Tony Paine is CEO of Kepware Technologies, a software development company focused on communications solutions for industrial control systems. His main focus is on the company's vision and long-term strategy around products and technology. He has had a passion for integrating software and hardware since his early childhood, when he developed an application that turned a rudimentary text editor into a word processor with generic print capabilities. He focused his education around this interest and earned a Bachelor of Science degree in electrical engineering, with a concentration in computer software and hardware design, from the University of Maine at Orono. He joined Kepware Technologies as a software engineer in 1996. He eventually took on the role of Chief Software Engineer where he led the development team. Throughout the years, Tony's role continued to evolve to reflect his growing responsibilities to the organization, first as Executive VP and Chief Technology Officer, and then as President and CEO in 2009. In 2014, he promoted Brett Austin to President in order to focus exclusively on long-term strategic planning as the company's CEO. He has been involved in various technical working groups, where he has contributed to the direction and review of standards used within the automation industry. He currently sits on the Advisory Board for the University of Maine Electrical and Computer Engineering department, where he provides industry insight and evangelism around education in the area of technology.