Mike Welch

Founding CEO of Ridgeline, a research and engineering firm advancing the frontier of agentic AI systems for mission-critical environments. We help government agencies and Fortune 500 companies move beyond legacy constraints by deploying Applied Intelligence — a next-generation orchestration layer that integrates diverse systems, data sources, and computational workflows into unified, adaptive multi-agent architectures.Rather than layering narrow automation on top of outdated infrastructure, Ridgeline designs and deploys autonomous AI agents capable of reasoning across complex, distributed environments. Executive leader with over 30 years of operating experience and P&L ownership. Three-time CEO, including Ridgeline and two companies in the Ad Tech ecosystem (Xandr and Captify). Significant M&A experience, having led two successful exits in the last four years, including the sale of Xandr to Microsoft in 2022, and the sale of Captify to The Verve Group in 2025. As the founding CEO of Ridgeline, I am responsible for building and leading all operational aspects of the company, taking it from start-up to scaled player.As the CEO of Captify, I reported to a PE backed board, led by SFW Capital, with our lender, Accel KKR, as a key stakeholder. I succeeded the founder, with a mandate to establish operating discipline across the company. Changes over my two years as CEO included: Remaking the entire C-suite, divesting two underperforming markets, taking significant cost out of the business, and launching an emerging measurement business. Returned to revenue growth in 2H 2024, reversing eight consecutive quarters of year-over-year revenue decline. Delivered positive adjusted EBITDA in 2025.As CEO of Xandr, I led 1,300 employees globally, with P&L responsibility for $2.5B of annual topline revenue. In my tenure, we refocused the business on Video (CTV and Data Driven Linear TV) and were pioneers in the launch of Xandr Curate, the industry's first sell-side curated data marketplace. In 2021 we delivered positive EBITDA and Free Cash Flow for the first time in company history, positioning the business for the eventual sale to Microsoft.Prior to these CEO positions, I spent 25-years in various leadership roles at AT&T and was a corporate officer. In addition to serving on and reporting to the Ridgeline and Captify boards, I was previously chairman of the board of directors for INVIDI Technologies, and served on the boards of the Video Advertising Bureau (VAB) and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB).