Transforming Sports Recruitment

SQWAD is disrupting how sports scouting and recruiting is done. We have built a suite of tools to help every athlete get to the highest level in sports, leveraging the 40+ years of experience that our team has across playing, scouting, recruiting and managing in the U.S., UK and Ireland.

Our Journey

SQWAD was founded with a vision to transform sports recruitment by making it more accessible and efficient for athletes and scouts alike. From our humble beginnings, we have grown into a pioneering force in the industry, consistently pushing the boundaries of technology and innovation.

Our journey began with the launch of the SQWAD App, designed to simplify team management and enhance athlete visibility. Recognizing the need for a dedicated tool for recruiters, we soon introduced the SQWAD Scout App, providing advanced features for player evaluations and seamless communication.

Along the way, we have celebrated numerous milestones, including partnerships with major sports organizations and the expansion of our user base globally. Today, SQWAD continues to lead the charge in sports recruitment, driven by a commitment to excellence and a passion for connecting talent with opportunity.

Our team

Jeffrey L. Lawson
Founder/CEO

Jeff has over 35 years of business and entrepreneurial experience. He prides himself on starting from the ground floor and using the lessons he’s learned along the way to build apps that provide real time solutions.

Jeff’s first learned how to be creative and provide solutions for growing business at his first corporate job selling copiers for Pitney Bowes in the 80’s.

After leaving Pitney Bowes, Jeff went on to lead various sales and business development teams in the cellular and software industry.

While other customer based industries began to embrace technology, Jeff noticed the same adoption missing in the sports industry. This realization gave him the idea to leverage technology to improve customer experiences in sports.

Jeff started his own software company which focused on his two passions: sports and technology. For the last 15 years, Jeff and his team have worked on sports-focused technology solutions that are disrupting the industry. In 2015, Jeff began to shift from web based solutions to focus on developing sports geared mobile applications. His company, SQWAD, has developed 4 different mobile applications that are changing the way users approach communication and management in sports.

SQWAD is also embracing sustainable practices by eliminating the need for paper at sporting events. All relevant tournament information and processes are accessible through their digital technology.

Throughout his 15 year journey, many pages have been turned. But, Jeff believes if you love what you do, then it’s never work.

Education

Florida State University-B.S.

Barry University-MBA

Bradley J. Rathe
Advisor

Brad joined Waverly Advisors in January of 2024 after StrategIQ Financial Group was acquired by Waverly Advisors, LLC.  He serves as a Partner and Senior Director of Portfolio Management at Waverly. Brad started his career on the trading floors in Chicago, advancing to various executive-level positions at several hedge funds around the world. Over the past 30+ years, he has coordinated the start-up of three separate hedge funds and also initiated a Commodity Fund-of-Funds. Brad began at EMC Capital Management (Originally Turtle) where he was a trader/researcher, and was then the Research Director for Rotella Capital Management (1.5 Billion CTA) where he was also on the Executive Management Team. He performed a full turnaround for FTC Capital, an Austrian/Bahamian based CTA, and formed a Commodity Fund-of-Funds called Poplar Jackson where he allocated assets to various commodity CTA strategies on behalf of a Family Office. Brad has implemented asset allocation strategies for high-net-worth families. Throughout his career, he has grown hedge funds by concentrating on developing strategies with exceptional risk management that have resulted in excellent risk-adjusted performance. He loves the challenge of working with a client to develop a portfolio that will meet their financial goals in the most efficient and effective way possible.

Brad enjoys being active, reading, traveling, and solving problems with technological solutions.

Education

Bachelor of Science in Business – Iowa State University

Jagdeesh Prakasam
Advisor

Jagdeesh Prakasam is the Chief Executive Officer of Qdeck.ai. He is a member of the firm’s Board of Directors. Mr. Prakasam oversees all aspects of the firm, including its investment management, FinTech (www.qdeck.ai) solution offerings and operations. As the CEO of QdeckAI, I’m launching the next big idea in fintech to modernize the support investment advisors provide to their clientele. QdeckAI is a cloud-based AI powered fintech platform that brings state-of-the-art fintech tools to wealth managers. It is a subscription-based service that can be operational in less than four weeks. QdeckAI empowers investment advisors to appeal to a new generation of investors who are digital natives and have higher expectations for analytics and quantitative evidence. Our platform is an absolute game changer for our customers. Outside of QdeckAI, I also hold leadership and board positions with Alitheon and several other businesses that were incubated by Imagine Ventures. Mr. Prakasam was the CEO of RCM (25 year quant hedge fund) for 5 years until selling it and starting QdeckAI. Prior to that he was the Co-Chief Investment Officer of RCM since 2014. He is also the CEO of Imagine Ventures, Inc, an idea stage incubator focused on Aerospace, Energy, Healthcare and Beverage.

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