About Us

Mr. Asbury has successfully led multiple early-stage companies in IT security. From 2018-2020, Mr. Asbury served as President and Member of ThreatAdvice, LLC, a subsidiary of NXTsoft, LLC, a fintech and Security software company headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. At the time of joining the company, NXTsoft was in its first year of operations. The ThreatAdvice product suite consisted of computer-based learning software aimed at educating end users and driving awareness of risks present in an organization. While leading ThreatAdvice, Mr. Asbury oversaw the acquisition and integration of two technical service firms. The acquisition and integration of these companies led to the creation of a single Managed Security Services Provider functioning as ThreatAdvice. Mr. Asbury successfully integrated these organizations and leveraged NXTsoft’s software capabilities to create and market a viable virtual CISO offering.

Prior to his tenure at NXTsoft, Mr. Asbury served as President and Member of Warren Averett Technology Group, LLC (WATG) an affiliate of Warren Averett, LLC for six years. Warren Averett is a U.S. top 30 super-regional accounting and consulting firm headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama. Mr. Asbury attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham where he majored in Business Administration.

Mr. Grimaldi comes to the Company directly from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (“CIA”) where he spent the last twelve years. At the CIA, Mr. Grimaldi led software development programs that furthered U.S. national security objectives. These software programs collected foreign intelligence; conducted effective covert action as directed by the President of the United States; and safeguarded the most sensitive state secrets that help keep our nation safe. His unique experiences included state-actor advanced persistent threats.

Prior to the joining CIA in 2009, Mr. Grimaldi spent eight years at Microsoft Corporation. While at Microsoft, Mr. Grimaldi was a senior team member of a group of software developers who created the SQL Server database. Additionally, he contributed to several software products including Windows and the C# programming language. These products reshaped the industry and added tremendous value to Microsoft Corporation for customers and shareholders alike. Five of his software inventions that were developed at Microsoft are protected by U.S. patents.

In addition to proficiency at managing software development on a large scale for very large enterprises, Mr. Grimaldi has 15 years of high-level cloud computing experience spread across his tenures at both Microsoft and the CIA. His cloud computing experience began in March 2006 when Amazon first launched their AWS cloud. In 2012, the CIA and Amazon put an AWS cloud on-premise with the $600 Million C2S contract. Since that time, Mr. Grimaldi has led the creation of high-security systems leveraging cloud computing.  His expertise includes leveraging the Amazon AWS cloud, the Google GCP cloud, the Microsoft Azure cloud, and the Oracle OCI cloud to process and protect the most sensitive data. Mr. Grimaldi graduated from the University of Maryland with a BS in Computer Science.

Ray Martin is the Chairman of the Board of Managers, Chief Financial Officer and co-founder of the Company. Mr. Martin is formerly the Managing Director and Head of Corporate Development for NXTsoft, LLC, Birmingham, AL, a position he began in 2017. NXTsoft is a FinTech and Cybersecurity business that develops and markets API’s, data migration and security solutions to the Financial Institution marketplace. At NXTsoft, Mr. Martin oversaw the successful acquisition of six businesses. Mr. Martin has more than 30 years of experience in investment banking, strategic planning, finance and management. He has provided highly structured finance and mergers and acquisitions advisory services for various markets including technology, natural resources, defense electronics, entertainment and media, and telecommunications companies across the United States, Europe and Latin America.

Prior to NXTsoft, Mr. Martin worked with Allen & Company, Inc., GE Capital, Bank of America, ING Barings and his own broker-dealer Semaphore Capital. Mr. Martin earned his Bachelor of Arts in Economics from the University of Delaware and his Master of Business Administration in Finance from George Washington University. He also studied graduate-level Technology and Ethics at Yale University.

Nichole F. Lopes has led IT engineering teams since 2006, including work at General Electric, ExxonMobil, and IBM. She was in charge of IBM’s Global Business Services (GBS) Quality Assurance Group, successfully achieving IBM GBS assessment at CMMI Level 5, the highest process maturity level. As an expert in process, she also holds certifications in Safe Agile and Six Sigma. She has contracted for various government entities under Northrup Grumman and Lockheed Martin, including a deployment to Afghanistan to support Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF).

As an entrepreneur, she has successfully launched and run 7 different businesses including a collegiate licensed magnet company, embroidery LLC, Ebay/Half.com store, IT federal consulting LLC, and real estate LLCs.

Ms. Lopes earned her Bachelor of Science in Supply Chain and Information Systems with a minor in Engineering Entrepreneurship from Pennsylvania State University. She also acquired her Masters of Manufacturing Management from Penn State’s Smeal College of Business and College of Engineering. Nichole has honed her leadership skills outside of the office as a recipient of The President’s Volunteer Service Award, Guinness World Record Sports Expert, USA Olympic National Team Coach in rugby, and athlete in judo and rugby for Penn State, earning two Division 1 National Championship titles