Our Leadership Team

Jess F. Kraus, President, Chief Executive Officer, and co-founder, Kraus has over 30 years of experience in the fields of environmental and sustainability data management.  In two years Source 44 has grown under Kraus’ leadership to become the world’s leading Supply Chain sustainability data services company, having expanded their service offerings to include Product Footprinting, Source Gateway, and SourceAlert. Prior to co-founding Source 44 Kraus founded 3E Company, the leading provider of chemical, regulatory and compliance information services. A graduate of University of California, San Diego, Kraus holds degrees in mathematics and chemistry and is a Certified Hazardous Materials Manager and a California Registered Environmental Assessor. He is active in many business and civic organizations, including YPO/WPO (Young Presidents Organization/ World President’s Organization) and the San Diego Business Innovation Center.

Note from our CEO.

Matt Thorn, Chief Operating Officer and co-founder, has over 15 years of experience in both web and hardware integrated software. He has worked in research and development for the British Military, as well as in the telecommunications and security industries. Prior to co-founding Source 44, Thorn has built and led a team of engineers to produce a first-of-a-kind networked security device controlled via a distributed application. Previously, Thorn worked as a consultant internationally on the development and refinement of major telecommunications and messaging software platforms throughout the UK, Sweden, Australia and US. Thorn began his career researching new sensor technology for the British Defense Department, heading a team responsible for producing a portable mine detection platform. He received his bachelor's degree in robotics and automated systems from the University of Plymouth, UK.

 Jennifer L. Kraus, MPH, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer and co-founder, has over 25 years of experience providing multi-disciplinary strategic environmental, health and safety services to customers in the US, Mexico, Canada, and Central and South America. Prior to co-founding Source 44, Dr. Kraus was President of Global Environmental Consulting Company, Inc. (GECCo, Inc.), a consulting practice based in San Diego, CA. Dr. Kraus also served as an associate with Dames & Moore, environmental manager for General Dynamics Electronics Division, and safety engineer with Litton Guidance and Control Systems. Dr. Kraus is a former board member of the Good Neighbor Environmental Board, a congressional advisory committee on environmental and infrastructure issues along the US-Mexico Border; the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board; and the San Diego Industrial Environmental Association. Dr. Kraus completed her doctoral studies in public health, epidemiology at the UCSD School of Medicine and the San Diego State Graduate School of Public Health; she received her master’s degree in public health from the UCLA Graduate School of Public Health and her bachelor’s degree in biology from Princeton University.

Mike Fraser, Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer of Source 44, has 30 years of experience in environmental and recycling services, systems integration and business management. Fraser joined Source 44 in 2010 after a 20-year sales and marketing tenure at $1.2 billion Safety-Kleen Systems, Inc. He served as the company’s Senior Vice President of Group Sales and International, leading a 250-person sales and strategic account management team while also directing the company’s expansion into Mexico, China and Southeast Asia. Fraser began his career at US Ecology, and has held positions in sales, marketing and public relations at Electronic Data Systems, Akili and Radix Software Technologies. Mike Fraser’s honors include: Distinguished Global Alumni, Murray State University; Who’s Who in Finance and Industry; Who’s Who in the Midwest; Who’s Who Environmental Registry; Who’s Who of U.S. Executives; awards from Federal Express (Bravo Zulu), Kiwanis and other civic organizations. Board of Advisors: Murray State University. Fraser is also a regular contributor for Sustainable Life Media publications.

Chris Gittings, PhD, Director of Software Development, has been designing and developing software for nearly 20 years. In the UK, he helped early commercial adopters utilize the World Wide Web and other Internet protocols for e-commerce, communication, marketing, etc. In the mid-1990s, he was an early adopter of, and evangelist for, software development using Java. He has been creating enterprise solutions in Java and its related technologies for over 10 years. He has experience developing applications for multiple industries, including real estate, B2B e-commerce and productivity software, and the automotive telematics and collisions claims industries. He received both his PhD in computer science and first class bachelor of science degree in computer science from the University of Liverpool, UK.

Ed Viesturs, Source 44's Head Spokesman and one of our founding investors, is America's leading high altitude mountaineer, adventurer and environmentalist. He is familiar to many from the 1996 IMAX Everest Expedition documentary. In 2002, he was awarded the historic Lowell Thomas Award by the Explorer’s Club for outstanding achievement in the field of mountaineering. In winning the award, he joined an elite group of climbers, including Sir Edmund Hillary. Viesturs is a professional mountaineer and works as a design consultant for several prominent outdoor equipment manufacturers such as Eddie Bauer and Timberland. He also represents companies such as Rolex and the Seattle Seahawks.

Learn more about Ed at his website!

Please join the Source 44 team in following our co-founder and Chief Spokersperson Ed Viesturs as he ascends Mount McKinley for the second time in his storied career. You can follow Ed all the way to the summit via SPOT locater or expedition blog.

Board of Directors
Meet Source 44's Board of Directors.

Board of Advisors
Meet Source 44's Board of Advisors.