Where We’ve been:
Team Members
Stephen Sopko
Director of Sales
With more than three decades of experience spanning government, enterprise technology, and high-growth startups, Stephen brings a rare blend of operational leadership, commercial judgment, and credibility with regulated organizations. He has held senior leadership roles at Fortune 100 companies and early-stage ventures, building global teams, leading complex negotiations, and scaling operations where reliability and execution mattered more than vision alone.
Earlier in his career, Stephen served as a U.S. Air Force contracting officer supporting research and mission-critical programs in the U.S. and Europe—an experience that continues to shape his approach to autonomous systems today. For Stephen, advanced technology must earn trust, operate reliably in real-world conditions, and integrate cleanly into existing operational and regulatory frameworks.
At Arachnid Systems, Stephen focuses on strategy, partnerships, and go-to-market execution, ensuring that AI-enabled drone inspection capabilities deliver measurable improvements in safety, inspection quality, and operational efficiency. With a particular focus on environments that are difficult, dangerous, or costly for humans to access.
Stephen is based on Florida’s Space Coast and remains active as a mentor to early-stage technology companies through the University of Central Florida Business Incubator. He maintains a long-standing interest in commercial spaceflight, robotics, and intelligent systems operating in the physical world.
John Cavanaugh is the Founder & Executive Director of the Plunk Foundation, a 501c3 nonprofit that protects 30M people from their abusers online. He is the project manager for the Risk and Safety Team at the Cincinnati AI Catalyst Under Dr. Kelly Cohen, sits on the board of the Eagle Scout Association, and is the International Association for Privacy Professionals (IAPP) Fellow in Information Privacy and Cincinnati KnowledgeNet Chapter Chair John is a PhD Candidate at the University of Cincinnati for Aerospace Engineering, with a focus on Privacy and Threat Detection in AI systems. He is a monthly podcast contributor to Legal4Tech to describe the privacy landscape of the United States, and holds three IAPP certifications, CIPP/US, CIPT, & CIPM. John is also the co-founder of the landmark SHIELD: Global Online Safety Conference, the first global conference of its kind to give voices across the world on the effects of an online world, representing 49 countries and 341 attendees on its first year.
John and Ben first met at the University of Cincinnati in 2017 and working on the for-profit version of Plunk that went on to be successfully sold.
They share a passionate bond around the role of privacy in technology that they continue to renew to this day.
Our Space
Located in the core of this nation’s defense and space economy, We are proud residents of Groundswell startups. With deep experience in Ai SaaS and Autonomous Defense technology, we grow closer as Arachnid acheives what has never been done before.