Professional Overview
Name: Alex Casella
Current Position: Co-Founder and Head of Engineering at Thoughtly
Location: New York
LinkedIn: [Alex Casella's LinkedIn Profile](https://www.linkedin.com/in/axcasella/)
Website: [Personal Website](https://alexcasella.io/)
Alex Casella is an accomplished engineering leader specializing in agentic AI with over a decade of experience in product development. As the Co-Founder and Head of Engineering at Thoughtly, Alex plays a pivotal role in advancing the capabilities of human-like voice AI agents. Thoughtly's innovations are transforming customer experiences by replacing traditional call centers with advanced AI solutions. The company caters to a wide array of industries, including Healthcare, Real Estate, and Legal, serving both SMBs and publicly traded enterprises. Alex is responsible for overseeing application development, conversational AI, platform infrastructure, and ML operations.
Professional Experience
- Thoughtly (August 2024 - Present)
- Role: Co-Founder and Head of Engineering
- Contributions: Leading the engineering team to develop voice AI technology; enhancing business capabilities across multiple industries.
- Nudgem (October 2022 - July 2024)
- Role: Co-Founder and CTO
- Achievements: Directed product design and development for AI-powered, no-code onsite experience platforms that augmented customer engagement and conversion.
- Bluecore (May 2021 - October 2022)
- Role: Engineering Manager
- Responsibilities: Led a team focused on delivering sophisticated marketing personalization tools for retail clients. Executed talent acquisition and team restructuring to improve project delivery.
- IBM Watson (June 2016 - May 2021)
- Role: Tech Lead & Advisory Software Engineer
- Focus: Developed enterprise-level B2B SaaS products in the healthcare blockchain sector. Key projects included the IBM Consent Manager and the Health Utility Network SDK, enhancing data exchange protocols under HIPAA compliance.
Publications and Patents
Alex has contributed significantly to AI and blockchain technology, evidenced by numerous cited publications and patents, including:
- Publication: "Performant LLM Agentic Framework for Conversational AI" presented at the 2025 1st International Conference on Artificial Intelligence and Computing.
- Patents:
- US20190354693A1: Techniques for blockchain-based management of medical data access.
- US20200162238A1: Innovations in user access control for blockchain.
- UK Patent GB2607780A: Developed an index structure for a blockchain ledger.
Testimonials
Colleagues and supervisors have praised Alex for his leadership, technical expertise, and ability to drive successful project outcomes. His former manager at Bluecore, Rodrigo Cespedes Daza, noted Alex’s transformative impact on their team dynamics and project completion. Woong Ah Yoon, a former manager at IBM Watson, highlighted Alex's integral role in pioneering IBM’s healthcare blockchain products and his dual proficiency in technical and business acumen.
Education and Training
- B.S. in Computer Science from Boston University (September 2012 - May 2016)
- Completed the Cyber Defenders Program at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory during the summers of 2014 and 2015.
Through a combination of leadership, engineering skills, and a focus on innovation, Alex Casella has established himself as a formidable figure in the technology landscape. His contributions to AI and blockchain are transforming both the industry and the operations of the companies he engages with.
