{"id":33970,"date":"2019-10-03T13:35:09","date_gmt":"2019-10-03T17:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/?p=33970"},"modified":"2019-10-04T11:27:50","modified_gmt":"2019-10-04T15:27:50","slug":"lisa-avila-moves-from-ge-research-unit-to-help-form-kitware-inc-in-clifton-park","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2019\/10\/lisa-avila-moves-from-ge-research-unit-to-help-form-kitware-inc-in-clifton-park\/","title":{"rendered":"Lisa Avila Moves From GE Research Unit To Help Form Kitware Inc. In Clifton Park"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_33971\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-33971\" style=\"width: 241px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-33971\" src=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2019\/10\/lisa-avilla-kitware-vc-241x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"241\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2019\/10\/lisa-avilla-kitware-vc-241x300.jpg 241w, https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2019\/10\/lisa-avilla-kitware-vc.jpg 724w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 241px) 100vw, 241px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-33971\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lisa Avila is a co-founder and CEO at Kitware Inc. in Clifton Park.<br \/>\u00a92019 Saratoga Photographer.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>By Susan E. Campbell<br \/>\nLisa Avila is the only woman among five founders of Kitware Inc., developer of an innovative visualization software toolkit and other open source platforms.<br \/>\nThe business partners worked together at GE\u2019s research unit in the mid-1990s. Up to that time, there was no software available to visualize one\u2019s data without purchasing an expensive license. In 1998 they went out on their own and developed an open source product that could be downloaded and used directly.<br \/>\n\u201cThe toolkit may come close to providing free solutions the user needs,\u201d said Avila. \u201cBut our revenue comes from modifications they cannot provide for themselves that bring the software to the next level.\u201d<br \/>\nNow 20 years later, this international company has 150 employees in five offices, including headquarters in Clifton Park. Avila attributes their exponential growth to improved functionality and popularity of their software platform, she said.<!--more--><br \/>\nIn the early years, all the partners worked on software development, contract issues, finances, even emptying the wastebaskets. Avila said her primary focus was on leading the proposal team and on marketing and public relations as vice president of commercial operations. In March of 2017, when the CEO transitioned to a software development role, she took over the executive position. <!--more--><br \/>\n\u201cAs a company starting out in a budding technology field, the team had a difficult time figuring out an exact strategy,\u201d she said. \u201cWe were a software company like every other and were focused around a visualization tool kit. But we found out in the first five-plus years that our passion was really in delivering innovative solutions that clients could build upon.\u201c<br \/>\nThat business paradigm involved giving software away in order to fund other research opportunities. And that required a large sales force as well as a financial department to collect accounts receivable, said Avila.<br \/>\nMost clients are commercial businesses with complicated needs. The firm also does software development for the federal government, which Avila said is thinking forward on issues such as national security and health care outcomes, which call for enhancements and customizations to its data visualization programs.<br \/>\n\u201cWe are competitive and collaborative across a wide range of industries as well as federal agencies, such as Department of Defense and Health and Human Services,\u201d she said.<br \/>\nKitware celebrated its 20th anniversary last year and in December relocated headquarters within Clifton Park by consolidating two spaces into one larger building.<br \/>\n\u201cClifton Park is low turnover but it is a growing office,\u201d she said. \u201cGrowth is limited only by our ability to hire and we are continually working to find people in a hot field that competes with Google and Amazon.\u201c<br \/>\nAs she looks back to the early years, Avila said, \u201cI don\u2019t feel entrepreneurial anymore because we are no longer a small business. We now hire employees that are younger than our company.\u201d<br \/>\nHer definition of an entrepreneur envelopes a \u201cwillingness to take risks, to do something positive, and have a chance to be successful despite the risk.\u201c<br \/>\nHer big challenge as a company today is making sure it has a diverse workforce that includes qualified women. She said she is encouraged by universities who are recruiting more women to pursue degrees in computer science.<br \/>\n\u201cWe try to create an environment women can get excited about,\u201d Avila said. \u201cAs a company we look for interns among high school and college students and by attending events geared toward women.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cKitware is set apart competitively by an amazing work force,\u201d she said. \u201cAbout 40 percent has a Ph.D in a technical field.\u201d<br \/>\n\u201cThey can solve very complex problems, write proposals, and accomplish the client\u2019s specific goals,\u201d said Avila. \u201cThey enjoy our friendly, flexible work environment and get paid for every hour, including overtime after 40 hours per week, a culture of fun, the obligatory free food in the kitchen as at all software companies, and the ability to work with leaders in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Susan E. Campbell Lisa Avila is the only woman among five founders of Kitware Inc., developer of an innovative visualization software toolkit and other open source platforms. The business partners worked together at GE\u2019s research unit in the mid-1990s. Up to that time, there was no software available to visualize one\u2019s data without purchasing [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":33971,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entrepreneurial-women"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\r\n<title>Lisa Avila Moves From GE Research Unit To Help Form Kitware Inc. 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Up to that time, there was no software available to visualize one\u2019s data without purchasing [&hellip;]\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2019\/10\/lisa-avila-moves-from-ge-research-unit-to-help-form-kitware-inc-in-clifton-park\/\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Saratoga Business Journal\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-03T17:35:09+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-10-04T15:27:50+00:00\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/48\/2019\/10\/lisa-avilla-kitware-vc.jpg\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"724\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\r\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"jessewinters\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\r\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"jessewinters\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\r\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2019\/10\/lisa-avila-moves-from-ge-research-unit-to-help-form-kitware-inc-in-clifton-park\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.saratoga.com\/saratogabusinessjournal\/2019\/10\/lisa-avila-moves-from-ge-research-unit-to-help-form-kitware-inc-in-clifton-park\/\",\"name\":\"Lisa Avila Moves From GE Research Unit To Help Form Kitware Inc. 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