Who, What and Why

Who, What and Why

We are here to free our minds and reclaim our time.

Every day, technology wages a relentless war for our attention. We have all known the profound exhaustion of living in a world engineered to capture our focus, not empower our ambitions. A world engineered for “reaction”, not “action”.

We know this war intimately because we have stood on its front lines as leaders within the very platforms that now define our digital world. From that unique vantage point, we saw a fundamental conflict emerge: the interests of the system diverging from the well-being of the individual.

Faced with that truth, we chose a different path.

We came together at Adapter. Our team of engineers, designers, creatives, and strategists led by co-founders Adam Ghetti and Dr. David Bader, veterans who built the privacy, security, and AI systems for decades that power the modern world, united by a single, unwavering conviction:

Technology must serve the person, not the platform.

Expanded thoughts from our co-founder Adam

What are we building?

We are building a new kind of personal technology: three core capabilities engineered into a singular, delightful experience to serve your agency.

Adapter isn’t just a bunch of technical agents but a trifecta of capabilities working in harmony to serve true human agency.

Listen

Your life’s context, made actionable.

Securely and continuously learning the landscape of your life from the tools you already trust, Listen ensures you never miss a detail. This living history works for you, meeting you where you are in iMessage, WhatsApp, email, or your calendar with the precise insight you need to move forward. It’s not another app to manage; it’s your awareness, sharpened, designed to give you more free time and less screen time.

Reveal

Don't just see what is next, see what matters.

To truly see what’s coming, we need the signal, not the noise. Reveal sifts through the scattered data of your life—a flight delay, a client’s nuanced email history, even that text from a group chat two weeks ago—to find the vital signal. It reveals not just what’s next, but what truly matters right now while also forecasting into the future. This is clarity that ensures nothing falls through the cracks, giving you the quiet power to architect your day instead of just reacting to it.

Engage

Relentlessly guarding your attention.

Unlike a black box algorithm, Engage is your transparent always-on ally. It uses the fabric of your own life to understand your true intent, ensuring what engages your attention is measured by its utility to you, not its virality to the crowd nor profitability to the market. It is clarity on command, freeing you to act with purpose.

A quiet revolution giving us all back command.

How do we see the future?

While others fight for scraps of your data, Adapter makes you the sole proprietor of your own life context. While the giants of technology build you a smarter cage from your own data, Adapter is forging you a true master key. With an absolute alignment to individual empowerment we believe Adapter understands you with a clarity others can never ethically achieve. We envision a future where instead of companies selling you a reflection of their customers interests; Adapter delivers a perfect mirror of and compass to navigate your own.

This is the future that we want to live in, and so set out to build it.

The Humans @ Adapter

David Bader, PhD.

Chief Knowledge Officer, Co-founder

Co-founded Adapter with the vision to revolutionize the knowledge landscape. Distinguished Professor and founder of the Department of Data Science in the Ying Wu College of Computing, Director of the Institute for Data Science at New Jersey Institute of Technology, and cofounder of the Graph500 list. Wikipedia

Dave Bienapfl

Member of the Technical Staff

Brings over 25 years of experience designing and scaling infrastructure in cloud and on-prem environments. Led key initiatives in automation, reliability, and developer enablement across both startups and large-scale systems.

Inés Bustamante

Director Strategy and Operations

Creative at heart, joined Adapter because of our shared belief that we can reimagine how collaborative technology empowers individuals in their daily lives.

Aidan Crank

Member of the Technical Staff

Led ML engineering for integrating AI features into enterprise data search at AWS. Previously worked as researcher in the intelligence industry, focusing on fundamental and applied research.

Adam Ghetti

CEO, Co-founder

Explorer, creator, and investor. Previously founded Ionic Security (Acquired by TWLO), where he was GM of Emerging Businesses (AI/IoT) and is an active early stage investor. Hold 20+ issued patents for high assurance data security, cryptographic and autonomous systems. 

Callie Holmes

Member of the Technical Staff

Most recently on the Microsoft Co-pilot team, extensive experience in frontend engineering that scales to the most challenging environments with the most delightful consumer experiences.

Chris Ioffreda

Principal Product Designer

Designer tackling today's biggest challenges, leading projects from concept to launch. Uses design to help organizations develop clear and compelling visions of the future, driving clarity in highly ambiguous and complex problem spaces through ideation, prototyping, and storytelling.

Bill LeBlanc

Member of the Technical Staff

Distinguished track record of innovation including early development of Cisco PIX firewall and Local Director products. 24+ years in technology research and software development with 25+ patents across firewall, network scaling, and cybersecurity.

Dillon Ponzo

Member of the Technical Staff

After completing his masters in Computer Science at Johns Hopkins, worked at AWS as a software engineer where he focused on GenAI features on data governance.

Daniel Rodriguez

Member of the Technical Staff

With roughly 15 years of software development experience and over a decade focused specifically on iOS development, brings a wealth of Apple platforms expertise from companies like Warby Parker, Paperless Post, HomerLearning Inc, and GameLoft.

Irene Tena

Principal Product Designer

Previously led the User Experience Design team at Shield AI, focusing on creating command and control applications for AI pilots. Recognized the need for improved user-centered experiences in defense-tech and the importance of fostering trust between humans and AI.

Jennifer Uhlmann

Executive Business Partner

Background in psychology and healthcare. Most recently at GLG supporting operations related to conferences and event management. Masters in psychology from CUNY City College of New York and studied Pre-Medicine at Boston University.

Jon VerSteeg

CFO

Finance leader in technology companies since the late 90s, working alongside founders and exec teams bringing innovative solutions into big markets. Day zero through IPO and everything in-between across domestic and international markets.

Robert Ball

Advisor, General Counsel

At the intersection of privacy, data, law and policy for years. Former Chief Legal Officer at Akamai and EVP of Business Development. Chair of the Policy Council of the National Technology Security Coalition.

Ryan Spears

Advisor, Security and Privacy

Applied computer security researcher and cryptographer with focus on embedded hardware, networks, and RF mediums. Experience in complex vulnerability analysis on software and hardware systems.

Will Staples

Advisor

Writes critically acclaimed movies, television, video games, VR, and books. Work includes Mission Impossible franchise, Tom Clancy's Without Remorse, The Right Stuff on Disney+, Jack Ryan, Shooter, Call of Duty, Need for Speed, and Rainbow Six.