Why We Built Kerno

Thomas McKinney, Managing Member of Blair Street Advisors, an advisory firm, is a Co-Founder of Kerno, Inc. and serves as the Chairman of its Board.

A lawyer and entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience across various industries and executive roles, he founded and was the CEO of TelyRx, an integrated telehealth and pharmacy company. He built and scaled TelyRx to over 100 employees and $100 million in revenue in roughly two years, before stepping back as the company went public on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX: TELY).

Before TelyRx, he spent more than a decade as a senior executive at a family office, where he was involved in deploying capital and working as an executive across portfolio companies in healthcare, sports, technology, and real estate. For the family office, he held executive roles overseeing large multi-state post-acute care, pharmacy, homecare, and hospice organizations and served as general counsel of one of the nation's largest Medicare Advantage plans, leading its sale. He holds 26 patents on pharmacy technology. Earlier in his career he served as a lawyer at a global manufacturing company with legal responsibilities spanning over 40 countries. He began his legal career at Proskauer Rose in New York City.

He also serves on the board of Think Orbital, a next-generation space company, and is on the Advisory Board at Codezero Technologies, an AI security company.

He holds a J.D. from the University of Pennsylvania Law School and a B.S. from Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Michael D. Savino is a tech entrepreneur, senior project manager, cancer survivor, Everest Base Camp trekker, reality TV entrepreneur, and the CEO of Kerno, Nexus Box LLC, and Nexus Box Studio LLC.

Based in Winchester, Virginia, Michael has spent more than two decades building companies, solving operational problems, and helping businesses turn scattered ideas into working systems. His path began with early ventures like Cool Beans Computer Solutions, Dream Art Studios, and Artisan Graphics before evolving into Nexus Box, where he built deep experience across ecommerce, web development, secure infrastructure, automation, and business technology.

In 2018, Michael faced a rare desmoid tumor / aggressive fibromatosis near his left shoulder and scapula, leading to surgeries, chemotherapy, radiation, cryoablation, more than a year of left-arm paralysis, and lasting nerve damage from a brachial plexus injury. Now almost five years in remission, he leads Kerno with the same hard-earned philosophy that shaped his career: businesses fail when they do not know their numbers, their systems, or the truth hiding inside their own operations. Across Kerno, Nexus Box LLC, and Nexus Box Studio LLC, Michael’s work is rooted in one core belief: know the numbers, build the system, create leverage, and move anyway.

Sam Umaretiya is a technology entrepreneur and software architect with a strong track record of building innovative digital products.

In the rapidly evolving world of technology, few leaders possess the unique combination of technical expertise, entrepreneurial mindset, and visionary leadership required to transform ideas into successful digital businesses. Sam Umaretiya has established himself as one of those leaders, earning recognition as a technology entrepreneur, software architect, and innovation-driven executive who consistently delivers scalable solutions and meaningful business impact.

Throughout his career, Sam has demonstrated an exceptional ability to bridge the gap between technology and business strategy. His passion for innovation began with a deep interest in software development and system architecture, where he developed the skills needed to design complex, high-performance digital platforms. Over time, this technical foundation evolved into a broader mission: creating technology solutions that solve real-world challenges and empower organizations to grow.

Today, Sam serves as the Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Account Pundit, Town Guru, and DoctoGuru, where he leads technology strategy, product innovation, and engineering excellence. In these roles, he is responsible for defining the technological vision of each organization, overseeing product development, and ensuring that technology investments align with long-term business goals. His leadership has been instrumental in building reliable, scalable, and user-centric platforms that serve customers across multiple industries.

Throughout his journey, Sam has remained committed to continuous learning, technological excellence, and entrepreneurial growth.

Eric Anderson is a technology executive with over 25 years of experience across diverse technical disciplines and business environments. Most recently, he served as CTO of TelyRx (TSX: TELY), leading the company’s technology strategy and execution as it scaled from startup to public company.

Eric’s career spans technical, operational, and commercial roles, from core infrastructure and cybersecurity to enterprise technology, software, and customer-facing platforms and services. A New York native, Eric earned a BS from Cornell University and later held technology and commercial roles across Europe with multinational organizations including Telefónica and Sky.

His experience ranges from established enterprises to early-stage companies, including extensive work in hospitality and strategic technology partnerships, shaping a practical understanding of how technology must support growth, customer needs, and broader business objectives.

As the Head of Customer Success and Growth of Kerno, Eric brings hands-on technical depth, executive leadership, and commercial perspective, with an emphasis on building technology that is secure, scalable, and grounded in real-world business needs.

Emilio Sosa is the Chief Technology Officer of Kerno and one of the technical leaders responsible for turning Kerno’s mission into working software.

He leads the architecture, development direction, and technical execution behind a platform built to help product creators understand their inventory, production, costs, and business operations with far more clarity.

Emilio brings a builder’s mindset to Kerno. His work sits at the intersection of software engineering, system design, and practical problem solving. He focuses on taking complex business workflows and turning them into tools that feel clear, reliable, and useful for the people actually running the business.

At Kerno, Emilio’s philosophy is straightforward: technology should create leverage. It should help a business see its numbers, trust its process, and make better decisions without adding more noise. As CTO, he helps guide Kerno’s product from vision to execution, working closely with Michael Savino, Ina Alvarez, and the broader team to build software for makers who deserve better than spreadsheets, guesswork, and disconnected systems.

Ina Alvarez serves as Product Owner for Kerno, bringing nearly a decade of experience working with U.S.-based companies across education, content operations, sales, project management, and product development.

A Filipina based in Berlin, Ina began her professional career at 19 as an ESL teacher before moving into content management, sales, and later becoming Sales Manager for a U.S.-based real estate IT company. She is also completing her bachelor’s degree in Business and Management Studies at a German university.

Over the past two years, Ina has served as Senior Project Manager at Nexus Box, where she worked closely with Michael Savino and became deeply involved in the vision, structure, and development of Kerno.

Through hands-on collaboration with the product design and development teams, Ina has spent countless hours refining Kerno into a tool built for real product creators. Today, she leads the product direction with a strong commitment to making Kerno practical, clear, and genuinely helpful for anyone ready to create a product, manage their work with confidence, and build a business of their own.

Irine Latsoshvili is a product designer with a passion for transforming complex ideas into intuitive and meaningful experiences.

At Kerno, she focuses on creating user-centered interfaces that help businesses understand their operations and turn information into action.

With experience designing digital products and collaborating closely with engineering teams, she specializes in simplifying complexity, improving usability, and building systems that scale. Her approach combines research, strategy, and thoughtful visual design to create products that are both practical and engaging.

Outside of design, she has a deep interest in music and creativity, with a long-term passion for playing drums and exploring the intersection between technology and human experience. She believes that great products are built through curiosity, iteration, and attention to detail.