Caramel Easterly, Chief Rover

Caramel has over 10 years of experience in canine advocacy. Her interests include food, warm loving environments, belly rubs, food, human training techniques, and food. A frequent traveler and boarder, Caramel knows first-hand the challenges associated with maintaining her lifestyle when the “stewards of the food bowl” are gone. While at times in her career she has been a lightning rod for controversy (e.g. After publishing “The Coming Cat Menace: A Survival Guide for Canines Under Five Pounds”), she is known more generally for her bubbly personality. You can catch her periodic blogs on the Rover.com website.

Aaron Easterly, CEO

Rover's Top Dog, Aaron Easterly, brings an accomplished resume and over 10 years of experience in the technology industry to the position of CEO. Aaron has a long track record of success in driving innovation in digital media across a variety of established technology businesses Aaron relies heavily on the invaluable consultations he receives on a nightly basis from his four pound Pomeranian, Caramel, also known as the ever intimidating 'Killer'.

Prior to joining Rover.com, Easterly served as general manager of Network Strategy and Monetization within Microsoft’s Advertiser and Publisher Solutions (APS) group. In this position, he was responsible for driving revenue and improving yield from the $3 Billion suite of Microsoft ad offerings. Easterly began his career with Microsoft in 2008 as a General Manager of Ad Networks responsible for business management, strategy, product marketing, and product management for Microsoft’s scale ad offerings – including Search, Contextual, and Display.

Before joining Microsoft, Easterly served as a vice president and general manager at Atlas Publisher, a unit of aQuantive, Inc., working on Atlas' suite of software solutions for large publishers. During his time at Atlas Publisher, Easterly led the team responsible for design of the company’s yield engine that defined methods for performance estimation, segmentation, and optimization and helped launch the DRIVEpm advertising network. Before his work on the Atlas Publisher team, Easterly served the advertiser side of business as a lead in strategy and product planning, overseeing such efforts as reach forecasting and ad targeting

Easterly started his career in digital marketing by joining media agency Avenue A in 1999 as a data analyst. He drove much of Avenue A's original research in ad effectivenessand targeting. Easterly graduated with Honors from Harvard College with an A.B. degree in Economics.

As CEO of Rover.com, Aaron is excited to help fellow dog owners solve a problem he has frequently faced himself. He is excited to host other, dogs in his home, provided they can hold their own against Caramel!

Colin Garvey, Business Development

With over 12 years of product management/marketing and business development experience, Colin has a reputation for bringing a passionate, hands-on, and customer-centric approach to all his endeavors. His strengths are in identifying market needs, defining new technologies & solutions to meet customer/partner requirements, and steering product marketing strategies. Colin brings a rare combination of technical depth and market savvy, having brought numerous successful software products to market.

Prior to joining Rover.com, Colin served in various product management and business development roles at Real Networks, Attachmate, Loudeye, and Akamai Technologies.

Despite his extensive professional experience, Colin's most valuable lessons have been learned at the handle end of a leash. His Goldens, Gus and Georgie, are dedicated mentors.

Philip Kimmey, Technical Lead

Philip became immersed in the world of software at an early age and has always had a weakness for dogs - what better way to combine the two passions than building Rover.com? When not wrestling with Gus (Colin’s Golden Retriever), Philip enjoys building Rover.com using the latest web technologies.

Philip studied Computer Science at Washington University in St. Louis.

Jason Kreitzer, Product Lead

Rover's product lead, Jason Kreitzer, has over 10 years of experience as a technical product manager, with a focus on building and managing online marketplaces. Most recently, he spent 6 years in Microsoft's Advertiser and Publisher Solutions (APS) group as a Sr. Product Planner for the Microsoft Advertising Exchange and a Group Product Manager for the Display Advertising business. Prior to Microsoft, Jason co-founded Clerity, an online question and answer marketplace, and helped launch TerraPass, one of the first carbon offset retailers.

Jason graduated Magna Cum Laude from Duke University with degrees in Economics and Computer Science and also holds an MBA from Wharton.

Like many Rover sitters, Jason, and his wife Kate, love dogs, but aren't allowed to have one in their current house. So, while they can't host dogs at their place, they're excited about sitting for other Rover dogs in their own homes!

Shanthi Barton, Marketing, Customer Service and Operations Lead

Shanthi has over a decade of advertising and marketing experience, with a focus on digital and consumer strategy.

Prior to joining Rover.com, she worked at Microsoft Advertising helping clients develop vertically-focused global marketing strategies, with a particular focus on the Automotive, Retail, Consumer Packaged Goods, Pharmaceutical and Technology sectors. Shanthi started her career at aQuantive, Inc., serving in numerous positions during her tenure, including Media Director for the digital advertising agency, Razorfish, and Vice President of Media for the digital advertising network, Drivepm.

Shanthi graduated from the University of Oregon where she earned a BA in English and played basketball.

Shanthi spends her free time trying to keep up with her two dogs, Lucy and Langley, and two children Hannah and Amelie.

Greg Gottesman, Founder

Greg came up with the idea for Rover.com thinking back on a frightful experience at a local kennel with the family dog, Ruby Tuesday (yes, Greg and family love the Rolling Stones).

When not working on Rover.com, Greg is a Managing Director at Madrona Venture Group, an early stage venture capital firm in the Pacific Northwest. Greg joined Madrona in 1997 and currently serves on the boards of A Place for Rover, AdReady, Bocada, BuddyTV, Cheezburger, Decide, Intrepid Learning Solutions, Nimbic, ThinkFire, and WildTangent. Outside of Madrona, Greg is a board member of the Evergreen Venture Capital Association and the University of Washington Technology Transfer Office. He is the author of three books. Greg is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Washington Business School, where he teaches a class on Entrepreneurship.