Manu FontaineFounder

United States - Falls Church, Virginia

Manu is currently focused on getting Hushmesh off the ground. Hushmesh is a public benefit startup focused on developing, deploying and operating the Mesh. Think of the Mesh as "the next Web", but with cryptographic security and universal zero trust built in instead of bolted on.

Before founding Hushmesh, Manu led Brightspot's marketing and business strategy, a next-generation Digital Experience Platform. Earlier at Brightspot, he helped secure new digital product and platform business with The Coca-Cola Company, U.S. News, Univision, Hanley Wood and more.

Prior to Brightspot, Manu joined EMC to help spearhead the company’s entry in the consumer space. He launched EMC LifeLine, a new consumer-friendly operating system for Network Attached Storage devices, and brought it to market with partners like Intel and Iomega. He worked closely with Mozy, Iomega and EMC’s CTO Office to craft innovative storage solutions for consumers. In 2008, he won the EMC Innovation Showcase Award for Constellation Computing, an aptly named and trademarked distributed approach to Cloud computing.

Prior to EMC, Manu led the Safety, Security and Privacy initiatives at AOL and oversaw over 100 products, including AOL Parental Control and AOL Security Center. He personally led AOL PassCode and AOL Key, two subscription-based products intended to bring two-factor authentication to consumers. Prior to that, he led AOL’s Home Networking and Digital Home technology initiatives, which evolved into a strategic alliance with Sony.

Prior to AOL, Manu helped Alcatel bring its WebTouch consumer screenphone business to the US. In his earlier years with the company, Manu developed multimedia broadband devices for endoscopic surgeons as a member of its Corporate Research Center in Strasbourg, France.

Manu holds two Masters in Electrical Engineering from the University of Louvain, Belgium. He is fluent in English and French.