The industry veteran brings a wealth of experience in licensing, contracting, compliance, and administration at public companies in the AI, government, and defense industries
BOSTON, June 03, 2024 – Zapata Computing Holdings Inc. (“Zapata AI” or “the Company”) (Nasdaq: ZPTA), the Industrial Generative AI company, announced today that Derron Blakely has joined the Company as its General Counsel, effective today. Mr. Blakely’s track record of counseling public companies in the AI, government, and defense industries will add tremendous value in supporting Zapata AI’s growth as the recently public company expands its offerings, customer pipeline, and partnership network.
“Derron brings invaluable expertise in counseling varied clients throughout his career that have had a similar journey to our own, including public companies in the defense, software and AI sectors,” said Christopher Savoie, CEO and co-founder of Zapata AI. “We’ve seen a lot of interest in our anomaly detection, generative AI, optimization, and predictive capabilities from the government and defense sectors and we will lean on Derron’s background to negotiate contracting and licensing agreements in these sectors as well as other industries. I have confidence that Derron will help us build the world-class legal infrastructure that we will need as we scale our business.”
Mr. Blakely brings a strong legal background at fast-growing public companies in the AI and defense industries. In his most recent position as General Counsel at C3.ai, a public enterprise AI company, Mr. Blakely played a critical role in commercial and federal contracting, compliance, employment, litigation, and corporate governance. He previously served as Deputy General Counsel for Elbit Systems of America where he played a pivotal role in all aspects of federal procurement and strategic growth initiatives, including large scale M&A. Mr. Blakely began his career at Covington & Burling in Washington, D.C., and holds a J.D. from Washington & Lee University School of Law.
Mr. Blakely will join the Company reporting to CEO and co-founder Christopher Savoie. “Zapata AI is at the forefront of a transformative movement in industrial generative AI, empowering organizations with unparalleled operational insights that will catalyze growth and unlock value,” said Mr. Blakely. “The Company already has a world-class team of problem solvers that Christopher has assembled to reshape how organizations conduct their business, and I am looking forward to building a legal function to match. It is a truly exciting and unique opportunity to help the Company in this critical growth phase.” Mr. Blakely will replace Nicole Fitchpatric, who is leaving Zapata AI on June 14th for personal reasons. “I want to thank Nicole for her contributions over the past few years as we transitioned to operating as a public company,” said Savoie. “Her legal counsel was critical to our success during this transformative period. We wish her all the best in her future endeavors.”
