Leadership Team

Heather is the mastermind behind Language I/O’s core technology, which eliminates the need for expensive and time-consuming neural machine translation engine training by dynamically selecting the NMT engine that will best translate a given piece of content and imposing company-specific terminology onto any of the many NMT engines integrated into the Language I/O cloud solution.

Prior to co-founding Language I/O, Heather was well-known for globalizing code for Fortune 500s. She was also the senior director of Product Management and Globalization for eCollege, which was acquired by Pearson Education during her tenure. While at Pearson/eCollege, Heather and her team built a next-generation, online college education platform, which was launched globally.

Heather holds a Master of Science from the University of Colorado at Boulder College of Engineering as well as a Bachelor of Arts in Latin American Studies from the University of Washington in Seattle. She has lived in various parts of the United States and Mexico and speaks English and Spanish. 

Before joining Language I/O in 2017, Craig was Sierra Trading Post’s manager of eCommerce Development and Operations where he oversaw operations and web and mobile app development. Craig was Sierra’s first web developer and joined the retailer in 2006.  

During Craig’s tenure at Sierra Trading Post, the company became a Top 100 Internet Retailer, claimed industry-leading user experience scores and conversion rates and experienced double-digit eCommerce revenue growth. Craig’s drive to provide seamless eCommerce integration proved to be a critical component of that success. 

Lucia Kash has more than two decades of experience working in localization, globalization, international business and management consulting. Her range of expertise and knowledge of global cultures has influenced her role as business development director for Language I/O. Lucia’s unwavering resolve has helped generate steady annual revenue increases for Language I/O and a solid client pipeline while exponentially increasing sales revenues.

Prior to joining Language I/O, Lucia was a business development manager for ABLE Innovations. While at ABLE, Lucia also worked in project management and vendor management.

Lucia is an Italian native and speaks four languages. She has lived and worked in several countries and has a deep knowledge of world cultures, which has contributed to her understanding of international markets.

Carissa has held numerous management positions in the high tech and telecommunications industries. She has led successful strategic initiatives to improve product, sales and marketing operational effectiveness, especially around Lean Six Sigma, Scrum and Agile projects.

Carissa holds a MS from the University of Colorado Boulder School of Engineering and an MBA from Suffolk University. Additionally, she obtained a certificate in Business Strategy from Cornell University.

Throughout her career, Carissa has spent much time abroad and speaks Chinese Mandarin fluently.

Prior to joining Language I/O, Chris was a Product Line Manager at CloudHealth by VMware. During his time there, Chris oversaw the teams responsible for backend data operations, and grew the product to become a recognized market leader in the cloud management space.

In that role, Chris was able to spend time traveling to the UK, Australia, Japan, France, Korea and Israel, which furthered his understanding of cultural differences. His time spent demoing and configuring products via translation services convinced him of the need for a translation service that understands the complexities of industry-specific jargon.

Chris holds a Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Bowdoin College in Maine.

Girish has more than 20 years of experience in project and portfolio management in a wide range of industries from public utilities to national non-profit organizations. He has led several enterprise transformation projects in both the public and private sectors. As a certified Product Owner and Scrum Master he has also introduced Scrum and Agile frameworks to these organizations and has driven the transition to those methodologies.

Girish grew up in England and holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Applied Mathematics from the University of Sheffield and a Masters in Computer Systems Management from the University of Maryland Global Campus.

He has a passion for foreign languages and speaks Marathi and some French, German and Italian.

Prior to working for Language I/O, Viviana spent ten years working in the language industry for various language service providers managing projects and vendors. Throughout her experiences, Viviana has worked closely with her customers to automate their processes and fully support their localization efforts.

Viviana is passionate about working for a woman-owned company and places high importance on women being successful in the tech industry.

She was born and raised in Italy and has a Master’s in Foreign Languages and Translation from the University of Turin.

Viviana also speaks Spanish and Italian.

Lisa DeFrank joined Language I/O in 2021 after having worked in Human Resources across both technology and healthcare industries. Lisa is driven to create a positive employee experience in the workplace that drives engagement and organizational success.

Lisa has earned a Bachelor of Science in Human Resources Management as well as a Master of Science in Management & Leadership and an MBA. She further holds SHRM-CP credentials.

Lisa has lived throughout the United States and is an avid international traveler, spending much time in Central and South America, always seeking to improve her Spanish-speaking skills.