Biography
Duke Skarda is a multi-time CTO who advises Mainsail portfolio companies on scaling and infrastructure buildout, technology best practices, and effective AI strategies. He also serves as a mentor to CTOs and advisor to CEOs on building technology to maximize value for customers.
Duke is a seasoned CTO with deep experience in leading midsize, high growth, private equity backed technology companies in cloud computing, SaaS, and telecom. He is currently the CTO at Rentvine, a Mainsail portfolio company.
As an operator, Duke’s focus has been driving growth through business strategy, M&A, and innovative product development. He has been an integral member of several executive teams through multiple recapitalizations and strategic exits, including serving as CTO of SoftLayer Technologies, which was acquired by IBM for $2 billion. Most recently, Duke was CTO of Appspace, an enterprise SaaS company delivering a digital Workplace Experience platform for more than half of the Fortune 500.
Duke hails from far west Texas, attended The University of Colorado Boulder and The University of Texas at El Paso where he studied Electrical and Computer Engineering, and stays grounded through reading, art, sailing, doing anything in the mountains.