Billy joined DataStax as Chief Executive Officer in May 2011 and propelled the company’s growth from sub-$1M in revenue and 25 employees to more than $100 million in revenue and over 500 employees today.

He championed the company’s early years when it was the leading contributor of code and expertise to open source Apache Cassandra®. Now, he is leading the company’s enterprise expansion as the world’s premier provider of the always-on, distributed cloud database built on Apache Cassandra and designed for hybrid cloud. Billy is an active contributor to the Forbes Technology Council. He is a frequent speaker on the topics of cloud databases, data autonomy, hybrid cloud, AI and distributed workforces, and was most recently at The Economist Innovation Summit discussing AI and data trends shaping the future of global business.

Billy’s 25+ years of tech experience span nearly every part of the database industry in roles ranging from database administrator, to book author, to senior executive. Before joining DataStax, Billy spent six years at Quest Software, where his most recent role was Vice President and General Manager of the database business unit. Under his leadership, the industry-leading Quest database business grew from supporting traditional relational databases to a portfolio that included tools for cloud, NoSQL, Columnar, and Hadoop databases, as well as business intelligence offerings. Prior to Quest, Billy spent a large portion of his career as a software engineer, ultimately moving into product management at Embarcadero Technologies.

Billy holds a B.S. in computer science from the University of Louisville, where he was also a scholarship football player for the Cardinals.