David Baska

Background Story

Building Trust

David Baska was raised in Overland Park, Kansas. He is the product of two grandfathers: one was an Army drill instructor turned lawyer who built Associated Wholesale Grocers into a $1B company, the other was Kansas City’s Chief of Police raising 9 children. From them, David learned that leadership is built on discipline, service, and the understanding that institutions outlast individuals.

His career path doesn’t follow a straight line. He’s led $2B+ Space Force satellite programs, managed operations for a $250M+ crypto hedge fund through multiple crises, built e-commerce platforms for military academies and sports organizations, and architected AI systems for enterprise decision-making. The connecting thread is methodology. David synthesizes wisdom across unrelated domains, pulling orthogonal concepts from military operations, financial markets, manufacturing, and technology to solve problems others can’t see from a single perspective.

As a Veteran and father of two young boys, fatherhood has stress-tested everything he thought he knew about systems and taught him to build systems that work when he’s not in the room.

David joined Pathize because the mission aligns with what he’s learned: AI infrastructure that enables autonomous decision-making is how you scale past individual capacity. The same principle that keeps his family running applies to enterprises. Build systems that compound, test them under pressure, and give people the tools to execute without waiting for answers.

Professional Experience

Pathize || Architect & Mission Delivery

David is helping architect the next generation of agentic AI business intelligence and is responsible for strategic direction and operational execution. He is responsible for building the go-to-market strategy, leading enterprise AI development, and architecting the systems that enable Pathize to scale. From concept to commercialization, he ensures that the team has the clarity, structure, and resources to execute.

SwiftBrands (MadeInVSA) || Chief Operations Officer (COO)

As COO from January 2023 to October 2025, David led development of a custom design and rendering engine enabling a headless e-commerce platform and secured 5-year exclusive licensing agreements with military academies and sports organizations generating $1M ARR. He architected strategic partnerships leading to a $750K capital raise at a $45M valuation and delivered 100% year-over-year growth through systematic market entry and operational discipline.

Ikigai Asset Management || Senior Associate

As senior associate of a $250M crypto hedge fund, David managed operations and investor relations for one of the most chaotic and volatile markets on the planet. In an industry defined by volatility he learned that trust isn’t earned through performance alone—it’s engineered through systematic discipline and rigorous systems enabling clear and transparent reporting.

U.S Air Force || Captain, Acquisitions Officer & Space Operations

David spent 8 years on active duty, holding operational and staff positions across the Department of Defense. He learned what excellent execution looks like when billions are at stake—and that moving massive national-level projects requires both the weight of public obligation and how to operate within rigid constraints.

The Leader: As program manager of a $2B satellite development effort, he learned firsthand that large stakeholder projects have large performance loss due to inefficient communication and coordination stemming from the laboratory floor to Pentagon budgetary decisions.

The Staffer: Hand-selected by a 4-Star General to oversee theater-level operations, he authored daily operational reports to the U.S. Central Command and experienced firsthand how the political decision-making apparatus directly affects human life.

The IC: He led a $87M satellite production effort to deliver a one-of-a-kind satellite in 18-months—50% faster than DoD average.

Space Warfighter: From learning Werner von Braun to being on console monitoring SpaceX’s first Falcon rocket launch, to advising on a launch pad, David has been at the forefront of space exploration his entire career.

Education

• Master of Business for Veterans (MBV), University of Southern California

• B.S., Humanities, Philosophy Minor, United States Air Force Academy

• 2x Division-1 sports at the Air Force Academy: 4-year football starter (All-Decade Team) and 2-year baseball walk-on. Competing at that level taught him to build feedback loops, constantly tweak, refine, and improve.