Ilia Papas

Ilia Papas is a prominent figure in the tech industry, known for his role as the CEO & co-founder of Band, a smart operating system for purchasing groups, designed to revolutionize the industry by providing modern software solutions.

Prior to Band, Ilia co-founded the successful Blue Apron and served as the CTO for over 7 years, contributing to its remarkable growth and establishment as a household name, reaching 1 million customers, 5,000 employees, and over $850 million in annual revenue.

With a background in computer science from Tufts University, Ilia has held key positions at various organizations like Optaros, where he led innovative projects for Walmart.com and RueLaLa.com, and contributed to platforms for major brands including CNN, PUMA, Turner Broadcasting, and Macy's.

Ilia's expertise extends to building high-performing teams, having overseen a 200-person organization at Blue Apron encompassing engineering, product, design, IT, analytics, and data science departments.

He is actively involved in the tech and academic communities, serving on the New England Franchise Association Board, the Tufts Computer Science External Advisory Board, and being recognized with the E&Y Entrepreneur of the Year national award.

Ilia Papas's journey from a Software Engineer at Molecular to a Director at Optaros and then to founding and leading successful ventures like Blue Apron and Band showcases his entrepreneurial spirit, technical prowess, and strategic leadership abilities.