Meet us at EDUCAUSE 2025  Educause Logo

Plan With Us
Plan With Us

Leadership Team

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Phasellus pharetra tortor eget lacus ullamcorper, posuere fringilla justo convallis.

Our Leadership

Our leadership team brings together vision, expertise, and dedication to drive innovation and excellence at every level.

Built for Higher Ed. Led by Experts.

At OculusIT, we believe that great leadership is the foundation of transformative impact. Our executive team brings together decades of experience at the intersection of technology and education, guiding our mission to empower colleges and universities with innovative, secure, and scalable IT solutions.

With a deep understanding of the unique challenges within higher education, our leaders are not just tech experts, they are strategic partners to institutions across the U.S. and beyond. Their diverse backgrounds span enterprise IT, cybersecurity, cloud services, ERP systems, and campus operations, giving us a 360-degree perspective on how to elevate student and institutional success through technology.

Meet the Team

OculusIT Executive Leadership

Together, they drive our vision forward: to be the most trusted IT partner in higher education.

Joe Redwine

Chief Executive Officer

Abhijeet Chimade

Chief Operating Officer

Narendar Chenna

Chief Financial Officer

Jim Tandon

SVP, Sales & Marketing

Ajit Singh

SVP, Managed Services Delivery & Solutions

Dana DeLapi

Vice President, Marketing

Prasun Maharatna

Senior Director, Human Resource

OculusIT Board of Directors

Joe Redwine

Board Member

Shoshana M. Vernick

Board Member

Paul Skordilis

Board Member

Mark Hipp

Board Member

Nishaad Balachandran

Board Member

OculusIT – Avathon Capital

OculusIT is now proudly backed by Avathon Capital, a mission-driven private equity firm focused on innovation in education and workforce development. This strategic partnership marks a new era of growth, enabling us to scale our impact across higher education.

Together, we’re building the future of higher ed IT.

Let’s have a conversation

OculusIT can support your technology needs and we’d love to talk to you about it.

Contact Us
x

Consulting Services

Marketing

IT Solutions Services

Contact With Us!

2220 Plymouth Rd #302, Hopkins, Minnesota(MN), 55305

Call us: (234) 109-6666

Mail: Herringtonconsulting@gmail.com

Mon – Sat: 8.00am – 18.00pm / Holiday : Closed

x

Joe Redwine

Chief Executive Officer

About Joe

Joe brings almost 25 years of experience building innovative higher education technology services companies. He is a retired USAF officer providing leadership in the areas of space, intelligence, and flight operations. Joe is a collaborative leader known for his passion for building teams focused on customer needs. He previously served as VP of Client Experience at CampusWorks and COO of Dynamic Campus.

x

Abhijeet Chimade

Chief Operating Officer

About Abhijeet

Abhijeet brings 20+ years of experience leading global teams, scaling service organizations, and driving operational excellence. His appointment comes at a pivotal moment – for both the company and the industry – as demand for high-ROI technology solutions continues to rise across higher education

x

Narendar Chenna

Chief Financial Officer

About Narendar

With nearly 30 years of experience as a Chartered Accountant and financial strategist, Narendar has led large-scale transformations across India, Southeast Asia, and the MENA region. His leadership spans billion-dollar capital management, global compliance, M&A integrations, and financial transitions for high-growth companies.

x

Jim Tandon

SVP, Sales & Marketing

About Jim

Jim serves as Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing at OculusIT. His key areas of expertise lie in strategic business development, leadership, customer relationships, and developing global partnerships, mergers & acquisition. As part of OculusIT, Jim helps colleges and universities leverage the latest technologies and reduce their overall operational costs via strategic IT initiatives. Jim was previously with Accenture.

x

Ajit Singh

SVP, Managed Services Delivery & Solutions

About Ajit

With over 20 years of experience in HigherEd IT, AJ drives technological transformation for our higher education partners and develop superior delivery solutions. Prior to joining OculusIT, AJ successfully served as senior technologist for Remote Infrastructure Management Services at Ellucian® and Oracle®.

x

Dana DeLapi

Vice President, Marketing

About Dana

Dana brings nearly 20 years of higher education marketing expertise to OculusIT. She is known for her strategic vision and deep understanding of how to align messaging with measurable outcomes. Specializing in crafting and executing integrated marketing strategies, Dana excels at blending tactical execution with compelling narratives to drive customer engagement, enhance brand positioning, and meet revenue targets. A skilled leader, Dana has a proven track record of building high-performing teams and leveraging data-driven insights to optimize marketing initiatives for sustained growth.

x

Prasun Maharatna

Senior Director, Human Resource

About Prasun

With over 25 years of global HR leadership across North America, LATAM, Europe, and APAC, Prasun brings deep expertise in Talent Management, HR Operations, and Organizational Transformation. A Cornell-certified HR Director, he has successfully led large-scale M&A integrations, digital HR transformations, and global workforce strategies. He has also had the privilege of contributing as a speaker, leadership coach, and recognized HR innovator.

x

Shoshana M. Vernick

Board Member

About Shoshana

Shoshana Vernick is a Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Avathon Capital, a private equity firm she launched in 2016 to build enduring, strategically relevant companies across the education and workforce sectors. Avathon is deeply committed to its mission of delivering both financial returns and positive impact — a reflection of the firm’s belief in “The Power of AND.”

With more than two decades of investing experience, Shoshana leads with a founder-first mindset. She brings deep sector knowledge and a hands-on approach to working with leadership teams across the learner lifecycle: early childhood education, K-12, higher ed, adult learning, and corporate; having overseen Avathon’s 16 investments and 5 realizations.

Prior to Avathon, she was a Managing Director at Sterling Partners, a middle market buyout firm investing across business services, health care and education. Earlier in her career, she worked at One Equity Partners, Razorfish and Merrill Lynch, gaining a broad foundation in private equity, business strategy and investment banking.

Shoshana is an active leader in the private equity community. She serves on the Board of the Illinois Venture Capital Association and is a founding member of its Philanthropic Foundation. She is also a member of PEWIN and on the Steering Committee of the KPMG University of Chicago Economic Forum.

Shoshana holds a BS with honors from Indiana University, where she studied accounting, finance, and international business. She studied abroad in Maastricht, The Netherlands, and was raised in Munster, Indiana by a schoolteacher and an entrepreneur.

x

Paul Skordilis

Board Member

About Paul

Paul Skordilis is an accomplished executive with over 30 years of experience leading high-growth companies across professional learning, SaaS, application software, tech-enabled services, and education technology. With a global management background spanning the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, Paul is recognized for his expertise in driving organizational transformation, growth, and operational excellence.

Over the course of his career, Paul has spent 20+ years working with private equity-owned companies, consistently creating value and driving results.

Paul currently serves as Chairman of the Board for two companies: Summit Professional Education, the national leader in continuing education courses for physical, occupational, and speech-language pathologists; and Oculus IT, a global managed IT services provider focused on higher education institutions. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Wall Street Prep (WSP), a leading provider of financial training and certification programs. Previously, Paul was CEO of ACUE, where he led efforts to improve student success through evidence-based teaching practices and expanded the company’s product portfolio into a scalable subscription-based model. He also served as President and CEO of Infobase, a SaaS-based EdTech company, where he led strategic growth initiatives and successfully integrated multiple acquisitions.

Before that, Paul was President of Colibri Group, where he provided leadership across verticals including Financial Services, Healthcare, Real Estate, and Appraisal. He guided Colibri through a successful shift from a B2C to a B2B model, unlocking new market opportunities and fueling growth. Earlier in his career, he held senior leadership roles at Infogix, StoneRiver, and Oracle, where he drove organizational restructuring, product innovation, and go-to-market strategy execution. His strong background in P&L management, sales, and business development has consistently enhanced operational efficiency and enterprise value. Paul attended DePaul University, concentrating in Finance and Accounting. He is known for his visionary leadership, ability to align teams around a shared mission, and his focus on building customer-centric organizations.

x

Mark Hipp

Board Member

About Mark

Mark brings over 30 years of leadership experience in the global software and technology industry, spanning multiple markets and business models. He currently serves as Executive Chairman of the Board for Pieces Technology, a leading generative AI company focused on clinical documentation. He is also an operating advisor to several top-tier private equity firms and financial institutions.

In addition to his role at Pieces, Mark sits on the boards of Loyal Health, United Flow Technologies, Purchasing Power, and serves on the Board of Advisors for Quantum Metric. He is also a director of Carter’s, Inc. (NYSE: CRI), where he is a member of the Audit and Compensation Committees.

Earlier in his career, Mark spent 28 years at Hewlett-Packard, where he held a range of senior positions across business units, ultimately serving as Vice President and General Manager of HP Software. Born and raised in Nairobi, Kenya, Mark is a lifelong global traveler. His international experiences have deepened his belief in the transformative power of education—for individuals and for society as a whole.

x

Nishaad Balachandran

Board Member

About Nishaad

Growing up around the world, Nishaad saw firsthand the impact education had in unlocking human potential and transforming lives. Nishaad is a seasoned investor with a deep commitment to transforming the education and workforce markets. As a Principal at Avathon, he partners with founders, executives, and teams to build enduring businesses and drive impact across the education and workforce ecosystems.

Nishaad currently serves on the Board of Directors for Academic Programs International (provider of study abroad and experiential learning to higher education institutions), Summit Professional Education (provider of continuing education for allied health professionals), and OculusIT (insert description). He also serves as a Board observer for ReUp Education (leader in assisting higher education institutions with finding and re-enrolling adult learners).

Prior to joining Avathon in 2017, Nishaad spent time at Raymond James helping founders and companies evaluate their strategic alternatives and find access to growth capital.