Dan Kenshalo, a longtime “big data” consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense, is now the new head of Black Knight Financial Services’ “innovation laboratory,” part of its data and analytics division.
Black Knight, a major software and data provider to the real estate industry, has been beefing up the data and analytics division lately, bringing former CoreLogic exec Ben Graboske on board as its new chief technology officer last month. Black Knight’s MLS Solutions, which reports to the data and analytics division, provides software to more than 220 multiple listing services representing 250,000-plus subscribers.
Kenshalo has 12 years of experience helping the Defense Department design and develop multi-petabyte systems to store and access large amounts of data, Black Knight said. A petabyte is 1 million gigabytes.
“Dan brings a wealth of experience in both consulting, systems and technology that can help our clients with a wide array of challenges, including the analysis, storage and processing of rapidly growing data sets,” said Kevin Coop, president of Black Knight’s data and analytics division, in a statement.
Kenshalo has extensive experience with Hadoop, an open-source software framework for data storage and large-scale processing that offers the ability to analyze large data sets to reveal trends, patterns and associations, Black Knight said.
“I’m looking forward to leveraging my experience with big data to show Black Knight clients effective alternatives to traditional applications for better managing the functionality of large, complex data sets,” Kenshalo said in a statement.
Before joining Black Knight, Kenshalo was a senior associate at Booz Allen Hamilton where he spent more than six years, according to his LinkedIn profile. Booz Allen Hamilton — former employer of Edward Snowden — provides management and technology consulting services to the U.S. government in defense and intelligence, among other areas.
Kenshalo had previously been a software engineer for Northrop Grumman Corp., and then owner of information technology consulting firm Shellback Technologies.
Known as Lender Processing Services before rebranding this year, Black Knight’s competitors include Core Logic and RealtyTrac. After getting into the business of selling tax, deed and mortgage records this year, RealtyTrac hired LPS vets Brian Mushaney and Jeff Mattice.
