, Fortune 100 companies in one fiscal year.

Kristin has spent her career in CPG brand management and sales. She started at General Mills working on brands like Pillsbury and Cheerios, as well as working with key retail customers like Target and Wal-Mart. She then went to Polaris Industries as the Director of Sales and Marketing in their Aftermarket Accessories division. She also led shopper marketing efforts for Quaker Oats at PepsiCo which resulted in being named one of the top marketers to watched by the Path To Purchase Institute. Most recently she was the Director of Brand Marketing and Sales for Oars + Alps, a direct to consumer men’s grooming company. While there she helped successfully launch the brand and secure distribution in Target leading to the sale of the company to S.C. Johnson. Kristin holds an undergraduate degree in Business from the University of St. Thomas and Masters in Business from the University Of Minnesota Carlson School of Management. In her free time, Kristin enjoys playing tennis, reading and spending time with her husband, Chetan, and their dog, Vindaloo.

Chaney is the Chief Customer Officer, responsible for building new relationships with partners, helping deliver consistency in how our brands engage with consumers, developing communication strategies, and strategic market planning. Chaney has been an innovator in the digital and physical retail world within the Consumer-Packaged Goods industry for over a decade. Her experience spans numerous leadership roles across Sales, Marketing, and Ecommerce and fostering brands like Cheerios, Nature Valley, and Yoplait at Walmart. Most recently, she led the marketing team on a multi-billion dollar business in conjunction with leading the sales Ecommerce business on the company’s largest retailer. She has helped with the transformation of teams to change the way brands engage with both consumers and retailers. Chaney believes in making real connections with customers, creating inspiration and bringing different groups together to build a new vision. Throughout her career, Chaney has been recognized as a “Person to Watch” in the Shopper Marketing space (2018), led an Effie Award Winning campaign (2019)- awarded for the most effective marketing campaigns, Reggie Award Winner (2019) – for brand activations, and most importantly, her Goldendoodle Hank’s Favorite Human award. She also serves on the University of Arkansas Walton MBA Alumni Advisory Board. Chaney completed a bachelor’s degree in marketing and holds a MBA focused on retail from the Sam M. Walton College of Business at The University of Arkansas.