Our mission is to build critical bridging technology that helps analysts harness AI without surrendering their judgment or control.
The Ox Intel team includes recognized leaders in the field of intelligence across both the public and private sector, technical members experienced in building technology for the Intelligence Community and Department of Defense, and expertise in deploying AI applications in a variety of industries.
Team
Lila Ghosh Founder & CEO
Lila is an experienced intelligence professional and a champion of integrating technology into analytical disciplines. She has led intelligence production programs at a large US municipality, Capital One, Flashpoint, and The Soufan Group.
Lila earned a Master’s degree with distinction in Intelligence & International Security from King’s College London and a Bachelor’s in History from Yale. She is a BUILD Fellow and an alum of both Grand Strategy and Hacking 4 Defense.
Steven Skoczen Head of Engineering
Steven is an experienced startup founder, CTO, and developer, with over 20 years in programming and full-stack development. He has created over a dozen open-source libraries and led and grown teams at startups, established firms, academia, and large governmental organizations. He has built and maintained open-source AI and ML in a variety of industries, from chat bots to commercial energy usage.
Steven earned a Bachelor’s degree in civil and environmental engineering from Cornell University.
Martin Petersen Advisor
Martin Petersen spent 33 years with the CIA, retiring in February 2005 as Deputy Executive Director and Acting Executive Director. In the course of his agency career, he ran two large analytic units before becoming Associate Deputy Director of Intelligence for Strategic Plans and Programs, the first Chief Human Resources Officer for CIA, and Deputy Executive Director. He also contributed substantially to the creation of the CIA’s Sherman Kent School for Intelligence Analysis. He has written extensively on analytic tradecraft and support to decision makers. During his CIA Career, Mr. Petersen received numerous honors and awards including the Distinguished Career Intelligence Medal.
Sarah Sewall Advisor
Sarah Sewall is Executive Vice President for Policy at In-Q-Tel, a strategic investor for the national security community. Dr. Sewall served as Under Secretary of State for Civilian Security, Democracy and Human Rights, responsible for issues ranging from counterterrorism to refugees, from 2014-2017. Before joining the Pentagon, she served for six years as Senior Foreign Policy Advisor to Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell. Dr. Sewall served on the Defense Policy Board under Defense Secretaries Gates and Hagel and is currently a board member of the Center for Naval Analyses and Creative Associates. She graduated from Harvard College and was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford, where she received her doctorate.
Chris Taylor Advisor
A global business leader and entrepreneur, Chris Taylor is the founder and CEO of space tech startup Aalyria. He is the Senior Advisor to the Managing Director of the National Security Innovation Network (NSIN) at the Pentagon. Chris was previously the CEO of Govini, a commercial data and analytics company focused on transforming the business of government through data science, and founder of Novitas Group, a tech startup that used a unique talent-opportunity matching technology platform. Chris spent 14 years in the U.S. Marine Corps as an enlisted infantryman and Force Recon Marine. He is also a graduate of the Harvard Kennedy School, where he earned a MPA degree in Political Economy and International Security.
Kristin Wood Advisor
During her 20 years at CIA, Kristin Wood served across the Agency in the Director’s area and three Agency directorates – analysis, operations, and digital innovation – leading a wide variety of the Agency’s missions related to the Middle East, counter-terrorism, and open source technologies. Her post-Agency work focuses on advising start-ups tackling big data problems. She is the founder of commercial data marketplace Grist Mill Exchange, President of Lumos Consulting, LLC, a Fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School’s Belfer Center, and serves on the Advisory Board for the International Spy Museum.
Behind our name
In 1907, sociologist Francis Galton conducted an experiment where he had attendees at a country fair compete to guess the weight of an ox. Galton found that the average of everyone's guesses — approximately 800 of them — was closest to the ox's actual weight, and closer than any individual guess, including those from people with more familiarity with oxen. This experiment birthed the notion of the wisdom-of-the-crowds effect, which was found to be contingent on independent judgments.
Galton's experiment is the inspiration behind Ox, which uses individual judgments to generate insights based on collective wisdom.