--- title: "About Us - Step Toward AI" description: "Learn more about our team, our founding principles, and our history." url: https://www.steptoward.ai/about/ --- # About Us We are four engineers who became software developers. We help agencies get measured value from the AI tools they already pay for. If you’ve been handed the “figure out AI” mandate and need a number your CEO will trust, we start by measuring the work your team repeats and writing a Workflow Improvement Plan. If the numbers justify it, we carry out the parts of the plan you choose: we improve how the work gets done and how your team uses its tools, then time the tasks again. [Who We Are](https://www.steptoward.ai/about/#who-we-are) ([md](https://www.steptoward.ai/about/index.md)) | [Our Background](https://www.steptoward.ai/about/#forged-in-high-stakes-industries) ([md](https://www.steptoward.ai/about/index.md)) | [What We've Built](https://www.steptoward.ai/about/#ai-systems-weve-built) ([md](https://www.steptoward.ai/about/index.md)) | [Why It Matters](https://www.steptoward.ai/about/#why-that-matters-for-you) ([md](https://www.steptoward.ai/about/index.md)) * * * ## Who We Are We started as aerospace and mechanical engineers, then spent years writing software. That mix is the point: - **Engineering is how we diagnose.** We measure a system before we touch it, find where the work gets stuck, and test before we trust. In an audit, that is how we time your team’s work and find the tasks worth changing. - **Software is how we fix it.** We write the code, set up the AI tools and connect them to the systems you already use. We don’t hand you a slide deck and leave; we build what the plan calls for, and your team runs it after. ![Chris Sprague](https://www.steptoward.ai/media/authors/chris_hu939b11f29f640e4845ab1e14011a57b1_125948_240x240_fill_q80_h2_box_center.webp) ### [Chris Sprague](https://www.steptoward.ai/about/#chris-sprague) ([md](https://www.steptoward.ai/about/index.md)) Process Optimization ![Philip Barcelon](https://www.steptoward.ai/media/authors/philip_hu76047a9e7eebe0b0022edc221fe07b17_27229_240x240_fill_q80_h2_box_center.webp) ### [Philip Barcelon](https://www.steptoward.ai/about/#philip-barcelon) ([md](https://www.steptoward.ai/about/index.md)) System Design ![Jenny Barcelon](https://www.steptoward.ai/media/authors/jenny_huf2dae7cf309f0d246116836497c57a92_176038_240x240_fill_q80_h2_box_center.webp) ### [Jenny Barcelon](https://www.steptoward.ai/about/#jenny-barcelon) ([md](https://www.steptoward.ai/about/index.md)) Custom Software ![Saladin Jones](https://www.steptoward.ai/media/authors/sal_hu2475a9c527551b6289253a88e4af235d_224679_240x240_fill_q80_h2_box_center.webp) ### [Saladin Jones](https://www.steptoward.ai/about/#saladin-jones) ([md](https://www.steptoward.ai/about/index.md)) Software Architecture ![Chris Sprague](https://www.steptoward.ai/media/authors/chris_hu939b11f29f640e4845ab1e14011a57b1_125948_300x300_fill_q80_h2_box_center.webp) ## Chris Sprague **Background:** B.S. in Aerospace Engineering and Applied Mathematics, University of Colorado Boulder Chris led navigation and timing systems testing at Lockheed Martin and held technical leadership roles at Sierra Nevada Corporation. He's rebuilt underperforming systems and teams throughout his career, focusing on diagnosing where work gets stuck and aligning incentives with outcomes. ![Philip Barcelon](https://www.steptoward.ai/media/authors/philip_hu76047a9e7eebe0b0022edc221fe07b17_27229_300x300_fill_q80_h2_box_center.webp) ## Philip Barcelon **Background:** B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, University of Texas at Austin Philip was the first recipient of Sierra Nevada Corporation's AI Trailblazer Award, and a QA team he trained to use AI called it one of the best two-week courses of their careers. He has also worked on flight simulators, aircraft subsystems, situational awareness software, and electronic health records, automating work across high-stakes systems. ![Jenny Barcelon](https://www.steptoward.ai/media/authors/jenny_huf2dae7cf309f0d246116836497c57a92_176038_300x300_fill_q80_h2_box_center.webp) ## Jenny Barcelon **Background:** B.S. in Aerospace Engineering, University of Texas at Austin Jenny automated modeling, simulation, and analysis workflows for R&D firms through custom software solutions. She founded her own company to develop simulation and education software. ![Saladin Jones](https://www.steptoward.ai/media/authors/sal_hu2475a9c527551b6289253a88e4af235d_224679_300x300_fill_q80_h2_box_center.webp) ## Saladin Jones **Background:** B.S. in Mechanical Engineering, University of Colorado Boulder Saladin has designed software architectures for various conceptual aircraft design tools, then implemented them across multiple high-performance computing DoD programs. He specializes in both design and process optimization through trade space exploration, ensuring each and every customer requirement is met. * * * ## Forged in High-Stakes Industries Our team has held roles at: ![United States Air Force logo](https://www.steptoward.ai/images/experience/usaf.svg) ![Lockheed Martin Corporation logo](https://www.steptoward.ai/images/experience/lm.svg) ![ASRCF logo](https://www.steptoward.ai/images/experience/asrcf.svg) ![Peace Corps logo](https://www.steptoward.ai/images/experience/pc.svg) ![Elation Health, Inc. logo](https://www.steptoward.ai/images/experience/elation.svg) ![General Dynamics logo](https://www.steptoward.ai/images/experience/gd.svg) ![SNC logo](https://www.steptoward.ai/images/experience/snc.svg) ![GDIT logo](https://www.steptoward.ai/images/experience/gdit.svg) ![ARMA logo](https://www.steptoward.ai/images/experience/arma.svg) We’ve worked inside organizations where technology decisions carried real weight—and where we saw firsthand what happens when vendor purchases get made without practitioner input. * * * ## AI Systems We’ve Built We understand how to evaluate AI tools because we’ve built them: - **Healthcare** — AI scribe that turns doctor-patient conversations into structured clinical notes, allowing doctors to focus on patients instead of paperwork - **Customer Operations** — AI support agent that answers tickets from the knowledge base before they reach the queue, pointing to the exact section, and routes the rest to the right team - **Software Quality** — Human-guided AI test generation, from manual scripts to automated test suites covering millions of lines of code - **Developer Productivity** — Orchestration platform for directing swarms of AI agents to build high-quality software at scale - **Defense Compliance** — AI verification of battlefield software against military standards, where errors have life-or-death consequences We build tools for ourselves too — we know the difference between a demo and a deployable product because we’ve had to make that distinction. Every build required evaluating models, designing prompts, and architecting infrastructure — with real consequences for getting it wrong. That’s what shapes how we set up AI for you. * * * ## Why That Matters for You Most AI help comes in one of two kinds. Strategists who can tell you what to do but can’t build it. Or developers who build what you ask for without checking that it was the right thing to build. We do both: **We diagnose like engineers.** We time the work before we change it and write down how we measured, so anyone on your team can check the numbers. **We build like developers.** We set up the AI tools you already license, write the connectors and scripts that tie them to your systems, and test them on your real work. **We measure again after.** The same tasks, timed the same way, so your CEO sees the change in hours, not a promise. We’ve done this inside large companies, as users of AI tools, and as founders building our own AI systems with our own money on the line. We know the difference between a demo and something your team will use every day.