Technology Executive Mukunda Penugonde Joins follow Inc Advisory Board

Assistant State CIO for Oregon and former Deputy Director of GSA’s Tech
Transformation Services to advise on platform architecture and engineering

LOS ANGELES, CA, UNITED STATES, September 29, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — follow Inc, a vertically integrated digital advertising company, today announced that technology executive Mukunda Penugonde has joined its Advisory Board. Penugonde will provide senior technology counsel to the founding team as the company builds followNET, its Instagram-based owned-media network, and develops followOS, its autonomous AI advertising platform for small and mid-sized businesses, targeted for launch in the second quarter of 2027.

Penugonde brings more than 25 years of experience leading large-scale product, platform, and organizational transformation across the public and private sectors, including senior technology leadership roles at Disney/Hulu and Sony Interactive Entertainment and a portfolio of more than $500 million and approximately 700 technologists at the U.S. General Services Administration. In an advisory capacity with follow Inc, he will contribute guidance on platform architecture, artificial intelligence and machine-learning strategy, data infrastructure, and engineering organization design.

The role carries no operational responsibility or governance authority.

“Mukunda has built and run technology organizations at the scale we intend to reach — in streaming, in advertising technology, and in some of the largest digital platforms in government. Very few people have done both. His counsel on how to architect followOS and grow the engineering organization behind it is exactly what this stage of the company requires, and we’re fortunate to have him.”
— Dean K. Ladell, Chief Executive Officer, follow Inc

“follow Inc is taking on two hard problems at once — building an owned-media network with real reach and an AI platform that puts sophisticated advertising within reach of businesses that have never had access to it. That combination is rare, and the founding team’s clarity about how to sequence it is what drew me in. I’m looking forward to helping them build the platform and the organization to match the ambition.”
— Mukunda Penugonde, Advisory Board, follow Inc

PO Box 69, Agoura Hills, California 91376 · follow-inc.com · press@follow-inc.com

ABOUT MUKUNDA PENUGONDE
Mukunda Penugonde is a technology executive with more than 25 years of experience leading large scale product, platform, and organizational transformation initiatives across the public and private sectors.

He currently serves as Assistant State Chief Information Officer for the State of Oregon, where he helps guide technology policy, portfolio strategy, and cross-agency alignment for critical government services that support millions of Oregonians.

Before joining Oregon state government, he served as Deputy Director of Technology Transformation Services within the U.S. General Services Administration, where he helped oversee a portfolio of more than $500 million and approximately 700 technologists delivering some of the federal government’s most visible digital services, platforms, and modernization initiatives.

Earlier, he held senior leadership positions at Disney/Hulu and Sony Interactive Entertainment, leading global technology portfolios, product development organizations, business transformation efforts, and large-scale digital platform initiatives supporting billions of dollars in annual revenue.

Throughout his career he has specialized in helping organizations navigate complexity at scale by aligning strategy, governance, technology, operations, and execution. His experience spans digital media, advertising technology, streaming platforms, AI-enabled products, software delivery, organizational design, portfolio management, and enterprise transformation. He holds MBA degrees from Cornell University and Queen’s University.

ABOUT follow Inc
follow Inc is a Los Angeles–based, vertically integrated digital advertising company building two complementary platforms. followNET, follow Inc’s Instagram-based owned-media network, is being built toward a funded portfolio target of 350 million aggregate followers across 2,200 managed accounts, developed in phases. followOS, follow Inc’s autonomous AI advertising platform for small and mid-sized businesses, is designed to manage end-to-end campaign execution on their behalf and is targeted for launch in the second quarter of 2027. Learn more at follow-inc.com.

MEDIA CONTACT
Dean K. Ladell
follow Inc
press@follow-inc.com
follow-inc.com

Dean Ladell
follow Inc
+1 213-324-5185
email us here

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