Founder, CEO and Chairman of the Board Matt Calkins is Appian's founder, CEO, and Chairman of the Board. Matt grew Appian from a startup in his basement to the most successful software IPO of 2017 with only $10 million of outside capital. He serves on the board of the Sorensen Institute and sits on the Leadership Council for the Virginia Public Access Project. Matt was the top Economics graduate of his class at Dartmouth. He is the author of several award-winning board games, and is frequently a top finisher at the World Boardgaming Championships.