Team
Experts at headway understand people. We know that a team of diverse perspectives is essential to the success of our client companies. We are all driven by purpose before profit and desire to serve your needs uniquely based on your mission, vision and core values.
our team
Wesley Okeke
Chief Executive Officer
Wesley grew up in West Africa and later graduated in Boston MA. with a BSEE. He launched Headway Idea Labs in 2013 after a 20+ year career in Business Development and Marketing for International technology companies. As a career business developer, he scripts models that overcome the challenges of consumers adopting a new technological product.
Through research he understands that the core strength for a sustainable tech product lies in the values, mission and the vision of the company and its founders. Wesley quotes : ” I learned the vital importance having a simple and clear process to successfully take an idea from concept to launch, while keeping the focus on the people from hence the idea has purpose.
- Email:[email protected]
Jessica Rei
Chief Business Strategist
Jessica Rei is a data-driven decision maker with a desire to help businesses transition to technology that deliver information to increase brand loyalty and efficiency. With more than five years’ experience in business development and strategic planning, Jessica can add value to an organization wanting to make a significant and positive impact in the world. Jessica has specialized degrees’ in Entrepreneurship, Product Development, and Footwear Design. Her education in both business and design led to a footwear career that merged her creativity and ability to foster relationships. Her most recent project concluded as a Concept Experience Specialist for a footwear brand needing an entrepreneur to deploy their new 3D foot rendering technology, Fit Zone by Stride Rite. At Stride Rite, Jessica was responsible for developing the customer experience journey and launching the product in new markets using Esri ArcGIS. Today, Jessica consults small business owners on operations to help deliver an awesome brand experience to fulfill their short- and long-term goals. She is an advocate for sustainability, innovation, and the entrepreneurship program she graduated from – Wolff Center for Entrepreneurship (WCE). In her spare time, Jessica volunteers as Executive Director to the WCE Alumni Network and the students of the Wolff Center. On weekends, she and her husband spend time researching alternative living solutions and take on new building projects that will give them the skills to one day create their own sustainable community.
- Email:[email protected]
Heath Butler
Advisor to Headway Idea Labs
Heath is a Managing Director at Mercury Fund, an early-stage venture capital firm in Houston, TX that focuses on B2B software and B2B2C marketplace investments. Heath leads the firm’s Future of Work investment theme, manages the firms network platform, and works directly with portfolio companies on go-to-market models, business development execution and corporate development strategy. Prior to joining Mercury, Heath co-founded Gestalt Theory Venture Partners, a seed-stage venture studio and held executive roles as a corporate development executive and fin-tech Div. President at Insperity (NYSE: NSP), the nation’s leading HR outsourcing services provider. Heath received an MBA in Marketing, Texas Southern University and a B.S. in Finance, University of New Orleans. Outside of Mercury, Heath leverages his serial-entrepreneur and executive experiences to actively invest and mentor entrepreneurs throughout the Houston innovation community, and he is co-founder of Urban Capital Network, an investment platform built to democratize access to venture capital opportunities.
Deepthi Setlur
Chief Technology Officer
A mechanical engineer by training, Deepthi has worked for over 30 years in the upstream oil and gas, biomedical and automotive component manufacturing industries in the USA, Canada and India. Over the years she has covered all aspects from R&D through product realization, commercialization and support. Deepthi brings valuable engineering and R&D management experience to her role of CTO at Headway Idea Labs. We at Headway Idea Labs look forward to her leadership and energy in bringing our innovative products to fruition!
Pratik Avhad
Director of Software Development
“With over 5 years of hands-on experience in the fast-paced world of sales and marketing, Pratik stands out as a true leader in his field. Armed with a wealth of knowledge and a deep understanding of the industry, Pratik has mastered the art of driving revenue growth and fostering long-lasting client relationships.
From prospecting and lead generation to closing deals and exceeding targets, Pratik thrives in high-pressure environments and consistently delivers results that speak volumes. His strategic approach to sales funnels and pipeline management ensures maximum ROI at every stage of the customer journey.
Pratik's expertise doesn't end there – he's also a skilled Business Analyst, with a talent for uncovering valuable insights from complex data sets. With his analytical mindset and knack for translating data into actionable strategies, Pratik has played a pivotal role in driving business success.
Outside of the Sales realm, you'll find him exploring the great outdoors, indulging in a good book, or trying to increase his Chess.com ELO points”.
Mariana Arango
EA & Market Analyst
Mariana Arango is an Early Adopter/ Marketing Analyst.
Her journey started back in 2020 when she first joined Headway Idea Labs. She had always had an interest in patterns, behaviors, and the overall understanding of people psychologically. Marketing was the perfect path of putting her interests into action!
Arango believes that the most important qualities to achieve success in her career are enthusiasm and courage. Enthusiasm comes naturally when you truly love what you do. But when you really use this quality not only when working on what you do, but share that spark of willingness and excitement with others, that's when you truly begin to inspire and lead to make change.
Courage on the other hand may be something that does not come to you naturally yet it's something that we all need to succeed. It's about taking a leap of courage that really begins to open doors and make a change not only in our own lives but in others.
Mariana’s interest in Headway Idea Labs sparked from the beginning when she began to understand their mission statement and soon bloomed from having the freedom of creativity to not only dream, but to make those dreams come to life - and not only her dreams, but the dreams of others too. Headway Idea Labs has given her the opportunity to jump from project to project and from startup to startup, always expecting the unexpected! She hopes to achieve successful projects that inspire others for a better change.
Interesting Facts: Her favorite show is The Office.
Attended/ Attends the University of Houston (Go Coogs!).
She loves Boston!!
- Email:[email protected]
Terri Noppen
Marketing Director
Terri is a Marketing consultant who specializes in using the power of story to sell. She has worked in the wellness field for over 13 years and then launched a subscription box company which was the first of its kind in the industry, that served, to solely empower sober women.
After selling the store, Terri chose to cherry pick her most favorite aspect of that business, which was her success in leveraging story to sell in the most authentic way.
The most important qualities to have been continuous learning and adaptability. If you embrace the ability to walk into every room, knowing you can learn something from everyone you meet, then your ego will never become a choke point for your success, Terri exclaims!
Entrepreneurship throws a lot of punches, and being adaptable will allow us to be a life long player for success as well. Her interest is to magnify the voice of Headway Idea Labs values and its mission to bring to life purpose-driven ideas into this world.
Two interesting facts about Terri are, she has been interviewing strangers around the country and documenting her findings for several years. Secondly Terri is also an adventure buff who loves motorcycling and four wheeling in the mountains.
- Email:[email protected]
Aldenne Joy
Super Admin
Autumn Robinson Apple Support Advisor. Recently graduated from Sam Houston State University with a Computer Engineering Technology degree. I then started my internship with Fruition Tech Labs as a software and product design engineer. In the midst of beginning my engineering career, I have been working for Apple Support as an advisor. The most important quality to achieve success as an engineer is remaining determined with an open mind for endless creative possibilities with technology. Technology and design has been a love for me since high school Architectural Design/AutoCad class. I was blown away by all of the tools you could use on a computer to build anything you want. Once I designed my dream home with AutoCad , I gained a passion for engineering. Fruition has definitely made my post grad transition amazing. By having a full equipped tech lab with hands on projects that keep me with endless creative ideas. Wes saw something in me and I'm forever grateful for this amazing opportunity as a recent graduate with little field experience. I am apart of a great team and support system that I know will go above and beyond. Fun Fact: I am a private/traveling chef in my spare time and I now have a titanium rod with plates/screws in my dominate leg from a freak accident.