meet the team

Aurelius Founders

julie armstrong
CEO / Founder

Pharmacist, Cancer survivor, top S&P 50 career refugee, elected official, equestrian.  Laser focused and relentless.  Deep knowledge of the pharmaceutical industry and medical sciences. Skilled at navigating government and regulatory environments. I naively believe I can make everything, and everyone, better. 

James Stephens
CSO

James is considered the “The Pioneer” for his leadership and personality style. He has 18 years of executive experience in biology, biomimicry, chemistry, engineering, ingredient, and product development and has commercialized over 320 natural ingredients and products in fields from clean energy and biopolymers to food, flavor, and fragrance. His focus has shifted to structures and organizations that cultivate creativity and innovation – harnessing different can make all the difference. 

Brian Mitchell
COO

A veteran of scaling up Silicon Valley startups, Brian has an extensive background in Ops, People, HR, and Tech. He has managed and scaled multiple Software-as-a-service, DaaS, Iaas, and Enterprise Software Solutions in the B2B space, from rounds A to D. With Brian’s expertise, our ability to execute and scale, domestically and globally, is all but assured.
 

Aurelius Core

glenn harless
CIO

Glenn is a visionary IT guru offering extensive experience in user experience innovation with a long history of leading the development of diverse technology projects. His core competencies are in conceptualizing and building web-based applications, digital media design and development, and voice-driven interactivity. He has designed and created several ground-breaking conversational voice interfaces, including the world’s first web-based, voice-driven conversation simulation models used by DARPA, Walter Reed, Georgetown University, NASA, the NIH, and the National Library of Medicine.

Leighton Smith
CFO

Leighton is an accomplished leader in the finance function. He is tenaciously performance-oriented with breadth and vision beyond the scope of core finance, enabling successful forays into the technology, business development and sales areas. He possesses deep functional skills in finance, accounting, reporting, compliance, business planning, transformation and integration (M&A) which have been honed during his 20-year career in financial and commercial roles in the Tech, Manufacturing, Banking and Telco industries. For 10 of those years, Leighton has held roles at top-management level.